The Calyx 2, Sydney Botanic Garden, Sydney, NSW, Australia

The Calyx boasts one of the largest green walls in the southern hemisphere and is home to stunning seasonal horticultural displays.

Le Chat Noir venue in the Montmartre neighbourhood of Paris

The Calyx, Sydney Botanic Garden, Sydney, NSW, Australia

The Calyx boasts one of the largest green walls in the southern hemisphere and is home to stunning seasonal horticultural displays.

Hi Reddit! Using a throwaway because I am fairly active in local threads on my main account. I (26F) recently got engaged to my fiancée (25F), and we've been planning our wedding. We live in the south in a pretty conservative state, so unfortunately we've dealt with our fair share of homophobia over the years. A newer local wedding venue came highly recommended online, so I scheduled a tour. My fiancée couldn't attend because of work, so I went alone. The tour itself went well. Looking back, though, the owner came across as a little pushy and he made me slightly uncomfortable. I brushed it off because the property was beautiful, had amazing views of the Smoky Mountains, and seemed like exactly what we wanted. We moved forward with the booking process. We both signed the contract, paid the required fees, and everything seemed completely normal. For context, my fiancée has a very gender-neutral name, so nothing in the paperwork necessarily indicated we were a same-sex couple.I later scheduled a second tour so she could actually see the venue.

This is where things get odd.

The owner and his wife were noticeably cold. They rushed us through the tour, barely spoke to us, and the wife wouldn't even make eye contact with either of us. It was awkward enough that we both noticed it. A short time later, I got an email saying our wedding date had suddenly been "double booked" and that our contract was now null and void, effective immediately. I replied asking if there had been some mistake or if another date was available…nothing. I followed up again, still nothing. They completely ghosted us.

My fiancée thinks we should just move on, cut our losses, and book somewhere else. We actually have a tour next week with another venue that's openly LGBTQ+ friendly, so I'm hopeful that'll work out. Out of curiosity, I started researching this venue more. I won't name them for legal reasons, but they're located in Cosby, TN. I also found out they're banned from LGBTQ+-friendly wedding platforms like The Knot (the red flags were right there I suppose). What really surprised me was that despite having a whopping FORTY ONE five-star reviews, I found multiple stories from other same-sex couples describing almost the exact same experience we had. We aren't the first couple this has happened to, and from what I found, we're not even the TENTH. Now I'm wondering if I'm connecting dots that aren't actually there, or if this is as obvious as it feels. Is it possible the date really was double booked? Sure. But the timing, everything being fine until they met us together, their behavior during that second tour, then immediately voiding our contract and refusing to communicate, feels like too much to be a coincidence. So... am I overreacting for thinking they canceled our wedding because we're a same sex couple?

Reddit consensus: NOT OVERREACTING (NOR) (100% confidence)

Top comment: “NOR-They should at least refund you their fees… if it’s a homophobia thing they can’t possibly hold onto your deposit legally.”

Notable comment: “The way you phrased your question, NOR. It seems fairly clear what happened. Whether or not you want to somehow fight this would be my personal estimation of whether or not YOR, as you’d basically be fighting to patronize people who, if given the opportunity, would seemingly use that money to take away your rights. Additionally, if this became a court case, I find it incredibly hard to believe that you would get your desired outcome given the fact that the highest court in the land are a bunch of cultists.

In short, it feels like a lot of grief that you don’t need while doing a stressful thing (wedding planning is no small feat) that could backfire TREMENDOUSLY.

Just in case it isn’t explicitly clear with my comment, I’m so sorry this is happening to you and no one should be treated in this manner over who they are.”

View on Reddit

Salons Sabatier venue in Marseille, Provence region of France