North Star Farm Event Center

s. We do belong to an association with lobbyists and attorneys that have tried to help all us venues throughout this entire situation. We feel sad that Kaela and Luke cancelled their wedding but we understand. Kaela and Luke reached out to us on March 17 asking about our policy on corona virus. This was the first day of the shutdown. We responded that we were planning all weddings as a go-ahead and that there were restrictions on group sizes for the next 8 weeks. We require couples to purchase liability insurance and we informed Kaela and Luke that their insurance did not cover the corona virus. We also informed them that the venue insurance we carry only covered if something happened to the venue site (for example if there was a tornado and all the buildings came down, etc.). The couple responded by saying they have time before their June 26, 2020 wedding and the conversation ended there. Kaela’s statement that they reached out to the insurance company that we recommended regarding cancellation insurance for covid did not apply --- this was not an accurate statement. Cancellation insurance bought prior to the pandemic would have covered covid cancellations. We know this because we have had other couples purchase this insurance and they have told us that this cancellation insurance DID cover cancellations due to covid. Cancellation insurance was not offered after covid became a pandemic (This was true for many other types of cancellation insurance companies, not just the one we recommended.). On April 19, we received another email from Kaela stating that she wanted to cancel her wedding and asked us if we would “provide some sort of refund”. On April 20, we responded by saying all of our 2020 wedding were still scheduled as planned. We offered Kaela and Luke a later time in 2020 and they refused and stated they wanted to cancel their wedding. We ended up on the phone with Kaela and Luke to discuss the situation. We did discuss again their contract with the venue. Per our contract with Kaela and Luke, no refund was to be given within this time frame. The couple demanded they should get at least half back. We compromised and both parties agreed on the venue refunding 1/3 of the amount back to the couple. We did consult with an attorney as our contract was written by an attorney and we usually contact her if we have questions. Our attorney who is the expert in the wedding business and our contract did say a refund was not required, however, we felt that we could extend 1/3 back to the couple due to the circumstances. On April 22, we sent a cancellation agreement to be signed by the couple. We received that agreement signed by the couple on April 24, and then mailed the agreement with our signatures and the refunded amount back to the couple. On May 1, we received an email from Luke stating, “Thank you for your letter and the signed contract. We are planning to start posting this review of your venue online on Tuesday May 5th. Let us know if you would like to discuss ……………………………… “We visited North Star Farm and decided to book a wedding in June 2020. From our one visit, the venue appears beautiful. But as the Covid-19 virus spread, we realized for safety and coordination that it wouldn't make sense for us to have a large wedding. We reached out to North Star to cancel the venue, and were told that all weddings were "go-ahead" and no refunds are available. We discussed with North Star on the phone, and learned that most weddings in May and June were postponed and not "go-ahead" as advertised. They offered to change dates, but changing dates for our wedding was not an option for us. North Star decided to make one "exception" and us a refund of 1/3rd of our deposit. We realize that this virus is costly for everyone but paying thousands of dollars for nothing seems unreasonable. All of our other vendors have offered full refunds, so North Star Farm's response has been disappointing. ~2/5 stars” That same day, on May 1, we responded to the email from Luke stating, “Luke and Kaela, We are truly sorry and feel sad that you cancelled your wedding. We understand you are not at fault nor are we at fault for the situation. We would have been more than happy to have you reschedule to a different date in 2020 or move to 2021 date. We also offered you this when we last spoke and you declined these options. We are still holding weddings in June, so if you do write a review that would not be honest. Our contract stated no refunds on weddings and we believe (XX) was a fair refund. Our attorney we work with stated we were not obligated to give a refund but we did and believe we went above and beyond in your case. Our attorney also stated your email was a potential threat/blackmail to hurt our business; we hope you'd consider this as you proceed. Again, we are sorry about this situation.” Regarding Kaela’s statement “all of our other vendors have offered full refunds, so North Star Farm’s response was really disappointing and not aligned to the norm of our experiences”. North Star Farm is a venue/physical property and other vendors (caterer, florist, DJ, etc.) provide a product or service --- these services were not provided therefore it is easier to refund without loss to that particular type of business. However, with a venue, we have the cost of upkeep, maintenance, etc., and have held that date for a specific couple. In the barn wedding venue industry, it is common practice for us to have similar refund policies. Again, as we have mentioned we belong to an association of similar venues and have consulted with several venues across the state of Minnesota throughout this entire process. Those other venues are whom we’ve aligned our standards with. In addition, going back to the contract we had with the couple, we feel we went above and beyond in our response and attempted accommodations. That being said, Kaela and Luke cancelled their wedding. We did not cancel on them. We work extremely hard to accommodate past, present, and future wedding couples. We feel bad about this situation, but we also feel that we were fair, honest, and upfront. We believe each contract is to be honored by all parties involved.