Wedding venue/caterer pricing help?

Question

When a wedding venue says their cheapest wedding package is $135 per person, but it includes a lot of extras like open bar with premium liquor, tabled and butlered appetizers, three course meal, etc. Will they go lower than the $135 if I request to not have the extras like the premium liquor or tabled appetizers?

Basically my question is when I see a place quote their cheapest package as $135 a person and I know that I want to spend less than that, should I assume there is any negotiating on the price or level of service when I meet with them?

I haven't met with any of the places yet, but want to know if I should even bother with the place I know are out of my price range from their website or information they sent me via email.

Answer 1

It really depends on what you want excluded and whether those options significantly add to the cost or profit of the package.

All of the places my fiance and I looked at offered packages, because for us it was the easiest way to book.  But some of the places also offered non-packages that you could just pick and choose menu items for the meal, the hours of open bar (but some did not offer a cash bar service, it was open alcohol or no alcohol, but that was just one place), the appitizers and how they were served.

You really have to sit down and talk with them because some place sonly offer packages, it's just how their business runs, and if you don't want something, you still pay the package price, because some aspects cost them little to no money to include (such as coloured linens or the centerpieces) so if you don't want them they still charge you for the whole package and make the profit anyway.

I found from going to see lots of places that a package is really the cheapest (and easiest) way to go.  When you add in the costs of meal, dessert, wine, renting linens, etc, it ends up costing more (and way more effort to coordinate) than just a package that is a pay-one-price type thing. Also, if you don't go with a package a lot of places will then charge a room rental fee (especially if you don't have bar service because that is very profitable for them) so it really adds up to more than a per-person package at that point.

My fiance and I took our budget and the amount of people we were having and worked out that our limit was $100 per person with an all inclusive package.  Some places we saw were like $99 but then that was PLUS taxes and service fees which add like $30-40 per person.  So we just vetoed those.  We ended up going with our first choice venue; when we went to our meeting with them we were floored that the package they offered was like $96 per person and it was the most beautiful place we'd seen!  No that it's book, because it's a package we're more than half done planning and our wedding is more than a year away!

Good Luck!

Answer 2

It may vary by venue.  But since they call it a "wedding package", I assume that you can probably get a "non-wedding package" for less than $135...without all the extras.  Vendors see brides coming and they create these all-in-one packages just for a wedding because most people believe that weddings=big bucks.  But most if not all venues do events other than weddings.  So you should be able to negotiate and create an ala carte package and even request to see their "non-wedding packages".

So to answer your question, just ask.  Tell them what you desire and see what happens.  Though keep in mind that some venues/vendors, don't do business below a certain dollar amount because based on their service/product, they would not make a profit if they went below that price.

Good luck and congrats.

Answer 3

If you like the look of a place, go check it out. This will allow you to get a good feel for what you like and don't like, even if you don't end up going with them. Just in speaking with them, seeing what they offer, you will find questions that you wouldn't have thought about asking. It's good research to go to a few different places in different price ranges.

If you know your price is half of the cost listed or lower, then don't go to too many of the higher priced places.

Good luck!

Answer 4

I am shopping around also it really just depends on the place it does not hurt to shoot them an email and ask!