My fiancé and I were looking forward to celebrating what is supposed to be one of the best days of our lives at this venue. Unfortunately, the pandemic had plans of its own, and we were very disappointed with the Paseo’s lack of accommodation. ...We booked our date (January 22, 2021) back in January of 2020. When Covid cases started to climb in spring, we still had hope that it everything would be back to normal by the following winter. Therefore, we proceeded to pay our first of three payments ($3,333).
By the time our second payment was due, it was evident that the pandemic was going to be around longer than we originally anticipated, so the venue allowed us to push our payment back a couple of months. At that point, we were in the middle of our state’s first surge. As healthcare workers, my fiancé and I went back and forth as to whether we would move forward with the wedding in January, because it was predicted there would be another surge in the winter. The Paseo told us that we needed to make a final decision by the end of October. Although the numbers at that time were lower, we feared that the second surge would inhibit travel plans and put our elderly family member’s health at risk. We asked the venue if we could reschedule. They told us that we could reschedule through the end of December 2021, but when they sent us their available days, they only had Tuesdays and Wednesdays available. Our original date was on a Friday. We saw that February 22, 2022 was available, but they declined to give us that date.
I will say that our contract stated that no refunds of any kind would be offered, but this pandemic presented hardships that none of us expected. I also know that the Paseo is a family run business, and they have to protect what they have built. But their lack of available dates through 2021 demonstrated that they are still receiving plenty of business. I sent countless emails back and forth with them pleading for a refund or a new date, but I did not receive any compassion or empathy in return. They told us that if we wanted to secure the February date, we would have to start over with our payments, which would mean we would pay over 13k for just the wedding venue! We ended up cancelling our contract and loosing $3,333.
Our state’s second surge was worse than the first, and our original date would have been in the very middle of it. My fiancé and I know we made the right decision. We did loose several thousand dollars from other vendors, but those vendors told us that they money we had already put down would be applied to a future date if we desired. We don’t know what our wedding will look like now without that money.
I really hope that future brides have a better experience with this venue, but we were very disappointed. It was my dream wedding venue, and I will always be disappointed that our wedding did not take place here.