Weddingbee boards

I am a vender, and yes brides do nogotiate, it is very common.  Most venders, especially in todays economy will try to make the bride happy.

www.platinumweddingsflorida.com

Kenzie -

I am a firm believer in negotiation, when it can truly help... No one wants to deny their vendors their fair share, but lets face it, weddings are expensive! any deal is a good deal:

 Here are a few ways I negotiated:

Hotel/Reception Venue: They are one and the same for me, its a small boutique-y hotel,with only 32 rooms... I am booking the majority of the rooms for the wedding weekend, and so I flat out asked if I could get any bridal suite discounts... she took $100 per night off the room immediately, and I also have a coupon for an additional 10% off the room.

 Caterer: I work for a beer company, and so I negotiated with the caterer to bring in my own beer. I am paying a significantly lower cost for my bar (i am only doing beer and wine) for wine and service only... I will be bringing in the beer, but their staff will serve it. In addition, I wanted to get to a certain per person cost for a total, so I took out the crudite for a "cocktail hour" since time is short at the reception and we arent doing a cocktail hour.

 Photographer: My photog is great, but she has mostly stuck to just epics and wedding day in the past... she is giving me a free TTD session and Free B-Pics session with a disc to all the pictures - in exchange, she can use the photos in her portfolio (clearly not all the bpics, but the tasteful ones)...

...The trick is not being afraid to ask.... the worst a vendor can do is say no, and many are willing to give extra perks if you ask... they try and get away with charging as much as they can... if you are a msart consumer, so a little research and have some gumption - you might get lucky in a few areas!

Hope this helps!