Venue £18 pp more expensive than originally said?

countingthepennies395

Hi all,

Looking for some general tips on haggling venue prices and also advice on costs.

We have 50 people coming to our ceremony and 100 coming to our reception. We saw an amazing venue that we really loved, and before we went to view it we were told it was £X per head, including ‘a private drinks reception’. From this I assumed at least one drink was included in the cost.

When I met again with the wedding co-ordinator and her boss, I was informed that no drinks were included, and drinks were £18 pp extra, in addition to the evening buffet cost for all 100 guests. A lot of packages I’ve seen say ‘add additional evening guests for this price’, so I was a bit shocked to find out the original cost didn’t even include evening food for our ceremony guests.

When I got home, I had another email from the same place with the same price breakdown, however, where it previously said ‘private drinks reception’, it now said ‘private drinks reception room’ and then had the extra ‘drinks package’ costs at the bottom.

Considering we are flexible with our date, and are willing to have it between October-November next year, I was hoping that I could haggle the price, but I’m not sure if I should mention ‘oh, I thought you said drinks were included?’. The place itself is very swanky, and I did feel on the second viewing they had a bit of a take it or leave it approach when I asked if they had DIY options or different packages, but they just have the one apparently.

Any advice would be much appreciated!

cashewnut

I wouldn't touch this venue with a bargepole. Were the cheaper initial costs in writing? You just say "we were told". If they can't get their prices straight to potential customers what else will they muck up before the big day?

MysteryMe

Doesn't sound a very friendly place and if they have misled once then there would always be the worry that they would pull some other stunt in order to get more money.