NJ Wedding Venue Stole Couple’s Deposit After COVID Cancellation, Suit Says

MORRIS COUNTY, NJ — A Florida couple who had plans to get married in Morris County six years ago is claiming that their chosen wedding venue has not returned their deposit after the wedding was cancelled during COVID.

In April 2020, Shammi Patel and Jankee Dani entered a contract with The Meadow Wood venue in Randolph to host a wedding with 300 guests and a reception with 375. The couple put down a $25,000 deposit with plans to wed in October.

Due to the COVID lockdown, the venue could not host the October wedding.

Patel and Dani are now suing The Meadow Wood for breach of contract since the wedding never took place, and their deposit was never refunded, the suit says.

The suit adds that the couple did not incur any food-related costs with the venue, as they had outside caterers planned, nor any venue-related costs, as the wedding was cancelled more than 45 days before it was set to take place.

The couple cited fraud and breach of contract, and is seeking a $25,000 refund, punitive damages for failure to refund the deposit, attorney’s fees, costs of suit, and other relief “the court deems just and equitable.”

The Meadow Wood owner, Georgios Panagiotopoulos, called the accusations in the suit false, inaccurate, misleading, and disparaging, adding that "our attorneys plan on pursuing all avenues of legal action."