What's negotiable?

Negotiable meaning what? Not necessary or negotiating prices.

I'm not sure what you mean?

I mean I guess its all negotiable. As my mom always said, "It never hurts to ask." if you are asking in terms of negotiating price. Otherwise if you want to have a wedding, you need a venue, whether its a formal venue like a church or event space or an informal venue like a park. Otherwise technically menu's, cake, flowers and even alcohol are not necessary, so they would be negotiable in that sense. What is the real issue here? Budget concerns? If we have more info we can be more helpful!

ETA: The reason your wedding planner isn't negotiating is that likely she is getting a cut of the price of everything you are booking.

I have a wedding planner, and she doesn't negotiate on my behalf. I read somewhere that everything is negotiable, so I'm trying to decide if she is protecting the vendors side of things over my budget. My bidget did go up over 20k since we started this process so I'm trying to cut corners where I can. We started at 30 and now we're at 55

Makes me want to elope

Everything is negotiable..... If your wedding planner isn't doing it.... Do it yourself and find a new wedding planner.

You started your budget at 30K and went up to 55? And you have a planner? Honestly, this sounds more like you need to fire your planner. They should have been keeping you on budget, not going over, especially not over 20K.

Holy crap. Seriously find a new planner. A good one keeps you on budget and a great one saves you money.

25k over your budget WITH a planner? unless this is because you've added a whole load of either people or "extras" you didnt originally think you'd want, your planner is failing you BIG TIME.

I look around instead of negotiate , but u should negotiate. I kinda negotiate with my florist, but negotiate is more like both taking a step back not one demand lower price and still want the same amount of stuff. I asked my florist for a smaller flower decoration on the ceremony area to cut the cost.

Honestly it isn't her fault. She kept us in budget, but we insisted on seeing a venue that was out of budget and of course fell in love with it. It's 10k just to walk in the door. She's been great about recommending caterers, bands, and keeping us in the know on other fees that could sneak up on us. The problem is I asked her if she would negotiate on my behalf and she doesn't. I guess she doesn't want to beat up her vendors that she works closely with. I get it. But if I need to get involved and negotiate that's annoying too. She cost 5k.

I wish my budget was 20k. We are getting married and haven't spent over 10k on everything. I'm simple and doing a lot of stuff myself.

The wedding coordinator that my co-worker worked with got 10% of every vendors price as part of her payment/contract. I would also assume that she is working more on the side of the vendors. There is also the possibility that she is getting kick back from the vendors you are booking as well.

That's a nice addition to a contract! Wish I'd have known about that before we signed the contract. Oh well, I'm sure her value is there and I've found her immensely helpful with venue selections. It's a destination wedding so I don't know the area at all. She's my eyes and ears. I can always get the number and let her know I'm going to ask for a discount. No big deal. Just bummed weddings cost so much. It's seriously just a party.

Yes, you can negotiate, within reason. Your planner should be helping you with this and/or her contacts should be giving you special pricing because of the volume of business she refers to them. She should NOT be getting kickbacks from them -- that is a conflict of interest.

Always ask "Is this the best you can do?" and see what they say. Some vendors are willing to come down on price to book you and some are not. Some can throw something in for you.

Not just in wedding planning, but in life...everything is negotiable. Ask. Always ask.

Good luck.

I would suggest looking at venues within your budget first, that will be your biggest way to save on your budget. Looking at venues way over your budget is only going to cause heartache if you can't book it in the end.

Well, looks like you've already stated that it's your own fault for going over budget. Although the wedding planner still should have tried to keep you close to what you set.

Honestly, I bet I know what happen. You say that x was your budget, and she was going to work with that. But then you went for a venue that is 10k to "just walk in the door" (a third of your original budget and you only have a venue, the bare minimum of a venue), so she's going to believe that you don't really care about the budget.

Anyways. If you've already signed a contract, I don't think there is any way to negotiate anything. Only suggestion would be to start cutting on things.

If your budget was 20k and its now coming in at 55 then she is not doing her job full stop. Part of the job is to work within a budget right? How many guests are you having? What is the average cost of weddings in your area? Sounds like she is taking you for a ride... Or just really, really terrible at her job.

Weddings cost a lot yes, especially since it's just "a party" yes. To use your own words. But it sounds like this is your own doing. That she tried to tell you that you were going over budget but you insisted. It's like trying on dresses. You don't even put it on if you can't afford it. And weddings don't have to be $25k over budget. So there really isn't room for complaint here. Other than buyer's remorse maybe.

I negotiated everything. Well I shouldn't really use the word negotiate. I was just honest with vendors and told them that I was looking to be at x dollars. Most of them worked within my budget or close to it!

I think it's a little silly that she won't negotiate for you, but that isn't stopping you from doing it. If you haven't signed contracts yet, I would absolutely negotiate.