Strict cancellation policies can be good and bad.

So, what would you do if your engagement ended, and while most vendors provided some sort of refund, one tried to keep your money and still expected you to give up the venue?

Would you make way for someone else to have a “beautiful wedding?” Or would you plan another event and use the space you paid for?

In the following story, one man finds himself in this situation after his engagement ends suddenly.

Here’s what he did.

AITAH for keeping my reception venue when I couldn’t get a refund?

My fiancée cheated on me, and I found out about six weeks ago. I called off our wedding. Sorry to be so matter-of-fact about it, but I’m still not okay.

I managed to get partial refunds on almost everything. The photographer only kept $200 of our deposit.

Our church doesn’t charge members for using it for weddings. But they also did not allow alcohol in their reception hall, so we booked that separately.

The venue had a strict policy of not giving back any money without three months’ notice. Since I only gave a month and a half and had paid in full, I was getting nothing back.

His brother came up with a good plan.

I was angry, but my brother actually came up with a good plan.

We held a party with a Mario Kart tournament. We had a huge screen and a projector. I knew I had a bunch of friends free that night. So we did that instead. Twenty and thirty-something idiots playing a children’s game for bragging rights.

We had a blast. I felt like I was in college again.

I had sent my ex her part of every deposit, but obviously, nothing for the venue. I have not heard from her.

Now, some people think he was wrong for it.

But the venue wanted me to release the date. I said I would if they gave me a refund. They refused, so I refused. Since we got catering separately, I didn’t even need to tip the staff.

Now I am hearing that I screwed over the venue and staff by taking up room they could have rented to another event.

Some people say I kept someone from having a beautiful wedding there. I don’t care. I don’t owe the venue an opportunity to be paid twice. I honestly would have accepted it if they kept our 30% deposit. But they kept the whole thing. We didn’t leave a mess, so they probably saved on janitorial services.

AITA?

Wow! Some people need to mind their own business.

Let’s check out what the people over at Reddit think about this story.

And they would’ve profited even more!

According to this reader, he did the right thing.

Here’s someone who doesn’t see that he did anything wrong.

Yet another person who thinks the venue should’ve handled it better.

He used what he paid for! There’s absolutely no harm in that whatsoever.

If you thought that was an interesting story, check out what happened when a family gave their in-laws a free place to stay in exchange for babysitting, but things changed when they don’t hold up their end of the bargain.