Hank Lane- price negotiation

jliner26

Hi-

We just met with Hank Lane last night and I was curious if any of you have had success in negotiating price with them.

We told them our budget and music tastes and were presented with a band that they felt would fit our requirements.  We really liked the band (even though we didn't see an actual video- just a montage of pictures of the band and their music playing over it) but when he gave us a price, it came out to be only $300 less than our budget- and this was for reception only.  If we added cocktail hour and ceremony music, it went over our budget.

How rigid is their pricing?  Will I have any success if I try and negotiate?  I also wonder if this is really the ONLY band they have that would fit our budget/music requirements...

On a side note, should I be concerned that I can't see a video anywhere of this band?  How do I find out where they are playing (I wouldn't be opposed to being a "wedding crasher" for 20 minutes so I can watch them!)

Thanks all!

Roseinbloom2

I'm sorry, I didn't use Hank Lane, but I have seen them mentioned a fair amount on this board since I joined.  I think it never hurts to negotiate, all they can say is no.  My only concern would be not being able to see them perform live.  For us it was a big factor in the band we choose, a video is good but still not the same as in person.  Good luck!!!

lifesabeach2

Hank Lane is a huge company and you should definitely be able to negotiate with them.  I am not using them for my wedding however, but yes, I did get to see the band that I chose perform live at an event!

Good luck!

HilaryH1231

We were able to negotiate with them because we had  Friday wedding; we definitely got better pricing because of that. That being said, we asked how much the "next step down" band would be if we didn't want to go with the first/most expensive one that they recommended, and they gave us the name of another one of their bands which was less expensive, but would still fulfill our needs. 

Also, we only used our Hank Lane band for the reception--it would have been anoth 1500 to use them for cocktail and ceremony. We used NY Ceremony music instead, which was $800 for two hours, and they were great! So don't feel like you HAVE to use the band for the entire night--you can use more than one vendor if you want!