Haggling?

I am a supplier and if you are buying in bulk I would encourage you to haggle. We can normally reduce prices as delivery works out cheaper if buying in bulk or we get reductions from our wholesalers etc. Obviously you need to be realistic in your haggling but you have nothing to lose by trying!

Good luck.

We haven't so much "haggled" as asked for packages to be tailored to suit our needs better. For example, the photographer, we didn't want bridal prep but all his packages seemed to include this, so he reduced the price. The bbq packages all have things on them we don't want but are missing things we do want so we'll negotiate with the caterer on this too. As far as the venue hire it was "this is the price, take it or leave it", it's probably one of the cheapest in the area for the numbers it can accommodate so we were happy enough anyway.

If you think prices are reasonable then it makes sense not to haggle. I needed to get my venue package cost down so came to an agreement with them about leaving a few bits out and swapping some other bits - saved £900 and have got the cost within my budget :-) I think it works well if you are flexible and try and work with your vendor - things like opting for cheaper substitutes shows willing on your side to reach an agreement.

Other than that I really hate haggling - I have this weird thing in my head that its insulting because you're suggesting that the product is not worth the vendor's price (anyone know what i mean?) Easier to do with big companies perhaps? I am not attempting to haggle with photographer - which is the next thing in my tick list to book! How do suppliers feel about people trying to barter with them? Has it become more common with the recession?

I don't mind a tiny bit of haggling but really haggling is about give and take. If someone approaches me and says "can you just knock off 70%" I will probably just say no, sorry I can't do that. But if there's some benefit I can clearly gain or I really want that wedding I would definitely consider haggling if I was a bit out of the couple's budget. It would really depend on how busy I was around their date, how likely I was to fill the date with someone else, how much I liked the couple etc.

Yes the way of the world right now is that everyone is feeling the pinch, but so many businesses are going under as a result, including both small businesses and high street chains, because people are prioritising price and sourcing cheaper and cheaper. What I say to the person asking me to shoot a full day for £5 an hour is that I respect their budget and here's a list of people that will work within their budget but sadly I can't.

As a fellow bride (rather than a supplier) I say try haggling on everything! We saved literally £1000s off the venue's first price, I got £150 off my veil, £400 off our band, £200 off tog etc etc. There's no harm in asking! And some places do offer a discount for cash. I have found promising to pass on the recommendation & offering to write positive reviews on their websites help too. X

We 'haggled' on a few things... After paying out £3500 to hire our venue (a hotel) for exclusive use of the restaurant for the day, we baulked at the extra £850 for the ceremony room. Our argument was that surely no one would need the room if the rest of the venue was booked out for the day?! We cut them down to £500.

We also got a suite for the wedding night (which I requested a change to a cheaper suite as I didn't want the duplex one they give as the honeymoon suite - stairs are a no no for me...) and asked if I could get in there at 9.30am to get ready. They wanted to charge me an extra £450 to have it in the morning as it was classed as an extra night. My very pregnant sister who works in the travel business had a hissy fit and they threw it in for free...

We also managed to wangle a free glass of prosecco for each guest. Not sure how, H2B has the gift of the gab...

I would normally be mortified at asking for a 'cheaper deal' but they've got about 10 grand out of us all in all, so a few little cuts here and there shouldn't break their bank!

I haggled on the veil and hair flowers, the hair and make-up lady, the caterer in the day time, the cheese tower and my dress. And I researched like CRAZY on the stuff I wanted, sometimes doing 5 or 6 stints looking for something before I chose a supplier/item. I may have spent a fortune but I'm happy I made good choices

I don't think we have haggled on anything for the wedding.

Not that I am adverse to haggling but I guess living and getting wed in London we are really spoilt for choice in the way of suppliers so were able to shop around for the best quality in price that met our budget so didn't really feel the need to haggle.

We altered deals rather than haggled on prices for 2 things....

Initially we wanted our whole venue main hall to be covered with the marquee lining and were very happy with the quote. We then booked a band and realised that the stage wall needed leaving uncovered so asked about doing a deal. As they had already done us a really good price and I still needed 16 very large tablecovers, the lovely lady threw those in at what it costs her to hire them in... Only an extra £53 so much cheaper than we could have bought or hired elsewhere. AND they are still draping the stage and covering the rest of that wall so we did end up with a better deal in the end.

With the caterers, they already did a ridiculously well priced package but it included 3 tier cake and 100 favours, neither of which we needed. So, instead we have thrown in hotdogs for the kids in case they don't enjoy the hog roast, a candy buffet in place of the favours and 25 extra chair covers and sashes.

It's definitely worth trying to tailor things to suit at least.... Any money off would be an extra bonus :0)

I havent haggled on anything yet which is totally unlike me. However the venue is a steal anyway and I have been quite tight on everything else with searching around. I will probably try and knock the caterers down once I have final numbers and price.

We haggled on most stuff; got our venue to throw in some freebies, our florist got us a really good package, our VOG knocked 100 off the package and threw in a blu ray DVD all cos we were paying in cash. We didn't haggle on the TOG as it was already reasonable and it was one of the most important suppliers for us as OH and I are both keen amateur photographers anyway! Our band/DJ knocked off 100 for us as well as we got them to do arrival reception music in the package. My advice would be to know what you want from a supplier and approximate prices before you start to haggle as, if you appear like you only care for money rather than quality, you'll end up getting what you pay for! (and not in a good way!)