When the fiance of a woman in Florida died suddenly of cancer in January, his bride-to-be lost more than just her groom. She lost more than $800 in unreturned deposits from the venue she planned to hold her wedding reception. Blythe Carpenter was engaged to Jeffery Kallish last May and planned a big wedding bash for January 31st.
Less than two months before the wedding, Kallish was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer and the couple decided to cancel the wedding and maybe “do something quick later on.” Sadly, Kallish passed away in mid-January before they had a chance to marry. All the wedding vendors but one returned Carpenter’s deposits and payments in mid-December when they were notified of the cancellation.
Photo by Ishan @seefromthesky on Unsplash
CityArts Factory in Orlando, the reception venue, refused to return Carpenter’s deposit, citing their strict cancellation policy of no refunds within 60 days of a scheduled event (the wedding was canceled about 6 weeks before the scheduled date).
Even after Carpenter made an emotional appeal to the manager, he said that everyone was basically in the same financial position as her, to which she reminded him she had no choice in the matter. “I would pay 10 times if I could get him back and to get married, that’s all we wanted to do,” Carpenter said. “I just want him back. If I could have him back for one more day, one more hour, one more hug, one more kiss, one more opportunity to talk to him on the phone.”
Photo by Alexander Mils on Unsplash
The venue finally decided to return $500 of Carpenter’s $1300 deposit with a copy of the cancellation rules, circled for emphasis. “That makes me want to send a death certificate and circle the cause of death,” Carpenter said.
Original by Wendy Atterberry
