If you really want to save some mula on your wedding day, you really can't be shy or embarassed about asking for discounts! I just wanted to start off by saying that just because I find that in our American culture, we generally don't try to bargain. At the end of the day, who cares!? Are you really going to see or know that person again? Probably not. Plus, it's nothing personal, just business :)
Is your reception going to be at a church?
Generally, if you call your local church, they will already have a set price for their wedding ceremony fee. Be sure to ask what exactly is included in their price. For example, my wedding is going to be held at a church which includes a bridal changing room, pastor, organist, and coordinator.
How to bargain with the church
After you know exactly what services the church will provide, you can sit down with your fiance and figure out what services you don't want or need. My fiance and I decided to have his own church pastor officiate the wedding. So, when I told the church we would provide our own pastor, they said they could knock off $100.00. My fiance and I are still in the process of considering whether we want an organist to play during the ceremony just because we really don't like the sound of an organ. Once we know for sure whether we want an their organist, I plan to call the church to ask if they can give us another discount since we won't be needing their organist.
Another way to get more bang for your buck is asking the church to include more services such as an usher. Be creative and try to think of other ways to get more value for your money.
Is your reception going to be at a hotel?
When I first started to call around the different venues for a wedding reception, I was seriously discouraged and annoyed. Anytime I mentioned the word "wedding", it seemed like their prices would skyrocket! I read online somewhere that we should try to avoid telling the venues that it's for a wedding, but I just thought this was nearly impossible to do.
I had no intentions of calling a local hotel only because I know hotels can charge a lot for everything! But, for some reason, I decided to call a local Hilton hotel. At first they said I had to spend a food and beverage (F&B) minimum of $8,000.00. But, I was able to work my way down all the way to $6,500.00!!
What is Food & Beverage Minimum
What some hotels will do is they will have you spend a minimum food and beverage amount instead of charging you a separate room rental fee. For example, the hotel won't charge you a specific amount to rent the place, but you will have to spend a certain amount by ordering foods and drinks directly from the hotel.
How to bargain with the hotel
- Make sure you're talking with the manager or someone who can make the final decision
- Ask the hotel to upgrade the honeymoon room to a suite
- Ask the hotel to provide complimentary breakfast for the next day
- Ask the hotel to waive projector and mic rental fees
- Ask the hotel to lower the F&B minimum (you will have a leverage if you're wedding is off-season like in the fall or winter and if it's on a weekday)
- Tell the hotel you'll book a certain number of rooms (this should give you some bargaining power)
- Ask the hotel to waive any cake cutting fees
- Ask the hotel to allow outside catering each hotel has different insurance liabilities, so some may not allow outside catering at all. But if you say you want to have ethnic food, they may allow it)
- Ask the hotel to provide complimentary self-serve parking
- Ask the hotel provide coupons for breakfast for your guests who book a room
- Waive overtime charge for if and when your wedding goes over the allotted time
- Waive bartender service fees
How to bargain with other venues
I'm sure each venue will be different, but keep in mind that if your wedding is going to take place during the off-season months like January, February, March, November and December, you should have more bargaining power. Just sit down and list some of your main priorities. Do you want to party later? Do you want to have a lot of bartenders? Do you want to have a traditional cake but want to avoid cake cutting fees? And so on... from that list, you should just directly ask the venue to provide or waive their fees.
One creative example is when I was considering to have a wedding at a winery. I wanted to make the reception really fun, so I asked the venue to provide complimentary wine stomping! This is just one idea, but I hope you catch my drift on how to be creative and don't be afraid to ask.
My slogan: YOU NEVER KNOW UNLESS YOU ASK!!!
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