Need help with wedding venues!

fowlercorinne33

Everything in the bay area is OUTRAGEOUS!!!!! Site fees 7,500....15,00..... who has that kind of money!? I'm so confused and stumped!! My fiancee and I are paying for (i think) the entire wedding ourselves...we live in Virginia... (but all my family lives in CA) so we have to spend 1,000 just on our two flights to get married! We do not have a big budget and are trying to find ranches, farms, etc (cuz we thought they'd be cheaper!) but there is NOTHING!!!!!!!!!! Everything is so expensive, I guess I'm considering just having a wedding in my parents tiny backyard with like 10 guests, cause thats about all we can afford lol... is there any ideas for a cheap but nice wedding in the bay area? Thanks!

emineminem

hello! first, take a deep breath. there are many affordable venues in the bay area, you just have to look REALLY HARD for them

a few questions: what's your budget? what's your date? having the wedding on a weeknight, friday or sunday will bring the price for everything down, as will having a wedding in the off-season.

check out public parks, like golden gate park's shakespeare garden or the brazillian room in tilden park. try to find somewhere that lets you bring in your own alcohol and catering, which will let you be more free with choices (my caterer is only charging me $12.50 pp, and will serve the alcohol i provide!)

look for untraditional venues, like community centers or non-denominational churches (check out swedenborgian church, they have a nice garden and an onsite reception hall for about $2500 total, cheaper on weekdays/sundays)

try searching on this board for "affordable venue" and you will get a lot of results.

mica178

Are you in SF proper or outside the city?  A lot of the suburbs have community centers, women's clubs, and gardens that can be rented for very little money.  Within SF, what about marrying at city hall and having a nice reception at a restaurant or in a small park catered by someone affordable?

QueerFemme

Look into the East Bay parks district venues (the brazilian room at Tilden park is one of them).  If you want a smaller venue, and not quite as formal, look  into the Shoreline center at MLK regional shoreline.  that's the facility we are using. Its  350.00 for 5 hours.  You have to pay an extra 200 if you aren't using one of their approved caterers.

For a "hall" type of spot, consider using Humanist Hall in Oakland. It is not fancy, but it could easily accomodate 150 people or more.  It reminds me of a hippy version of a VFW. The walls are painted bright colors..  But, it has a kitchen and you can bring in your own food and drinks. They normally only charge about $400-$500 to rent it.  It has tables/chairs and actually has a very nice outdoor garden with a fireplace.   And you can use whoever you want for food.  They are usually booked the first two Saturdays of the month for standing events though.  So, you'd have to have a date that falls on the 3rd or 4th Saturday or a Sunday. 

there are lots of places in the east and south bay that are reasonably priced. SF Proper will be more expensive... and probably a lot more formal. It just depends on what you are looking for. 

Thriftybutclassy

Weddings are outrageous, and in the bay area, it's worse.  Not sure where in the bay area you're looking but def stay in the East Bay to save $ (as opposed to SF).  Try looking at community centers in either the city that you're looking at or nearby cities, but make sure they allow BYOB and BYOC, it's a must in my opinion in order to try to meet an affordable budget. 

I checked out communcity/rec centers in Oakland, Berkeley and Walnut Creek (links below). 

http://www2.oaklandnet.com/Government/o/opr/s/rental/index.htm

http://www.walnut-creek.org/citygov/depts/arts_rec_cs/recreation/facilities.asp

http://www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/ContentDisplay.aspx?id=5686

http://www.ebparks.org/activities/corpfamily/br

lolodrake

Which part of the bay area are you looking for?  I was looking a the Falkirk Cultural Center in San Rafael (Marin), but sadly my date is already taken.  For Sunday it was only $100 an hour w/ a $500 refundable security deposit. More Information is at http://www.falkirkculturalcenter.org/event.html?eventid=147. Anyone know of any place that to compare to this.  I'm really bummed this place won't work out for me.

muscat

I got married at Casa de la Vista on Treasure Island and it was the most reasonable w/ most amazing view at the time, but that was almost 5 years ago (6.16.07) and it looks like they may have gotten more stricter/expensive since then. Herecomestheguide.com has a good listing of venues though.  The SF Zoo is a pretty cheap site fee & kind of fun - also close to the ocean for some nice photo opps...

If you want to watch the budget, my advice is to find a place that lets you bring your own alcohol w/o a site fee- that's the mostly expensive part of the reception otherwise.

Good luck & congrats!!

valeriesmom

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/local-wedding-boards_california-bay-area_need-help-with-wedding-venues?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Local%20Wedding%20BoardsForum:602Discussion:111c4d16-34c2-49fc-ac8d-4e263ef0e158Post:8da6f802-1bdf-46f8-87bf-4c02e16a00fc">Need help with wedding venues!</a>:
[QUOTE]Everything in the bay area is OUTRAGEOUS!!!!! Site fees 7,500....15,00..... who has that kind of money!? I'm so confused and stumped!! My fiancee and I are paying for (i think) the entire wedding ourselves...we live in Virginia... (but all my family lives in CA) so we have to spend 1,000 just on our two flights to get married! We do not have a big budget and are trying to find ranches, farms, etc (cuz we thought they'd be cheaper!) but there is NOTHING!!!!!!!!!! Everything is so expensive, I guess I'm considering just having a wedding in my parents tiny backyard with like 10 guests, cause thats about all we can afford lol... is there any ideas for a cheap but nice wedding in the bay area? Thanks!
Posted by fowlercorinne33[/QUOTE]

valeriesmom

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/local-wedding-boards_california-bay-area_need-help-with-wedding-venues?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Local%20Wedding%20BoardsForum:602Discussion:111c4d16-34c2-49fc-ac8d-4e263ef0e158Post:8da6f802-1bdf-46f8-87bf-4c02e16a00fc">Need help with wedding venues!</a>:<div>
</div><div>check all the cities under PARKS & RECREATION FACIILITY RENTALS.  I live in the east bay, and they have beautiful places to rent that dont require 'EXCLUSIVE CATERERS" like the Brazilian room at Tilden Park Berkeley, or Hacienda Las Flores in Lafayette, Danville has a newly remodeled center, Pleasanton, and Oakland has Joaquin Miller that's in the redwoods for far less than a thousand dollars to rent.  Catering is crazy expensive if they're strict, some wont let you bring anything, some could care less if they just supply the hot food and you do your cold items (a substantial savings)  why pay $200.00 for a fruit platter or a green salad?  i notice that Herecomes the guide and all the wedding sites seem to skip over Parks & recreation facilities,    when i see these Dream Weddings i'm not impressed,  i could do a lot for $40,000 too, i want to see ones done for under $8,000.  (uplighting doesnt make a wedding anymore fun)</div><div>
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[QUOTE]Everything in the bay area is OUTRAGEOUS!!!!! Site fees 7,500....15,00..... who has that kind of money!? I'm so confused and stumped!! My fiancee and I are paying for (i think) the entire wedding ourselves...we live in Virginia... (but all my family lives in CA) so we have to spend 1,000 just on our two flights to get married! We do not have a big budget and are trying to find ranches, farms, etc (cuz we thought they'd be cheaper!) but there is NOTHING!!!!!!!!!! Everything is so expensive, I guess I'm considering just having a wedding in my parents tiny backyard with like 10 guests, cause thats about all we can afford lol... is there any ideas for a cheap but nice wedding in the bay area? Thanks!
Posted by fowlercorinne33[/QUOTE]

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