Cancelled Wedding May Still Be A Costly One

By Amy E. Feldman

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - It's wedding season! Who pays if the wedding's called off?

In perhaps the most ill-conceived April Fool's joke ever, a wealthy Montreal man fake proposed to his long time lover. Yeah, chicks dig it when you joke about spending your life together.

If you and the jerk formerly known as your fiancé break up before the wedding, who has to pay for the wedding that never was if you've already contracted for the hall, the music, and the caterer?

When you plan a wedding there are innumerable details - in addition to getting the groom there - like the invitations, the hall, the food, the flowers, the music - even the chaplain gets paid. But if the wedding doesn't happen, someone still has to pay. Who?

It's not necessarily the jerk who broke the engagement - it's the jerk who signed the contract. If you think that he's treating the wedding like a big joke, the time to call it off is before you sign on the dotted line. And, if you find that your name is all over the payment schedules but your beloved's is nowhere to be seen, it may seem unromantic to ask yourself why you're on the hook alone but better than being the butt of the expensive joke.