When you have spoken to your venue about food...

hayleythedaisy

Have they got a normal menu? If so compare this with the wedding menu - ours was very similar except for the couple of quid stuck on to each price! That was what first made me realise they could do a discount!
They should let you have the wedding menu, if they don't suggest dishing menus out on the day and letting people choose from the restaurant menu - they will probably go white thinking of 40 random meals to cook and serve at once!!!

hayleythedaisy

If you want some help send me the costs of your place and the numbers and I'll work it out for you - I am a geek!!! (You can PM me if you don't want to make it public!!)

shellsuit

hayleythedaisy wrote: »

Have they got a normal menu? If so compare this with the wedding menu - ours was very similar except for the couple of quid stuck on to each price! That was what first made me realise they could do a discount!
They should let you have the wedding menu, if they don't suggest dishing menus out on the day and letting people choose from the restaurant menu - they will probably go white thinking of 40 random meals to cook and serve at once!!!

That's what we're going to do! Aswell as being much cheaper, there are loads more options on the normal restaurants menus too! (There are 2 restaurants in the hotel).

hayleythedaisy wrote: »

If you want some help send me the costs of your place and the numbers and I'll work it out for you - I am a geek!!! (You can PM me if you don't want to make it public!!)

As a quicky off the top of my head, these are the cheapest options...

£6 starter
£18 mains
£6 dessert
£4 welcome drink pp

And we're having 40 people to the day.


The normal menu, a starter is £5ish, a mains is around £11 and a dessert is around £5. A normal drink, say £2 -£3. Not much of a saving, but like I said, we would have much more choice.


We're OK with the evening food, we're having 100(ish) and we've got it to just under a grand for the hot buffet.


We were only going to have canapes and drinks after the ceremony, but the people invited to the ceremony are our nearest and dearest so we've decided we want to feed them something substantial!

pretzelnut

The only place i HAVE NOT haggled with is the venue, mainly because they were doing us such a good price anyway. Plus all the other stuff that they already include in the price. I was more than happy with the price they quoted in fact i almost fell of my chair as i thought it would be well over my budget but it actually came in a bit under (not that they know that).

BUT when we were visiting then in the 1st instance i constantly kept saying to DF so that the events manager could just hear ''OMG i absolutely love it but i think its a little out of our budget so i wont get to excited'' as we were getting married on a thursday i think she heard what i was saying and gave us a better price without me asking.

Our venue isnt a hotel, it is a specific wedding and conference centre, if there No wedding on conference the place is closed.

shellsuit

princesswoo wrote: »

The only place i HAVE NOT haggled with is the venue, mainly because they were doing us such a good price anyway. Plus all the other stuff that they already include in the price. I was more than happy with the price they quoted in fact i almost fell of my chair as i thought it would be well over my budget but it actually came in a bit under (not that they know that).

BUT when we were visiting then in the 1st instance i constantly kept saying to DF so that the events manager could just hear ''OMG i absolutely love it but i think its a little out of our budget so i wont get to excited'' as we were getting married on a thursday i think she heard what i was saying and gave us a better price without me asking.

You were lucky weren't you!!

I'll have to sigh and shake my head a few times and look at OH and say "I don't think we're gonna be able to do this" with a glum face lol

We're moving house in 3 weeks, so money is really tight at the moment!! :cool:

pretzelnut

Could they not create a menu that fits your budget better. Most venues only list a small amount of what they actually can do, they normally list the most popular, or others to give you an idea, speaking to them is best as you will find out what they can and cant do. I cant see minimum numbers being an issue, unless it a hog roast and you'd be daft to have one of those for any less than 100 guests.

Theres no harm in asking for a discount, but what if they refuse, will you still go ahead at that price anyway?

Id also be asking why bar drinks are £3 and wedding drinks are £4.

Youve paid your deposit so they kinda have you a little bit there as you've already booked it, we didnt pay any money until we'd agreed a price, then when we were happy we paid our deposit.

The only thing our venue doesnt allow is us brinking our own drink but i have a bottle of cristal champagne that DF bought me when our daughter was born that we would like to drink whilst in the gardens having photo's so we will have to negotiate on that one i think but i cant see it being a problem as we will be outside and its 1 bottle.

hayleythedaisy

Right here you go, I think it is all right but it is midnight!!! And I've had a couple of bottles lol.

Wedding menu option

Starter, main and dessert, total £1200

Welcome drink £160

Hot Buffet £1000

Grand total (list price) £2360

Minus 10% = £2124

Minus 15% = £2006

Minus 17% = £1958.50

Minus 20% = £1888

Normal Menu option

Starter, main and dessert total £840

Normal drink £100

Hot Buffet £1000

Grand Total (list price) £1940

Minus 10% = £1746

Minus 15% = £1649

Minus 17% = £1610.20

Minus 20% = £1552

So say you decided you wanted to go for the Normal menu and thought a 15% discount is fair, I would start at the 20% discount, but rounded down, eg: £1552 rounded down to £1500.

Tell them this is your budget and for it you want, 3 courses from the normal menu, a drink per person, and the hot buffet, also teas and coffees after the meal, your room for the night and your parents’ rooms if you want!

Then wait for their response, for the above they may come back at £1750, (half way between the list price and yours.) You could say ok drop the extra rooms and for £1700 we’ve got a deal. Obviously this is just an example but this is pretty much what we did…

shellsuit

princesswoo wrote: »

Could they not create a menu that fits your budget better. Most venues only list a small amount of what they actually can do, they normally list the most popular, or others to give you an idea, speaking to them is best as you will find out what they can and cant do. I cant see minimum numbers being an issue, unless it a hog roast and you'd be daft to have one of those for any less than 100 guests.

Theres no harm in asking for a discount, but what if they refuse, will you still go ahead at that price anyway?

Id also be asking why bar drinks are £3 and wedding drinks are £4.

Youve paid your deposit so they kinda have you a little bit there as you've already booked it, we didnt pay any money until we'd agreed a price, then when we were happy we paid our deposit.

The only thing our venue doesnt allow is us brinking our own drink but i have a bottle of cristal champagne that DF bought me when our daughter was born that we would like to drink whilst in the gardens having photo's so we will have to negotiate on that one i think but i cant see it being a problem as we will be outside and its 1 bottle.

We can only ask and see how we get on.

Like I said before, originally we were only going to have drinks and canapes, which was fine for the budget, but recently we've been discussing how we're gonna have to offer something more, especially as we'll have a few 'oldies' there, who aren't going to last until the evening buffet on a few canapes.

We will ask about the drinks, it's £4 for a glass of Bucks Fizz! I'm sure ladies would rather have wine, oldies would rather have coffee and the blokes would rather have a pint, which wouldn't cost anywhere near £4 pp.

shellsuit

hayleythedaisy wrote: »

Right here you go, I think it is all right but it is midnight!!! And I've had a couple of bottles lol.

Wedding menu option


Starter, main and dessert, total £1200


Welcome drink £160


Hot Buffet £1000


Grand total (list price) £2360


Minus 10% = £2124


Minus 15% = £2006


Minus 17% = £1958.50


Minus 20% = £1888

Normal Menu option


Starter, main and dessert total £840


Normal drink £100


Hot Buffet £1000


Grand Total (list price) £1940


Minus 10% = £1746


Minus 15% = £1649


Minus 17% = £1610.20


Minus 20% = £1552

So say you decided you wanted to go for the Normal menu and thought a 15% discount is fair, I would start at the 20% discount, but rounded down, eg: £1552 rounded down to £1500.


Tell them this is your budget and for it you want, 3 courses from the normal menu, a drink per person, and the hot buffet, also teas and coffees after the meal, your room for the night and your parents’ rooms if you want!

Then wait for their response, for the above they may come back at £1750, (half way between the list price and yours.) You could say ok drop the extra rooms and for £1700 we’ve got a deal. Obviously this is just an example but this is pretty much what we did…

Wow, that's brill Hayley, thank you!!! Just showed OH and he is well impressed and also very happy with some of those figures!

We'll sit down before the meeting, and price everything up properly, so that we know the exact before and after discounts figures, then take them with us.

We know how exactly how much we have to spend, it's just trying to get the most for it!

Thanks again, you're a star! :T

hayleythedaisy

If you want any more help give me a shout, although I won't be on for a few days.
Glad it's helped.
XX

(Must go to bed now - OH is telling me off!!)