When it comes to your venue, did you haggle at all? I'm not sure if it's the 'done thing' so I don't want to pay too much if the prices are inflated for that! If you did, how did you do it? The thought of doing it in person makes me feel a bit ill- I've been emailing with them, so I'd prefer to do that! Lastly, and sorry to be so crass, but how much did you knock off the price? Thank you- I'm completely clueless!
We haggled a bit but ours is a registered charity venue so we couldnt get as much off as we hoped. What we said was something along the lines of it is a little out of our price range but we would love to get married there. Is there anything you can do to help us get it within our price range. We ended up getting our stay overnight at the venue for free which would have cost about £300. We also did the same for the caterers and got about £10 per head off. I would definitely give it a go x
We booked ours in 2016 and bartered with them to lock in 2016 prices we're not getting married till June 2018 . We just said how much we'd love to get married at their venue but we'd not be happy paying the inflated prices of the wedding year. They had no problem taking it down and saved us around £2k. All you need to keep in mind is that they are not going to cancel you for asking for a cheaper rate, the worst that can happen is the say no. Happy planning xx
We didn't haggle at all.
The ceremony and reception venues come to £1795 and that includes all staff, tablewear and the dj. We thought that was an excellent price to get married at a place we love.
We did however ask for reduce rates per head per child for our evening meal.
They're not charging us for the babies (about 7 of them) and then different rates for the under 5's and under 12's, which is saving us loads x
we fully intend to haggle or a least for them to throw in some freebies haha. Dont ask dont get I guess haha. x
I haggled with the cost for exclusivity of the venue.... They wanted an extra £1000 on top of the packet price, but I argued that all my guests would be booking a night in their hotel anyway - turns out my guests filled all their rooms so the hotel management was happy anyway and didn't loose out!
Also haggled with a few extra canapés to be included and also wanted flowers on my tables instead of candelabras that were included - they happily swapped them to vases/flowers for me included as well. If you don't ask you don't get :-) good luck X
We did it. Knocked nearly a grand off and they threw in so much! Were getting married on a Sunday and found another (not as nice venue) that had a deal on. We told our venue what was being offered. They couldn't match it but gave us a lower offer. Wasn't as happy with it so went back with what it'd like and they improved it again! - all via email.... There's alot of profit made in weddings so just try it x x
We told the venue - the one we wanted the most - the price other venues had offered us. They came back with a lower price and with more to offer. It's a less cheeky way of getting what you want
Joe Robinson
Yes! We took a quote in from a well known hotel & said can u match this bcuz we like this venue better but its abit pricey then she came back & sed yes nearly £2000 nocked off & the dj in with the price that should hav cost us £500 they didnt match thr cheaper price but we new that! Still saved a few grand
Yes we did (well fiancé did as I'm not good at that sort of thing!). He just said we really love your venue and it's our number one choice but it's a bit above our maximum budget is there anything you can do. They said they'd have a look and then came back a day later with a reduced price (I can't remember how much now, I think about £500). All they can do is say no!
No we didn't haggle. Our venue is really popular and exactly what we want. We didn't want to risk losing our day. I think haggling is more for a carboot sale than in a business.
We didn't haggle with the venue as they did an amazing package for very little money but did haggle with the photographer, dress shop, and videographer. Saved a few hundred by doing it x
I think it depends on your venue. We tried to but because our venue is popular they said no unfortunately. It is our perfect venue so we committed to pay the full price. This was after researching absolutely everywhere first. As everyone else has said always worth a try.. you're not losing anything and have everything to gain. Good luck!
No we didn't haggle. We gave them our absolute maximum budget and made sure we were clear on what was included in the price.
we didn't haggle but did ask for little extras. like my room the night before for free and a private breakfast for my family the following morning xx
Yes. Dont haggle the day you view. Tell them you have a few more to view and leave it a few days. Then contact by email, its a lot easier to haggle on paper. Ours was so cheap, venue 600 and ceremony 100. Got money off the food and chivari chairs. And swapped a few things they were offering. Just dont take the mickey with what you are asking for. X
Most places have set packages you can pick from but look out for extras which you may not want which will reduce price.
If you pay a deposit for your venue and written confirmation at time of deposit what the prices are venue is obliged to hold the price.
Our Hilton venue put us straight and said they don't need to drop the price as it gets booked up but we loved the venue so paid anyway
I didn't want a traditional 3 course meal and also was not happy to pay for little ones to eat. So I haggled what was included in the package and am not paying for under 3's to eat! Don't ask you don't get!! Xx
We haggled with our marquee hire company. We found a few competitive prices, but said we wanted to go with them, and would they match the price or offer a discount. They gave us a 5% discount so saved a few hundred. X
We kind of haggled but more just asked them to tailor the price for us. We wanted the last date in their off peak time and a lower number of maximum guests. All was agreed and was about to book it but the church wouldn't do that date but could give us the week after. The week after was the first weekend in peak season. They at first didn't want to give us the original price or number of guests. I left them hanging for the weekend and they then emailed me a second time saying they could give us the package we wanted and then threw in some freebies. We saved 2900 but our date wasn't really a popular time so had that flexibility.
We haggled, 10k package, they knocked £800 off as we wanted to supply our own wine, got it from Tesco for £300, so £500 saved!
Ours honoured 2014 prices for a 2016 wedding, saving about £1500
We asked for their winter deal ending 2017 to be carried into 2018, they agreed and we saved around £2200, its worth looking at the packages they do and seeing if you can tweak them to suit you xx
I didn't haggle as such but because I didn't have full minimum numbers we worked out what we would do with the rest of the money. They came up with suggestions as did I and we got them all! x
We didn't haggle at all but mainly because we are getting married in peak wedding season and there were already a couple of deals on offer.
Just ask politely if there is any movement on the price. We had a package deal but because we had our wedding on a Monday and we declined the roulette table, sweet cart and pony rides we got it reduced. You need to have a little but of leverage though, if it's a popular venue with a set price for a Saturday in spring/summer then they aren't likely to haggle as they'll easily fill the slot with another wedding. X
We ended up managing to secure our dream date (a Saturday on bank holiday weekend) at a discounted rate as the wedding co-ordinator at our chosen venue was making a lot of mistakes and taking ages to respond to emails. In the end I sent a strongly worded email to state the issues we'd experienced and my proposal for the date change at cheaper rate in order to happily continue forward with them. I was nervous they'd say it wouldn't be possible but they came back immediately to say ok! So we've managed to save a couple of grand.
I had a package deal that included 50 at the wedding breakfast. I only had 30 coming so I asked if they were willing to swap the 20 people out for a DJ and 3 double rooms for the night for both sets of parents and me and my husband to stay in. They agreed so I saved money there. I did this all over email and TBH if they said no then I wouldn't have held it against them. I was pushing my luck really but it paid off, so I was ecstatic.
We didn't haggle, I was just glad to get my dream venue on a Saturday I summer (it's a popular wedding venue!). I guess it depends a bit how ind me and they are; if someone else would happily pay full price might not get far but worth the ask. We did however refuse to pay the exclusive use and negotiated to have all the rooms held for us anyway. And they have given us a kids price that per head is only 15% of the adult price.
We locked in the 2015 price for our wedding (4 weeks to go!) And I asked for the bridal suite and another room to be included the night before for myself and bridesmaids - they gave us the bridal suite. Not huge savings but it all helps x
This is great to know, I'm terrible at haggling but my partner loves a challenge so think i'll leave him to see how he gets on :)
Haggle as much as you can ! All venues up their price and are prepared to bring it down ! They also have lots of extras they can add in.. extra nights stay at the venue / increased food and drink packages ! What's the worst that happens they decline you ??? We saved probably £2000 total xx
I didn't even think about it but I wouldn't no I way too awkward for that
We haggled and got from 17k down to 12k, a Saturday in august, we also changed a few things, like champagne to presecco, no tea or coffee and a third of a bottle of wine instead of half - this was all face to face haggling, but then we postponed the wedding due to me falling pregnant and they put the price up to 18k! Tried to haggle by e-mail, didn't work so just cancelled in the end! And now have baby number 2 on the way! Good luck
I felt ours was a really good deal so I didn't haggle. If I had fallen in love with a more expensive venue, I would have been direct and asked what extras they could include or was there 'wriggle' room in the price or told them we had a budget lower than what their cost was x
Venues will ALWAYS be asked to reduce the rate. It's a daily occurrence so don't feel bad for asking. If they can do it then they will but they also won't feel bad saying no if they can't. They are more likely to be willing to give you 'added value' i.e. Throwing some stuff into the price, than lowering the rate. Give it a go, you've got nothing to lose and they won't think bad of you for it. As long as you're not too aggressive. Just say it's a little out of our price range and if they can do it for X or throw in X.
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