Cost Savings/Negotiation

Mike&Tricia

At first, my fiance and I wanted to plan a simple wedding in Las Vegas followed by a lunch for family and friends.  We were decided on that plan until last week.  After spending some time on this site we figured out that by spending a little more than we planned to, we can have the wedding and reception we never knew we wanted : )  Of course, we would still like to keep costs down.  So now I turn to my fellow brides-to-be and former brides. How did you keep costs down?  Which areas were you willing to cut back on?  How much room is there to negotiate with vendors?  How should negotiations be approached? Thanks, everyone!

mrs.payne2010

i cut on the dj, and the cake so far. i think flowers you can cut on too by doing less or just diying your centerpieces and/or bouquets. as far as the negotiations i think if you make a budget out and then when you are getting quotes from vendors let them know what your budget is and that its firm. most will just work with the budget because they want the business.

jojochanti

We made several trips to LA for supplies (fabric for linens, seat covers, vases, ribbon, crystals, even tuxedos). If we had just bought/rented that stuff locally, we would have spent a lot more than we did. Other than that, negotiating is key. We would sit down with vendors and hear them out, then we would tell them what figure we were looking at. It almost always worked, all the vendors said business was bad so they were willing to work something out. I don't think we ever took the first offer... even with our venue (Mission Inn).

futuremrskelliott

I agree with the above, my overall goal is $10k, so I basically just hashed out what I needed and what I think I was able to spend in each area. As I am getting more detailed on items such as costs of dress and flowers etc, I can see where I have extra money to reallocate or where I need to cut. What it comes down to for me are on items that do not matter much to me or FI. Basically make a wishlist on what items you MUST have then REALLY want, then don't care much about, as you go along things will sort themselves out.

breleficent

Soooo, is the wedding still in Vegas or more local? Cut back/out on: -Favors -Invites (get the print yourself ones or check out 123print.com) -Buy a used dress -DIY your flowers (if you are going for a minimalist look) -Do cupcakes instead of a wedding cake -Find a venue that will allow you to BYO alcohol -Get centerpiece containers in LA You should always negotiate. It never hurts to ask. The worst they can say is "no." We have negotitated with every single vendor we have so far. I've found that people love flattery. What we do is get a quote from the vendor. Then we tell them how much we love their work. We really try and butter them up about it. Then, we ask if they can come within $xxxx. We have saved thousands because of it.

futuremrskelliott

ditto ditto ditto to everything bre said bottom line: a wedding is about the celebration of 2 people in love and their commitment to each other.... everything else is just gravy

Mike&Tricia

Thanks so much for your responses.  You have all given me great ideas.  I never thought of buying my own fabric for the table overlays.  My mom can put her sewing machine to good use!  I know exactly what I want for centerpieces and I don't think they'll be very expensive to make.  I am all over the place when it comes to favors.  I'll need some help deciding what to do when the time comes.  My dress was under $1000 so I think I'm ok there.  All I want is simple elegance and I think I can acheive it at a resonable cost.We still have Vegas to consider, but the more I think about it, I want to keep it local.  We love the Coco Palm restaurant in Pomona and there packages are very inexpensive so we have an appointment with them later this month.  I've also inquired with the Coyote Hills golf course in Fullerton.  That's about as far west as we'd like to go.  I'm really excited now!

genise

You can also use your resources, friends and family alike. My fiancee DJ's so he got one of his friends to DJ for our wedding. We are DIYing our centerpieces. Find a venue like a community center or park/beach. And you can also do an apple cider toast instead of a champagne toast.