---
title: "Wedding venue contract checklist: what to check before you sign"
description: "Ten clauses to check in a UK venue contract: deposits, cancellation scales, price rises, curfews, force majeure, and the five changes to ask for before you pay."
canonical: https://getaisley.com/guides/wedding-venue-contract-checklist
last_updated: 2026-09-05
---

# Wedding venue contract checklist: what to check before you sign

> Ten clauses to check in a UK venue contract: deposits, cancellation scales, price rises, curfews, force majeure, and the five changes to ask for before you pay.

Published 5 September 2026, by Dominika, Co-founder of Aisley. Canonical: https://getaisley.com/guides/wedding-venue-contract-checklist

A wedding venue contract commits you to £10,000 to £30,000 on the strength of one afternoon's viewing, so check ten things before you sign: deposit and payment dates, cancellation and postponement terms on both sides, price rises, minimum numbers and spend, the curfew, supplier rules and corkage, the damage deposit, insurance, and what happens if the venue closes or changes hands. Most contracts are fair on seven and one-sided on the rest.

This checklist works through each clause, what a fair version looks like, and the five to ask the venue to change. UK consumer law is on your side against the worst terms, but relying on it means a dispute afterwards; the cheaper fix is one email before the deposit.

## Deposit and payment schedule

A venue deposit is normally 20 to 50 percent of the hire fee, or a fixed £1,000 to £3,000. Read what it is a percentage of: the hire fee alone, or the venue's estimate of the whole day including catering, which can double the figure.

The common schedule is a second instalment of 25 to 50 percent around six months out and the balance 4 to 8 weeks before the wedding. Check the dates are dates rather than 'on request', and that the balance is calculated on your confirmed numbers, not your booking estimate. Map it against [when everything else falls due](https://getaisley.com/guides/wedding-budget-breakdown).

Pay by credit card where you can. Under [section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974](https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1974/39/section/75) the card provider is jointly liable with the venue for a breach of contract on purchases between £100 and £30,000, which matters if a venue closes. A bank transfer has no such protection.

## Cancellation and postponement: your side

Most venues charge on a sliding scale that rises as the date nears. The scale is normal; the check is whether it tracks the venue's real loss or simply keeps everything whatever the timing.

| Cancelling | Common contract term | Fairer version |
| --- | --- | --- |
| More than 12 months out | Deposit forfeited | Deposit forfeited |
| 6 to 12 months out | 50 percent of the estimated total | Deposit plus costs incurred, less anything from reselling the date |
| 3 to 6 months out | 75 percent | 50 percent, reducing if the date is resold |
| Under 3 months | 100 percent | 100 percent of hire, catering at cost for numbers already confirmed |

*Typical terms in UK venue contracts as couples report them to us; the fairer column is what a venue pricing its own risk usually accepts.*

Under Part 2 of the [Consumer Rights Act 2015](https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2015/15/contents) a consumer contract term must be fair, and Schedule 2 lists terms that may be unfair, including a disproportionately high sum when the consumer cancels, and keeping everything paid while owing nothing equivalent when the trader cancels. An unfair term does not bind you. The regulator agrees: when weddings could not go ahead in 2020, the [Competition and Markets Authority](https://www.gov.uk/cma-cases/covid-19-cancellations-weddings) said venues should keep only an amount covering costs already incurred and refund the rest.

Postponement is often missing entirely. Ask for one move of the date, for a fixed fee of £250 to £1,000, at the booked price, not counted as a cancellation.

## If the venue cancels, closes or changes hands

The mirror clause is usually one line, if it exists: the venue may cancel and will refund sums paid. That is your deposit back and every other supplier still booked. A fair clause refunds everything, contributes to the cost of a replacement venue, and gives you first refusal on alternative dates.

Venues are bought and sold, and a contract with 'the venue' rather than the trading company is honoured at the new owner's discretion. Ask for a line saying the booking transfers to any new owner on the same terms. If the venue closes or goes into administration, no clause helps; [wedding insurance](https://getaisley.com/guides/wedding-insurance-uk) is the only thing that does, which is why it is bought the week of the deposit.

Force majeure covers events outside either side's control: flood, fire, a legal ban on gatherings. The venue should have to offer a new date or a refund at your choice, not a credit note at theirs, and the clause should not let them keep money for a wedding that cannot legally happen.

## Price rises between booking and the day

The brochure number is the price today, and many contracts say so in one clause in the catering terms: 'prices are subject to annual review'. Booking 18 months out means two reviews, and rises of 5 to 10 percent a year are normal. On £12,000 of catering that is £1,200 to £2,500 never in the quote.

Ask for the price fixed at booking, or capped at a stated percentage or index. Venues that will not fix often cap at 5 percent, or fix the hire and cap the catering. Get it into the contract as a number, and check when the catering is priced: many venues price the meal at the tasting, a year after booking, from that year's menu. [A contract with no cap at all](https://getaisley.com/guides/wedding-venue-red-flags) turns your budget into a guess.

## Minimum numbers and minimum spend

A minimum numbers clause says you pay for 80 meals if 68 people come. It is common; the questions are the number and when it locks. A fair version sets it 10 to 15 percent below your booked count, confirmed 4 to 6 weeks out. An unfair one uses the number you mentioned on the phone and locks it at booking.

Minimum spend replaces the hire fee at pubs, restaurants and many city venues. Check what counts toward it: food and drink usually do, service charge, VAT and hire often do not, so a £6,000 minimum can take £7,500 of bills to clear. Check whether an accommodation minimum means every bedroom, at what rate, and whether guests can pay the venue directly.

## Curfew, licence hours and noise limits

The curfew belongs in the contract as a time, not a reference to 'the venue's licence'. Most UK venues end music at 11pm, 11.30pm or midnight, with last orders 30 minutes earlier and guests off site 30 minutes later. Anything later is an extension, £250 to £1,000 an hour where the licence allows it.

Barns and converted buildings near houses often run a noise limiter that cuts power to the band above a set level, typically 90 to 95 decibels. Get the level in writing and tell your band before booking them; a limiter at 90 decibels rules out most live drummers.

## Supplier restrictions and corkage

Contracts restrict suppliers in three ways: an exclusive caterer; an approved list you choose from; and a fee for going outside the list, usually £250 to £500 or a percentage of the outside supplier's bill. The check is whether prices for any compulsory supplier were shown before you signed, and whether the list can change after booking without your agreement.

Corkage is priced per bottle opened, £8 to £20 for wine and £15 to £30 for sparkling, and some contracts allow own drink at the meal only, so the bar stays theirs. Every restriction has a cost that belongs in your comparison, and each is a fair [question to ask before the viewing](https://getaisley.com/guides/questions-to-ask-wedding-venue) rather than a clause to discover after it.

## Damage deposit and insurance requirements

A damage deposit of £500 to £1,500 is normal at exclusive-use venues and dry hire spaces. The contract should say what it can be used for, how deductions are itemised and when the balance returns, typically 14 to 28 days after the wedding. No return date, or a right to deduct 'reasonable costs' without receipts, describes a deposit you should plan to lose.

Most venues require every external supplier to hold public liability cover, commonly £5 million, and some require the couple to hold it too where you bring in a caterer, a bar or a marquee. A few make wedding insurance a condition of booking. None of this is unreasonable, as long as it is stated clearly enough for your suppliers to meet it.

## Clauses to ask the venue to change

Venues expect a few asks and rarely refuse them all. Send them in one email before the deposit; after it you have no leverage.

1. The price fixed at booking, or rises capped at 5 percent or a named index, written as a number.
2. One postponement allowed, for a fixed fee, at the booked price, not treated as a cancellation.
3. A cancellation scale that reduces if the venue resells the date, and a mirror clause if the venue cancels.
4. The booking transferring to any new owner on the same terms.
5. Minimum numbers set 10 to 15 percent below your booked count, confirmed 4 to 6 weeks out.

```text
Subject: Re: Contract for 12 June 2027
Thank you for the contract, which we have read through and are keen to confirm. Before we pay the deposit, could we agree a few changes: the catering price fixed at the current menu, or capped at 5 percent a year; a clause allowing one postponement for a fixed fee at the booked price; the cancellation charges reducing where the date is resold; and the booking transferring to any new owner on the same terms.
If you can send an amended contract or a signed addendum covering these, we will pay the deposit the same day.
Sam and Alex
```

Two or three of the five is a good result. A venue that refuses all of them and will not say why has given you [an answer about the venue](https://getaisley.com/guides/wedding-venue-red-flags), not the contract. If you would rather not write the email, [Aisley sends the asks](https://getaisley.com/features) and chases the reply; whether to sign stays your call.

## Quick answers

### Is a non-refundable wedding venue deposit legal in the UK?

Yes, a deposit that reflects the venue's genuine loss from holding the date is lawful and normal. What the Consumer Rights Act 2015 questions is proportion: a charge far above what the venue actually loses, or a contract that keeps everything you paid whatever the timing, may be an unfair term and would then not bind you.

### Can we get out of a wedding venue contract?

You can cancel at any time; what it costs is set by the contract's sliding scale. If the venue resells your date, or the charge is out of proportion to its real loss, you have grounds to negotiate and, in the end, to dispute the term as unfair. Wedding insurance covers cancellation only for listed reasons such as illness, never a change of heart.

### Should we sign a venue contract that says prices may change?

Only with a cap. Ask for the price fixed at booking or rises limited to a stated percentage or index, written into the contract. Most venues cap at 5 percent when asked; one that will not put any limit in writing is asking you to carry its inflation risk.

### Does wedding insurance cover the venue cancelling on us?

Most UK policies cover the venue going bust, closing or cancelling, including the extra cost of moving the wedding elsewhere. Buy it the week you pay the deposit; a venue already in administration when you buy is excluded.