Re: Need Help....How did you force halls to lower the price per plate? I need tips.

my price per person was lowered when i cut off 2 hours of liquor during the reception at the end of the night. The liquor is what costs so much.

Re: Need Help....How did you force halls to lower the price per plate? I need tips.

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Posted by rosaria

Our families are very similar and food is a top priority.....We were able to get an EXCELLENT price at our hall and we are getting the works...from the seafood boat during CH ,,to 8 entrees including lobster for the dinner and a full VH....We got the regular menu PLUS all the extra's from the Enhancement Menu..PLUS we are able to guarantee a high number of guests so that worked in our favor..:

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wow...that's awesome. Floral Terrace was where FH and I met at a wedding.

Re: Need Help....How did you force halls to lower the price per plate? I need tips.

i was able to negotiate down the price per person on all the halls i went to except for one. I was looking for sat in june. Basically they will start you off with a price. you tell them you love the place but that it is way more than you want to spend (and of course u and your fi are paying for it yourselves). you tell them a really low price (like 100 per person) and eventually they come down at least 10 or 20 dollars. If worse comes to worse you just tell them the highest total maximum dollars you are willing to spend (for instance say with everything included i cannot spend more than $30,000 total). Most places negotiated right then and there, one place called me back to let me know they would go down). And most places throw in the vienese hour, and i never asked to add anything like the seafood boat.
you can also tell them that you are trying to decide between two final places (choose a comparable hall) and so and so is only charging XXX dollars for the same thing and see if they could match it.

good luck, let us know which places you are looking at and we could tell you what kind of deals we were able to get.

Re: Need Help....How did you force halls to lower the price per plate? I need tips.

everyone gave good advice.

i brought with me the information from another hall (east wind) and flat out showed the woman at westbury manor what i had been offered for a LOWER price. she worked with me and i got a price i think is fair.

although we would have loved a sat. night, we knew it was tooooo expensive so settled for saturday day. the way i look at it, i get to be in my dress from 5am until i go to bed! woo hoo!

Re: Need Help....How did you force halls to lower the price per plate? I need tips.

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Posted by carol82

everyone gave good advice.

i brought with me the information from another hall (east wind) and flat out showed the woman at westbury manor what i had been offered for a LOWER price. she worked with me and i got a price i think is fair.

although we would have loved a sat. night, we knew it was tooooo expensive so settled for saturday day. the way i look at it, i get to be in my dress from 5am until i go to bed! woo hoo!

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That dosen't always work IMO.
My sil really liked westbury manor but loved the menu at sandcastle.. so she brought the menu from SC over to westbury manor and asked if they could match the amount of food for the price SC had quoted her and they told her they couldn't help her.

Re: Need Help....How did you force halls to lower the price per plate? I need tips.

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Posted by Soon2bMsZ

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Posted by carol82

everyone gave good advice.

i brought with me the information from another hall (east wind) and flat out showed the woman at westbury manor what i had been offered for a LOWER price. she worked with me and i got a price i think is fair.

although we would have loved a sat. night, we knew it was tooooo expensive so settled for saturday day. the way i look at it, i get to be in my dress from 5am until i go to bed! woo hoo!

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That dosen't always work IMO.
My sil really liked westbury manor but loved the menu at sandcastle.. so she brought the menu from SC over to westbury manor and asked if they could match the amount of food for the price SC had quoted her and they told her they couldn't help her.

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wow, that's too bad for your sil. where did she wind up booking?

it worked well for me because for that alone it lowered it $8pp!

Re: Need Help....How did you force halls to lower the price per plate? I need tips.

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Posted by Soon2bMsZ

When you are ready to sign the contract dont add any extras!!!!!
When you go to do your final menu a few weeks or months before the wedding THEN tell them if they come down on the price you will add it.
Sandcastle quoted me CRAZY low prices on all the things I had wanted to add when we first signed the contract and I was soooooo happy I hadn't done it then.

To them at that point its all icing on the cake

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I was scared that the place might think that since they already have you locked in that they dont need to work with you.

I am sooo glad I read this I am negotiate my contract next week. Good Tip Soon2bMsZ!!!

Re: Need Help....How did you force halls to lower the price per plate? I need tips.

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Posted by carol82

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Posted by Soon2bMsZ

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Posted by carol82

everyone gave good advice.

i brought with me the information from another hall (east wind) and flat out showed the woman at westbury manor what i had been offered for a LOWER price. she worked with me and i got a price i think is fair.

although we would have loved a sat. night, we knew it was tooooo expensive so settled for saturday day. the way i look at it, i get to be in my dress from 5am until i go to bed! woo hoo!

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That dosen't always work IMO.
My sil really liked westbury manor but loved the menu at sandcastle.. so she brought the menu from SC over to westbury manor and asked if they could match the amount of food for the price SC had quoted her and they told her they couldn't help her.

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wow, that's too bad for your sil. where did she wind up booking?

it worked well for me because for that alone it lowered it $8pp!

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She wound up just booking Sand Castle.

She really was torn b/c she loved the way Westbury Manor looked but loved Sand castle's menu. She was really dissapointed when they wouldnt work with her

Re: Need Help....How did you force halls to lower the price per plate? I need tips.

Rina,
Every single hall I went to gave me a price, I then went to another hall and they gave me a lower price. I went to the first one and said... said I could have a wedding with them for .... I am going with whoever is cheaper and low and behold whoala - they lowered their price.

I decided to get married during the day to save money and then also on a Sunday. I also planned my wedding within a few months.. It really worked for me because I was flexible with my dates. I said any weekend any time in the summer. If you can wait until a few months before its good because now they either book you or dont have anyone for the day..

Ill try to find a post of mine from the past listing halls and what I got them down to.

Good Luck and dont EVER go with the first price they give you. they can do better.

Re: Need Help....How did you force halls to lower the price per plate? I need tips.

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Posted by wendyz06

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Posted by Soon2bMsZ

When you are ready to sign the contract dont add any extras!!!!!
When you go to do your final menu a few weeks or months before the wedding THEN tell them if they come down on the price you will add it.
Sandcastle quoted me CRAZY low prices on all the things I had wanted to add when we first signed the contract and I was soooooo happy I hadn't done it then.

To them at that point its all icing on the cake

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I was scared that the place might think that since they already have you locked in that they dont need to work with you.

I am sooo glad I read this I am negotiate my contract next week. Good Tip Soon2bMsZ!!!

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It really works!!! Just make sure they don't give you quoted prices for things on your actual contract...
after it is written on the actual contract they don't come down as much on the price when you decide to add it.

Re: Need Help....How did you force halls to lower the price per plate? I need tips.

I took out one of the main entrees, bringing it down to 2 choices chicken or fish. We are having a full cocktail hour with lots of extras, so the guest will have plenty to eat.

Re: Need Help....How did you force halls to lower the price per plate? I need tips.

Found it:
$59 east wind sat night country gardens july
$60 July:
Chateau La Mer Sunday day
Majestic Gardens day & buffet
Jericho Terrace day
Timberpoint day
Tall Grass night

Good Luck!

Re: Need Help....How did you force halls to lower the price per plate? I need tips.

After you sign the original contract...besides holding off on adding the extras....can you re-negotiate the price per plate by taking out entrees or even if you see that you are above the minimum? How soon before might you be able to do that?

Re: Need Help....How did you force halls to lower the price per plate? I need tips.

I can just say at the Jericho Terrace I had signed a contract, when I told them I was cancelling they offered it to me for less. So it can happen. Good Luck.

Re: Need Help....How did you force halls to lower the price per plate? I need tips.

Definitely be firm with the person and tell them you are on a VERY tight budget. I told one place that while I COULD have my wedding for the price per person they were offering, I wouldn't. And all of a sudden, he came back with $5 lower per person but only on some specific dates.... Funny how that works!

Be flexible with the dates. Once they know you have a set date in mind, they try to get you!

Re: Need Help....How did you force halls to lower the price per plate? I need tips.

i really wish i would have known that with the add ons, we did it all at conract, i cant even bring it up to my mom,she will be so sad cause she is such a good negotiator and didnt think of it