Reception Bargaining

[NuggetBrain]

So is there anyone here that didn''t do any bargaining or negotiating with their reception site / caterer? We signed the contract and put the deposit down without doing any negotiating and now I''m thinking we should have. Nothing is set except for the date, but once you sign a contract you really don''t have much room to negotiate because they know you''re not going anywhere else.

 

[sunnyd]

We didn''t either...but I think we got a damn good deal. Negotiating it lower may have insulted the guy.

 

[Hudson_Hawk]

If you''ve signed a contract on the date (not financials), then it''s in the venue''s best interest to work with you and your budget. Go in and say you have to cut your budget. See what they offer...

 

[emeraldlover1]

We tried and they wouldn''t budge. Then, 6 months later the place dropped their prices cause they weren''t booked up. It makes me wish we pushed a little harder in the beginning. We asked for them to come down after we signed and it did nothing for our cause. Its a done deal so I would just let it go.

 

[Elmorton]

We didn''t negotiate with our venue (the price was already very, very low), but we did ask for extras (and they did things free of charge, or cut typical fees) after we''d signed the contract. We ended up doing our RD in the same building, so that was part of their willingness to do things for us (plus it was a great venue that doesn''t typically do weddings).

The place we DID negotiate like crazy was our catering - I think we may have signed an initial contract before setting the menu? I can''t remember (the venue had a contract with our caterer, so it''s not like there were other options). Anyway, the price was set based on difficulty/price of menu items and alcohol, so we made suggestions, switched items out, etc. Our caterer must have hated us! But he made a great menu that fell well within our budget. And, since we made it very clear that we were on a budget, a week before the wedding, we got a call from him that a previous event ordered too much wine - would we like their excess bottles at a clearance rate? Oh heck yes! So, even if you''ve signed contracts and have everything set, sometimes if you make it clear to your vendor that you''re looking to cut feasible corners, they might find out ways to help you.

 

[meresal]

Nugget, we didn''t... however, our venue books a reception every single weekend of the year. So, we had no room for bargaining. There was already another girl waiting for us to decide between 7/11 and 7/25, and she was going to take whichever we didn''t use. That was 10 months out from the wedding.

 

[gryffindor]

I''m researching receptions right now and every time someone quotes me a price, all I can think is "hmmm I wonder how bad they want us and what they''ll negotiate." Luckily my parents drive a hard bargain and I''m not entirely sold on any one place so I''m prepared to walk away.

Please share more stories about negotiating your receptions!

 

[Hudson_Hawk]

My take on negotiating is that it doesn''t hurt to ask. The worst they can do is say no. So where''s the risk?