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Chicago off-peak weddings

Colleen & StanColleen & Stan member
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in Illinois-Chicago
Can anyone confirm what the off-peak wedding months are? LOL - I thought it was November thru March, and even found a statistic that only 6% of weddings take place in November - but 2 venues have told me that November is one of the busier months?Thanks!
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Re: Chicago off-peak weddings

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    chosen175chosen175 member
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    edited December 2011
    I'd have to guess Jan-March.  In Nov and Dec, the venues are decorated for the holidays and therefore you don't need to spend much $$ on your own arrangements, decorations, etc.  Plus, it will be cold but no real big snowfalls until closer to (or sometimes after) Christmas.  Jan and Feb have the most miserable weather, IMO.  Have you asked the venues what they consider off-peak?I've actually found that not a lot of places advertise discounts for off-peak weddings.  Maybe it's something they keep to themselves so they can make you believe they're cutting your costs when they're really not.
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    Heeeyhoney75Heeeyhoney75
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    edited December 2011
    I've found that a lot of places consider November-March off peak, but a lot of people are aiming for the off peak months now to save money. I agree w/ pp that you will find the best deals in January-March. Our wedding is in November, and while we are getting some discounts for having our wedding Thanksgiving weekend, our hall did say that they could give us better deals if we aimed for January. Just do a lot of research with all of your vendors. That's the best thing you can do!
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    sgyllingsgylling
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    edited December 2011
    When I was looking I had hotels tell me they would give me 10% off for January - March /April depending on the hotel. I didn't book at a hotel, and although my wedding is in April, I didn't get a discount. I have had places tell me that October is the new June and they now book 16-18 months in advance for the fall.
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    rhodesignrhodesign
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    edited December 2011
    we're doing dec. 5th and got am off-peak discount. it depends on the place
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    NoronNoron member
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    edited December 2011
    January through March sounds right.  We're getting married January 2nd in the 'burbs and are saving a ton - I found city places weren't as willing to do off-peak discounts.
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    gkb0910gkb0910 member
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    edited December 2011
    It depends on the place.  A couple of the venues I looked at said November was an off-peak month and gave discounts and the others didn't. 
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    erkarpferkarpf
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    edited December 2011
    December in Chicago is a time for a lot of holiday parties. You might not be able to get hte best deals, but you will be more likely to get vendors that you want. We didn't save any $$ by having a November wedding. We were able to book anyone we wanted though.
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    romagrrlromagrrl
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    edited December 2011
    In the city, it is very hard to get a deal during the off-peak season. You are competing with conferences, holiday parties, etc. There really isn't an off-peak time.
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    2cultures2wed2cultures2wed
    First Comment
    edited December 2011
    there is no way november is peak! no foliage, and colllld. unless of course it is thanksgiving weekend.
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    chicagofiremansgirlchicagofiremansgirl
    First Comment
    edited December 2011
    I got married in November and I didn't get any sort of discount on any of my vendors.  
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    chicagochocolatechicagochocolate
    First Comment
    edited December 2011
    Peak season is pretty much May-Oct. So Nov-April is technically off peak, though early Nov and late April overlap a bit. However, this doesn't necessarily guarantee discounts anywhere.  Our wedding is April 18, which is a Sunday, and we're getting $50 off on the DJ but that's about it. We negotiated a good deal on the venue but that was pre-construction so they didn't have all their wedding stuff set yet.
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    chitownshortie84chitownshortie84
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    edited December 2011
    my wedding is december 11th and out of the 7 places i went to, i was told at each place that december is not off-peak due to the christmas parties that they anticipate... none of the halls would even lower their minimum guest count, except for 1, because they all believed that they would lose money...
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    January BrideJanuary Bride member
    First Anniversary First Comment Combo Breaker
    edited December 2011
    I agree..there isn't much of an "off peak" time for Chicago weddings.  My wedding was January 3rd and we ran into a lot of problems with parties for New Years' weekend, or belated holiday parties.  We received a pretty decent discount for makeup and string quartet, a tiny discount for DJ services, and a HUGE discount for our hotel.  Other than that, we received no discounts for venue, etc. 
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    bygwitbygwit
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    edited December 2011
    I'd say January is the slowest month.  That's when I got married b/c I wanted to do it during a school break.  I thought we'd get great deals, but wedding service providers don't do much with lowering prices during that time.  I found that photographers in the south suburbs offered off season prices.
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