Negotiating

What can and can't you negotiate?
I didn't negotiate my hall at all. Should I have?I assume that it is a set price.
What other things can I negotiate?
PLEASE LET ME KNOW!!!

Good question, I wanted to post a thread on this. I'm pretty good at negotiating, I'm the one people bring when they buy a new car. But I never negotiated a hall before, or anything like this.

Can I ask them to throw in extra's, like Vianesse(one day Ill learn how to spell that), or extra cocktail items? Or ask them to work within a budget?

I pretty much negotiated everything except the church and my dress. I negotiated the Hall, Photo, DJ, Video, Flowers, etc.. I listened to what they offered and told them what I thought was fair and what I could afford. They all were flexible as was I. We compromised a price where I was comfortable. I didn't pay the asking price with any vendor.

Hope that answered your question!

You can try and negotiate basically EVERYTHING. It's much harder though when the vendor lists their prices somewhere. But catering halls, for the most part, don't list their prices so it's easy to negotiate. I can't imagine it would be easy to negotiate invitations though because the prices are right there in the book. You know what I mean? Catering halls don't list their prices on purpose. If you look in the LI site & services magazine most of them list ridiculous prices ranges that could mean ANYTHING like
'$45pp and up' . They don't bother to mention that $45pp is only for a Monday night in January. And probably only a particular monday in January at that!!

So you didn't negotiate your hall, it's ok. Most don't come down much anyway. Some are very firm on their prices and won't budge. You should always try to negotiate because it doesn't hurt to try. You can only win, not lose.

Other things you can negotiate are:
Photo
Video
Flowers
Your gown
BMs gowns
DJ/Band

Mr. Hostility:

YES, YES, YES. I can never hurt to ask. Sometimes you'll be surprised at the answer. They are never going to offer the extras at no charge, but they will throw them in if they think it will make the deal. I did this as well as my FSIL. She's getting everything! They are even festooning her tablecloths for her because she likes the way it looks.

NEGOTIATION is the name of the game in Long Island if you're trying to keep down the wedding costs. Good Luck!

You can negotiate with EVERYTHING. Keep in mind, there are a lot of companies that do the same thing and they have to compete to get business. If you go to a hall and say I really like this place, we want to have our wedding here, lets make a deal. They are not going to turn your $10k-20k away because they don't want to come down $5 bucks a head. Believe me, it can be done.

Thanks for all the info.
You ladies are so helpful.