Weddingbee Blog

We technically met with our venue, photographer, and DJ before we booked them…but let’s get serious: We knew we would book them before we even met them. After hearing great things about them from people we trusted, we basically had our deposit checks written the second we found out they were available for our June 2011 date.

And OK, we also kind of broke our cardinal rule of budget wedding planning: Don’t set your heart on anything when there’s still plenty of time to look for other options.

Luckily, those vendors weren’t budget busters and were totally in line with our $10,000 max total. We’ve grown as a budgeted couple and promise to not make that mistake again. Or, promise to not make that mistake again within reason.

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We have a love-hate relationship with our budget, and when it comes to vendors, we try to prepare ourselves for disappointment. Too expensive? Let’s negotiate. Not willing to negotiate? Later, sucker.

And we really have had to say no…to a venue we fell in love with after we booked our real venue. Oh, the horror.

Remember when I told you about our dream to wed in a barn? Well, even after we booked our non-barn venue, we still still secretly clutched that dream in our hot little hands and kept our eyes peeled. And blessed wedding gods abound, we ended up finding one and it was all sorts of perfect: Perfect location on a few acres of perfect land, with perfect character and a perfect owner, with perfect potential for a perfect wedding.

It. Was. PERFECT.

But the price? Holy. They were asking almost $9,000 for the venue alone…this did not include food, drinks, decorations, linens, or ceremony chairs, among other important and quite necessary wedding-y things.

Like bathrooms. This price did not include bathrooms. We would have had to spend an additional $2,000 to get a portable bathroom trailer for our guests.

Oh, and did I mention ours would have been the first ever wedding on the property? Ever. Call me crazy, but the words “overpriced and inexperienced” are playing on a constant loop through my mind.

My mom, bless her sweet and stylish heart, sensed our frustration and promised to do anything she and my dad could for us to get this venue. But we declined because as perfect as this venue was, it wasn’t perfect for the budget. (And honestly, I don’t know too many budgets that it would be perfect for because that price is steep!)

So we walked away knowing that we won’t be forced to feed our guests pizza at the reception…a worry that other budget brides- and grooms-to-be have on a regular basis, I’m sure.

Have you had to negotiate with vendors to get them down to the right price? Or did you have to walk away from a too-expensive contract only to stumble upon a better (and cheaper!) option? And have you ever heard of having to rent $2,000 bathrooms?!