Need some general pricing/negotiation help

So I am newly engaged! and new to the site. I really need some help because I have no idea how any of this works. My FH and I have started making the rounds checking out a few RH. We are looking to get married in December of 2011 on a Saturday night. We have been too many RH but the 3 we liked the most so far have been Crest Hollow, Jericho Terrance and Coral House.


Most places keep saying your competing with holiday parties from corporations and stuff in December even though they have dates we are interested in but keep quoting prices in December equal to prime time months (may-august). Coral House has been the best price so far but we both like Jericho/Crest Hollow a bit better. So normally how is the negotiation process handled and where can i expect to talk them down to from where they are quoting me or what more they can throw in?? I am bad when it comes to negotiating but my FH is a pitbull! he works in retail so is use to it. I don't want to anger these people but i also want the most/best I can get for the best price I can get. I don;t want to post prices I was quoted so far since I am not sure if it's allowed or proper taste since i am new but i am very lost/confused and need some help from anyone! Thanks so much in advance ladies!

i would start with knocking down the price first

tell them X place gave you ABC for X price

(always fudge a little they will never know)
for instance we told our hall flat out that we were deciding between them and another hall but we liked them more but the other place was giving us a better price

they pretty much matched the other price

and then we told them that the other place included other things like extra CH station, dessert station, etc

and they threw in everything we asked for!

girls who have used your halls or are using your halls may be more helpful with what things they are throwing in

bottom line all vendors have room to negotiate...ask for EVERYTHING you want at the price you want it...it cant hurt to ask and you might be surprised...haggle everything!

we haggled with everyone and got awesome deals on hall, flowers, photo so far!

good luck!
and congrats!!

---

Posted by LoveyDovey

i would start with knocking down the price first

tell them X place gave you ABC for X price

(always fudge a little they will never know)
for instance we told our hall flat out that we were deciding between them and another hall but we liked them more but the other place was giving us a better price

they pretty much matched the other price

and then we told them that the other place included other things like extra CH station, dessert station, etc

and they threw in everything we asked for!

girls who have used your halls or are using your halls may be more helpful with what things they are throwing in

bottom line all vendors have room to negotiate...ask for EVERYTHING you want at the price you want it...it cant hurt to ask and you might be surprised...haggle everything!

we haggled with everyone and got awesome deals on hall, flowers, photo so far!

good luck!
and congrats!!

---

We did pretty much the same thing. Most places are willing to accomodate you because they want the business. Even if they have to lose some money on it, they want you to be able to refer your friends! However, Saturday nights are tough and those are going to be the most expensive, so if you are going for Saturday night, expect to pay top $ even after a discount. Also be careful and know what your minimum is because whatever you guarantee, even if you are short, you have to pay for those people. I made that mistake with my engagement party. At least I knew better for my RH. Welcome to the boards and congrats on your engagement!!

Thank you so much for the replies. Everyone has been telling us to negotiate everything. My FH I let him handle it all because that is what he is good at. He actually said he didn't even want to negotiate pricing in our first visit to these places simply because it would be a waste of time if we didn't like the place. So we are going for round two this week to a few places we did like and hopefully we get get them down a bit form where they were at.

Few places have been at $95pp before service charge and tax/tip for Saturday night in December. Our target pp price we had was $75-80. So I hope the good ole FH can get the hall we love down a bit from there if not I don't even know what we would do then...