Haggling?

No, it's not rude and definitely worth trying. Suppliers expect that to a certain degree as long as you know what you're doing and are being realistic. I got married in Ireland and it's 50/50 as to whether you pay corkage so we haggled and got it free. We got the evening food and the arrival reception canapes free also but that was partly because the hotel was in difficulties at the time and were scrabbling to get weddings in. We took a gamble in going with them but it all worked out in the end.

You can always try with your venue to get a honeymoon suite thrown in or a few bottles of wine. Have you booked the venue already? If not, it is worth bearing in mind that venues get booked up way in advance as do a lot of other suppliers so definitely start looking around soon!

It isn't rude to try and get the best deal but don't be offended if your dream venue doesn't want to reduce their prices. With so many venues getting booked up months and years in advance thay have less incentive to be flexible. You are in a stronger bargaining position with independent venues, midweek or winter dates.

Certainly dresses, flowers, caterers etc are open to negotiation; further if you foster a good working relationship with your suppliers they may be able to make suggestions which mean you pay less but they still make their profits.

I'd also recommend you try and get some rooms free. We got the honeymoon suite free for the nite & OH stayed in there the night before which they charged at a ridiculously low rate plus they gave it to us the night after also! We also got 2 extra rooms free for the parents.

It's not rude, it won't hurt you to try, obviously just be gracious if they say no or won't haggle

What Marianne said, If You Don't Ask, You Don't Get.

Give it a go. Your venue is your biggest expense so if you can get things thrown in etc then that would be great!

Another new bride, been engaged for a month a now completely focused on finding a venue for May/September 2014 wedding. I am beginning to compare venues and getting some indicative quotes from them so I can weigh that up against what they do/don't have. When would you other brides recommend commencing the haggling, when I am down to a shortlist of venues, sooner? Some have already indicated they will drop venue hire or evening meal prices but I haven't outright asked all of them yet.

Worth trying - our venue said no to any negotiation on price/extras, but they are fully booked every friday and saturday for months in advance so there is little reason for them to cut prices - if we'd walked away someone else would have booked. I did get our magician down by £50 though and got our chair covers cheaper than the asking price - every little helps ?

xxx

Thanks for the input ladies. We are seriously looking at ths marriot near us and I spoke to the wedding co-ordinator this morning and they have a few posibilities for us. We're going to view next week, so fingers crossed!

It certainly isn't rude and as others have said, there's no harm in trying.The fact that you're getting married in March (a less popular month for weddings) will work in your favour.

The success of this will depend on the type of supplier you're trying to haggle with and how popular they are. For example, if you try and haggle with a really popular photographer (who'll only be able to be in one place at a time), you probably won't be very successful whereas if you're dealing with a stationary supplier who will be able to deal with a noumber of weddings for the same date, you'll likely have more luck.

I think I'd be tempted to go down the 'what can you throw in' route. rather than going for the cash discount - certainly no harm in trying though!

James

I can offend some though.

I know there's the 'don't ask, don't get' way of thinking but there's also the 'I'm an honest person and price things fairly for the work involved' mentality.

To lower your price when asked suggests they were deliberately overpriced to begin with. Plus, if I knock £100 off then I'm essentially screwing over all my past clients too.

The only time I think it's fair is if you ask if there is a way of offering something different for less. Rather than the same thing for a lower price. I've had that and offered to meet their budget but at a cost of the number of images delivered.

200 images instead of 400 to reflect the editing time saved being one such example.

Hi,

Definitely try and have a haggle! I wasn't going to but one of my friends (already married) persuaded me. I got nearly £800 off my venue price and wedding night stay for free! Well worth it. I think they expect you to have a go. You've got nothing to lose.

Good luck

Oh I thought we were talking about haggling with venues. I cannot remember the last time someone started haggling about price, I just get either an email or phone call asking if I am available and how can they book.

I completely agree with this. I do haggle (I learnt from my Dad who is a great haggler!) and I like to feel as though I've got a bargain. But if someone is suddenly able to knock a big cash discount off the price it does make me wonder why on earth they were charging so much more in the first place.

I would definitely have a go at haggling with your suppliers - as long as you do it respectfully then you're not going to lose anything and you might even get a few freebies thrown in!

We have haggled with a lot and got the price down every time! Venue, photographer, caterer, rings, hair and I'm sure there be more lol. Xxx