Force majeure

The clause in a venue or vendor contract that limits liability when circumstances outside anyone’s control make the event impossible: storms, fire, civil disruption, government orders. The two things to read it for are what it actually names and what it does with your money. Since the pandemic, practitioners specifically check whether pandemic or epidemic appear in the wording rather than assuming a generic “acts of God” line covers them. Many community venues in the Philippines do not issue formal contracts at all, working instead off a chat quote and a downpayment receipt, so the habit transfers rather than the paperwork: before you pay, ask in writing what happens to the money if weather or a suspension order takes the date, and whether it can move. Their reply in a chat thread is worth more than a clause you never asked for.

Source: Standard contract law, defined for events in Bizzabo’s event planning glossary as the clause limiting liability when uncontrollable circumstances cancel an event. The post-pandemic reading advice, meaning check for pandemic or epidemic named explicitly in the clause, comes from Linda in Whova’s risk management episode (7 Risk Management Strategies for Event Planners, around 33:37).

First used in: 1.7 · Risk, rules, and safety.