Bossy Venues

Ive found this too in pretty much every venue we went to. I wanted to be able to choose who I wanted to be my DJ and caterers and do my own wine etc however most venues have certain suppliers who they will not let you change. Due to this I went to look at a marquee wedding as I thought Id get more control over everything but then the costs worked out the same and it would have been a lot more work for me on the day of my wedding when I want to be able to relax and enjoy the day not be running around organising things. Ive gone with a venue that have their own suppliers and thinking of other ways to make our day ours.

This is the norm with wedding venues. There are some that allow you to bring in your own caterers but they are in the minority. Wedding venues make most of their money from food and alcohol sales so many are reluctant to relinquish that.

I don't agree with venues that dictate what DJ, florist, photographer etc you can have. That is going way too far in my opinion and I discounted any venues that did this straight away.

It's a pain to be honest. I can see the logic in the food and alcohol insistence but everything else is pushing it too far IMO. We are lucky in our area in that most will recommend their suppliers but don't insist on you using them. I sometimes get approached by hotels to go on their suppliers list but because the owners of hotels and wedding co-ordinators who originally set up and make the deals with suppliers for this type of arrangement come and go like the wind so I prefer to go it alone! I've had arrangements in place at several hotels over the years to display in their cabinets or 'suppliers' table only to find that when you go and collect them to replace them with something new, no-one knows anything about it and the flowers and vases vanish off the face of the earth along with display cabinets and suppliers tables of course as new owners take over and scrap everything without letting you know!

They are a business so have to make money.

Also they have their own reputation to uphold and the safety of you, your guests and the building hence why you have to use approved caterers. e.g. they dont want aunty Maureen turning up with her platters sandwiches she made the night before resulting in the wedding party going down with D&V (as this will look bad on the venue) or uncle Bob with his dodgy gas BBQ risking fire/explosion.

I never viewed any venues that would only let you use their florist, DJ, TOG Etc (im shocked that some people experienced this) that said it is the norm for any suppliers such as DJ's that are brining electrical equipment on site to provide the venue with PAT testing certificate(s) and public liability insurance,.

I can understand venues not wanting you to bring in your own caterers if they provide food as the norm..... its the restriction on third parties that is a problem. I believe this is called restrictive practice and can be challenged. What a lot of people don't realise is the venue make money on this by forcing you to have their DJ for say £350, they then pass it to an agent for say £200 who also takes a cut and puts in any available DJ for £120.

What you could do is go back to them and challengge them (in a nice way). Say to them you are all ready to book, but the only thing stopping you is the restriction on DJ/Tog/etc as you want to choose your own style to suit your day.

I had the same problem, i found it outragous to be asked to pay a £2000 venue hire fee and then i still had to have food, drink, DJs off them!!! what am i paying the £2000 for? i even asked one venue if i could have a BBq instead of a 3 course meal and was told NO but i could have it aswell as?!?! why would i have 2 main meals??? ive decided to go for the marquee option, although the marquee will cost around £3000 i can have whatever i want without being dictated to.

xxx