Negotiating?

ev4149 · March 2010

Any advice on how to negotiate with a vendor? I am on the quiet side, and I've never had to negotiate anything before. I don't want to be rude. I was thinking of mentioning that the price offered was above my budget, and I was wondering if we could work something out. (Specifically I am looking at venues, so I would be willing to cut some of the offered services in exchange for a price reduction). Does anyone have any tips on successful negotiating? I am kind of nervous about this.

NJMom050911 · March 2010

If you're nervous take someone with you that is good at negotiating, maybe your MOH or a bridesmaid or your FI. If you can't think of someone you should consider hiring a wedding planner, many have a la carte services now so it shouldn't be too expensive if you just ask them to assist you with booking vendors. Good Luck!

mbcdefg · March 2010

We did what Kathy said ... I gathered the information and competetors' prices, and FI was the one who asked vendors if we could get a better deal. Bring along a friend who's good at that sort of thing.

It's fine to say, "We can afford to spend about $x on this service. Can you offer us anything in that price range?" We had a few reception halls say that they could cut a few things out of cocktail hour to lower the PP price, and the hall we booked agreed to cut $5pp if we could guarantee 125 people instead of 100. I found that nearly every good vendor was willing to negotiate with us to some extent ... one did not but they were very nice about it, and a few others did not but they were places that were kind of crappy anyway or people that we didn't want to deal with on our wedding day.

It never hurts to ask. You're not being rude if you ask nicely. Just remember that these people need to make a living, so don't expect to get a magical deal every time. Some vendors offer deals that they just don't make public, so you never know what might work to your benefit ... if you're a teacher, police officer, firefighter, Triple A member, whatever. You miss 100% of the shots you don't take.

And as long as you're asking nicely and being polite, any vendor who gets nasty with you or treats you poorly isn't worth your business anyway, so better to find out sooner than later.

goaliegirl · March 2010

I was worried about this when we were looking for vendors, and I was surprised at how easy it was to negotiate especially with our venue. Like the others said, you can just say what your budget is and ask if they can work with you. In my case, I had gotten some information on what others were able to negotiate for at the venue I really wanted and I just went in and asked for certain things. Everything I asked for, they gave us! It was much easier than I ever thought it would be!

mbcdefg · March 2010

I think that most vendors expect couples to ask to negotiate with them, too, so you certainly wouldn't be the first or last person to ask them if you can adjust their pricing/packages.

kewltif · March 2010

This was something I was SO NERVOUS about in the beginning but it became second nature after awhile. I tried to negotiate with all of my vendors.

ev4149 · March 2010

Thanks for all of the advice! I think I am just nervous because I haven't had to do this before. As was mentioned, I am sure the vendors are used to it. I just don't want to be rude. I definitely think I will ask my MOH to come, she is much more outspoken than I am. It can't hurt to try... the worst thing that could happen is that they say no.

Karma01 · March 2010

I let my husband negotiate. He is good at stuff like that. I hated visiting vendors so if we found someone we liked we worked on the price. One vendor refused to so we left.

Lolyalyssa · March 2010

The venue told me one price.

I asked him to leave the room and allow me and FI to talk for a moment.

FI and I came up with a price. Vendor came back in the room.

I said "this is the price I'm willing to pay, take it or leave it" I was prepared to leave if I needed to. But I knew the price I wanted was in a fair negotiating range and I got what I wanted.

The way they "get you" is when they make you fall in love with a place or an item and you are willing to pay what they want to get it because you love it.

Always be willing to walk away and keep looking. Worst thing that happens is you go back and pay full price eventually--but don't do it right away.

Also, keep in mind, some venues may not want to come down on the overall price but they may give you extras if you ask like a Vienesse Hour or an upgrade of some kind etc...

her982 · March 2010

We got a reduced price on our venue. We toured it and then emailed the site director afterwards with additional questions, and our price negotiations were all via email. Doing it over email was so much easier for me bc it gave me time to think about what I wanted to say, and how to say it persuasively and still be nice. It also gave us time to ask our parents their opinions and have a discussion about what we could cut or change. One huge way we cut back on the price was playing with the menu and cocktail hour, basically our site coordinator is pricing our wedding as an event (our site does a lot of parties, corporate events, etc), and not as a wedding. Literally something as simple as asking if they can give you a price difference between round and rectangle tables can save you money.

ffbride_0813 · March 2010

I was very nervous as well. I actaully sent an email to my vendor saying how much I really liked them but they were above my price. I am looking to spend XXX and want this and this. Is there anything you can do to get the price in my range? They emailed me back with a discount on the venue and one of the extras I wanted thrown in.

I actually got really nervous when the contract came and called them and said its still too high and I am not comfortable and they knocked down the price again. I had to take it at that point. I am super horrible at actually committing to wedding vendors.

Negotiating?

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