Venue trying to charge all vendors "policy acknowledgement fee". Opinions?

[Arthur Gannis]

There was, perhaps still is, a venue here in New Jersey ( not mentioning name), that I worked in perhaps 10-15 events a year ( video) that slowly put in their own band and DJ services in motion. The equipment was always left there along with the 2 big plasma screens and light show projectors. The venue always recommended the bride have their music by them and kind of gave them a "discount" if they also included their video department as well, the venue eventually got a video "in house "team with editing under one roof to have a "complete" package. The bride had to have their band, video, dj services and was told not to hire anyone else or they would not be allowed to work there. I already had booked several events that year and the manager came up to me and told me that after I would be done with my contracts,that I was not to book any bride that had her venue there. Later on the following year a few brides wanted my services and I told them the problem if they booked that venue. Some went ahead and fell for that ploy BUT some just changed their minds altogether about having their reception there. I never worked there again since ( 13 years ago) and any referral by me for ANY bride contemplating booking that place would be met with a negative feedback. Yes, there are brides that ask me about venue integrity. Also there is a florist here that is kind of a pain in the posterior who gives free video or photo coverage if the bride chooses her services. The video done by her staff is horrendous and so are the photos.
On one occasion I was cancelled doing video for a client that booked her florals. I later found out by the bride's sister whom I did her video last year, that even if she lost the $700 booking deposit by cancelling the video, she would be saving the balance. Well, yes, at the expense of a crap video coverage.
Perhaps we should be charging fees if anyone gets in the way of the camera, especially the waiters and maitre D's. After all editing them out takes time and effort. How about $18 for every time they show up in the camera ? Better still, let's make it an even $20.

[John Nantz]

Pay a "Policy Acknowledgement Fee"? I'm with you, that really, really sucks.

There are several things that upset me about such a practice:

Un-level playing field: What about the guests? Are they paying a fee too? What's the difference? If the facility asked all the guests who use a camera or smart phone to pay a fee their name would be toast.

Don Bloom used the word "extortion" - hey, that's what it is. In the days of records there was a term called "payola".

What Chris said is right on!:

Originally Posted by Chris Harding

Like Noa, if the bride insists on using a venue that milks suppliers then it's the bride who needs to cough up the money if she is stupid enough to use the venue.

I wonder if the bride knew about this arrangement when she booked the venue. To be honest I have never heard of any venue ever doing this and I would certainly not give them a penny!! You will probably find their "approved" list of vendors insist on this so they get the work rather than an outsider.

This makes me wonder about how management handles the "income". Is the venue a chain or a stand-alone facility? If it is a chain, do the other facilities charge too? If not, maybe the local management sees this as a profit center the rest of corporation doesn't have to know about. It's be interesting to see what the home office has to say.

Cash kickback? I'll bet higher management doesn't know about that!!! That's under the table money.

Originally Posted by Jeff Harper

I would inform the bride about the fee, let her know she needs to deal with the venue. This "fee" is of no concern of yours.

"fees" like this need to be addressed in everybody's contract.

Wedding Coordinator: If the coordinator knew about this they should have said something during the budget process. If it wasn't discussed then I wonder how much of a kickback the coordinator gets?

It would be interesting to find out what other local wedding coordinators have to say about "fees" charged by this facility or any other facilities in your area. Not sure I'd contact other venues - don't need to give them any ideas.

Unfortunately, kickbacks, extortion, payola, and, ahem, "fees", are a way of life with some business deals but if the word gets out who is doing it then that can hurt the reputation of both parties. You know the venue is involved and with the list of "approved" vendors you can then know who is playing the game.

Good luck in negotiating the path to take and it's good to hear that someone has some decent principles. I feel sorry for the bride who is probably pretty far down her path only to learn about this fiasco. And the venue probably has her locked in as it's too late to change. What a mess.

[Danny O'Neill]

It just occurred to me that this isn't a uncommon as I first thought. The oldest cartel in the world does it all the time... The church.

I would say 95% of our clients who have a church wedding end up paying an additional 'fee' to the church once they mention it's being filmed. Often this is some extra fee to the organist who demands more when it's being filmed (despite him being totally unable to play in key and without hitting a bum note). It's not to cover licences as we cover that and it certainly doesn't cost £150.

We've had a couple of churches see us on the day, a little surprised they weren't told before hand and actually try and get the money from us. Which is met with a firm 'no!' From me and I present a copy of our MCPS.

[Chris Harding]

Hi Danny

Very true. You can hire an outside venue here for either free or a tiny fee and get a celebrant for between $200 - $400 so your total costs are usually under $500 (not GBP but Auz$ BTW)

I did a wedding last month in an Anglican Church and the bride happened to send me a running sheet from the priest detailing the order and also costs. The basic wedding (bare bones) was an admin fee for $1095.00 ... then the organist (he also played lots on bum notes too) was another $300 and if they wanted the bells rung (they were only 4 tiny ones) that was another $285 ...What actually amused me was the bell ringers (I chatted to them before the ceremony) do this for free as they love bell ringing so it's all a nice profit for the Church!! This was quite a small suburban one too so I'd hate to know what our Cof E Cathedral would charge a bride!!!

Chris

[Danny O'Neill]

Not sure if its in place yet but there trying to standardise fees for churches as they can vary. Some do bells for free, some have charged our couples £500!!!!!

[Warren Kawamoto]

The practice you describe is sort of common here with the high end venues. In fact, they charge $1000 for vendors not on their recommended list! What we do is simply charge it back to the bride, she knows ahead of time what the venue is doing.

[Robert Benda]

I sent a question to the "wedding lawyer' about whether this is even legal. I always suspect that this kind of thing is entirely the venue manager lining their own pockets.

I would, if asked for this or any vendor fee from a venue:
1) call my state's attorney's office to find out if this practice is acceptable
2) contact the venue upper management to find out if they even know about the "fee," and to let them know how repugnant you find the practice (an executive email carpet bomb).
3) post about the issue publicly, like Yelp or other review sites, and notify the bride of your issue (not for reimbursement, simply as part of the conversation).

[James Redmond]

I used to live in Dallas.

What place is it?

Since Dallas is a big market and the news is always looking for a good story, I would contact one of the local stations and let them create a story.

Good luck with it. James

[Mike Hammond]

Wow. Crazy to hear this BS.

But it makes me think....there are a few venues around here (NJ, Long Island) that actually charge the B&G up to $500 to be able to use outside vendors - specifically photogs, videogs, and florists. I was floored when brides would tell me this. Luckily, these clients of mine preferred my work over the tired, boring stuff offered by the house vendors. Sorry, but that's what it is. Some person or crew that works the same reception room, same cocktail set up, same corridors, etc., etc., etc. and just, in my opinion, gives up after about the 100th wedding they film there.

So....maybe this scam of charging the brides is what venues have been doing in other places as well, but word got out and brides revolted, and now they're trying to pass the cost on to the actual vendors.

Either way, scumbags.

[Chris Harding]

Hmmm maybe we should start turning the tables here and submit an invoice to the venue for "failure to provide adequate services for videography" .. Poor venue lighting ..that's $100 .. no seating for the videographer .. that's another $100 ... inadequate parking facility and loading bay ..OK, that's another $100 inconvenience fee .... $300.00 paid up front please otherwise your bride doesn't get video!

That would teach them !

Chris

[Phil Goetz]

I shoot wedding video professionally, occasionally. I did a bridal show in an unnamed big Texas city once. I got two gigs out of it. One was hard fought. The bride said that her venue said that I was unavailable. I said that I was in fact available and would like to meet with her and her family at the venue the next time they had a meeting there. I called the venue and introduced myself and the person on site said that they could introduce me to the bride and that they would consider me for approval to work inside their venue. I went to the meeting. I said all the right things to all the right people. I played along in that they needed to introduce me to my client. I had asked about a place to plug in a couple chargers at the original meeting as well as when I arrived well ahead of schedule day of. The onsite person never indicated where I could charge a battery. I ended up connecting to an outdoor stage where the band was playing. The band members got confused because I had a light. They thought I was plugging the light in. I wasn't. It was battery powered. A Lowel Blender. They let me know in a very unpleasant manner that "nothing" was to be plugged into "band power". I imagine someone tried to plug in a 1000 watt light and everything went down once and then everyone was looking at the band. I never mentioned any of this to the bride before, during or after and the video turned out fantastic. Venues are not always concerned with customer service. I'd go so far as to say they may not be sure who their customers are.

[Dave Partington]

Originally Posted by Phil Goetz

The onsite person never indicated where I could charge a battery. I ended up connecting to an outdoor stage where the band was playing. ....... They let me know in a very unpleasant manner that "nothing" was to be plugged into "band power".

I've never once needed to plug anything in at any wedding venue ever. I always have enough batteries with me to cover two weddings just in case a battery fails. That goes for cameras, lights, recorders, everything....

I don't blame the band for not wanting anyone plugging things in to the 'band power' because it takes a 'known situation' and turns it in to an 'unknown" situation in terms of what could cause them problems, including noisy power line equipment that could cause problems with amplifiers etc.

[Chris DeVoe]

Only place where I've been charged to shoot was at New York City's late, and as far as I'm concerned unlamented, Bottom Line. I was there to shoot the performer at her request, and the venue charged me $50 to use my own camera. "Welcome to New York. Turn your head to one side and cough."

Venues in music are all over the place. Most are accommodating and professional as long as you don't get in the way of them making money. There's only one place in Chicago I'll never again shoot in, Evanston's 27 Live. The owner there goes out of his way to be a bully and a jerk.