venue surcharge for a saturday wedding?

bettyB_2

Hey all, was wondering if I could get some advice?

We went to see a lovely wedding venue recently, it's a golf club with a few banquet rooms, bars and a ceremony room.

They offer 'packages' - eg. silver package, gold etc... - but you can also mix and match choices to get a bespoke package at a different price.

The thing I want advice on, is that the venue charges 10% extra on top of the total price for a saturday wedding 'because they are so popular' BUT the packages and the room hire are more expensive on a saturday anyway (for instance, banquet room on a monday £600, on a saturday £1100) so I dont understand why we'd have to pay a surcharge on top of an already inflated price?!

I can understand a surcharge on food and drink that day as you have to pay for the waiters, chef, servers etc to come in on a saturday, but i can't work out why the room hire should be put up by 10% when it's already 75% the price of a monday! seems odd to randomly increase an already high price!

Is this normal for a wedding venue? Is it negotiable?? (We're getting married in the low season, do you think we might be able to negotiate it?) - perhaps only 5% since it's not high season, or only 10% on the food and drink but not the room hire? Or am i being conned into paying extra for no apparent reason???

Advice needed!! thanks!!!

roses

Hmm, sounds very strange. Surely the price difference already takes into account the popularity of the day, why an extra surcharge!

First of all, how much do similar venues cost?
With this information, go and tell them you found xxx which is cheaper but you really prefer the golf club but to get married there is a bit over your budget and is there anything they can do to match the price.

roses

Double post sorry!

double_mummy

everything in life is negotiable!!!!!!!!

as roses says haggle haggle then haggle some more

fix a price in your head that you will not go above and dont go above it if they wont come down tell them im sorry thats just tooo much money and walk out

use the time of year and anything else you have

trying_2_b_good

I'd directly point this out to them. Don't mess around - if it's puzzling you, let them know. If you don't like the answer and can't negotiate down, tell them and book elsewhere.

marywooyeah

yes I'd ask them about it too, it sounds like they are exploiting people to be honest and just hoping people will blindly hand over their money. people seem to expect weddings to cost a lot but they don't have to, and costs often go up with unscrupulous people inflating costs as soon as they hear the word "wedding".

bettyB_2

Thanks for the advice everyone!! glad i'm not the only one who thinks it's a bit suss!! going to see a similar place during the week, so will comare their prices and then maybe try to negotiate one or the other down a bit.
Seems very weird to pay a random 10% extra on top of already inflated prices!!
Hopefully they are just trying their luck and are used to people speaking up about it!

SplanK

It sounds as though they are doing the usual "oh its a wedding, lets stick the wedding tax on it and bleed every penny from the customer because they will pay it!"

It does seem VERY odd to have a surcharge on a Sat wedding - most weddings are on a Sat!

Either which way - ignore the 10% surcharge - find out the exact cost of the venue, figure out how much you want to pay and negotiate a deal!

purple.sarah

Many venues have higher prices for Saturdays because they are popular but it's not normal to add a surcharge on top of that! Question it, negotiate and if you're not satisfied with the answers you get don't book there! I'd be worried what other extra charges they have that they're not as upfront about!