Wedding planner wants discount to be on her vendor list

Nope! Any no one in my area has ever asked for one.

That sounds out of whack to me...........I thought these planners often charged the bride a percentage of all of the total fees and/or, in some cases, by getting a percentage kickback from each vendor.....

Wouldn't it be in the planner's best interests to have you charge as much as you can????

I can't see her gaining anything by your offering a discount.

I also can't see you gaining anything with a few coupons that you'd probably never use..........

Too many of these "event" planners popping up...........especially when it's easier than ever to plan your own events using the internet.............

JMHO
Rae

There's a planner here that does that. They have on their webpage that the vendors on their vendor page are "special-priced" through their company, and then say that if you are a vendor that wants to be a part of that and be on their vendor page, it's a $19.95/month advertising charge.

This is weird to me, because other vendors in this area don't charge for a link on their website. We just "swap links".

We have never been asked to offer a discount to be a part of a preferred list, but if we do, we would say no.

Any reputable or credible planner will not do that. Repeat .... reputable. credible.

Just as FYI, I had a friend who was taking a wedding planner certification course and was talking to me about pricing and how could she get discounts from vendors LIKE THE COURSE INSTRUCTED HER TO.

I was shocked. Right then and there I called a couple of wedding planner friends and told them, "I have a friend sitting here right now with a question ....." My planner friends were appalled that this idea was being taught in a certification course!!!

So the fact that you said she was a "new" planner leads me to believe she's been duped by the same type of 'teaching'.

This practice will give you zero credibility. Eventually people will believe "Oh they only give out her name because she pays them to!" which leads people to believe YOU are somewhat less than 'credible".

Um, heck to the nah!!! This is a major pet peeve of mine, cause to me, key word to me, this ranks of "KICK BACK", which I think is SO WRONG! If I work with a planner and she reccomends me to someone, I would hope it is because they thought I was a solid vendor, not cause I paid to be on their list or cause I give them exclusive discounts. So, no for me.

I do not pay, bribe or kick back my way on to any list for any one for any reason. If you recommend me, it's because I did a good job and you were thrilled with your cake. And this is what I tell wedding planners.

This is a pet peeve for me too. I don't give discounts or kickbacks for referrals. I actually had a venue ask a for 25% referral fee and said they could have one when I got a 25% referral fee for every bride I sent to them. If a florist, photographer, venue, or planner wants to send business my way that's all good and fine but it has to be based on reputation not their revenue. I'm not paying for it.

I agree completely! It seems unethical to me.

I was actually shocked to find that out about the planner here. They are a well established event business here, so not newbies or anything, and I was surprised they would do that, or that all the businesses on their vendor pages would agree to it!

And the person I feel bad for is the BRIDE! You think your getting these vendors, cause of their well known quality, but no. It's cause they paid to be on a list!

I've also heard that some request a 'discount' from you, and then 'resell' the cake to the bride with a big markup. Some people say it's "just business" to do that... I call it "just criminal". Everyone wants to make a buck out of everyone elses hard work. Well, not EVERYONE, but you know, there are tons of people like that out there. I have a person who thinks she should be able to hand me an expired cake mix out of her pantry and I should turn around and give her a gloriously decorated cake with no extra charge. Dream on, lady.

I work very closely with a local wedding planner. I do not give discounts. I am also on several preferred vendors lists and it didn't cost me a dime.

Also: I have recently gotten rid of a 'middle man'. Last year I lost a money. The middle jacked up the prices on my cakes. It didn't 'cost', the middle man a dime and he marked them up more then 100%. This year I more then doubled my prices so my business could float itself. When the 'middle man', saw the prices he asked, "Is this the same price list for me too?!" I simply said, "Yup'. and turned and walked out the door.
I have gotten tired of the middleman screwing up cake orders and getting between me and my customers. Too many orders came in late and to be quite frank, this person (the owner of a bakery who didn't have a cake decorater) knew diddly squat about the cake business and nothing at all, about the delivery of a wedding cake.
So....long story longer, I sent written notice( after the 3rd cake order screw-up this season) and told him that after September 30th, I would no longer be available to do cakes for them.
He has contacted me twice since 9/30 about cake orders and I simply said, "Sorry, I am not available".
If anyone is going to make a buck off of my hard labor, cost of ingredients and overhead, it's going to be me!

tokazodo - GOOD FOR YOU!! But man, how did you keep from choking that person!? You're better than I am. I'd have been in jail!

This is a new trend - it's boutique wedding planners. My girlfriend is trying to start up one of these. The whole concept is that this well-established wedding planner has very many clients (say at least 3 weddings a weekend, every weekend for the whole year), and decides to offer her clients the cream of the crop by working with her. That's her new marketing scheme, to say, I only deal with the best vendors around, I have established trust and I know they do their job properly.

Then she goes to her favourite vendors or finds new ones and says, "Listen, I'll give you X amount of clients if you a) spend $250 a year to be in my vendor listing of which there are only 3-5 vendors in each category, and/or b) give my clients a discount."

The thinking is you'll receive so many more clients that the discount wouldn't hit you hard anyway (I mean, 10% off? Just charge 10% more, ha ha. I kid. But seriously.)


This is a new trend people are trying to make happen, and my friend has been fairly successful with her venture - she's been on TV a few times and it's working out for her and her vendors.

But if you were seriously considering this, I would demand to see her client listing, her last years schedule, her upcoming schedule, and try to figure out to yourself how many propective clients you might actually get. 10-15% is not that big of a deal. Charge more.

And yes, I took a wedding planning course about 6 years ago (I'm certified, woohoo, lol) and they "taught" us that too. I use the term taught very loosely since it was a big binder of print outs that they went through over one weekend - and boom, certified!

They told us that we need to find up to 5 vendors in each category, and try to work out deals with them. Yeah. So there you have it, horses mouth.