£450 for a cake? I feel like wedding suppliers are ripping me off

Wedding planner and venue proprietor Alison Rios McCrone helps lick your dilemmas, nary substance however large oregon small, successful a play agony aunt column.

Dear Alison, 

My spouse and I person started planning our wedding for adjacent year. Having booked our venue, we’re present moving onto different suppliers. 

We’ve received thing but beauteous replies from prospective florists, caterers, photographers, DJs etc – but I person the chiseled feeling we’re being ripped off. It conscionable feels similar everything is simply a batch much costly than I assumed it would be. Why would a 2 tiered cake cost £450? Why bash 2 bouquets and buttonholes travel to £350? 

Even our venue. It’s adust prosecute and is costing america £6,000 conscionable to usage the space. People ever accidental there’s a peculiar terms tag for weddings and I’m starting to judge it. 

Are we being taken for a thrust oregon is this the existent outgo of everything? Can you explicate however suppliers travel to these figures?

Thanks, 

Mark

Dear Mark,

Congratulations connected your wedding adjacent year! 

Planning your large time is incredibly exciting, but I wholly recognize wherefore the costs mightiness beryllium leaving you feeling unclear astir wherever connected world each the wealth could beryllium going.

Before mounting up and moving a wedding venue, I could person been blameworthy of reasoning the aforesaid thing.

But arsenic a venue owner, I tin guarantee you that, successful summation to the evident costs – similar the ingredients for your barroom oregon the flowers for your bouquets – determination are a large woody of further hidden expenses progressive successful weddings.

It tin surely consciousness similar everything is much costly than it should be, but determination are a fewer important factors to consider. 

These prices see unit wages, National Insurance contributions, pension contributions, transportation, insurance, instrumentality maintenance, premises, accountancy fees, utilities, store premises, and, of course, the clip and expertise progressive successful creating bespoke, high-quality products oregon services tailored to your peculiar day.

That’s a hefty database – and whitethorn spell immoderate mode to explaining sums that may, astatine first, look eye-watering to you and your partner.

Many businesses besides look rising prices for supplies and utilities, which unluckily get passed connected to customers. In addition, immoderate institution with a turnover of much than £90,000 indispensable beryllium VAT-registered, which means that 20% of what you’re paying is taxation that goes straight to the government, not to the supplier. 

This tin marque quotes look higher, but that’s conscionable portion of dealing with VAT-registered businesses.

For example, your angiosperm punctuation is £350 for 2 bouquets and buttonholes. 

The florist whitethorn person a store that volition request to screen rent, rates, light, heating, staffing, insurance, and taxation if it exceeds the VAT threshold.

Then determination is the clip to root and pay for the flowers, for example. The florist whitethorn request to spell to a wholesaler and cod the flowers, instrumentality to the shop, marque up the bouquets and buttonholes, and past present them to your venue.

So, arsenic you tin see, it is not conscionable 2 bouquets and buttonholes you are paying for – you’re besides forking retired for a idiosyncratic work to benignant the bouquets for your taxable and person them delivered them to your venue.

The aforesaid volition beryllium existent for the wedding cake, but this is evidently a batch much labour-intensive – particularly considering the clip it takes to marque it, decorativeness it with icing, and past to wage idiosyncratic to present the barroom to your venue.

The £6,000 venue prosecute might consciousness steep but again, this terms doesn’t usually bespeak just the carnal space.

One of the astir important costs for immoderate wedding is staff. Whatever work is provided, weddings are ever labour-intensive, and clip is money.

Then, determination are overheads the venue has to screen – such arsenic utilities, cleaning, staffing, rubbish collection, and maintaining the property. Plus, it is highly apt they volition beryllium VAT registered, truthful astir £1,200 of their complaint volition beryllium tax.

And, often, wedding venues aren’t conscionable perpetually making money.  

Having tally our wedding venue for 12 years, we present adjacent for a play of clip each wintertime to repaint and repair the premises to hole for the pursuing season.

The deterioration and teardrop connected a venue is rather significant, particularly if your abstraction is fashionable and has galore weddings each year.

Weddings tin look to travel with a ‘special terms tag’. But erstwhile you interruption it down, astir suppliers are not trying to instrumentality vantage of you; they are conscionable trying to screen their costs.  

Wedding fees tin beryllium gasp-inducing, but knowing wherever the wealth goes tin marque knowing these quotes easier.

A large mode to comparison costs is to get astatine slightest 3 quotes for each benignant of service/supply you request for your wedding. 

This should springiness you a clearer thought of what things mostly outgo – and, hopefully, volition assistance you spot that it’s precise improbable anyone is trying to instrumentality advantage.

I anticipation that helps explicate things a small better. 

Best of luck with the remainder of your planning!

Best wishes,

Alison

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