Negotiating Tactfully with your Wedding Vendors

Understanding the Markup Behind the Wedding Industry

There’s a common belief that all things wedding come at a significant markup and while this belief isn’t always wrong, let’s first understand why that’s the case.

First, weddings are seen as a “once in a lifetime” event that couples want to be absolutely perfect, which usually translates to a “high-touch” relationship with the vendor that requires a lot more communication, attentiveness, and time than other types of events. Typically, the more expensive a service is, the more premium quality the experience is. Next, because weddings are seen as a “once in a lifetime” event, the materials and quality of wedding goods are usually also high end - diamonds, silk, gourmet cuisine. So a portion of the price increase is warranted because of the increase in cost and labor. However, only you and your partner can determine how much of the overall markup is justified as you begin to shop around and form an understanding of the current wedding market and what are non-negotiables in a vendor for you.

Shop Around

It’s important to shop around so that you can make the most informed decision when it comes to selecting your wedding team for the big day! Don’t just rely on the information your sister or bridesmaid shared from their wedding last year because the wedding market has changed, especially in this post-COVID world. With pent up demand from the last few years, supply chain issues in every vendor vertical, and staffing shortages, the wedding industry and its pricing looks different than it did a year or two ago. Pandemic aside, wedding trends are constantly changing which can also have an impact on the vendor pricing.

photo from Textured Florals

Shopping around will give you an idea of what the current market price is for the wedding you are envisioning. Furthermore, shopping around at slightly different price points within your budget will give you a sense of the differences you can expect in quality, responsiveness, and professionalism. Understanding what you’ll get at different price points will help you narrow down what you’ll be most comfortable spending. Lastly, shopping around can also help you identify what you actually want in a wedding vendor. You may be surprised at how the subtle differences in style, personality, and chemistry with different professionals will begin to shape your preferences. Shopping around for the best vendors has never been easier than with Ezer! Join our beta here.

Be Reasonable with your Asks

Now that you know what you’re looking for and their market prices, you can begin to properly negotiate with your vendors. The most important thing we want to highlight here is to be reasonable with your negotiations - coming in aggressively at the vendors and requesting for them to slash their prices will only leave a bad taste in everyone’s mouth. Instead, we have a few suggestions and vendor-specific tips to help you with your negotiations. These tips helped our founder save over $12,000 on her wedding and we hope they’ll save you thousands too!

1. Price Matching

You’d be surprised at how far price matching can get you in the wedding industry. Whether that’s finding a lower price for your dress online, sharing the lower quote you got at your second choice venue, or even comparing the prices of rings you’ve found at other jewelers, many vendors will try to hold onto your business by offering to price match.

2. Bundle Items Together

If you’re buying multiple items or in bulk, you can ask if a vendor would consider giving you a bundling discount through reduced prices or waived fees. Oftentimes at reception venues, a lower per head cost can be offered with a higher guaranteed guest count. Similarly, certain vendors may waive travel fees or other small fees in exchange for purchasing additional services. We’ve seen this most commonly in hair and makeup, and floral and decor bundles.

3. Buy Used & Reuse

We can’t be the only ones who have seen Say Yes to the Dress when that one bride-to-be came in and bought that gorgeous Pnina Tornai gown for 50% off because it was a mannequin sample. Many bridal boutiques have sample sales offering huge discounts and if you’re not a stickler for trending styles, this could be a great tip for you! Just remember that these are sample dresses that have been tried on many times and some need more TLC than others.

Another way to negotiate with vendors is to be savvy with repurposing your purchases. With florists and decor, you can easily ask to reuse your ceremony decorations and florals for the reception and save thousands of dollars that way.

And of course we wouldn’t forget about incorporating ‘something borrowed’! Be it your veil, jewelry, or various pieces of decor, don’t forget to utilize your network of former brides and grooms, who likely have boxes full of wedding supplies just collecting dust. There are also many rental companies that will rent out champagne walls or seating chart signage instead of having to buy them or DIY them yourself.

4. Do-It-Yourself

This is a common way to save money, but as it pertains to vendors there are some aspects of a wedding vendor’s job that you could offer to DIY, such as tear down for florals and decor or rentals, if you have the manpower to do that after your wedding. Just remember that while DIYs can save you money, they take a lot of time, hands on deck, and trial and error, and the last thing you want is to be managing DIY projects on your wedding day. So if you’re not totally confident in your abilities, it might be best to leave it to the professionals.

This concludes our budgeting series on how to stay within budget. First, we talked about creating a realistic budget by talking with your partner and using historical data to create an itemized expense list. Next, we shared an exercise for prioritizing your wedding expenses so you can better determine where to spend and where to save. Then, we encouraged you to be upfront with your vendors about your price point and expectations and lastly, we’ve told you our best tips for negotiating with vendors. Coupling these tips with using Ezer for your vendor search will make wedding planning easier than you could ever have imagined!