To negotiate with the venue or not?

Go for it! You have nothing to lose.

Even if you don't get a cash reduction you might get some free champagne or something else.

Also, if the date you want is too expensive consider off peak dates.

I've written an article about how to save money, it's for the stage of planning you are at. This is when you can save the most (before you book!)

Here's the link to the article

I think it depends on the venue whether they are willing to negotiate but it certainly wouldn't hurt to ask. We asked our venue but there wasn't much she could do about room hire as we are marrying in a peak month on a Saturday so I sort of knew we wouldn't get anywhere. She did recommend a different food option for the evening though which got the overall price down a bit. Good luck!

It really depends on the venue. Some would make it clear that if you are looking to negotiate then maybe you shouldn't be having your wedding there! Others are open to disucssion. In the main it comes down to how confident you are and how you would feel if they said no. I think you can get a feel for how flexible the venue is. If flexible then they are likely to listen. If it's one where you do it all their way or not at all, then perhaps they won't. Personally, I don't like those venues anyway - it's your wedding and they're a supplier. They should work with you where possible.

This^^^^^^^^ It depends on how popular the venue is as well, I know quite a few venues down here that wont reduce there prices because they know they will book the date.

Completely negotiate we have a 5.5k ish package for 2.5k yes it's off peak October but still a Saturday. We've not paid full price on anything or if we did it was less than expected you might not get monetary discount but maybe get a freebie or two X

Wow! Thanks for your help, seems like it's definitely worth a polite ask, if you don't ask you don't get I suppose!

Negotiated £500 off the quoted price, and steak instead of chicken before shaking hands, ?

We got a good amount knocked off our venue, you don't ask you don't get. Worth a shot

I tried and failed miserably lol. I am also geting married in 2016, and the veune said that on average the put prices up by £10 to £20 per head a year, and as there is a min 70 people by booking early I had alreayd saved a significant amount as got 2014 prices not 2016 prices and so they could not give me a further discount which actually seemed fair enough when I thought about it. But its worth a try as my sister managed to negotiate a lot of freebies even though she could not lower their prices on her venue.

Got £1750 off ours; always worth asking. Businesses are all used to negotiations, why should this be any different?
Good luck!

Always worth a try! We got money off the exclusive use fee which paid for the DJ and a bit more on top!

Our current favourite venue has already said to us that if we need some help with making the venue more affordable they're willing to do it. I mean obviously we're not talking thousands off, but they've said they'll sit with us and talk about our options as to how we can shave a little off here and there to make it more affordable.

As others have said, no harm in asking!

I think it is definitely worth a try, they are a business after all. If you are wanting an off peak month and / or day then l would assume it is more likely to be possible.