Ceremony + Reception site in GTA

Orca11

Hi Everyone,

I am looking for a venue that will be able to host my ceremony outdoors and a reception indoors at the same place. I will have about 80 guests, and am hoping to stay within a budget of $10,000 for the whole venue/food/bar deal.

I've tried Toronto Botanical Gardens : although gardens are beautiful, the room sucks and is going to require a lot of expensive add-ons such as decor and exclusive caterers.

I am willing to look within a 1hr radius of the Richmond Hill area.
What I really want is a place that has a great outdoors area with gardens and some sort of nice feature, and nothing too grand ballroom style for the reception room, just something nice.
Any ideas?

ring_pop

The Estates of Sunnybrook is lovely - beautiful gardens and cozy indoor areas. And the food is great! But how firm is your budget? According to the current prices on their website, it would be maybe $12,000 for a guest list your size.

Rankin85

I'm getting married at the Scarboro Golf and Country Club...

You can get married on site and it has a dinner room - reception room and an amazing - huge - patio.

It's worth checking out.

I'm paying $110 a head - we're going with the chicken dinner - anyway that encludes aps and punch - full dinner with wine and dessert - late night dessert table - 3 hours open bar.  So the cheapest would run you $8,800 and the most expensive (more open bar and beef) would be $10,000.

Cheap places in Toronto are HARD to find...

Levenah

What about the University of Toronto campus? I know they have a venue there. Not sure on details however.

ring_pop

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/local-wedding-boards_canada-toronto_ceremony-reception-gta?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Local%20Wedding%20BoardsForum:613Discussion:f4d7524c-464a-468f-b1a3-a827d5c55eadPost:a8e9b540-2694-4505-b81b-506b285f8a92">Re: Ceremony + Reception site in GTA</a>:
[QUOTE]What about the University of Toronto campus? I know they have a venue there. Not sure on details however.
Posted by Levenah[/QUOTE]

There's Hart House, which has a beautiful courtyard. From what I understand, their wedding packages aren't too expensive. The drawback is that they don't have air conditioning. You can rent an air conditioning unit which pipes cool air in from outside. A wedding your size might not use the main room (the great hall) and the main courtyard, but I'm not sure.

<a href="http://www.harthouse.utoronto.ca/meeting-event-services/hart-house-weddings" rel="nofollow">http://www.harthouse.utoronto.ca/meeting-event-services/hart-house-weddings</a>

There's also the Faculty Club, which is also very nice but doesn't have much of an outdoor area. There is a patio but I don't know if it's big enough to hold a ceremony. The food costs are very reasonable ($75 min pp for summer Saturdays) but there is also a room rental fee and you need to be a member to book. (I think you can purchase a "one day membership".)

<a href="http://www.facultyclub.utoronto.ca/photogallery/weddings/index.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.facultyclub.utoronto.ca/photogallery/weddings/index.html</a>

amme5832

I am booking with Heintzman House in Markham for our wedding.  A Friday night has the venue rental at $1319 (plus $300 deposit that you get back provided it isn't necessary).

You have to supply your own caterer (they have 4 automatically pre-approved, but you can request to use others as well), your own alcohol, and your own decorations.

The house itself is quite pretty, and we'll be able to do the ceremony outdoors (as long as the weather cooperates), with the reception indoors.  Photos can also be outdoors or indoors, and the house has a lot of character, so the photos won't all look the same.

I've spoken with a caterer who can do $45 - $50/person, but I have to clarify if that includes tax and tip in that price.

I don't know about you, but my budget is also 10,000 for 80 people, and actually writing out the cost of everything is actually quite stressful, and I feel like it might not be possible to do (grr).  We're cutting back where we can, but everything seems to cost so much!

amme5832

Ok, I just re-read what you wrote.  You were looking for food, venue, bar for 10K.

That is totally possible with Heintzman House.

A brief breakdown:
Saturday night is $1998 to rent the house (provided you book before Dec 31).
LCBO special permit: $25
Alcohol: the caterer suggested $750 - $1000 for this (we're looking to keep it cheaper by making and bottling our own wine, and using liquor that we purchase duty-free, plus the beers)
Food: $50 / person = $4000.  Eve $75 / person is still $6000, and that would be the prime rib type options, over chicken and roast beef.

You only have the house from noon to midnight though, so if you wanted to do an all-night type of event, that wouldn't be the place to go.

You can see multiple photos of weddings that have happened there here: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=57027167839

TeslaJade

My fiance and I are getting married at Sunnyside Pavilion. It isn't exactly indoors, but it has a roof and is sort of like an open air villa.   http://www.sunnysidepavilion.com/

 It's a very seasonal venue as they only do weddings between May and September (it's on the lake), but their in-house catering is very reasonable. 

They have menu options from 39.99 per person (for three courses) and their bar package is 39.99 per person as well for open bar the whole night.

Depending on where you host the wedding, the venue cost is 1200-2500 - but they were completely willing to negotiate with us to have the use of the entire building for the whole day+evening for $2500.

They also negotiated with us for a children's meal that will be 10 dollars per person.

The guys who run the place are completely lovely and willing to make menu changes or work to fit within your budget.  Because they are licenced, you don't have to worry about getting an LCBO permit or a security guard or any of that.

They also allow you to bring your own caterer if you prefer, but they charge a 15% landmark fee then.

It's not exactly indoors, but worth checking out if you like the style.

Another venue that my fiance and I were looking at was Atlantis Pavilion and that also seemed reasonably priced for 80 people.

katrinafrancesca

Hello! Please let us know what youve found. I am looking at venues as well for 80-100 people. Itd be great to know what youve found

candc2012

We're considering Sunnyside for our ceremony+reception as well! Your pricing sounds very reasonable! I have a couple of questions if you don't mind: Does the venue fee include tables, linens, and dinnerware, or is that an additional rental fee?

I'm currently finding it difficult to get any info from the events coordinator, Martin. He keeps telling me to call back later, and won't give me a sample quote, and it's really frustrating. Is this who you're dealing with?

Thanks!