How much off wedding reception cost?

mjgreen60

Hi all,

Am wanting to pick the minds of those who have booked wedding receptions before now!!

We are looking at a saturday wedding next summer, so needless to say that it isn't going to be the cheapest affair!!

Our reception venue does exclusive use of the venue, which includes 13 bedrooms at £9500. This however doesn't include food/drink etc!!

On top of this, they have 3 further double bedrooms in outlying buildings which are normally £235 per room per night, these are not included in the exclusive price however we are interested in using these as well for guests staying.

This gives a total of £10205, plus I would quite like the granary rooms for myself (groom) plus my family on the night before, so £10910 total.

I was interested to know how much negotiating people have been able to do in the past? We haven't formally negotiated with them yet, just suggested that it might be a bit out of our budge and they have so far offered £500 off the exclusive use fee so total is £10410.

Was going to ring them tomorrow to see if they would give an extra 500 off the exclusive use plus about 250 per night off the 3 outlying rooms. This would bring it down to about £9400 (plus food, drink etc).

What do people think to this? Are they likely to move any further? Should I push for more?

Sorry for the long post, but wanted to include all the details!!

Many thanks,

mj

Glad

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mjgreen60

Thanks Glad - sorry bout that

mj

mypie

Those figures are a hell of alot of money. You sure that is their best price? I would def haggle

bacard1

Where are you looking at booking? That is a lot money without food\drink

Sammy85_2

OMG are you having it at a royal palace? We looked at a posh hotel and with the works incl food/drinks for 80 day and 120 night, and 18 rooms for the night it was only £7k

mjgreen60

It's a pretty sizeable country house hotel with lots of grounds. Absolutely gorgeous. I know it is pricey, but in the area it is far and away the best location and all the other places, although not as good, are a similar price.

Any thoughts on how much I could realistically get off the price?

Lavendyr

I would ask for a package price including food & drink. Price it all up with them, for everything, and then ask what deal they could do you if you got all of it from them and booked it on the spot. Ask if they can hit a particular round figure (e.g. if it all comes to £13k, ask if they could do it for £11.5k all in).

Ask also if they can give you a bigger discount for paying down a bigger deposit in advance - this is helpful for their cashflow and they will have your money for longer so they can do more with it.

floss2

Lavendyr wrote: »

I would ask for a package price including food & drink. Price it all up with them, for everything, and then ask what deal they could do you if you got all of it from them and booked it on the spot. Ask if they can hit a particular round figure (e.g. if it all comes to £13k, ask if they could do it for £11.5k all in).

Ask also if they can give you a bigger discount for paying down a bigger deposit in advance - this is helpful for their cashflow and they will have your money for longer so they can do more with it.

I would start lower than this, I'd suggest £10k for immediate booking and 25% deposit. You can always come up a bit as their figure comes down.

Lavendyr

Yeah, it was just an example

Horace

Actually that price isnt unreasonable - most exclusive use venues charge the catering as extra.

I would ask whether or not they could give any discount on the other rooms as you want to book the whole venue, negotiate on your catering..as a suggestion have two courses instead of 3 and serve your wedding cake as a dessert (especially if your cake is chocolate or sponge)