Wedding Veune refusing to refund advanced payments

[Guest]

My fiance n I had to cancel our wedding on April 25th 2020 due to the Corona pandemic. COVID-19. Our venue was a dry hire venue for an old barn. Meaning all our goods and services were supplied by third parties. We were literally booking the barn to house our wedding. Due to the new government regulation we were unable to go ahead with the wedding on the Original date. The venue recommended that we reschedule for later in the year, however my fiance is pregnant and due in October. Meaning, by the time all of this is over she would be getting married either heavily pregnant or with a new born baby. After 2 years of planning and all the funds piled into the wedding set up, this would mean further alterations to the dress meaning even more money, re-booking all the suppliers, re-booking all guest hotels, flowers, food, etc. So given the circumstances we decided that in this instance we wouldn't reschedule and felt it inappropriate to give a date that would suit us best or that we could commit to. So we decided to cancel. We reached out to the venue and asked if we were able to get some or all of our advance payments back. We agreed that the deposit to hold the venue date would be non refundable, however as we have no contract in place or cancellation clauses in place or that had been agreed to, we assumed the venue would be understanding of the situation and respond with some sympathy to our situation. At the end of the day this had been in the planning stages for over 2 yrs and a month before, its all called off by the government. As we have paid around 2k in advance to pay off the wedding as a pay as you go scheme agreed with the venue. We felt the least they could do is refund these advanced payments. As nothing has gone ahead and the venue is unable/prohibited by law to not allow the wedding to go ahead. They have had no costs there end. No goods or services were provided or purchased in advance. They were not supplying anything other then the property the only loss they could claim would be admin for meeting up with us 2x and talking through the day. Which was always orchestrated by my fiance. The venues customer service was beyond atrocious, they normally took 2+weeks to respond to emails, phone calls or text messages or FB messages. They never once contacted us to make sure everything was still going ahead. The venue are now saying we cancelled due to our financial situation not COVID-19. That we are asking for an unreasonable amount to be refunded. That they cannot resell the venue, so we are not entitled to any refund.* Our emials to the venue have been polite and reasonable negotiations in which we have agreed to cover*any admin cost for the previously mentioned meet ups. However, the venue is refusing to negotiate or come to any agreement. They are simply saying because we have cancelled we arent entitled to get our money back they will keep the full amount to cover cost.. on which they are refusing to state what these costs are. Our email discussion has now turned nasty with every time the venue responds they are adding an admin fee and charges. It is slowly escalating to a point we are looking for legal advice. We would love to know what the best thing to at this point. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.*

[islandgirl]

What does the contract say re cancellation?