Knoxville area coordinator recs (and more!)

Bekkers

Hi there! So, as of today, my wedding is officially changing from a Dec. wedding in ATL to this summer in the Knoxville area. I don't have a date, a location, or a coordinator. I am looking for recommendations. I have about a 10,000 budget and a huge family I really don't want to exclude. Please, any suggestions would be much appreciated. 

opalsky007

Wow! Lots of ideas, just want to get a handle on your needs...

How many people are you planning to host?
Indoor or outdoor?
What time of day? (This can be a biggie in terms of both catering costs and site availability--you haven't got much lead time, so a lot of places may be booked!)

Bekkers

You are always so awesome and helpful! Thank you! Right now our list is at 120 (most of that is family), but my FH is talking about cutting it down to just immediate family, which I would prefer not to do. I'm for either indoor or outdoor. I'd like somewhere with an option of both, since it could be hot/rainy. No real time of day preference either. But I am trying to stay within about a $10,000 budget, which I know is really low. Two ideas people have given me are the Lily Barn in Townsend and Krutch Park in downtown Knoxville (where he proposed, actually!). If I do Krutch Park, I have to find a reception location inside, preferably within walking distance of the park. I talked to a couple of planners today. One charges $1000, I didn't get as far as that with the other. Any advice whatever from anyone helps. Thanks bunches! 

opalsky007

$10K is plenty to work with! Thankfully, Knoxville's a pretty affordable town.

You probably want to stay away from the downtown hotels and the convention center, as they're going to put you over budget with a guest list that size.

One reception venue that could be really affordable is the Foundry at World's Fair Park. www.foundonfair.com . Their website doesn't say whether they charge for room rental, but their dinner entrees are in the neighborhood of $15, and the buffet choices are around $20 per head before service fees. They also have the most reasonable bar prices I've seen in town. It looks to be within a (lengthy) walking distance of the park.

I'll see what else I can come up with.

Bekkers

Awesome. I got a quote from the Foundry and it's about $2000 cheaper than what I was doing in ATL, even with the location fee. Keep your awesome ideas coming!

MrsBoldin

I am getting married at Hunter Valley Farm, and my original budget was 10,000, too. Pretty sure I'm past that and we're not getting married until June.  Anyways, I saw someone mentioned the Convention Center.  This was one of the first places I got a quote from.  It was actually way more affordable than I thought!  She quoted for 100 people (now this was this time last year) for a ceremony and reception (including catering!) for $4500!!!  The only thing that I didnt like about it was the parking downtown, but if its a weekend wedding, there is a parking garage (UT) on 11th Street at Cumberland Ave. I got quotes from the Crown Plaza, too, but it was going to be as much as Hunter Valley by the time I got done.  HTH

mwhitson14

Thanks opal, I'm not very familiar with Knoxville.

opalsky007

Yeah, when I priced the convention center myself (last winter), the prices for dinner came out around the same as for Crowne Plaza, which we ended up choosing.

The great thing about the KCC is that they have a beautiful outdoor area for the ceremony, and that they also have a great range of meal options--for example, if dinner wound up being prohibitively expensive, they have a lot of choices for lunch or cocktail receptions. I enjoyed working with them, but in the end Crowne Plaza just worked better for us.

Since you're looking for someplace that could hold either an indoor or outdoor event, you may want to look into some of the old plantation homes, like the Armstrong-Lockett House, Bleak House, and Ramsey House. I have no idea how much indoor space they have or what they charge. At least on paper, Bleak House looks the largest of the three.

Bekkers

I stopped off at the Bleak and Lockett houses and just peeked in the gardens on Saturday during my bridal bonanza. They look like during the summer they're amazing. I'm also looking at a couple of inns nearby (White Stone or something like that, and Maple Grove). This is getting insane! My aunt and uncle also offered to let us use their nice big backyard area, where we could set up a tent. I have to figure out if this will be more or less expensive than renting a place. Anyone know how that usually breaks down?

Bekkers

And does anyone know why my ticker won't update with my new date?!?! This has been driving me batty for days. I've cut and pasted the new code about 15 times! I hate computers. 

opalsky007

Hmm...one of the wedding magazines had a really good breakdown of the costs of outdoor weddings with rentals, etc. vs the cost of using a site that does everything for you. I'm not sure which magazine it was--maybe Brides? It was a well-done article, just didn't really apply to my situation (I was a January bride!) so I don't remember.

Maybe check out Brides and a few other sites for that article. projectwedding.com is also a good source for that sort of breakdowns.

If you want to get your hands on rental prices for the Knoxville area, try out All Occasions and Rentals Rentals. I think they have among the best prices in town.

damront1

check out twin cedar farms and sampsons hollow, your reflections for photography and I've talked to several planners...some venues even have their own planner

clsmith10

If you're looking for a MUA you may want to check out Kristin Gunter  www.impeccablyflawless.com