Thinking of risking the Lastminute approach for Venue

You will have to compromise lots!

Without knowing what date you have there's a lot you can't organise. Florist, photographer, cars, stationery (ok, you can decide on style/design), hairdressers, honeymoon (presuming you want to go soon after the wedding), your guests may not be able to make it due to not enough notice, the venues you prefer may not have any available dates.

You dress is about the only thing you can organise without a date.

I'm sure it's doable, but it does sound like a very frustrating way to do it, even with the savings taken into account. If you're happy and brave enough to do it with some compromises though, then go for it - it'll certainly make it exciting!

You know you can (try to) negotiate with venues?

ETA: Welcome!

The big danger is that a lot of wedding suppliers, myself included have a cancellation policy so if you are unable to find a venue you could end up still having to pay your photographer, florist, car hire etc.

When you think about it it's fair enough, many suppliers only have time to sell and there are only so Saturdays in summer and if you take up a saturday and then don't go through with it because you didn't plan a venue, they could lose out on another potential booking and still have mortgages to pay.

A hotel near me was advertising on the radio recently that they had a free slot 'next weekend' for a wedding and would be giving 50% off! Try getting a photographer in that time, a cake made and a dress chosen!

Personally it's not the way I would do it. I wouldn't want to have to risk "putting up" with whatever was left rather than us chosing our prefect day.

I think you run the risk of having to "make do" rather than having the day you really want. Also there is a lot I don't think you'll be able to get on with without a venue. And I know a lot of the things we've booked have a cancellation policy so we would still have to pay them, in the worst case if you couldn't get a venue for the date you've booked them for you'd still have to pay!

I don't think it's worth the risk myself. Have you already booked the church or are you planning on getting a registrar to the venue - in which case they may be booked too.

As someone else said you can still negotiate with the venue or maybe even think about a Sunday or a weekday if cost is a big issue. Or alternatively give yourself more time to save, set the date for later and have your perfect day. For us our wedding is something where every detail has been what's felt right for us, to have to settle for something wouldn't have fitted in with that, but that's just personal for us.

Good luck if you do decide to go with it though.

Nikki

xx

I think it's doable and you should go for it.

You can always get your dress & bridesmaids ready in advance and that only leaves you the venue, mens outfits & photographer to sort as the big things. The photographer is probably the thing you'll have to compromise most on - it will be a 'who is available' rather than a 'who do I want' decision. But there's tons of photographers out there who don't do wedding photography as their main business (maybe specialising in commercial photography etc) who won't be booked up every Saturday during summer but who could still do it for you. (My photographer wasn't a wedding specialist but he'd done work for loads of big companies - worked out MUCH cheaper too!)

Invitations etc can be done quickly - again you'll just not be able to choose from suppliers who have 12 week lead times! But there's no reason why you couldn't find your design and pay a deposit, until you know the exact date.

Go for it..

Im afraid I agreee with the majority on here, Its a very high risk stratagy that could leave you with a 'half baked' wedding day.

There are so many other ways to cut costs any there are quite a few of us 'budget brides' on here to share cost saving ideas with!!

I agree with the majority too - there are loads of ways to keep the costs down with a wedding.

For a start, you don't have to go for an expensive venue. You can bargain with all suppliers in all areas to try and get discounts and lower prices - most are willing to discuss this.

Good luck with it all whatever you decide to do.

I don't think i would take this risk. If I had to cut costs I would do so in other areas rather than the reception. The venue is one the most important things of the day, and you need to find somewhere that you are happy with- I don't think you would be able to do this if you left it so late. I also think it would be very stressful. I know I felt a huge sense of relief once I booked the church and reception- no matter what problems I had with other aspects of the wedding i.e. flowers, cars, dress etc at least I have a venue and the wedding would definitely go ahead!

i think you would be very brave to do this, and would urge you to look into other ways of cutting costs. Not having a sit down meal would be an easy way to save money, you could get married in the late afternoon and just have a buffet for your guests rather than feeding them twice.

HTH

Have you definately got your heart set on a spring/summer wedding?

there are a lot of hotels who will do up to 50% off deals during traditionally quiet times i.e jan/feb.....

i went to a wedding on 27th december last year - in one of the most presitigious venues in our area, the couple got it half price!!! and the xmassy theme was lovely and very romantic!

i suppose it depends if you want to try and create a "traditional" style wedding or go for something a bit different (i.e later ceremony with bbq/buffet)

its whats important to you that counts!!! ?

Very risky during wedding season. Certainly over here in NI you wouldn't get away with it as venues are booked up over a year in advance and even have waiting lists for dates.......and I don't know of any that lower the price for short notice. They do lower the price though for off peak dates such as mid week or winter months (as already suggested).

As a DJ, I wouldn't be happy being booked without knowing the venue. There are some venues that I try to avoid because they have difficult carries (stairs etc and no lift) . Also its hard to quote if you don't know how far you're going to be travelling.

I guess it really just depends on how fussy you are or not or how definite your ideas are. If you just want 'a venue' and 'a disco' and 'a photographer' it could work for you, but if you want certain ones, it's potentially risky.

I think with certai types of businesses you can get deals when booking late, usually if they have high overheads and spare capacity, i.e it costs them whether they are full or empty so it may work with venues, although probably less likely to pan out that way during the peak wedding season as you are planning.

I know I personally don't do late availability deals for late weddings, nearly all of my costs are variable (I only incur them if I shoot a wedding) and they cost the same the same whether it was booked a day or 2 years in advance! In summer I'm also usually very busy, even if I'm 'free' on that date, I've still got other work such as post processing weddings, orders and buildings albums, it's not like you average photographer is just swanning around in the garden between Jun-Aug! An unbooked weekend is usually a chance to try to catch up or remind the kids who mummy or daddy is!

You may be able to save money on the venue, but you would probably have to make lots of compromises over suppliers because it will be a 'who is available' approach.

Totally true, just cut your cloth to suit yoru budget, go for a weekday wedding, just spend on what you need to. So many couples think they can't 'afford' to get married, getting married can easily cost a couple of hundred quid, it's the whole 'fairytale' people get caught up with and trying to keep up with friends and family.

Do be careful when bargaining with suppliers though, I have on more than one occaision rejected a couple because sometimes when a couple is haggling like that you just get the sense they are going to be more trouble then they are worth, you don't connect with them and you wonder how much stress it's going to be later down the line. I have budget options and luxury options, if you can't afford the luxury, that's what the budget options are there for!

I'm happy to work out a package to somebodies budget if I can, it won't be the normal package, but I'll try and work something out that fits what they have to spend, but so many couples want all day coverage and the best album at the half day budget rate!

It amazes me how many couples claim poverty and a 'I only have a small budget', can you photograph my wedding at <insert fantastically expensive venue here> and give me a discount? er...No, you have a more than adaquete budget, your just choosing to spend it elsewhere! I even had a wedding planner try that this month, 'my client only has a small budget'....well she can make her spend more efficient by cutting out any intermediaries and dead wood then can't she?

I had one father of the bride who came in like he was negotiating a pay deal for the railway unions, I had to ask them to leave in the end he was so haggling so much!

The other big one at the moment is the 'buildng quote' approach which says 'Please can you give me your best price on....' sent to a group of 5 photographers, I don't know about other photographers but I don't even respond to these anymore. I compete on quality rather than price and I know I'm not going to be the cheapest quote and I know if they haven't seen my prices on my website they haven't looked at it and they just don't care about quality and price is the overiding thing. I'm sure couples using this approach miss out on a lot of the skilled and quality suppliers out there.

Finally there is the 'can you give me your best price?' Sure it's £1 million, fantastic isn't it?

There is no harm in asking, but if prices are published it's reasonable to expect the price to be that or pretty close to that and if you start making counter offers, playing 'hard ball' and putting out quotes to tender a lot of the suppliers who dont need the work because they are good and busy wont' want to get involved.

Brian...that made me giggle lots....but I must add its very true.

I'm afraid I don't alter my price in this way either. For starters ....its rather unfair on those that have already booked you to then go out at a lesser fee for someone else. Also, I sometimes think it smacks of desperation if they are willing to bring down their price so easily. A successful supplier is busy and can maintain their price.

I guess the only thing I am scared of is calling in march, april or may 2010 and finding that there are no last minute dates available. However, my sensible side tells me that logically there should be.

At this moment in time there are plenty of last minute offers available in the months of November and December but I am not sure if this will be the case in the more popular summer months.

The venues I am looking for are those where everything is done in one place e.g. Parklands, Fennes, Gosfield etc. They are normally around £15K for 100 people but work out around £6-7K as a last minute offer.

Regarding Photography and Cakes I am not too concerned. My concern is that the nicer venues do not actually have last minute offers come the time I call around.

Anyone here had a last minute wedding or participated in one sucessfully?

I totally agree with everyone who has commented on this thread. DON'T DO IT !!!!

The thought actually frightens me that I didn't have a venue. If the venues you are looking at our popular, its unlikely that they will have the availability on the weekends unless you would be willing to do it on a weekday and then you could possibly stand a better chance. When I started looking for venues, we have just under 2 years to plan and one of my chosen ones was fully booked up for the next 3 years !!! every sat from april till end of sept !!

At the end of the day, this is only my opinion and I wish you the best of luck

Hi,

I'd have to agree with everyone else. Don't risk for the last minute deal for a venue.

There's so many people that leave this till last thinking that there can't be that many people getting married, or that not a lot of people will pick the same date as you. Did you know, there was approximately 67,000 weddings alone in England in 2008?

Renting a venue for your special day is one of the most important factors in your wedding. Most venues have a 12 month reservation set in place and some venues don't display on their website if dates have been booked or not until that date becomes closer.

On one hand, you are right. There are some venues that do have last minute deals, especially in the winter months, but would this include a deal on your wedding date?

I hope I haven't offended anyone with my reply - Just trying to help

Vickie