How to Negotiate with Wedding Vendors
You will need to hire a seemingly endless array of wedding vendors and suppliers for your special day. Everyone from the reception venues, the caterers, photographer, florist and cake maker, will need to be sought out and met with to finalise the special details of your day.
However, it is important that you meet with vendors and suppliers with a clear brief on what it is you want for your wedding and what you expect to get. Most vendors will have special wedding packages which may or may not suit you, caterers for instance will have menus which are specially designed for weddings, but there is always the risk that you will not like some or even all of the dishes on offer. In these circumstances you really need to know how to negotiate with them to get what you want.
Negotiating on packages and deals can also give you the opportunity to bag a discount or even get some freebies thrown in. Now I am not suggesting you try to haggle on prices or ask for ridiculous freebies such as free catering and champagne, but that you keep the saying ‘if you don’t ask you don’t get’ in mind. For instance, if you book your wedding with a large hotel, ask about getting a discount for booking up the hotel with your wedding guests for the weekend.
A similar approach can be taken with suppliers such as your florist, who maybe be willing to negotiate on price if you place an order for all your floral needs with them, or will offer you an element for free such as the buttonholes and corsages. Aside from getting some freebies thrown, you can negotiate for bulk discounts on things like wedding favors or your drink requirements. Wine merchants may also offer you a sale or return deal whereby you return any unopened bottles or cases after the wedding for a refund. Be a little extra cheeky and ask for free glass hire to be thrown in too!
What is vitally important is that any extras, discounts and freebies are detailed in the contract before you sign on the dotted line and hand over any deposit. Always get a detailed quote and if you are happy with it, proceed to the contract stage. A good contract should detail the vendor’s obligations to you including anything you have negotiated, the cost of any extras that you may or may not have been aware of such as corkage fees, overtime costs, parking etc and it will detail your obligations to the vendor such as payments terms.
Make sure you read it through, ask about anything you are unsure of and if needs to be seek advice from a third party. If the contract needs amending make sure it is before you sign anything. Make payments with a credit card so that should anything go wrong you can get a refund through your card provider. You should also satisfy yourself that you are happy with payment terms, terms of refunds and what happens should either party cancel.
