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We didn't negotiate, persay... We just made sure to ask every vendor if they had any discounts or specials going on that would lower the cost. Since we live in a touristy area, almost everyone gave us local or "friends of friends" discounts. :) Neither of us would normally ask though, so we took turns with each vendor. That way, neither one of us had to ask more than 2-3 times!
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I didn't feel comfortable negotiating until I had done some research. Once I was prepared, I marched into my venue and negotiated them down about $1000 on a chocolate fountain!!
I do have a personality that doesn't mind fighting a little to make sure I get a good deal (and get just what I want--not all the extras!) I think it might be easier now because of the economy. You have to make sure you are in a good bargaining position in order to negotiate well, because your vendor should know you have other options.
The only person I negotiated with was the florist because I was so shocked by all the super $$$ estimates I had been given and I decided that I needed a new approach when talking to florists. I basically told her my budget and said "this is all I can afford, what can you give me for this price?" Luckily, she completely exceeded my expectations with her gorgeous floral arrangements!
I don't know if I would have had the courage to counter offer with a lower number if she (or any other vendor) had given me a number that was out of my budget. I would be paranoid that if I negotiated to a price lower than their typical rate, they would provide me with lackluster service and subpar quality. I certainly hope that wouldn't be the case though!
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My FMIL went dress shopping with me and negotiated the 10% discount up to a 14% discount at the trunk show we attended. They also threw in the extra length I needed at their cost!
I am definitely a negotiater, it's inherited from my mom!
I've already been negotiating with some vendors and once I get a better idea of which ones I definitely want I'm sure I'll go a little more guns blazing - so to speak.
Some items I"m a little more weary on though. Like a site fee...is that negotiable?? I'd always thought that was a set fee.
I would say photographers definitely yes. Florists yes. And caterers too. And I guess wedding gowns too if there's a actually a person to speak to.
Likewise, I can't negociate either. I just shopped around and asked a lot of questions and make sure everything was included in the price.
I did negotiate a few things! Which I have to admit, I'm very proud of! :-) I negotiated our DJ down from $1200 to $800 as well as the limo bus for half the price of what we were quoted. I find the best way is to say that you're looking into other vendors and will get back with them, and that you know the norm is $XX. Our DJ is from Minneapolis and I'm getting married about an hour away from there, so he came down to match the price of DJs in my hometown. The limo bus is from an even smaller town than were I'm getting married, so maybe that is my luck of smaller town pricing? I'm not going to ask questions, I'm just going to accept it and be happy!
I did negotiate with our DJ. He has been the DJ for 2 other weddings from my group of friends over the last couple of years, so I just sort of made a joke asking "so is there some sort of deal where the third wedding is cheaper!?" He laughed, but said "you know, I would be willing to knock x amount off the price".
I'm not a natural negotiator, but because of a tight budget, I figured it was worth asking.
i sure did. I got my DOC for free, my DJ at half price, my hair I got $50 off, and an extra hour of photography for free.
I basically traded services with them. FOr my DOC I designed some paper products for an event she was putting on, for the DJ I did business cards, for the photographer I did a monogram and gobo plate for her wedding, my hair lady I did a business logo and business cards
We totally negotiated. We called in a favor for the venue; we asked our photographer to 'create' a package that fit in our budget; we got our DJ at his old rate; and I think I got a reduced delievery fee for our flowers. Oh, and free delievery and set up on our cupcakes since they are across the street from our venue!
I absolutely have and intend to!!! I called a venue that my fiance and I really love in photos. We talked about food, choices that were not on the egular menu and getting them for same price as a less expensive entree, got the ceremony fee cut in half! We are going to see it in person on Thursday so maybe i'll be able to negotiate some more. I intend to do same with flowers and DJ. I got a great rate for photography already. In this economy I intend to save as many pennies as I can
I negotiated, too. Like Mrs. Spring, I live in a touristy area, so I was able to get the "local" discount for the reception venue, saving thousands of dollars, since food and drinks are included.
I used craigslist to find a photographer and found a great one. He normally charges $4500 - I got him for $1100, after a bit of back and forth.
Next, I will be working on the band and the flowers...
Ms. Radish.
That is extremely good! Is this a photographer that has regular work but uses craiglist more for "advertising" Did you have to give up things you wanted to get that rate?
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I've negotiated pretty much everywhere for everything.
I got 10% off my gown, talked the venue into reducing the food and beverage minimum by half, received $500 off the ceremony site fee, received $100+ off our photobooth, received a free hour from our photographer, our DJ is doing our ceremony for free, I am working on discounts for the bridesmaid dresses, have free delivery for both the florist and the cake, and negotiated 10% off the tux rentals. Every penny counts!
What helps is I have a Friday night wedding. I have been able to negotiate on pretty much everything. I say, just Ask! It doesn't hurt, the worst they can do is say no.
I am trying to negotiate as much as possible, I negotiated about $1,000 off the flowers, $100 off my hair stylist, $1,000 off the band, and $500 off our photography package - and asked that they include our engagement photos at no extra charge. I was always told "you don't get unless you ask" but I think it's important to be courteous and gracious when asking for a discount. And in the end, the worst thing they can say is no.
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I agree you need to do your homework before you try and negotiate. Also given the current economy people do tend to be more flexible. I found that our band and venue were note flexible. We got 10% off my dress since we asked about a discount and they told us if we waited a week to buy during the trunk sale we would get the discount.
I found that the invitation places also had special packages for example we were able to get a 10% off the entire order plus they told us when William Arthur was having a special where we got an additional discount. So maybe a total of 20% off.
I was shocked when I started looking at makeup artist. They provided me with really high prices, when I went back and told them i was paying for the girls make up myself and their prices were too high, both places came down significantly.
My photographer also threw in a couple of extras, when I told her I was torn between her and another person whose price was more in my range.
I guess the word negoiate is some what misleading. I simply told the vendors that I liked that their prices were a little out of my range but thank you for their time. They all pretty much came back with something that made them affordable with out cutting out what I wanted.
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Yep! We def negotiated and still ARE! I got my dress at a 10% discount and our venue gave us 15% off our food package. We are in the process of interviewing djs so we shall see how that works. Vendors are aware of the economic hardships going on right now-my whole thing is I'm willing to pay for good service and quality, BUT within reasonable limits-and I have seen so many vendor prices unreasonable. I think many of them "UP" their prices because they EXPECT negotiation..so by all means negiotiate!!! =)
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My fiance is a negotiator by nature and were able to work on a few of our vendors. I think that the wedding aspect makes people forget that this is a business decision. You are paying them to perform a service for you. I'm sure the venue is trying to get the best price on the chicken they serve your guest so why shouldn't you get the best price from them!
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I haven't negotiated on everything, although with most vendors I have said "and is there any flexibility here?" My crowning achievement, however, was picking our venue.
They refused to budge, and while my mom kept chatting away, I zipped up my notebook put my pen away and sat there. Stonefaced. A few minutes passed, and the site coordinator suddenly said something like "well, I really don't think $500 would make a difference to you." Me: "well, actually, that would make it competitive." Silence. My mom started chatting and a few minutes later she offered to cut $700 off the price if we moved the wedding up 3 weeks. I'm thrilled, but of course, the glory has yet to be repeated.
i definitely negotiated, and it was as simple as telling the vendors "i just met with so-and-so and they offered me..." i got a free chocolate fondue, and half-priced late night snacks from our reception venue as a result. with my florist, i didn't really negotiate per se, but i told her my budget, and made sure to be super nice to her and stopped in every once in a while to say hello. she went above and beyond what i asked her to do, and i estimate she provided at least $1000 worth of flowers i didn't pay for.
Absolutely! If I couldn't cut the cost down, I'd want something thrown in. It's unbelieveable how prices soar once you mention "wedding" so I made sure to feel like the service was coming to me and not just me helping their business. :)
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I tried to negotiate with my photographer and failed. He said, "you are getting a great price for our services, what they are worth. We don't think you will find anyone else who will give you what will give you for this price. So if you can't afford us, here are some names of other photographers in the area who are more in your budget." I ended up going with them because of that honesty and willingness to recommend me to other people.
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Yeah I negotiate really hard, it's the Asian in me we are bargainers at heart.
At my venue, was the toughest, I brought the price down from 250/head down to 200/head, they wouldnt budge further, but I asked for as many extras as a I could, the dance floor is free of rent, theyre throwing in candlas for free, I get a 10% discount for guests for hotel room, we get a free hotel room for the wedding night, the package includes champagne I don't have to cut it out, they're giving me a cake for free, so I saved $3000 on guests, at least $350 on wedding night room, $1500 for cake (I live in NYC--nothing is cheap) and 10% off for my guests if they want to stay here for the night; no small feat as it was the Waldorf Astoria, so even if it's not the honeymoon suite any room is going to be spectacular I looked at the website: I'm most proud of myself negotiating the price and having all the freebies like cake and room thrown in.
Photography, I'm hiring a friend's friend who free-lances for $1000; normal price here is $3000-5000, I negotiated but thats really not abad fee to begin with for quality photos I already saw his work when he took pictures of us at parties, so I knew his work
Wedding gown, I am going to sample sales at Kleinfeld where I have a $500 gift certificate, lowest price is 800, so 300 with my gift certificate, and believe me honey I will bargain hard
Hotels and stays; I found a beautiful shot-term rental for guests of families, at $199/4-6 people per night, I negotiated as hard as a I could but to be honest these are already great deals for beautiful apartments to stay short-term, comes to 30-50/head if families dont mind sharing an apatrment; I already scoped it out and they are sleek and modern and clean and great find
And I asked my mom to buy me veil, gloves, tiara and cathedral veil in the Philippines so that already saved myself at least a good $400
Some included my brutal bargaining skills others required my skills at finding good deals, my fiance calls me you're my little baragin hunter
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We didn't do any negotiating with our wedding vendors. It's just something that I'm not good at, and probably never will be. My mom on the other hand is a whiz, and I wish I had inherited some of that spunk!
Did you negotiate with any of your vendors? Is negotiating something that comes naturally to you, or something you felt you had to do because of the large cost of a wedding?