Haggling!

Alibear

Hi everyone

I'm looking for some tips on haggling - not something I've really done before! We're going for exclusive use and the full price is based on 60 ceremony/wedding breakfast guests and 120 for the reception. We on't want 28-30 for the breakfast so guess that's a way to barter down? Also we're not going to be using the bridal suite as it's not accessible for my fiance, so there's another haggling tool!

Can anyone help me with more general things to say when discussing the price?

Cheers! x

ellay864

check what their actual pricing policy is first...a lot of venues have a charge for the venue itself ie just for the room(s)...then there's a charge per head for the meal etc. If you want to haggle you need to know properly what they charge for and then work on the bits where you think you have best chance - the room you cant access is a good one to deffo go for

Alibear

Thanks. We're going for exclusive use, ie hiring the whole hotel for the evening. We can 'sell' the hotel rooms ourselves at whatever price we like to make some money back from the cost of hiring the place. We thought this best as a lot of people are travelling quite far and think it would create a great atmosphere. We have a figure which includes everything (from ceremony, to wedding breakfast, evening buffet, midnight bacon sarnies!) but that's based on 60 people for the ceremony/breakfast (I think) and 120 evening guests. We only want about 30 ceremony guests so thought that would be a good way to get the price down to start with, as well as the bridal suite access problem. I'm basically just after general haggling tips. I'm sure the coordinators are used to being bartered down on price, I'm just wondering what the best way to approach this is?

Has anyone else haggled down venue prices?

Cheers,

A x

Rahven

Would be great to hear some tips, I am awful at haggling, only ever done it once in my life! It's silly but I just feel embarassed to do it

Alibear

Definitely! I think I would get into the swing of it once I start but it's just how to broach the subject and gauge what is reasonable and what isn't!

Rahven

Totally! I think as a culture we are scared of doing this in case it offends. In other countries it's expected and almost rude if you don't!

losingpatience

It might be a way to barter down, however, alot of venues having minimum guest numbers so this may not work in your favour as what some venues I viewed said was if your guest numbers falled below their minimum you would have to pay an additional charge. So I'd definitely ask whether they have minimum guest numbers.

Personally pretty much everything I've booked so far I've seen if I can get a discount. Your not offending them by asking, infact they tend to expect it and often inflate their prices so they can bring their prices down if need be.

I would just say I'm only planning on having x amounts of guests so are you willing to offer any discount because of this. The worst they'll say is no!

becca0417

Ive got the cost of our venue down dramatically after meeting with the coordinator. I just asked how we could work together to get the price down.

Zimm190

We got the cost down a lot (£1700 less than we were willing to go up to!) by asking if we could change some things on the venue's suggested menu. We're serving our wedding cake for dessert, for which they're not charging us, instead of their £6 per person desserts, which saves us £600. We asked if they could do sausage and mash as the main - they said yes and came back with a price per person that was £4 cheaper than the cheapest option on their suggested menu.

They're an independent restaurant and very reasonable and flexible; they're keen on local and traditional food and so are we so they seemed happy to accommodate our changes that reflect this. Our wedding is in November so I think that gives us a bit more leeway on the negotiating side too as it's out of season. We said we'd looked at several places and this was our favourite by a mile (true) but it was the most expensive and we reeeeally hoped we could get the price down a bit! We also hinted strongly that our families are big drinkers (also true!) so they'd make lots at the bar!

Chrissy1981

I find keeping quiet is a brilliant way to haggle. You say something like, it's too much, then they go ooh aah, what can we do. You KEEP QUIET!!! They then have to fill the silence by either confirming their price (b*gger!) or hopefully giving you an offer (yay!). I have to do this at work quite a bit and I find the best way is to be super friendly but KEEP QUIET! Make them do the work. Good luck and let us know how you get on!

Alibear

Thanks guys, really helpful. I definitely think I've got something to go on with the fact we have fewer wedding guests than their package allows, and the whole bridal suite lack of accessibility thing... And my friends and family are big drinkers too, so I'll be sure to drop that into the convo!