Some venues & planners charge suppliers a fee to “recommend” them.
For most couples planning a wedding the first thing they book is the venue or a wedding planner. A lot of venues or planners will then offer you a list of ‘recommended suppliers’, to help you find the rest of your suppliers. And that’s very helpful of them because it usually means whoever you choose has worked at the venue before and gets on well with other recommended suppliers.
However, an increasing number of venues and planners select who they ‘recommend’ by their ability to charge those suppliers a commission – and usually without telling you that’s what they’re doing.
Not all of them do this – don’t assume if you’ve been sent a Recommended Suppliers list that they’re all being charged – but if they are it’s often at least 10% of the supplier’s fee, which the supplier may have to cover by raising their fee accordingly.
That in turn may cause the supplier to need to register for VAT – which either increases the price you pay even more, or if the supplier chooses to just absorb the VAT themselves they’ll make even less profit per wedding.
This means that a venue charging suppliers a commission could potentially net thousands of pounds in ‘free money’ per wedding, for simply handing over a list of recommended suppliers. And if the suppliers increase their fee to cover it, couples could be indirectly paying the venue a lot more than they thought without realising it.
Here’s a couple of links from other wedding suppliers, describing what they’ve experienced and the impact it can have:
- https://www.onelittledaisy.co.uk/recomended-suppliers-tax/
- https://www.lovefromlila.co.uk/what-is-a-preferred-suppliers-list
Don’t worry – most venues and planners don’t do this
As a wedding photographer based in London I’ve built up a great relationship with loads of venues and planners and am very grateful to have been included on a few of their ‘Recommended Wedding Suppliers’ lists, including The Andaz Liverpool Street, Oaks Farm, Gaynes Park, and many more. I’ve got a great relationship with all these venues, but I’ve never been asked for a penny in commission.
My way of saying thank you and nurturing the relationship is to send all the suppliers I met on the day some photos featuring their work, and I do that for free (assuming my couple is happy with that).
So I’ll send the florist great pictures of their bouquets, the band or DJ gets great shots of them filling the dance floor, the venue gets a TON of photos of their rooms all set up, shots of the food, the waiting staff doing their thing, and so on.
It’s a great deal for everyone, with no ethically questionable commissions to get in the way.
Aren’t commissions just a cost of doing business, like paying for advertising?
I understand the argument, but I don’t think the comparison works.
Let’s assume your photographer charges £2000. If they’re charged a 10% commission they’ve spent £200 to get just one booking, and that’s a pretty bad return on investment. And if they have to charge VAT too that’s calculated on the total, not what’s left after commission.
Alternatively the photographer might increase their fee for this venue, charging £2220 so they still get around £1998 after commission.
However, with ads the advertiser has to make it clear you’re clicking on an ad. But a venue or planner is unlikely to tell you that they were paid to recommend other suppliers, because then you’d question those recommendations.
So you’ve been handed a Recommended Suppliers list – should you trust it?
Don’t just blindly book anyone the venue recommends. Look into the suppliers for yourself and decide if you like their work. If those suppliers are indeed charged a commission it’s impossible to say how much of that is passed directly on to you in their fees.
If you want to be absolutely sure, try asking the venue or planner “do you charge these people a commission if we book them?” and if you’re feeling particularly brave, follow up with “doesn’t that mean we could be paying over the odds just to cover your commission fees?”
Which venues and planners are charging this fee?
Tricky to answer, because some of the venues and planners that charge this commission contractually require the suppliers to not disclose the existence of this fee. Even if they don’t, outing venues and planners I work with like this would probably ruin our relationship even if I’ve avoided paying a commission so far by offering free images.
What I will say is that no planner or venue named in this post has ever tried to charge me a commission.
What about my own ‘recommended wedding suppliers’ list?
I have a list of suppliers I’ve worked with and can highly recommend – such as planners, florists, makeup artists, cake makers, bands, DJs, magicians, videographers, and photo booths.
I send that list out to any couple that asks, after booking me. But I don’t charge anyone a fee if they get the job, and I never will. I recommend them because they’re excellent, reliable, and I love working with them.
And that’s the only reason any wedding venue or wedding planner should be recommending any other wedding supplier, in my personal opinion.