Negotiating venue cost, Have you done it? How?

Don't get discouraged!! I had a 90 pp budget in North Jersey. Most venues laughed me out the door (not kidding with this- one venue laughed loudly in my face) But I was able to find a really accommodating venue. When I emailed him and asked him what his absolute lowest price was without removing any food, my jaw dropped when he said $90. He came down from 155pp. They are used to it! Most brides try to negotiate, it's nothing new to them. The time of year definitely helps. Our venue told us that because we were in November, he had a little more wiggle room with pricing! Best of luck to you! And remember, no matter where you choose to get married, it will be perfect! It's you and your loved ones that make it perfect!

Look at Thursdays. Seriously.

Its hard to get a venue to drop prices because of food costs...they have to make a profit somewhere. Where do have more likelihood to success with venues on negotiations is the extras like lightly, upgraded chairs, table linens, ect. Things that don't cost the venue any money as they already have on hand, it was a one time purchase for them. Or asking them to create a new menu. You'd be surprised but most places/restaurants don't make much profit off of selling you a steak, its the sides and salads that they make a killer on

I am actually going through this right now. I have fallen in love with a venue but FW is not in love with the price and at the end of the day, the cost only included the venue rental, food and open bar. No chairs, tables, linens, flatware, glasses, literally nothing else. I've been in constant communication with the manager and we have worked to create a menu suit our wants/needs. I explained that we really love the venue and we kept coming up with different ideas. As it stands now, the estimate I have, I will have to change my date to Friday but I have gotten a price discount of $400 and they are now including all of the chairs, linens, tables, flatware, glasses and all the extras. Definitely try changing your day and if you can maybe move to March or February, it might help with the cost as well.

I started to compare packages of the different venues in the same area as the venue that I wanted. For example all the other venue we looked at in the Inner Harbor. So my venue was only going to offer us 4 passed horderves in their standard package but we told them that everyone else in the area was offering five. So we got five no extra cost. It helpful to know what other comparable venues offer in the area and go in with the numbers.

We always try to negotiate everything -- here are a few phrases we have used (and have worked). Be sure that you are respectful and polite in the way you are asking, and wait after you ask. Listen closely to what they tell you they can or can't do and believe them:

"Is that the absolute best you can do on price?"

"Are you running any promotions right now?"

"Is there any way we could do XX price instead?" (Be reasonable)

"Can you throw in XX without charge?"

"If we agree to xx, is there any chance you can upgrade us to xx?"

Good luck.

Rachel....you know you'll get five kinds but the same overall number that you'd get before........

Ladies, I really appreciate all your advice so far. I wanted to keep you guys up to date of what is going on. So I reached out to the venue I really like and my date that I love is 4/2/17, However I told the banquet manager I was willing to change that, based on earlier advice, to cut cost. I will provide you guys with the emails back and forth and please tell me what you think. If you think I should ask for a Thursday or Friday date to possibly get the cost to go lower. Or keep the Sunday, and not try to bargain anymore ? I really want to get closer to $10k. The current offer puts me at $13k. But at the same time I do want to be reasonable and flexible. Please read, especially @Celia Milton and @LivelyBride .......................... Thanks in advance

Good afternoon Will. I wanted to touch base with you after visiting a couple of other venues and comparing them to yours. I would first like to mention that the few venues I went to see the last 2 days were very nice. However, I want to be honest with you. I truly love the xxxxx, and would really love to host my wedding there but your current offer makes it cost prohibitive for me. The other venue I have in mind will match my max price of $89 pp. Is there some wiggle room for you to possibly match that price or come close to it ? If so, I will be happy to give you my business. I would be willing to change the wedding date as well to accommodate that .If that is something that you can't accommodate, I completely understand. Either way I appreciate your time and patience. Thanks so much.

hi christina,

thanks for update. i will review all when i return to the office monday evening and get back to you for sure. i appreciate your candor and honesty . many brides like yourself do truly fall in love with the xxxxx, but also must be able to maintain budget goals . i respect that for sure.

i know not what package you are comparing our menu /facility to, but the xxxxx is an upscale facility catering to 1 event at a time which unfortunately would make us a bit more costly than a multiple event location. please do consider all the enhancements that we did include in your estimate which could add to your cost at another venue. for example, we included the centerpieces which based on 20 tables that alone would save you 3000 or 15 pp based on 200 guests. we also do not add any additional service /gratuity charges to your bill as some venues

but i will look at all and get back to you with a best case scenario. how many people will you be guaranteeing and for what date is your quote for? also is the 89 pp including taxes and service charges or are they additional? thank you you will hear from me soon

will

Hi Will.

Thanks for getting back to me. I appreciate you looking into this for me. The other venue does cater to one wedding as well. The alternate dates for the price given was November 5, 2017 or February 19,2017. The $89 pp does not include taxes. They mentioned they don't charge extra service charge/gratuity. The total amount of people would be 125. Thanks again.

hi christine

wanted to get back to you after talking with the owner. we can offer you better pricing for the sunday feb 5 or feb 12 , 2017 at the xxxxx. your new pricing will be $100 +tax based on 130 guests, in addition, we will include the martini bar($1000), ceremony($750) and centerpieces (14 tables @$100/ $1400). these enhancements total $3150. based on 130 guests, this will save you $24 pp that you would not have to spend elsewhere. i hope the above makes it possible to host your vip wedding at the xxxxx...

speak with you soon will

hi christina

just checking back if you have reviewed our latest proposal and how it would compare favorably when all considered at the xxxxx compared to your other venue locations. hope we're still your number one consideration . regards will

Hi Will, thank you for the follow up as well as the revisions and inclusions. I am discussing things with my fiancé and father and will let you know what the decision will be soon. Thank you

Oh I excluded the name of the venue and put xxx in the place of it because I'm not sure if I can reveal that. Not sure how that works

Our guest count was below their minimum and we were able to reduce food costs. A friend of mine negotiated the cost of the venue a couple of months before her wedding. She called and said she had found a different venue and was cancelling with the original venue. The original venue agreed to match the price of the alternate venue. (She never had an alternate, but bluffed and luckily it worked out for her.)

It's great they are willing to work with you, it sounds like the venue includes a lot of great stuff in with that pricing as well.

Yeah, because lying to your venue is a great way to work and venues will let you cancel without a penalty. Not.

I most definitely did it! It never hurts to ask!

I never thought I could afford a wedding at a nice hotel but thanks to me opening my mouth and saying something we are.

Somehow the director of catering sales called me first and I said that I couldn't afford that price. He asked me to come on in to talk about different options. My FH was livid because he knew we couldn't afford that nice of a place. Then he dropped the price and told him that we would do it. Then my grandma told me of the same hotel just a different location. I went there and the price was even lower. The director of catering emailed me saying I needed to book because some other couple was looking at our same date (which I'm pretty sure he just made that up). I told him we found a better deal and then he dropped our price again plus included a few more things. We took it!

We didn't negotiate to lower our prices. But since our venue is almost all-inclusive, we were able to talk to the specific vendors and get some extras thrown in for free (or very minimal costs) due to the wedding being off-season.

@NJBride2016 if you dont mind me asking what is the name of the place you are working with. i have been looking every where and all the venues are way out of our budget.

@leticia From your other post, you said you were looking to spend about $6,000 with 120 people. Unfortunately, you would need to spend about double for my venue. I would look into places that don't offer their own catering, because it will be really hard to find a banquet hall that will only cost you 6,000 for 120 people in NJ. What is possible though, it to find a space with a low rental cost and have a local restaurant cater! Or if you can find a nice enough restaurant, have it right there! Women's clubs, wineries, and other buildings could be rented out that allow outside catering (and tables and chairs provided- renting is a headache). I just connected with you, if you want to PM me your location in NJ, I would be happy to give you suggestions about rentable buildings.

EDIT: sentences....grr.

Jersey Jen -- where were you able to negotiate your pp from $130 to $90?