Contract review

Wedding contracts are long, and most couples sign them after a skim. Claude is very good at the part between the skim and the signature: reading every page, finding the clauses that matter, and telling you in plain words what they say.

It isn't a lawyer. It doesn't know the law where you live, it can misread a clause, and it can't tell you a contract is safe to sign. Anthropic's help page says to scrutinize any high-stakes advice from Claude. A five-figure venue contract is high stakes.

What to look for

The Contracts tab in the workbook lists these, so you check the same things in every contract. They come from Zola's, WeddingWire's and the BBB's advice on vendor contracts.

• What exactly you're getting. Services, hours, deliverables, names of items. Vague is bad.
• Date, times and place. Correct, and in writing.
• The total, and what it includes. Ask whether fees beyond the base price apply. The BBB lists gratuities and room rental as ones to ask about.
• Deposit. How much, and whether it's refundable. Zola notes deposits are usually non-refundable. WeddingWire notes some contracts refund part of it if you cancel by a set date.
• Payment schedule. When the rest is due, and how. Zola says to understand both the schedule and the method of payment.
• If you cancel. What you lose, and when.
• If they cancel or can't perform. What they owe you, and whether they find a replacement.
• Changing the date. Fees, and how far out you can move it.
• Force majeure. The clause for events outside anyone's control. Zola's point is worth keeping: it isn't a magic phrase, and what it covers is only what it says.
• Who shows up. For photographers and musicians especially. WeddingWire suggests asking who will actually photograph your wedding; the BBB suggests getting in writing who will play and for how long.
• Overtime. How it's charged.
• Delivery. When you get the photos or video, and in what form.
• Rights. For photos: what you can print and share, and what the photographer can use.
• Liability and insurance. Waivers, who pays for damage, and any insurance the venue requires of you.

The review prompt

Upload the contract as a PDF in a chat inside your project. Claude can read PDFs up to 1,000 pages, which covers any wedding contract.

This is the contract from [vendor] (attached). Go through it clause by clause against the checklist in our Contracts tab.

For each checklist item, give me:
- Found: yes, no, or unclear
- The exact wording, quoted, with the section number
- What it means for us, in plain words
- What could go wrong
- A question to ask the vendor, if any

Then list anything in the contract that's unusual or one-sided, anything that doesn't match the quote or our emails, and anything you think a lawyer should look at. Don't tell me whether to sign.

The quote-the-wording step matters. It lets you check Claude's reading against the actual text in seconds, which is the fastest way to catch a misreading.

Then compare against what you were promised:

Compare this contract with [vendor]'s quote and our email thread (both attached). List every place where the contract says something different from the quote or the emails: price, hours, items, dates, names.

Turning flags into questions

Most flags are answered by asking the vendor. Ask Claude to draft one email with all the questions, numbered, so the vendor can answer in one go. You send it (chapter 6).

If a vendor agrees to change something, get the change into the contract itself, or into a signed addendum. A friendly "don't worry about that" in an email isn't the same thing.

When to ask a human

Pay for a lawyer's review when the money is big, the terms are complicated, or something worries you and the vendor's answer doesn't settle it. Some common reasons:

• A large venue or planner contract with liability, indemnity or insurance clauses you don't fully follow.
• A cancellation or date-change clause that could cost you most of the contract.
• A vendor who won't put a promise in writing.
• Anything Claude marked "a lawyer should look at", or that the two of you read differently.

Bring the lawyer Claude's summary and question list. It makes the hour you pay for go further.

Insurance

Event insurance is its own product, with its own small print. Travelers' FAQ, as one example, says cancellation and postponement cover can reimburse non-recoverable deposits, and liability cover protects against injury or damage to third parties. It also notes that venues may ask you for proof of liability insurance, and that a change of heart isn't covered. Read the policy itself before you buy, the way you'd read a vendor contract, and ask the venue what it requires.

Pay in a way you can dispute

The FTC explains that the Fair Credit Billing Act lets you dispute credit card charges for things that weren't delivered as agreed. You have to write to the card issuer within 60 days of the first bill with the charge on it, and for quality disputes you first have to try to sort it out with the seller. Debit cards, cash and checks don't carry the same protection, which is why consumer agencies keep telling couples to pay deposits by credit card where they can. Check the FTC page, or ask your card issuer, how it applies to you.