Negotiating wedding reception- any advice?

talkhard

I've just booked to meet with the Wedding Coordinator at a wedding venue I'd ideally like to hold my wedding in.

Do you have any advice about how to negotiate the cost of a wedding breakfast and evening reception?

I don't know whether its cheeky to ask for some of the things I want.. is it wrong to ask whether we can scrap desert and use the wedding cake? Is it best to sound like you've got loads of other options for them to give you a good deal or are you honest about really wanting the reception there?

I've never really negotiated anything in my life and I'm not sure what mindset I should be going in with- have I got the upper hand because I want to spend money there or will I have to declare psychological warfare in order to get the cost down??!

Any advice would be welcome. We're thinking of February 2010 and the date is currently free at this venue. It's an indepedent hotel in the centre of town.

x

SmlSave

Hello and congrats on your engagement. :T

I'm looking at venues at the moment and have found that the wedding coordinators have all been nice and easy to chat too.

So far all but one has said that its fine for us to replace pudding with our cake - so you should be fine there!

In fact. when I think about it - I haven't negotiated at all! I just asked if we have to stick to their set package or can we adapt it and when they say its not set in stone I tell them what my ideal day would be

I think you'l'know how to go about getting what you want when you see the Coordinator - My main piece of advise would be not to show how much you want the place and let them know your budget.

Hope this helps!

aimee21j

We negotiated...the best they could do was to waive corkage on champagne and other alcohol except for wine. It's definately worth asking if they have any flexibility in their prices.

Sammy_Girl

We managed to negotiate on minimum numbers. Our reception venue has a min number of 80 for the sit down. We managed to get them agree to min of 70. They wouldn't budge on price though - shame lol

Good luck. Just go prepared and be confident with what you want. Try not to be too eager as they may stand their ground.