The venue called my aunt three weeks before the wedding. They said the deposit had been paid in full and the reservation was under her name, not my cousin’s. She assumed they were calling about the remaining balance, but the woman said there was something else. The contract listed my aunt as the only person authorized to change the date, cancel the event, or approve additional charges. My aunt laughed and said she had only paid the deposit because she’d promised to help. Then the woman told her that the deposit had been made on a card in my aunt’s name and that the cardholder had retained all cancellation rights. My aunt finally understood why my cousin had been so confident she’d “get the money back.”
She called him that night. He told her not to worry and said everything was already arranged. Then he asked her to send another $4,000. My aunt said no. He reminded her that she’d promised to help with the wedding and that the family was counting on her. She calmly told him the original $12,000 had never been a loan and that she wasn’t sending another dollar. He got angry and said she’d embarrass everyone if she interfered. So she called the venue herself and asked what would happen if she canceled the reservation. The answer was simple: the deposit was refundable because the wedding had been postponed by the couple. My aunt had never been told that. She asked when they’d postponed it.
The venue gave her the date. It was two months before my cousin ever asked her for the money. Then the woman explained that the couple had already submitted paperwork for a new date, but the payment hadn’t been transferred because they were waiting for my aunt to approve it. My aunt pulled up the family group chat and read through the messages again. My cousin had said the money was needed “just to secure the venue.” He had known it was already secured. She called the venue back and canceled the transfer. The $12,000 deposit was returned to her card the next morning. Then, while she was sitting at her kitchen table, another message appeared in the family chat from my cousin’s fiancée: “Wait. He told me your aunt had already agreed to pay for the entire wedding.”
