black friday wedding deals: what to check before you pay a deposit.

Black Friday is on 27 November this year, with Cyber Monday on 30 November. Over the next three weeks your inbox will fill with wedding offers too. Venues knock money off 2027 Fridays, photographers add a free hour, dress shops mark down last season's samples, and stationers run a percentage off everything.

Some of those are genuinely good. A few will cost you more than they save. The difference usually comes down to a couple of questions you can answer in ten minutes.

Would you have booked it anyway?

A discount is only a saving if it is on something already on your list. Twenty percent off a videographer you had not planned to hire is a new cost, not a saving.

Before the offers start, write down the suppliers you still need and roughly what you expected to pay. Then judge each deal against that list. If it is not on there, let it go.

Compare like with like

Offers are often built around the parts of a package that matter least. Before you get excited about the headline price, check:

• What is actually included. Hours of coverage, number of courses, how many guests the price assumes.
• Which dates it applies to. Many venue offers only cover Fridays, Sundays or the months between November and March.
• Whether VAT is included. Some supplier quotes leave it off.
• When the price is fixed. A 2027 package booked now should hold its price, not rise with next year's rate card.

Ask for the offer in writing, with the dates it covers, before you pay anything.

Your cooling-off rights

This is the part most couples assume and few check.

According to Citizens Advice, if you arrange a service online, over the phone or by mail order, you normally get a 14-day cooling-off period, starting the day after you enter the contract. During that time you can cancel for any reason and get your money back. A contract signed at your home or somewhere like a wedding fair usually gets the same 14 days.

There are important exceptions. If you arrange the service at the supplier's own premises, such as the venue's office or the dress shop, you do not get a cooling-off period. Citizens Advice also lists accommodation and leisure services booked for a specific date among the exceptions, and a booking tied to your wedding date may fall into that. So read the cancellation terms rather than assuming you can change your mind.

If the supplier starts work during the cooling-off period because you asked them to, they can keep enough to cover what they have already done.

For goods bought online, like decorations or favours, you usually have 14 days to cancel after delivery. Items made to your own specification, such as personalised stationery with your names and date printed on it, are normally excluded.

Pay the deposit on a credit card if you can

Under Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act, your credit card provider is jointly responsible if something goes wrong with a purchase costing more than £100 and no more than £30,000. Which? points out that you are covered for the full amount even if you only paid the deposit on the card.

So if a supplier goes out of business or does not deliver, you have a second route to your money. Debit cards do not carry Section 75. Your bank may still help through chargeback, but that is a voluntary scheme rather than a legal right.

Section 75 covers each item, and generally requires that you paid the supplier directly. Paying through a third-party payment service can break that link.

Watch the payment schedule

A cheap deposit can hide an awkward schedule. Before you book, find out:

1. How much the deposit is, and whether it is refundable.
2. When each further payment is due, and how much.
3. What happens if you need to move your date.

Put every payment date in one place. Several suppliers booked in the same week often want their final balances in the same month, and that is usually the month before the wedding.

A simple way to handle the offers

Give yourselves a rule: no booking on the day you first see an offer. Sleep on it, read the contract, and check it against your list. Most Black Friday deals run for a few days, and the good ones will still be there tomorrow.

When you do book, add the supplier, the deposit and the balance date to your wedding budget tracker straight away. Then the offer is a decision you made, not a surprise in March.