Wedding venues/planners ripping off foreigners?

08/02/26 @Wout.  That sounds like a ripoff to me, too. 

What used to be my go-to site for weddings appears to be in permanent "manutenção" (it happens -- it's the internet, after all!), but I'd recommend consulting sites like these, not to trust automatically but for a reality check, and for potential vendor contacts independent the individual who seems to have targeted you:

https://lapisdenoiva.com/

https://www.casamentos.com.br/

Two other pieces of advice:

When someone asks, "What's your budget?", tell them "Whatever gives us the service we're looking for at a fair price" and stick with it .  If they press you too hard for a number, walk away; they're just looking for a payday.

Let the Brazilian -- i.e. your wife -- do the talking.  Brazilian accent = no gringo tax.  She speaks their language, and I don't mean just Portuguese.

Best of luck!

@abthree

Thanks. I have used that casamentos website before. Palacio Dos Cedros is on it and I believe it says that it's 30 000 for the venue. So I contacted them via whatsapp. The man said that the page on the casamentos website is very outdated and the price is now 104 000.

I really want to have a wedding party in São Paulo for my wife and for my mother in law, but I am sick and tired of Brazilians looking at me like a hyena to a dead horse. And every new person I talk to, trying to convince me that they are genuine. They are all looking to win the jackpot in their own unique ways. By selling me a "package" without disclosing what the cost of every aspect is in detail, or by making me pay an expensive deposit before I even have a price quote or a location.

I consider contacting a "sala de festas" in the name of my mother in law, who is 80 years old and black, to avoid the rip offs. We can say that the event is for her birthday so there is no wedding tax and no gringo tax.

She lives in São Paulo so I can let a friend do the negotiations and go there with her.

@Wout

So you want someone to work for free, before you can decide whether or not you will pay them ?

A "retainer" or "deposit" is a common term used to show "good faith", of which it seems you have none, on the part of the party wishing to obtain the goods and services of the other.

You, yourself, "personally" cannot avoid the gringo tax until you actually live here a few years, and know those in your local bubble with whom you have done business. Let a local do the footwork for you on the following terms..........

The phrase "wedding mafia" is used thru out the world to describe these service companies. Organize it all once you are here, and do not disclose the nature of the engagement, say it's just a party, and use the most unassuming reason you can think of. Never disclose your budget to anyone either, and negotiate like you are buying a car. If you have a Brasilian who can do it for you even better.  My wife organized our wedding here all by herself one part at a time.

Good luck.

@Wout So you want someone to work for free, before you can decide whether or not you will pay them ?A "retainer" or "deposit" is a common term used to show "good faith", of which it seems you have none, on the part of the party wishing to obtain the goods and services of the other.

Nobody has to work for free. I offered to pay the wedding planner for his time now. So per hour that he talks to us.

I also offered to pay him his fee (2x 10 000 reais) after we have an agreement about the wedding venue (price per day) and about the menu (price per person). I assumed that the work of the wedding planner is to plan the event and make sure everybody does what they have to do. Not so much negotiating about prices in absence of the couple that is getting married. I do not believe that it takes him many hours to establish a price quote of the venue we like. My belief is that the wedding planner has backdoor deals with known caterers who pay him 20% (or more) of the entire deal. Otherwise I don't see why he works with his own venues and his own caterers.

I have lived in Brazil for 2 years and I have been overcharged on many occasions. I have also been violently robbed and assaulted in São Paulo with my wife in broad daylight. So I'm sorry if there is no trust or "good faith" when something is related to money.

I will cross check previous price quotes which I assume have lots of gringo tax (105 000 reais just for access to 1 venue, and a 300 000 reais price quote for a wedding with 150 guests). I will do that by asking my black Brazilian friend to get a price quote for the same amount of people (150), for a birthday party for an 80 year old volunteer at the church. There will be no mention of the word wedding, there will be no foreigner involved and no budget will be disclosed. I am curious about the result.

We have been to 2 wedding venues in my own country. They had a book with prices per menu for that year, and the price of the venue was publicly disclosed. It took exactly 5 minutes to get a full price quote, based on public information.

In Brazil I have asked for price quotes 2 times. 2 times the reply was "Let's have a videocall" so they can estimate my budget instead of giving me their price. It was literally asked on both occasions. I was then offered a price quote that is twice the amount of money for a wedding at the largest castle here in Europe.

Now a wedding planner wants a deposit of 10 000 reais before we even get a price quote of the venue we like.

My answer is no. The moment I pay the deposit I am committed to something of which I don't know where it ends.

I will look for my own venue and my own caterer. An event planner can work from there. If the price is not right, we will marry elsewhere.

You, yourself, "personally" cannot avoid the gringo tax until you actually live here a few years, and know those in your local bubble with whom you have done business. Let a local do the footwork for you on the following terms..........The phrase "wedding mafia" is used thru out the world to describe these service companies. Organize it all once you are here, and do not disclose the nature of the engagement, say it's just a party, and use the most unassuming reason you can think of. Never disclose your budget to anyone either, and negotiate like you are buying a car. If you have a Brasilian who can do it for you even better. My wife organized our wedding here all by herself one part at a time.Good luck. - @hagece8690

100% agreed to this.