Terms, Files & Conduct

If You Need to Cancel or Change Your Booking

Our cancellation and postponement policy explained plainly: what happens to your deposit, how postponements work, what happens if we ever need to cancel, and what happens if circumstances beyond anyone's control affect your date.

7 min readUpdated 1 February 2026

Cancelling or changing a wedding booking is never a conversation anyone hopes to have. When it does happen, you deserve to know exactly where you stand — clearly, and in advance. This guide sets out our cancellation and postponement policy in plain terms: what happens to your deposit, how postponements work, what happens in the rare event that we need to cancel, and what happens if circumstances beyond anyone's control affect your date.

Why This Policy Exists

We are a busy studio, but every wedding date is a single, finite thing. We can only be in one place on any given day.

The moment your deposit clears, we apply an instant lock to your date. From that point on, we stop taking enquiries and we decline other bookings for that day. There is no waiting period and no grace window — the lock goes on as soon as payment is received. Once it is on, the opportunity cost is real and immediate, even if a cancellation arrives only hours later, because the other couples who wanted that date have already been turned away.

This policy reflects that operational reality. It is not a punitive stance toward customers — it is simply the mechanism by which a studio holds a date exclusively for you.

For your specific booking, please refer to your booking confirmation.

What Happens When You Cancel

If you need to cancel, the process is calm and final:

  • Tell us in writing. Email is best. We will acknowledge your cancellation as soon as we reasonably can.
  • We confirm the position. You will receive a short written settlement summary setting out what has been paid, what is retained, and that no further payment is sought.
  • The deposit is forfeit. In line with the policy below, the deposit is retained.
  • We do not chase you for more. Beyond any sums already contractually due, we will not pursue additional payment.
  • Your file is closed. We release your date, and the matter is settled.

There is no drawn-out back-and-forth. The aim is clarity and finality for both sides.

For your specific booking, please refer to your booking confirmation.

Why Deposits Are Non-Refundable in Every Customer-Initiated Cancellation

A deposit is not an arbitrary fee. It reflects the real and immediate cost to us of holding your date exclusively — a single, finite date that we can no longer offer to anyone else once it is booked.

Your deposit reflects:

  • Date reservation — your day is held exclusively for you from the moment payment clears.
  • Opportunity cost — the other bookings we declined for that date, which we cannot recover.
  • Team scheduling — the planning and allocation of our people around your event.
  • Pre-production work — the planning, correspondence, and preparation already under way.
  • The practical impossibility of re-filling the date — most weddings are booked many months ahead, so a late-cancelled date almost always stays empty.

This is why the deposit is non-refundable in all customer-initiated cancellations, regardless of timing. It is not a penalty and it does not scale with how early or late you cancel — it is the fixed mechanism by which the date was held for you in the first place.

For your specific booking, please refer to your booking confirmation.

Services Already Delivered

Some bookings include pre-event services — a couple or engagement shoot, a consultation, or pre-wedding planning calls. Once these have taken place, they are completed work.

Completed services remain billable and are not refundable on cancellation. This applies whether they were invoiced separately, bundled into your package, or provided as a goodwill gesture. Cancelling your wedding booking does not retroactively refund the value of work that has already been performed and delivered.

For your specific booking, please refer to your booking confirmation.

If Cine Events Needs to Cancel

We hold ourselves to the same standard we ask of you — and in the rare event that the position is reversed, the outcome is firmly in your favour.

If we ever need to cancel your booking — for example due to severe illness, equipment failure beyond our backup capacity, or a genuine emergency — then:

  • You are refunded for the coverage that was not delivered. If we cannot attend at all, that means the full amount paid for the missed coverage; if we attend but cannot complete the booking, it means the portion that was not delivered.
  • We deploy a backup team wherever one is available. Where our lead team cannot attend, our first priority is always to honour your booking by sending a backup team so your day is still covered.
  • We help you find an alternative if no backup is available. We will support you in sourcing a suitable alternative supplier so you are not left without coverage.

This bilateral structure matters. It is what makes the whole policy fair and enforceable: you are protected if we cannot perform, just as the date reservation is protected if you cannot proceed.

For your specific booking, please refer to your booking confirmation.

Postponement vs Cancellation

Postponing is not the same as cancelling, and it is treated very differently.

If you move your event to a new date rather than cancelling it, your deposit and all monies paid transfer to the new date, subject to our team's availability. A postponement is not a cancellation event, so nothing is forfeit.

Our standard terms are straightforward: you may postpone your booking once, with at least 45 days notice, to a new date within 12 months of the original date, subject to team availability. Further postponements are considered at the studio's discretion. If you think your date may need to move, the earlier you tell us, the more options we can usually offer.

For your specific booking, please refer to your booking confirmation.

Circumstances Beyond Our Control

Some circumstances are beyond anyone's control — a government lockdown, severe weather, a major travel disruption, a serious accident, a natural disaster, or similar events that make the wedding impossible to hold or prevent us from attending.

Where this happens, we will always try to move your booking to a new date, and your deposit and any payments transfer to that date wherever possible. Where the event simply cannot go ahead, we are not able to offer a refund, because the date was held exclusively for you and the costs of doing so have already been incurred. For this reason, we strongly recommend that every couple takes out wedding insurance, which is designed to cover exactly these situations.

For your specific booking, please refer to your booking confirmation.

Where to Find More Detail

For how arrival times, coverage hours, overtime, and refunds are handled specifically, see our guide on arrival, coverage hours and our refund policy.

How to Raise a Concern About a Cancellation Decision

If you disagree with how a cancellation has been handled, we want to hear from you. Please follow our complaint resolution process: raise your concern in writing, and give us a fair opportunity to look into it and respond.

For your specific booking, please refer to your booking confirmation. This policy describes the studio's general position on cancellations and does not replace any term in your signed contract.

1

DEPOSIT SECURES THE DATE

Once paid, your deposit locks your date and stops us taking other bookings for it. It is non-refundable in all customer-initiated cancellations, regardless of timing.

2

WE CANCEL — YOU'RE COVERED

If we cancel or cannot attend, you are refunded for the coverage that was not delivered. Where possible, we deploy a backup team so your booking is still honoured and your day is covered.

3

CIRCUMSTANCES BEYOND OUR CONTROL

If your event cannot go ahead for reasons beyond our control — such as a lockdown, severe weather, or major travel disruption — we are not able to offer a refund, but we will always try to move your booking to a new date.

Frequently Asked Questions

It means the deposit is forfeit on any customer-initiated cancellation. There is no scaling by timing, no exception for cancelling early, and no partial refund. The reason is the instant lock: once your deposit clears, we stop taking other bookings for that date, so the opportunity is gone whether you cancel months later or hours later. For your specific booking, please refer to your booking confirmation.
We treat these situations with real care. While the deposit itself remains non-refundable in line with our standard policy, we will do our best to work with you on alternatives — most often by offering to move your booking to a future date subject to our team's availability, with your deposit and any payments transferring to the new date wherever possible. Please talk to us as early as you can so we can help. For your specific booking, please refer to your booking confirmation.
Postponement is not a cancellation. Your deposit and any payments transfer to the new date, subject to our team's availability. Our standard terms allow you to postpone once, with at least 45 days notice, to a new date within 12 months of the original date, subject to team availability. Further postponements are considered at the studio's discretion. For your specific booking, please refer to your booking confirmation.
Services already delivered — such as a couple shoot, a consultation, or pre-event planning calls — are completed work and are not refundable on cancellation. This applies whether they were invoiced separately, bundled into your package, or provided as a goodwill gesture. Cancelling the wedding booking does not retroactively refund the value of work already performed. For your specific booking, please refer to your booking confirmation.
You are refunded for the coverage that was not delivered. Wherever a backup team is available, we deploy one so that your booking is still honoured and your day is covered. Where no backup is available, we support you in finding a suitable alternative supplier. For your specific booking, please refer to your booking confirmation.
Our deposit policy is set out in your booking contract and is applied to every booking in the same way. If you feel it has not been applied correctly, the best first step is to raise it with us directly through our complaint process so we can look into it and talk it through with you. For your specific booking, please refer to your booking confirmation.

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