How can I get out of my venue contract for my wedding location?

Dear Questioner, 1. You probably have some legal options; 2. You need to consult an attorney and have the entire contract reviewed. This question is a little beyond the scope of a website answer. You really need a professional consultation.

This is a good example on why you should always have a lawyer look over any contract BEFORE you sign it. Doing so will almost always save you money in the long run. First, please understand that if you want your wedding outside at night, nearly all locations have noise ordinances. There is almost no location where you can have loud noise late at night. If you truly want loud noise late at night, it usually has to be indoors with doors closed so the noise does not emanate. Because I help plan outdoor music festivals, I can tell you that the latest any location is likely to allow loud noise to emanate from a property is 10 pm. Many locations will have the cut-off time much earlier, and some locations never allow loud noise to emanate without a special permit for that. Some locations require a special application for a Noise Permit, but even those have a cut-off time that is not very late. So, you may find that your expectations of making loud noise outdoors late into the night are unreasonable. I DO know of some places where there are no noise laws, and they are places that are very rural, unincorporated, not near any town or suburb, and where the county has no such laws. The places that I know of are not anywhere you'd likely want to hold a wedding. If you do find a different location for your wedding, or decide to move it indoors and can secure a place, then you are best off asking a lawyer to help you with the contract. You may end out responsible for the deposit. May is a long way off, so the winery may be able to find a different wedding to fill the time slot if you act quickly. This is called "mitigating damages." The winery may be able to mitigate its damages by filling the slot with a different wedding. Another factor to consider is that almost all wedding venues limit the number of hours for the event. Nearly all wedding venues limit the total time frame to 4 hours. This means that at almost all wedding venues, whatever you are doing ceremony, dinner, dancing must all fit in 4 hours total. Again, it sounds as if you may have unreasonable expectations. If you begin calling around to different venues, you may find that you do not need to change the venue, but that you do need to change your expectations. Best wishes. Other options may be to rent out a full resort, so your group is the only one present on a large acreage of land. That way, your guests can also spend the night and there will be no worry of drinking and driving. There are some conference centers in woodsy areas that will rent the entire place for weddings. I have seen several such places that are owned by universities. Such a set-up may be perfect for you.