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Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Wedding Reception Venues
I know I could ask this on the Knot but I know you girls much better. I am helping some of my friends plan their wedding and they are on a very tight budget. They already have their ceremony location reserved for June 18, 2011 but can't find a wedding reception venue. Their guest list is large at 300-400 people but their budget (for everything) is around $5000.00. So... I'm hoping to get their list down to 200-250.
BUT does anyone know of a reception hall that we can bring in a cater or is very well priced?
Re: Wedding Reception Venues
Where is their ceremony?
Our guest list was about that size and our budget not the largest. We went with St. George Orthodox Hall over off of Glenwood Road in Rossford (right off of 75). There's only certain caterers they'll allow (not sure which ones) and we were able to bring our own alcohol, which helped greatly. Especially since we were able to go to a base to purchase ours.
Married My Best Friend On May 23rd, 2009
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I haven't looked at the capacity of any of these places but here are ideas:
Angola Gardens
Oakshade Grove
Ward Pavilion
Hotels downtown
Erie St Market
Sullivan Center
St Clement's Hall
Moose/Am. Legion/War Vets Halls
Monclova Comm. Center
Electrical Workers Hall
Huntington Center
Hilton/Dana conference center
Pinnacle
Tam O Shanter
Maumee Indoor Theatre
Olander Park
zoo & museum (prob $$$$)
I know Olander and I'm pretty sure Ward pavillion only hold like 150.
The biggest way to reduce your budget is to cut people/attendee's.
We did our wedding for under $5000 at Olander. That incs dress flowers, photog everything. I think the whole thing was around 3200 something.
We looked at places who would give discounts for Sunday weddings.
I know Tameron on Alexis can hold that many people but I remember that you had to have AT LEAST 200 to get into the ballroom but the ballroom was very pretty and within our budget...(just not to pay extra for people who weren't coming)
We had a guy who catered on the side do our wedding. If you can find a hall that will allow you to do everything I would look into that. It saved us a bunch of money.
What you need to find out from your friend is what kind of a wedding she wants and what she's willing to sacrifice for that wedding.
For example: To get a nice reception hall maybe she gets a cheaper dress (or hunts for a bargin) or only a photog for the ceremony and not the reception...or only has a MOH and no BM's...blah blah blah, I think you can do a great wedding for under $5000 but you have to compromise
(my commentary is in bold above)
Has your friend considered hiring a planner? They could probably come up with places within her budget that would work. Also, I recommend if she CAN change the date to hold her wedding on a Friday/Sunday, as a lot of vendors are willing to negotiate pricing on those dates, and if she's insistent on a Saturday wedding it may behoove her to hold it in the "off" season (Nov-April).
What about Glass City Boardwalk? We had looked into that and it was a good size and inexpensive. We had a very similar budget to your friend's, but a somewhat smaller guest list (200) and we had our reception at Graystone Banquet Hall in Pburg.
If I can think of any more places I will let you know. I've shot at so many freaking halls I can't even think of them all.
Just a couple of follow-up comments on pps suggestions.
The Electrical Industry Hall fits up to 350 I believe, so that could definitely be an option. The rental fee is half-price if you know a union member. You do have to use Premier Catering, but they're awesome, and definitely work with budgets. You can bring your own alcohol which is nice.
Sullivan Center @ Gesu is very pretty, but had a higher rental cost than the Industry Hall, and I thought (??) it fit more like 250-300 tops? They also charge something like a 10 or 15% fee to the caterers and every caterer I talked to passes that fee on to the couple, so if you go there, figure on that additional fee added to your catering bill.
The Electrical Industry Hall would be REALLY tight with 300 people... even if it did fit everyone. Not trying to knock your hall or anything Merin, cause it's a nice place.
That's just a HUGE guest list and really big for a $5k wedding...
The one thing to consider is the fit of everyone. I know some places will SAY they can fit 300-400 people, but you don't want to shove all your guests into a space where their shoulders are practically touching while they eat. That's not comfortable. And you have to keep in mind you need enough space for a dance floor that will fit everyone.
What about the Stranahan? They have the hall attached and they do weddings there... and that place is really big.
I just feel like something's gotta give with your friend's wedding... she needs to be willing to do one of three things... she needs to be willing to change her date to a non-Saturday/non-peak season date or be willing to up her budget or keep the guest list around 100.
Our original budget was $5k, that's what we got from my parents and that's all we had to work with (we were poor college kids). We had invited about 200, but only 125 or so showed up, and we had to up our budget another $3-4K just to make sure we had enough food and drinks. I didn't have an expensive photog (a friend from my old job did it, she was starting out her solo stuff and did it for $900), my hall was reasonable with catering (I only picked one entree though... if they didn't like it, too bad), my bar was a full bar but nothing top shelf (my mom was insistent), we didn't pay for our limo, our cake was a cheapie, my dress was nothing special from David's, my flowers were a steal (I got silks, from my mom's neighbor who used to own an antique shop and got 'em at wholesale, I paid maybe $100 for silks and supplies), I didn't really do much decorating in my hall or church at all.... I pretty much went barebones. And it still was expensive.
Are you really good friends with this friend? Could you sit down and have an honest chat with her?