Food & Beverage Min. Negotiation - Hilton Rockwall, tx

Ooof, good luck, OP. Hotels that make their money on F&B typically won’t want to give you ceremony space only. Could you see about hosting a brunch the morning after the wedding and see if that could be applied to an F&B minimum?

I could see potentially negotiating this for a mid-week afternoon ceremony, but I can’t see why they’d give up making their food and beverage minimum for a Saturday evening in wedding season. That would just be poor business on their part.

Unfortunately, I agree with the previous posters- food and beverage minimums are where these businesses make their money. I don’t foresee them forfeiting those profits on a Saturday night in late August (prime wedding season), when they can easily fill that date with someone else who is happy to meet those minimums. You can definitely ask if they would be willing to forego the minimums, but I would be prepared for them to say no.

I really can't see how they would give you a room without having any revenue from the space.

I agree with PPs. They are unlikely to allow you to use the ceremony space without the F&B minimums being met. They can *easily* fill that Saturday with a wedding which will meet the F&B minimums. The room charges don't cover their event space (or staff) and they can easily fill those rooms if you pull out. Plus, unless you are paying for the rooms, you can't guarantee your guests stay there, nor can you guarantee two nights.

What about offering to pay a rental fee for the space?

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You can offer, but unless you're looking to offer thousands of dollars, they aren't likely to budge. What about just getting married at your reception space? Or have the reception at the hotel as well, and meet their minimums? It seems very convoluted to have the ceremony at a hotel event space and then move elsewhere for the reception.

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We want to give our guests a very unique experience by having the reception on a boat that docks right at the harbour right in front of the hotel, instead of the cookie cutter reception in a hotel banquet hall with DJ, etc. And because it's a hindu wedding ceremony, it's near impossible to have it on the boat.

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Okay, first - no need to be judgy about other people's weddings. We didn't have ours at a banquet hall either - but I would never call someone who did's wedding cookie cutter. It's rude.

Second, that makes sense that you wouldn't be able to have the ceremony on the boat. In this instance, I would look for another location for the ceremony. It is very likely that the hotel isn't going to give you the room for anything less than thousands of dollars (even if it's less than the typical minimums) because they don't *need* to. Another couple will be perfectly happy to rent that space AND meet the minimums.

Ceremonies have minimal costs involved and they know this. Receptions are where they make their revenue. Unfortunately I don’t see that they will be willing to negotiate on this because it is not in their favor financially to do so. Your best bet is have the ceremony at your reception venue.

Did they mention to you before you booked that this was their policy? Or haven't you booked yet? Why do you want to only have a ceremony there and the reception elsewhere? Can you do both at the place you are having your reception and just use the hotel for staying the night?