Photo/Illutration The novel coronavirus pandemic has put wedding venues in dire straits. A Nagoya chapel stands quiet on a Sunday in late February. (Asahi Shimbun file photo)

After a couple signed up with a wedding venue operator for a wedding ceremony to be held in June 2020, they decided to cancel it amid the novel coronavirus pandemic. 

Now, more than one year later, they are embroiled in civil lawsuits in Tokyo District Court, with the operator seeking a payment of 2.1 million yen ($19,130) and the couple wanting the return of their 200,000 yen deposit.

According to the National Consumer Affairs Center of Japan, there has been an increasing number of consultations about problems with wedding venue operators amid the pandemic.

The center reported receiving about 4,000 inquiries from across the country in 2020. Of these, more than 80 percent involved cancellations of wedding venues.

Some couples said they were unwilling to pay the more than 1 million yen in cancellation fees when it wasn't their fault, while others said they were billed for guests whose attendance was omitted to hold the ceremony on a smaller scale than planned.

In the case of the couple being sued in Tokyo District Court, they canceled their wedding even after the lifting of the first state of emergency. 

"It comes down to whether or not it was reasonably possible to hold the ceremony immediately after the state of emergency was lifted," said Mansaku Kanada, the lawyer for the couple. "The court's legal judgment will serve as a guideline for people who are faced with difficulties through the cancellations of their wedding ceremonies."

The couple being sued claims that it was not their fault for having to cancel their big event and that they don't understand why they have to pay the fee.

But the operator argues that it would be forced into bankruptcy if cancellations were made without compensation across the board.

According to the legal complaint and other sources, the woman in her 20s and the man in his 30s living in the Kanto region signed up for a wedding ceremony at a Tokyo venue in February 2020.

With an estimated price of about 2.3 million yen, the ceremony was planned for June that year.

But the couple asked the operator to cancel their wedding ceremony in April when the government issued the first state of emergency due to the spread of COVID-19.

The couple insisted that they decided to cancel the ceremony due to unavoidable circumstances that would make the contract impossible to execute at the time of natural disasters and other conditions, and that there should be no cancellation fee.

They had several meetings to decide on the bouquet style but had yet to place an order. For that reason, they thought that the operator had not invested any money into the ceremony, and that it was unreasonable to have to pay an expensive cancellation fee when they also notified the company of their intent to cancel. 

Meanwhile, the company told the couple that the cancellation was made voluntarily and it would be unacceptable unless they paid the cancellation fee in accordance with the provisions of the contract.

The two parties failed to reach a mutual understanding over the cancellation.

The operator filed a lawsuit against the couple in May this year, demanding they pay about 2.1 million yen, deducting the deposit fee of 200,000 yen from the estimate.

The company points out that it was possible for the ceremony to take place because the date was immediately after the state of emergency had been lifted and that the cancellation hadn't gone into effect by the day of the ceremony.

It adds that the couple needs to pay the same-day cancellation fee.

Meanwhile, the couple filed a lawsuit against the operator demanding the return of the 200,000 yen they had already paid, saying that cancellation was unavoidable.

"The operator only sticks to its viewpoint, repeatedly saying 'as mentioned in the provisions,'" the husband said. "Any wedding ceremony is a special time in anyone's life, and we didn't want to cancel it."

The couple also discussed postponing the ceremony with the operator, but they were told it was unacceptable to postpone it for more than eight months.

"With prospects remaining uncertain due to the coronavirus pandemic, it wasn't a feasible schedule," the husband added, recalling how they were left in confusion at the time.

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