Golf Club: Civil Unions Group Canceled Event After Lack of Business

officials said they made every effort to accommodate the civil unions group looking to celebrate the first day same-sex couples could marry in the state. And in the end, the group just didn’t have enough business and opted out.

In April, Dream Gay Weddings announced it would host a  at the golf club Wednesday to mark the first day civil unions were allowed in Illinois. The event was reported to have more than 60 gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender couples set to get hitched and more than 600 well-wishers set to attend a reception.

Dream Gay Weddings coordinator Cheryl Hooten said she was forced to opt out of the contract or she would be on the hook for $18,000.

Golf club officials say otherwise.

“We would never turn away business and if she had business to bring to us, we would have loved to have her,” said Mike Williams, the golf club’s general manager. “If she had business to bring to us, we would have loved to have her but the reality is that two weeks before the event, she had zero couples signed up.”

Williams said, as with any wedding or event where the event’s success is based on how many people attend, a deposit schedule is set up. And Dream Gay Weddings was no different, he said.

“We have to plan for these events and need to know what is going on,” Williams said. “There are outside rentals and there were in this case, that we would be held liable for … staffing and whatnot. But at no point would we force her to cancel the event. And we didn’t. In fact, we let her out of the contract so she’s not on the hook [for the money].”

Hooten said the golf club didn’t publicize the event enough and essentially misled her on their sales pitch.

“It was all sunshine blown up my skirt,” she said. “They had this great and wonderful event and told me from the beginning that they would publicize it on Facebook and Twitter and help spread the word.

"Then they were pushing $18,000 on me. I said, ‘Can’t the mayor’s office make a statement?’ or ‘Can’t you guys make one statement or follow me on Twitter?’ They told me they couldn’t do that because it was a publicly owned course.”

Williams said the golf club would never undermine a client like that and noted that what is in the best interest for the event coordinators is essentially in the best interest of the golf club.

“We would never undermine an event that was to be held here because that would be detrimental to our own business,” he said. “The reality was they were not having success because they were charging $2,000 per couple to get married and take part in a group reception. And they found out no one was willing to pay that money to be part of that reception.”

Hooten said she had a few couples lined up to get married but declined to provide specific numbers on how many couples were committed to the event.

Further, Williams said Hooten sent the golf club an email outlining her intent to opt out of the contract. Nowhere in the email does Hooten mention or infer that she was forced to opt out.

Here are the contents of the email, which was forwarded to Bolingbrook Patch by Williams:

"To whom it may concern:

It saddens me to inform you that there has been a recent push by the GLBT community to look upon Civil Unions as discrimination and not something worthy celebration; until full marriage equality is achieved in Illinois I do not expect this perception to change.  This new and unforeseen turn of events since we began working on this event in March coupled with the current depressed economic condition has dealt a crippling blow to what was expected to be an overwhelming successful event.  Therefore, due to a lack of interested participants, I would ask that you please consider this formal and written notice that I am canceling the gay wedding event I had scheduled for 6/2/11 at your facility. 

I sincerely appreciate all the efforts made by your staff regarding this event; their efforts will be always be remembered."

Hooten said no anti-gay feelings toward civil unions or the gay community were apparent. Meanwhile, Williams said the golf club has already performed a number of same-sex receptions and has roughly four more planned for this wedding season.