"Even if You Cancel a Year Before the Wedding, You Can't Get the Deposit Back"... Engaged Couples Suffer Under Wedding Industry Practices

[Financial News] As the burden of wedding costs continues to rise, disputes over the cancellation of wedding venue contracts are surging. In some cases, even when a contract is canceled with nearly a year left before the wedding date, couples are unable to recover deposits worth millions of won, prompting engaged couples to exercise extra caution.
According to a tip received on the 25th, an engaged man identified as A signed a wedding contract with a well-known wedding venue in Seoul in April last year and paid a deposit of 3 million won. Although the wedding was scheduled for the end of this year, he informed the venue of his intention to cancel in November last year, about a year before the ceremony, due to personal reasons. The venue said the refund was not possible under the contract because the cancellation notice came more than seven days after the agreement was signed.
A argued that the venue's response was excessive, saying, "There was still nearly a year left before the wedding date, and the venue had already booked another ceremony for that day, so the actual damage to the business is limited." He added, "During what should be a happy wedding preparation process, I have been living in anxiety and stress for months because I could end up losing a deposit worth millions of won." A's case is currently undergoing mediation by the Consumer Dispute Mediation Committee at the Korea Consumer Agency.
The venue countered, saying, "Our facility is not a typical wedding hall where multiple ceremonies are held at the same time in a single day. It is a multi-purpose space that combines venue rental and event operations." It added, "Because we handle only about two events a day, we suffer losses such as opportunity costs from being unable to accept inquiries for that date over the months between booking and cancellation." The venue also said that, given current wedding-planning trends, reservations are typically made more than a year in advance, making it difficult in practice to apply the consumer dispute settlement standards as they are. It added that, after the dispute process began at the Korea Consumer Agency, it proposed a 50 percent refund reflecting practical conditions, but the offer was not accepted.
However, A's side says consumers have difficulty knowing these details in advance. The venue became famous after celebrities held their weddings there, and wedding contracts were made in the same way as at ordinary wedding halls, it said. The Korea Consumer Agency believes that if a facility substantially provides wedding services, the standards for wedding venues are likely to apply during the dispute resolution process. According to the KFTC's Criteria for Settlement of Consumer Disputes, even if a wedding contract is canceled due to the consumer's fault, the deposit should, in principle, be refunded if notice is given at least 150 days before the scheduled wedding date.
As a result, applications for relief related to wedding services filed with the Korea Consumer Agency have risen 2.6 times, from 281 cases in 2021 to 720 cases last year. Another 108 cases had been filed through May this year. Of the cumulative 2,443 cases received so far, disputes involving contract cancellation, termination, and penalties accounted for 81.4 percent, or 1,988 cases.
Damage caused by excessive refund rules in the wedding industry is also occurring in areas such as honeymoons and wedding dresses. Consumer C signed a honeymoon package contract with a business operator at a wedding fair in 2024. C paid a deposit of 400,000 won on the same day, but requested to withdraw the offer the next day due to personal reasons. The operator, however, refused to refund the deposit, saying the hotel and tours had already been booked.
An official at the Korea Consumer Agency said, "When signing a contract, consumers should carefully review cancellation penalties and refund terms, and be cautious if the terms are more burdensome than the Criteria for Settlement of Consumer Disputes." The official added, "The smaller the print in the contract, the more carefully it should be checked, and it is better to sign with businesses that operate based on standard terms and conditions."
localplace@fnnews.com Kim Hyun-ji Reporter