Can you get your wedding deposit back?

It depends on who cancels and what your contract says. If the supplier fails to provide the service, the law gives you a refund of all or part of the price, or the service done again.¹ If you cancel, the contract terms and the Civil Transactions Law decide what you lose, and some terms are void under consumer law.

What if the venue or supplier does not deliver?

The executive regulations of the consumer law say that if a provider does not honour its service guarantee, you may choose:¹

1. a full refund if the service was not carried out
2. a partial refund for the part you did not receive
3. the service carried out again correctly, as contracted

The law itself says a provider must guarantee its service is free of defects, “otherwise it shall return the amount paid by the consumer or a part thereof, or correctly re-provide the service”.²

Is a non-refundable deposit legal?

The consumer law makes void any term that would exempt the provider from its obligations under the law, and bans any term that would cause the consumer harm.² The regulations list terms that fall foul of this, including terms that:¹

• let the provider end the contract on its own without giving you a right to compensation
• cancel or reduce your right to compensation when the provider breaks its obligations
• make you pay compensation that is “not appropriate to the actual damages” if you fail to meet your obligations
• refuse to refund the price of the goods or the service

The consumer law and its regulations do not mention deposits.

What if you are the one who cancels?

The Civil Transactions Law in force from 1 June 2026 sets the rule for earnest money (arboun). Paying it means the contract is final, unless your agreement or custom says otherwise. If you agreed that the earnest money is the price of withdrawing, either side may withdraw: if you withdraw you lose it, and if the supplier withdraws it returns the deposit “together with an equivalent amount”.³

Where a contract fixes a cancellation charge in advance, a court may reduce it if it was excessive or the work was partly done.³

What if neither of you is to blame?

If force majeure makes the contract impossible to perform, the obligations end and the contract is rescinded automatically, and you are both returned to where you were before.³ If exceptional, general events that no one could foresee make performance onerous, a court may reduce the obligation or rescind the contract.³

What must the invoice show?

The provider must give you an invoice in Arabic with the date, a description of the service, the price and the date the service will be provided. If the service is delivered in stages, the provider must give you a payment plan “linked to the completion of each stage”.¹²

The law covers suppliers on the mainland and in free zones.⁴ It defines a provider as “any legal person” offering a service.² Ask a freelancer for the licensed company you are contracting with.

Read your contract’s cancellation clause against these rules before you sign, and add up what you stand to lose in the deposit tracker.