Weddingbee Blog

I booked our DJ today! I’m so excited because I was not only able to get the DJ I wanted, but I also negotiated $200 off his fee! Who thought that was possible? Certainly not me. I don’t consider myself a very good haggler/bargainer. Mostly, I think I’m usually too nervous to try and bargain, but in this craptastic economy, everything’s fair game in my mind. So I figured, you never know unless you try, right? What’s the worst that can happen? And it worked!

(The story with our DJ is that he used to DJ for my favorite radio station growing up, Mix 106.5. So when I saw him DJ at a wedding two years ago, I immediately remembered his name from the radio and we struck up a conversation. He ended up being a great DJ and got everyone on the dance floor. He also showed good judgment when my inebriated self asked him to play the Pussycat Dolls “Buttons” and he told me that was inappropriate wedding music. Normally, I’d be miffed, but this guy had such tact that I found myself agreeing with him. Anyway, I digress.)

So how did I manage to score $200 off his fee?

Well, I mentioned the economy and how everyone’s hurting, asked if he could do anything to help me out. After some talking, he threw in a discount for the fact that I was booking over the phone without having to meet with him in person, another discount for our wedding being on a Sunday and another discount because our venue is one of the vendors they like to work with. I also mentioned Mr. Jelly’s military service (and it may have helped that I had to put him on hold when Mr. Jelly called from overseas), and he threw in a small discount for that. All in all, I saved $200, and am now able to check another thing off the list. One thing down, 398 to go.

Have you asked for discounts on vendors? What tactics have you used?