Did you guys ever go into a hall and the hall tells you that you can ONLY use their vendors? What if you want to use a different florist, or a different dj or photographer than what they have to offer. My friend was told that she couldnt use the dj company she wanted because they were not 'house' djs. i never heard of this...how can they do this? Then her dj told her that he has to pay like $10,000 to one particular hall just to be allowed to play there- and then on top of that- her dj has to pay a 'kick back' to the hall, money to the BM and all this other stuff. That is insane! Can anyone shed some light on this for me? How is that fair to us if we have family friends who are photographers or djs, etc. and and cut us a better deal than 'in house' vendors?..... sorry for the vent!
BlondeJD
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Re: Vendor politics...is this actually legal?
At my hall, which is a pretty reputable place, they have house florists. There are 2 of them and you can ONLY use them, no exceptions. I saw this at a lot of other places when we were looking at halls as well. It's very frustrating because I feel like house vendors can charge you more since they know that you have to use them.
nervouschic
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Re: Vendor politics...is this actually legal?
Well....I'm so annoyed and apalled at this. I'm going to look into the legalities of this. You should be able to pick whatever vendor you want. Private hall or no private hall. These vendors must have to really mark themselves up to even make a profit because these halls have what they want....leads.
I'll go to Newsday if I have to. I'm getting to the bottom of this. Its not fair to the brides and its certainly not fair to the vendors. can you brides imagine how much money you would be able to save if you could just pay the vendor and be done with it. They have to charge so much just to turn a profit. Bull!!!
Sorry...on a bit of a rampage.....
mclane
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Re: Vendor politics...is this actually legal?
No, you aren't on a rampage- its just one of those dirty little secrets of the bridal industry. I'm totally convinced sometimes, as much as I love all of this wedding planning stuff, that its all an evil empire full of crooks. I mean, there are nice people out there who really want to halp you have a great day, but the horror stories that I've heard on here make me sick!! I couldn't get over that some bridal salons rip the tags out of the sample dresses so that you can't tell who the designer of the dress is- heaven forbid you try to price compare. And let's not even get started with the whole alterations scheme! I can't get over that some of the limos companies just don't show up. . . I can't believe that the hall dictates to you when you have to start your reception, so that they can book more than one wedding in a day, or that the gratuity envelope passed to the maitre'd rarely gets shared with the waitstaff.
ok, I'm on a bit of a rampage myself.
ChrissynRicky
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Re: Vendor politics...is this actually legal?
I don't think it's illegal.
I went to MANY places in NYC and NJ that required you to use a list of their specific vendors.
ssdbk
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Re: Vendor politics...is this actually legal?
It is very common for Temples to require the use of house vendors.
There are many, many reasons for it. I don't like it but they have their reasons.
I have a florist that I love and I had to search to find a Temple that will allow me to use her. I'm glad I did because it was my favorite Temple anyway.
I do not like this practice one bit, but as a business person (unrelated to weddings), I also set parameters for my clients and they may not like them.
Laura&Phil
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Re: Vendor politics...is this actually legal?
I'm sure it's not illegal, they usually only require that non-rec vendors be insured to a certain level and I can't blame them for that. The whole wedding business is a racket tho...I want a string trio of Julliard students and may not be able to use them...we may be able to work something out tho. Good luck.
PegaLega
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Re: Vendor politics...is this actually legal?
Our hall did not say that we HAD to use any of their recommended vendors. THough I know that they explained that any outside vendor we used had to be properly insured, etc. and that they had to be faxed their insurance info 3 months before the date. That was the only thing that they asked as far as outside vendors. I dont think it is LEGAL but I am sure if that is the case there might be small print somewhere saying this
HearzBellz
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Re: Vendor politics...is this actually legal?
Posted by nervouschic
Well....I'm so annoyed and apalled at this. I'm going to look into the legalities of this. You should be able to pick whatever vendor you want. Private hall or no private hall. These vendors must have to really mark themselves up to even make a profit because these halls have what they want....leads.
I'll go to Newsday if I have to. I'm getting to the bottom of this. Its not fair to the brides and its certainly not fair to the vendors. can you brides imagine how much money you would be able to save if you could just pay the vendor and be done with it. They have to charge so much just to turn a profit. Bull!!!
Sorry...on a bit of a rampage.....
A friend of mine encountered this when she was planning her wedding. And if she did not use the *house* vendors she had to pay an additional fee to the hall. She researched this, and I think that she found out that if she can prove that a vendor is licensed & bonded, then she was able to use them regardless of the hall's wishes.
Definitley do some legal research with the NYS Dept of Consumer affairs. Good Luck
nervouschic
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Re: Vendor politics...is this actually legal?
Ladies I cant thank you enough for your input. Another reason this kills me is that a friend of ours is getting into the photography business and she keeps saying how hard it is going to be to get into weddings b/c of all the money that needs to be paid to get into these halls.
And for other reasons in my prior posts. If anyone wants to FM me with their situations (anonymously of course) let me know so i can begin to research each and every catering hall and find out what the deal is. I would love to turn this all around so that way getting married doesnt make us broke or our parents for that matter. I would love it if we could concentrate more on our day and why we're there rather than 'oh my god I can't make my car payment this month because i have to pay for this or that'. Any support (info) would be appreciated and I will do my best with my resources....and I do have quite a few!
