Negotiation/Vendor Questions

[Stephanie]

I didn’t want to hijack Gwen’s thread, but I wanted to get some answers about negotiating prices for vendors. I have glanced over budget bridal books, but nothing really has popped out at me that would be useful. We are going to go see a venue within the next two weeks and she told me to come with questions to ask. The vendor has already faxed a price sheet, and while the prices are very reasonable, I think that she can do better – especially with the food costs and the rental fee ($2500 for five hours – three hours for ceremony, setup, preceremony pictures; then, only two reception hours. Each additional reception hour is $250) So how do you negotiate? Are there any specific tactics used? I can’t use the “it’s a party” reason, she only does weddings. Any questions that must be asked?

 

[havernell]

I''m not sure how to negotiate on the space, other than to just say something like "Our budget only allows us to spend $X,000 on the site rental fee, so we were really hoping to keep the price below that. Is there anyway you could still work with us at that price?" It can''t hurt to ask- the worst they could say is "no" (and then if you really wanted to book the place later, just tell them you "reworked" your budget a bit).

For food, does this place have set packages that include a certain number of cocktail hour hors d''oeuvres, entrees, desserts, cake, etc...? If so, you could ask them if it''s possible to lower the price by doing things like only having 4 hors d''oeuvres instead of 6, only having wedding cake and not the other desserts, etc. Basically ask if they would lower the price by cutting out the unnecessary "extras".

As for questions to ask- definitely make sure you know what is included in the site rental fee price. Does that include linens (of any color or just white?), all dinnerware/glasses? Is there a service fee and tax on the prices (take those into account when budgeting)? If the ceremony is supposed to be outside, ask to see what the rain location is (is this acceptible to you?)

Hopefully others will add more good questions to ask.

Good luck!

 

[Elmorton]

Definitely make it clear that you have a budget (that''s great advice!). What we did was shoot for the moon in the initial consultation and then start cutting things that just aren''t important. When you do that, give your venue an idea of what you''re not willing to compromise on (for us, good music and great meal) and really be open to letting other things go (for me, it was chair covers - love them, but not for $6 a piece). What also worked for us was asking really specific questions, too. I sent our caterer an e-mail that was seriously about 3 pages long, full of "can we cut something here?" questions like:

Could we provide our own champagne for the toast (it was expensive because of glass rental not the booze, but my caterer skimmed off his premium simply because we asked and were worried about it).
Can we cut one of the appetizers? (my caterer suggested changing my fruit skewers to a fruit and cheese display and dropped a dollar off of the apps, but maintained that the table wouldn''t look full with any of our other apps cut, which was probably true).

We also inquired about doing cheaper side items with the entree- instead of au gratin veggies, we went with green beans with red pepper (which I think looked so much nicer and were delish!) and that dropped another dollar off the entree price. Our caterer was happy to suggest things that would be easier for him to do, also.

Bottom line though, while we saved a couple hundred through some food cuts, our caterer was completely right when he said that if you want to cut corners, the most effective way is to do it at the bar. That would be the area of the pricelist that you''ll want to critique closely. I wanted a signature cocktail but it was blowing our budget, I wanted to keep the champagne flowing all night and that was more expensive...we just did beer (domestic and our favorite mirco-brew) and wine all night and kept it pretty reasonable. Also, while we were restricted to bottled beer because of the location (historic building), providing your own kegs/wine can also be a bunch cheaper if your caterer allows it (and even if your price list says they don''t, it doesn''t hurt to ask). We thought about doing that, but decided that the cost difference just wasn''t significant enough for the time it would take for us.

-And speaking of the wine, our caterer e-mailed us a week before the wedding and said that he''d catered an event with wines that he doesn''t usually supply. He had extra bottles and knew we were on a budget, would we be interested in using them for a discounted price? Heck yeah! It might not hurt to say that you''re not particular about brands etc if it would mean a cut in price.

Oh - and another bargaining chip - have you picked a place for your rehearsal yet? Or even for a bridal luncheon, etc? We used the same location (a different room in the building) and same caterer for our rehearsal. When we were offering them more business, all sorts of prices came down (didn''t charge us for audio/visual equipment, didn''t charge us the full price for rehearsal room rental, etc). So while some things we couldn''t cut for the recpetion, by using the same venue/caterer for the rehearsal, we cut our total costs there. You mentioned that your venue only does weddings, but I''d still inquire if this is an option.

Also, mention your plans to DIY as much as possible - our caterer asked us if we needed to rent centerpieces, we said no, described what we''d already bought for the tables, and they mentioned they''d fold our napkins with the favors (bookmarks) inside, scattered rose petals for us (instead of the florist, who would have charged us $50 more just for that), light the candles on the table - without any charge for set-up. Even the smallest services help!

Hope one of those ideas helps you!

 

[Stephanie]

Those are some great tips! Thanks girls!

 

[aljdewey]

Date: 9/10/2007 4:09:32 PM
Author:Stephanie

The vendor has already faxed a price sheet, and while the prices are very reasonable, I think that she can do better – especially with the food costs and the rental fee ($2500 for five hours – three hours for ceremony, setup, preceremony pictures; then, only two reception hours. Each additional reception hour is $250)

I guess I''m wondering why you think she can do better if you already believe her prices are "very reasonable"?

Is her price beyond your current budget, or is this just an issue of wanting to feel like you got the ''best price'' or ''better-than-average deal''?

If you can swing her prices and if you do believe her prices are very reasonable, I think you should go with them. Often, prices can seem like "oh, there''s room to do better there" because we don''t see the behind-the-scenes stuff that contributes to that cost.

Photographers are a great example.....it''s not just taking the photos. I spent 2 hours taking photos at a wedding this weekend and then spent nearly 4.5 hours editing them. Since most folks don''t have any idea how time consuming editing can be, they often don''t realize how a projected cost is meant to cover those things.

If you want to use her but her prices are greater than your budget will allow, then I''d echo the suggestion of asking what compromises you can make (forfeiting an app or cutting from champagne to wine for the toast) to bring the cost within your budgeted amount.

 

[Stephanie]

Date: 9/12/2007 4:48:37 PM
Author: aljdewey

I guess I''m wondering why you think she can do better if you already believe her prices are ''very reasonable''?

Is her price beyond your current budget, or is this just an issue of wanting to feel like you got the ''best price'' or ''better-than-average deal''?

If you can swing her prices and if you do believe her prices are very reasonable, I think you should go with them. Often, prices can seem like ''oh, there''s room to do better there'' because we don''t see the behind-the-scenes stuff that contributes to that cost.

Photographers are a great example.....it''s not just taking the photos. I spent 2 hours taking photos at a wedding this weekend and then spent nearly 4.5 hours editing them. Since most folks don''t have any idea how time consuming editing can be, they often don''t realize how a projected cost is meant to cover those things.

If you want to use her but her prices are greater than your budget will allow, then I''d echo the suggestion of asking what compromises you can make (forfeiting an app or cutting from champagne to wine for the toast) to bring the cost within your budgeted amount.

Hmm.. That did sound odd, didn''t it. It''s not really out of the budget (my parents wanted to pay for everything and I said no, just cover the rental cost and the food. My younger brother is about to leave for college!) By the prices are reasonable, I mean that in the broader scheme of places that do both the ceremony and the reception her prices aren''t completely outrageous. I looked at one place that was just 6k for just rental - nothing included. But I think that while her prices are much better than what may be available out there, her food costs and the time constraint are the problems. She offers five hours on the day of the wedding. Three before the wedding for prep and pictures, two for the ceremony and recption. If we get married at dusk (around 6) that means the reception is over at eight? I think that I would want a slightly longer reception than that. Or is two hours enough? I don''t really know. And the food prices are a bit steep, as compared to other vendors that I have received quotes from - but I understand that food is where most of her profit comes from. I don''t want her to lose money, but I think that she can give me better pricing on some of the food. No outside catering is allowed, in any form, so we would have to go through her catering company to use the facility. We meet with her next tuesday, so I wanted to have everything in order so that we could ask right away.