Is negotiating a thing?

Even for my own wedding I did a little negotiating, lol. I think most vendors are willing to work with you, as long as you have real expectations. Be honest and tell them what you want, what your budget is, and they will tell you if they can or cannot do it. Feel free to check us out, we have a package for all wedding budgets. Hope this helps!

I wrote to 2-3 vendors I really really loved like this: "Hi, this is who I am. I've been following you on x and y for a while and love x, y, and z about your work. Our budget is x. I know it's a long shot, but is there any way you could make a package to work with us?" Most of them basically said "No way. Saturdays in July are where I make all my money." But it worked twice. 2 of our great vendors took off about $1000 for us each and just cut small things from the package (like a printed photo book).

So I wouldn't say "negotiate" per se, but if you are flexible, they might be able to make it work for you. Obviously don't lowball someone and offer $100 for $1000 work though; that's messed up lol.

Don't be afraid to negotiate, but don't be a dick about it either.

One of my colleagues primarily books weddings for the venue at our hotel. He can give discounts. He does give discounts. You know who he gives discounts to? People who are pleasant and kind and who seem like they would be a joy to work with. Definitely not to people who try to play hardball or come at him like they are entitled to something.

And if you are too far apart, don't waste their time and yours. You may be able to get something that would be $5200 for $5000, but you are not going to get it for $2000.

Finally, it's often easier to add extra things as freebies than it is to slash the price. My colleague loves to throw in a free champagne toast to close a deal. The actual cost of that is maybe a buck or two per drinking adult, but the retail is more like $10 each. That "thousand dollar value" is a huge selling point that doesn't cost the hotel a whole lot. The same is true for a lot of little extras.

Oh, and I have to disagree about the price match thing. Unless you are talking about a physical product like a wedding dress where the identical dress can be purchased from any number of sellers, vendors are not going to give a flying you-know-what that some other person is willing to perform the task for less. There will *always* be someone willing to charge less. It doesn't mean the more expensive vendor is worth less. As someone who works in sales, I respect an honest "We have $X to spend, is there any way to make that happen?" far more than a wheedling "But Joe's Discount Weddin' Shack only charges $99!"

We had a really bad financial crisis when I first started planning and I explained our situation to the vendors. They were very understanding and worked with me to do payment plans since I had two years to cover all payments. It all worked out ^-^

No it is definitely not rude to negotiate! Especially if you are getting married in the off season because vendors want the business! My FH is a paramedic and lots of vendors offer EMS/police/fire/military discounts. It's your wedding and your money!

Absolutely ask. Be respectful about what you are asking.

I don't ask for a discount because I don't want discount work.

Now, I am honest when a vendor is out of budget. Often times, I find they'll offer a customized package and that works. The rate is customized, but so is the work, to fit both vendor and us.

Following

The only thing we really negotiated was the caterer, which was by far our biggest expense. But we didn't ask them to do the same amount for the same price; we asked things like, "Are there certain ingredients we can choose that are less expensive?" So we cut out shrimp as one of the HDs and had fewer dessert options and things like that. They originally proposed three kinds of desserts in addition to the wedding cake, which seemed excessive. We stuck with just cake and cookies and ice cream and still had tons left over.