Okay, having a emotional breakdown

So I just need to vent this all out before I freak out on someone.

So we live in Michigan and are having our wedding in Fort Myers Beach. We couldnt really afford any of the venues, so decided to rent a beach house. Now I realize we probably could of afforded a venue after going through all this BS!

So its probably my fault I didnt get more information in writing, or a contract. But that seems to happen when your planning your wedding and dont have any idea what your suppose to do. This is a big lesson learned. So we rented this house for a week, and were going to have the ceremony and reception there. The guy said that was fine but there was a charge of $800 for weddings. We figured we were getting such a great deal on the house that it was all good.

The owner of the house and I talked on the phone a few times about all the details, and we mailed him a check for the deposit. When he confirmed he recvd that payment he gave me the balance. It was a lot more than I estimated.

Turns out the price on his website is for 2 people staying in the house. The house sleeps 8. Each person over 2 is an additional $125. This was the first I heard of this. I assumed (and I shouldnt have) that the price on his website was for 8 since he advertises it sleeps 8. And in our convos he kept asking if I had 8 but never mentioned that extra charge thing.

Than as I did a little more research I found out he lives in the house! Upstairs. He failed to mention that. He rents out the bottom half which is separate and 1500 sq ft. He also said this was a beach front home. I found out that there is the marsh to walk through to get to the beach, so there is no way we can have the ceremony on the beach without having our guests walk through the water. The beach is about 800 ft from the house.

While I felt very uneasy about everything we did send a nonrefundable deposit so decided to make the best of it.

Well now we are paying off the balance. And we have only 4 people staying in the house. Well 4 adults, 1 child. But to he said it doesnt matter the age of the person, its all one charge. A lot of our family is not coming to the wedding now, so we will not have the 8 people. We told him this and he said, sorry my retirement has been cut and when you sent the deposit you agreed to 8 people. Again we never signed a contract, but I guess I can see where hes coming from.

Its one thing after another with this guy. He says he tries to run this like a business but everything he does is so shady. He goes out of town for work from time to time ,and I just know hes not going to go out of town while we are there. I have a feeling he is going to make me misearable. He keeps saying that the reception is no longer than 3 hours, and if we have over 30 guests he will charge us an extra $200. This guy is going to be monitor us...I can see it now.

With all this extra BS we should of just paid a little more and had it at a nicer venue. When you think about it....$800 could of gotten a nice place without the drama!

There is so much other drama going on besides this with our families. I feel like nothing is going smoothly, and if I hit another bump in this road I may lose it.

I am so sorry you have to deal with this added nstress. But my best suggestion to you now is to get everything and as much as you can in writing. What is included, what you are responsible for, timelines. Basically anything and everything you can think of. Because if it is in writing it is easier to know where you stand. You will eliminate a lot of gray areas that will cause you stress later, as they have already. Do This before final payment. Once he has you money he will be hard pressed to give it back, but he does want it and that is your pwer of negotiation. I would even see if you could hold back 10% until the day off or better yet the day after. Just to ensure everything goes according to your plans and not his. Good luck I hope everything works out as you would like.

We paid $1300 as the non refundable. Which I would easily walk away at this point, but my sister and BIL paid it as our wedding gift.

i would NOT pay for 8 people if i was having 4 if it is not in writing!!! no way.

We have a string of emails that he is going on....where he states:

I have reserved the week of Oct 31th -nov7th for 6-8 guests to stay in the home. I have also reserved the grounds for your wedding of 30 or less people as agreed.

Oh man, it totally sucks that this guy is not willing to work with you more on the price, reception length, etc. He also should have represented the situation better (proximity to beach, his living quarters ON the property).

However, I will say that when I read your post I instantly remembered how BEAUTIFUL the pictures were that you posted here when you first booked the property. I was really floored by the beautiful landscaping and thought it looked like the perfect place for an intimate wedding and reception. Please don't second guess your choice too much...I really think this venue will make for a great wedding! And if I was one of your guests I would totally love to stay there with you and chip in on the cost versus staying at a hotel. Have you run that option by all of your guests?

I will add that I talked to a bride that recently had her wedding there. She could not say enough positive things about the property. She was a little creeped out when she found out he lived there, but said he left for the day. The rest of the week she said they never saw him or his wife.

I saw a few pictures from her wedding to and they looked amazing.

I would tell him I want out, especially if he's living upstairs?? thats just kinda werid. It would be different if he told you he was living upstairs and you still went ahead with it, but if he didn't tell you and made it sounded like you had the whole house.....Thats strange.