cosigning the reception hall contract

Ok, here's the situation: FILs promised they would pay for their invites and my parents will pay for theirs. Now, we're about to pick a place and my parents are like ok, we need to go sign the contract. FH and I tell FILs about signing the contract and they refused. They say we should sign it and trust that they'll give us money to cover it. So now, after many tears and screaming fits FILs have aggreed to co-sign, although I am sure I will not hear the end of it. Now, here's my question: how to the catering halls work it when two families are signing. Will they draw up a contract saying, so-and-so is responsible for this percent or # of people and so-and-so is responsible for this?

Re: cosigning the reception hall contract

I am sure every catering hall is different, but I just always got the impression that you and FH just sign the contract and whomever is contributing, just contributes. I don't really think it is the catering hall's responsibility to delegate those percentages to your parents and FIL's. That's probably something for you and FH to do. But like I said, everywhere is different.

Re: cosigning the reception hall contract

I agree with Rachel, I don't think the catering hall is going to get involved t in who pays for what, just that whomeever sings the contract (be it 2 people or 6 ) are all responsible for paying the bill in full. Splitting it is totally your domain. The catering hall isn't going to get involved in family disputes...they'd be stupid to do so.

Re: cosigning the reception hall contract

The hall will just give you a contract stating what is due and when. You're going to need to figure out the details yourself. And not for nothing, but unless you think your FILs would back out and stiff you for the money, I don't think you should need them to be part of the contract anyway.

Re: cosigning the reception hall contract

The problem is not that I don't trust them, perse. It's that they are 10's of thousands of dollars in debt and they want 160 family members to come. So my parents said, that's fine, but you need to pay for that! Now, they're telling us that they don't have the money when we sign the contract and won't have it until just before the wedding when they take out another loan. Anything can happen--it doesn't have to be their fault. I don't want people to think that I'm mean-spirited and disrespectful of my FILs. We've just been having a lot of problems each step of the way with this kind of stuff.

Re: cosigning the reception hall contract

Well here's the thing. Even if they cosign the contract, if they don't have the money you're not going to get it, and unfortunately, their name on the contract won't change that. Maybe you should explain to them the total amount of money they will be responsible for and work out a payment plan. You won't need the bulk of the money until much closer to the wedding, so maybe your parents can put in their share as the deposit, and then FILs can pay the rest. But rather than let them wait and see if they can give you the lump some, why don't you start collecting money from them once a month.

edited for spelling

Message edited 11/25/2004 11:22:27 AM.

Re: cosigning the reception hall contract

It sounds as though you want them to sign to force them to pay something. In the end if FILs dont pay you will have to unless you don't want to have your wedding. The hall is not going to say ok you paid your share now they have to pay theirs. I only thing you ensure by having them co-sign the contract is that if they dont contribute you can sue them. Do you want to sue your FILs? If this is the route that you want to take then you need to get in writting from them how much they will be paying. When you go to court you need to prove to the Court that your FILs knew what they were resonsible for and then did not pay it. As for the hall they dont care where the money comes from...if the hall doesnt get the money you contracted for then they will go after BOTH of you.

Re: cosigning the reception hall contract

WEll, also, if they do not have the money by the time the invites go out, then just cut their list. Is that a possibility?

Re: cosigning the reception hall contract

My advice is that you should NOT contract for anything unless you know that you have the funds in the bank to pay for it.

I had a very close friend who got burned very badly by his in-laws. They promised to pay for a large number of guests. They kept telling him they'd have the money in time for the wedding.

He and his former wife took out a huge loan at the last minute to pay for it.

Also, my experience with the hall was that DH and I had to sign for everything since is was our wedding.

The hall didn't care who was paying for what. Just that "Susan and John" signed the contract for "The Wedding of Susan and John"

Re: cosigning the reception hall contract

Thanks for all of your advice everyone! No, we will NOT sue FIL's. I think my parents are just like, "I don't understand. What's the big deal? If they're gonna pay it, why can't they sign it?" Now, they are signing it and my mom is still worried they won't have their loan in time. She's just SO unfamiliar with the concept of loans and debt and very much into living within your budget. So, I spent all of t-day dinner convincing her (and myself) that I know for sure that they will have the money by the time of the wedding. So, 9:30am tomorrow morning, my dad will call his dad to say he needs them to help with the deposit/beginning payments. 10:00am, FH and I take FIL's to the two halls we're deciding between. WAHOO!

Re: cosigning the reception hall contract

I don't know much about cosigning, but in response to those who said that the bride and groom need to sign the contract, that was not the case for me and DH. Our parents were paying, and I think my dad just signed the contract...DH's dad and mine worked things out on their own, but it was a very different situation..no one in debt, etc. Good luck!