Not telling venues/services that it's for a wedding - a good idea? cheeky?

[MimiDaisy11]

I've read a few responses on here and on other places that when you mention a wedding the price shoots up. I remembering hearing about a car rental where putting some white ribbon on the car raised the price by some crazy amount like over £100. I'm on a budget so not fussed about having a wedding look to things.

I'm wondering though if it's a bit cheeky to not mention that it's a wedding or to say it's something vague like a family party.

Did anyone run into issues doing this? Anyone say anything? I think I'll likely be wearing a wedding dress though haven't planned that all out.

@Iveputmyselfonthenaughtystep

I'm divided. I totally understand your reasons and would be tempted to do similar myself, but I've heard of so many small businesses closing because of lack of wedding business that I think I would feel very guilty stiffing the MUA and hairdresser out of much needed income after the last difficult 18 months

It works both ways though. My dd asked her hairdressers about coming to the house to do 5 people's hair. The shop manager gave a price to include petrol as well, fair enough. More than normal but expected. She then wanted us to pay the wages of a free lance hairdresser to work in the salon that day! Presumably anyone booked in the salon was paying! It made no sense and she couldn't understand why we didn't use her salon.

I wouldn’t. You won’t want to be pretending your wedding day isn’t your wedding day when it comes around. People go pretty far out of their way for you for a wedding, whereas it might set you off on a bad footing on the day if people feel like they’ve been lied to to save you money. There are loads of ways to have a really affordable wedding that you can be totally honest about.

guest might have ... higher expectations of service at a wedding

This has got me puzzled, what service could a guest expect from the venue which might not be provided at a family event?

Genuinely puzzled here.

If your makeup artist twigs you are the bride and have tried to save money by lying about being a guest they won't be in a very good mood when they do your make up. Not sure I'd take that risk.