Ugh, should I cancel this venue?

Our caterer is 30% of our total budget and almost as much as our venue is, which we rented for the whole weekend.

I'd say it's a steal. See if you can upgrade some stuff. Save a little extra possibly, I know it's about 11 months but it's doable.

If your venue was $4,000 and you gave them 50%, then you're out $2,000 if you sign with another venue. Honestly, I'd say screw it, lose the 2K and go elsewhere. Even if you could afford the catering prices, the fact that it's $10,000 over what they quoted you is absolutely ridiculous and speaks to a lack of honesty and integrity on their part (come on, no place raises prices that dramatically without knowing about it at the time of your meeting). I wouldn't surrender to this sleazy bait and switch. Go elsewhere.

I'd ask them to honor the prices they already gave you. If they won't do that, tell them you never would have booked the venue with these catering costs and ask them to refund your deposit. You have a lot of time until the wedding, so they may be willing to release your contract and rebook your date

@elizabeth it sounds like her 50% deposit was $4,000, not the total cost

The question is 2 fold...can you afford to lose $4250 and can you afford the 10k increase. Maybe cut your guest list so you won't lose the space and the 2k buyout. This is a tuff spot to be in

Lol, I'll break it down:

$4250 was the deposit, total cost is $8500. That's for the venue rental only.

Catering was expected to be $20K. Proposal I was sent is $30K (not including the "extras" that we'd need to add on...like they want to charge $5 pp for a champagne toast? Who does a wedding without a champagne toast? lol).

Total budget is $75K. So catering just went from about 27% of the budget to 40%.

Given how big the costs are that I'm going to have to incur from this point on, that's why I'm considering writing off the $4250 and just finding someplace else.

ETA: Guest list is 200 invited, 180 expected.

Skip the champagne toast. I'd rethink your wedding planner. Good luck!

I'm with Jacks

Agree with Jacks

I'm not sure if you've looked into outside caterers but most of the caterers we interviewed didn't plan to do any cooking onsite. So the kitchen thing might not be as big of an issue as you think?

I think u need to be happy and feel comfortable with the venue u go with. It makes all the difference?. They should be easy going and upfront with you. I say check somewhere else and lesson learned

So sorry you are going through this. I can see how it happened. I also appreciate that you shared your story. As we begin to negotiate terms with a venue, it's a good warning to others to secure both contracts at the same time. I would be really upset with your planner since you hired her for her experience. Hope it works out for you.

I'd tell the venue you are considering moving and see if that helps change their mind. If not, I'd find another venue. I know most venues have a non refundable deposit, but after my venue changed their vendor guidelines on me, they gave me back 50%. Regardless, I wouldn't use this caterer. That quote based on that guest list should get you more than the bare minimums with other caterers.

Sounds like the numbers came from your planner and not the caterer? That's on her, she should have gotten an updated quote before you signed the contract. I would be pushing her to negotiate on your behalf. If she works with the venue a lot and brings a lot of couples there she might be able to get them to come down a bit or at least throw in some stuff for free (like the champagne toast).

Have you really crunched the numbers for an outside caterer? I was having similar woes with the venue I wanted (hadn't put down a deposit yet) but their in house caterer was way out of our budget and they charge more for the venue if you use someone outside. I thought the discount to stay with their super expensive caterer was the cheaper option, but when I really crunched the numbers I'm saving a lot more by paying a little extra for the venue and using someone from outside.

And like someone else said, the caterer we ended up hiring is doing all of his cooking off site and only utilizing the venue kitchen as a staging area. So I'd find out more info on that, too. Can they just not COOK in the kitchen, or is it a no use whatsoever situation?

If you feel like you need to stay you can look into a food truck....

We are having a "fine-foods" food truck come to our wedding. They cook on the food truck bring food in to be plated and serve. It is significantly cheaper than other caterers and it is giving us EXACTLY what we want.

It does seem like a sketchy place. I would recommend reviewing your contract and looking somewhere else if your budget allows. ALSO LOOK INTO WEDDING INSURANCE! it is a lifesaver and may be able to hep you out in this situation.

You would think since you signed the 2017 venue contract, they would use the 2017 caterer prices too. Why wouldn't they at least mention to you that to prices would go up for 2018 and give you a chance to buy then? I would bitch till I got my way. They were not upfront when they should have been.

I personally think the venue was over priced not the caterer.. I'm paying around the same pp for food at about 140 pp .. 75k is a pretty nice budget for 200 guests ...