Wedding deposits: how to protect the money you pay months ahead

Before you pay anything

• Get every promise in writing, including the cancellation and refund terms. The California Attorney General's office adds: do not sign anything with blank spaces to be filled in later.
• Ask in plain words what happens to the deposit if you move the date, if you cancel, and if the vendor cancels.
• Look for an arbitration clause. The FTC notes that some contracts make you give up the right to go to court.
• The Ohio Attorney General's wedding tips come down to three things: research complaints against the business, pay small deposits, and pay with a credit card.

What a credit card gives you

Under the federal Fair Credit Billing Act, a charge for goods or services that were not delivered as agreed counts as a billing error, and you can dispute it with the card issuer instead of with the vendor.

• The dispute must reach the issuer in writing, at the address it gives for billing inquiries, within 60 days of the first statement that shows the charge.
• Many issuers accept disputes by phone or online. The FTC says to follow up with a letter to keep the full protection of the law.
• The issuer has 30 days to acknowledge and 90 days to resolve it. You may withhold the disputed amount while it investigates.

The catch for weddings

The 60 days run from the statement, not from the wedding. A deposit paid ten months ahead is well past that window by the time a vendor fails to appear. None of the official pages we read addresses this case, so do not assume a dispute will succeed. Ask your card issuer how it handles services booked far in advance, and keep deposits small where you can.

There is a second, separate right. If a dispute with the seller is not resolved, you may be able to withhold what you still owe on the card for that purchase. The CFPB lists the general conditions: the purchase was over $50, it was made in your home state or within 100 miles of your address, you tried in good faith to resolve it with the seller, and you have not yet paid it off. What you can claim also depends on state law.

Other ways to pay

Event insurance, in two halves

The National Association of Insurance Commissioners describes two kinds of special event insurance, and they do different jobs.

• Liability insurance covers injury or property damage to others at your event. It does not cover a cancellation.
• Cancellation insurance covers costs from a delay, postponement or cancellation for a covered reason. NAIC's examples: severe weather, illness or injury of a key person, and a vendor who takes a deposit and fails to deliver.
• Calling the wedding off yourselves is typically not covered, according to the Oklahoma Insurance Department.
• NAIC noted in 2020 that most policies exclude pandemics and communicable disease. Read the exclusions.
• None of the regulators we read publishes a price range, so compare quotes rather than trusting a number from an article.

Before you buy a policy

• Ask your venue whether it requires you to carry liability insurance, and whether host liquor liability has to be part of it.
• Check what you already have. The Insurance Information Institute suggests looking at your homeowners policy and your credit cards first.
• Insure what you would actually lose. The Massachusetts Division of Insurance suggests thinking in terms of your nonrefundable deposits.
• Confirm with your state insurance department that the insurer is licensed in your state.