Venue haggling

Ms Tootsie

Hi folks

Myself and the H2B are going to look at some potential venues this weekend and I am just looking for peoples experiences on haggling with the venue over the package price. How much did you get off? Was the venue open to haggling? Did you end up going with a different venue because of haggling?

Thanks!

Sleepy

The package we're getting from the Hotel (Riverside Park in Enniscorthy) was pretty much the best deal we saw on offer anywhere in the country so there wasn't much I could even think to ask for to be added to it. I decided to chance my arm and ask for a second night in the bridal suite and was told instantly that it would be no hassle at all, handed over a deposit about 15 minutes later!

clint_silver

kaza2710 wrote: »

Hi folks

Myself and the H2B are going to look at some potential venues this weekend and I am just looking for peoples experiences on haggling with the venue over the package price. How much did you get off? Was the venue open to haggling? Did you end up going with a different venue because of haggling?

Thanks!

depends where the venue is. lots of stories of success with some venues but others not so much. I know most people arent used to haggling but you have to be brazenface about it and ask for discounts and extras and even then when you find the one you want go up cheque book in hand and say its either here or venue X will you match their lower offer.
I know a couple of venues that just wont drop. up to them I suppose.

liliq

My attitude is If you don't ask, you don't get.
I HATE haggling!
But we asked for a discount on our price p.p, as we knew we'll have at least 100, so even a few euro pp would make a huge difference.
Try and get a few extra rooms thrown in for bridal party- again, one or two rooms can save you another few hundred.
Some places charge for a bar extension (not relevant to us for other reasons), but I'd also try and get that discounted especially if you'll have a thirsty crowd that the venue will easily make back their fee on.
Corkage is another one... some places charge crazy prices. If you can't get rid altogether, try and get it reduced.
I think if you target specific things, that you know won't necessarily make a massive difference to the venue, you're more likely to get reductions that if you're given a quite for the whole lot and try and get huge lumps off it.
Enjoy the hunt!

annabella26

hi first ever post.... joined as im told boards is the place for wedding info and so far its been good advice...

quick question on venue haggling....

we have spotted a place we want but at over 270 guests are we being cheeky to ask for discount per head?? its costing us over 14k for food alone so extra nights in bridal suite or wine wouldnt really be a massive saving

ive never even been a bridesmaid so weddings are completely new to me

Gatica

It depends on what's included in that price. 14000/270 is roughly 51pp.

Does this include 5 course meal, how many choices?, how much wine pp? How many free family rooms? You're bringing a lot of business with 270ppl. Even outside of your own spending, these ppl would be buying drinks for the night at the hotel and staying in a number of rooms (unless you have to sell a min number of rooms as part of your contract) - this is extra business for the venue. Mention this to them!

At the end of the day, it's all about supply and demand. Hotels that have high demand are going to be less likely to give on the prices, keep that in mind. It also depends on the "status" of the hotel. If it's known to be a fantastic upper class venue, it will also cost more.

clint_silver

annabella26 wrote: »

hi first ever post.... joined as im told boards is the place for wedding info and so far its been good advice...

quick question on venue haggling....

we have spotted a place we want but at over 270 guests are we being cheeky to ask for discount per head?? its costing us over 14k for food alone so extra nights in bridal suite or wine wouldnt really be a massive saving

ive never even been a bridesmaid so weddings are completely new to me

Without knowing the hotel, 51e per head is about standard for a wedding meal. however theres economy of scale here, an average irish wedding is 140-150 sit down. The hotel have fixed costs that need to be met where the profit margin gets bigger with more people attending. If Im at 80 weddings a year, Id only see 200+ at maybe 2 or 3 so 270 is a LOT!

Their profit margins increase as the numbers grow. Id be looking to take 4-5 euro off per head. for those kind of numbers, they should do it, have another venue in mind willing to give you the business if they dont.

mind me asking the venue? 270 isnt just big, its huge.

Cathmandooo

annabella26 wrote: »

hi first ever post.... joined as im told boards is the place for wedding info and so far its been good advice...

quick question on venue haggling....

we have spotted a place we want but at over 270 guests are we being cheeky to ask for discount per head?? its costing us over 14k for food alone so extra nights in bridal suite or wine wouldnt really be a massive saving

ive never even been a bridesmaid so weddings are completely new to me

Welcome to Boards

If you're having 270 guests for a sit down meal your food is going to be expensive. 51 per head would be average excluding wine so even if you did haggle you're only going to get 1 or 2 euro off per head, your food will still cost over 13k. If you can't afford that you're going to either have to cut down your guestlist or go to a venue to have a buffet or bbq meal.

270 people is an awful lot to get around to talk to. Say you spend 5 hours getting around everyone, that works out as just over 1 minute per person. These people have all come to celebrate your day, it would be rude to not speak to each of them.

Best of luck with all the planning!

lazygal

There's a few friends of mine haggling for weddings at the moment. A lot of hotels have prices around the 50 euro a head mark. They've also found hotels don't really go for the 'people will be spending a lot of money at the bar and/or staying overnight' arguments any more as due to the recession people are either cutting back on the drink bought (stories of people having naggins etc with them and only buying soft drinks) and are often pooling for a taxi home or having one person be a designated driver to avoid having to stay over night, or are staying in cheaper b and bs. Hotels are well wise to this kind of thing. I think its more likely you can get things added to the package rather than a reduction in the price charged. We got reduced corkage and canapés during our drinks reception. The corkage allowed us to save a lot on the wine and people appreciated having food available during the drinks reception. In a hotel I'd be looking for a couple of extra free rooms for the bridal party, a free choice on all courses for dinner, extra arrival and evening reception food, reduced corkage, that kind of thing.

I'd also think 270 is a lot. Bear in mind that even though you're asking that many, people have found the refusal rate is a lot higher these days and hotels know that. I know people who had a 30% refusal rate, and even we had a 10% refusal rate. So hotels will know that even though you're asking 270, its very unlikely you'll be delivering 270 heads on the day.

Senna

I can see there's not many west (rural) people posting here, 270 invited wouldn't be out of the ordinary up in Donegal.
640 invited to a wedding in a few weeks time, not that is out of the ordinary:D

Also refusal rates seemed to have sky rocketed this year, I would see 30% being minimum for most weddings with an average 200 being invited, with big numbers you can expect more (more people being invited who aren't immediate family or very close friends).
A wedding this weekend invited 440 and arrived with 255.

Ms Tootsie

Guys this is all fantastic stuff!! We went to see venues at the weekend and have pretty much settled on one in particular. They have given us a price but we are going to leave it for a week before getting back to them and asking for a second viewing. During this viewing we will start on the haggling. As they are pretty much on a par with our budget it is more a case of 'every little helps' rather than actually NEEDING to get them down. But as people have said, if you dont ask then you dont get. I am hoping for maybe 5-10% off per person.

Wish me luck

Gatica

I live in the west and everyone in our circle of friends would consider weddings of roughly 120 being average and over 200 being large, so I guess it depends whereabouts you are and who you hang with

I suppose lazygal is probably right, people aren't mad spending any more like in days of the Celtic tiger, but sure no harm to chance your arm and ask, right?
We couldn't get any rooms thrown in at all Did get a small discount on some of them though for the family. We got good rates on canapes, extra meal choices, reduced corkage and evening food thrown in for free. So if you can't get too much money off at least make sure you get good value for money or "bang for buck"...

annabella26

im back lol

i dont know how to quote an reply back individually on the same message so il just give you the gist....

we booked our venue at the weekend and to be honest actually chatting to the wedding coordinator she was either a very good sales woman ( i work in sales so she wasnt THAT good) or we felt it was worth while... ours did include a 5 course meal with half bottle of wine per person, red carpet an champagne wedding reception before meal, 4 rooms and bridal suite , a round of golf (not that either of us would be intrested) and a few spa treatments all for 50 per head so were actually very happy with what we got. she also gave us a great deal of advice as i was worried that 270 is a HUGE number and im a no stress kinda girl with a groomzilla

cannot stress how great castle dargan in sligo were about reassuring us and were very open to practically bend over backwards for us..... now i can start to get excited

Gatica

congrats. That sounds great!

paulbok

Collating our rsvps at the moment and we have a 30% decline figure on the invitations, the hotel had told us to expect 20-25% early last year.
It's understandable at the moment that more people can't go even if they want to.
We're both from Roscommon and 180 - 220 would be the size of most weddings I've been to over the last 10 years.
Numbers tend to be smaller for Dublin weddings though.

Back on topic, we did a little haggling with the hotel recently when confirming details and got more discounted rooms, a better choice of wine and a few little changes like that. Nothing that will save us money, but we're getting more bang for our buck.
Definatley worth discussing with them, especially with the numbers you are looking at bringing.

Shooter_galway

Just started planning our wedding 200 guests 40 euro a head should I ask for drinks toast to be put in or few extra rooms for bridal party as just getting the bridal suite

Chocoholic84

Shooter_galway wrote: »

Just started planning our wedding 200 guests 40 euro a head should I ask for drinks toast to be put in or few extra rooms for bridal party as just getting the bridal suite

Absolutely! We got a drinks toast put in (and we were paying under 40 euro a head), plus 4 rooms as well as bridal suite.

Haggle with EVERYTHING! If they won't budge on price, just ask what else they can throw in for that price.

Senna

Excuse the ignorance, but what do people mean by "drinks toast"? Wine, champagne, drink from bar??

Gatica

not sure what it is when hotel includes it, but I'd imagine it's usually sparking wine of some kind. We're having sparkling wine anyway, bringing ours in and paying corkage on it.

Chocoholic84

Senna wrote: »

Excuse the ignorance, but what do people mean by "drinks toast"? Wine, champagne, drink from bar??

Basically whatever you want Just 1 drink per person at the end of the speeches when everyone gets up for the best man to toast the couple. We had champagne, which the hotel threw in with our package!