Where can you save money in the off-season?

CapeCodBride28

I am debating on having our wedding in November. I have always wanted a fall wedding, but FI wanted summer, and is now open to change. I haven't really seen anywhere that has lower prices or discounts for the fall. If you are getting married in the off season, where are saving money?

ac_in_dc

Most of the venues in DC charge less in the off season and advertise as such. I think you may need to negotiate with other vendors for off-season discounts. Maybe your local board knows more.

Brie2010

Meh, I researched this at first and nobody was really offering discounts.  Winter weddings are kind of trendy now, IMO.

Soon-to-be Mrs. Vogt

Venue's tend to offer off-season discounts, but other than that, I don't think there's much.There are certain things you might save money on though - like, a lot of summer weddings are outdoors, so you have to rent chairs for the ceremony, and then rent a tent plus the table/chairs, plus pay a rental fee for the venue.In winter, that stuff should all be included in the cost of the venue rental, so you don't have to rent it separately. Honestly, you'd probably save more having a Friday or Sunday wedding in the fall/summer like you and your FI want than you would having it in November. I hear about Friday/Sunday discounts a lot more than seasonal ones.

kat112

Where I am from, November and all of Fall is not considered off season. Off season in the places I looked at in Western PA were December through March. I definitely saw places offering some money off per head and had lower number requirements for those months. We're in January and are getting 4 off per person and also can get the bigger, better ballroom for a lower minimum.

TurtlesAllTheWayDown

June weddings, while still popular, are no longer the ONLY popular wedding month. So it's not like vendors knock of $$ just because you're getting married in the other 11 months. Keep in mind that some times of year are unpopular for a reason - holiday/travel expense and availability, weather, etc.If you want a specific kind of flower in your decorations, it will be cheaper to buy when it's in season.It's likely that you won't get any kind of discount if you want to get married on a Saturday in June, because a vendor knows he/she can just charge someone else the full rate if you pass. You'll have to do some investigative work to find out what the popular days aren't - the ones vendors are more likely to compromise on because they'd rather have some money than no money. Do you have any friends who are florists/photographers, etc? Maybe they can tell you what the non-popular dates are.Oh, and please don't be offended, as this might be controversial, but 9/11/10 is on a Saturday and I will bet you a lot of vendors will be free and/or offering discounts that day.

3plus2=5

We are having a summer wedding so we're not taking advantage of any discounts.  However, our photographer, DJ and transportation company all offered discounts in the off-season.  I do think though that the off-season starts the beginning of November because so many brides are now wanting fall weddings.  When I got married the first time in '95 hardly anyone got married in our area after the middle of September so I'm not sure if this is a fairly recent trend.

TurtlesAllTheWayDown

Oh, and I've looked at venues (in Southern California) that have a November-March off-season, where their rental rates were slightly discounted. But I think that Friday or Sunday can also save a lot. I'm having a smaller wedding and lots of places had a Saturday minimum I wasn't able or willing to meet, but were fine with giving me my target rate on a Sunday.

Sooles

mines in november, and that combined with the fact that its sunday night means 35-40% off my catering & venue, and 50% off the dj. photographers are way low around here in november too.

Kati0105

We're having our wedding in March instead of in the summer because our room minimum was 50% cheaper due to it being "off-season" (which is ridiculous because there is no real off-season here in LA and March actually tends to have better weather than June, hence the term June Gloom).

Bobbysprncss

Most places that I looked at did not give discounts for November but they did give Friday or Sunday discounts. We are getting married in June on a Sunday and saving about $1500 on the venue rental alone. I would consider a Friday or Sunday wedding if you want to save a lot.

jamm2019

I got married in April and we got a 50% discount at my venue because that is considered their off season... Some of the photographers I talked to said they would give a discount also since April was their slow time. I think November though is more and more common and is getting away from the off season... Off season usually December through April...