Illinois-Chicago

I could use a little help please :)

Hello,
I am not sure if this the correct place to post this or not, but I need help. my name is Adrian and I am the groom. My fiancee is really busy so I am th one who is doing the research for the wedding and the budget. The issue I am having is finding a Venue or Hall that only does rental. We have about 200 people going to the wedding and our budget is less then $10,000 for the entire wedding excluding the clothing. This means the cost for the reception place, food, drink, decorations, and photos. I have been researching for about 4 weeks now and most places I have found do not rent and they charge to much for food per person. It looks like to me that renting a hall and then having outside catering come in is the way to go for the budget, but I am not finding any place that just rents and allows outside catering. We are looking at a radius of about 25 miles around from Bolingbrook, IL Please help, any suggestions would be great. Thank you.

Re: I could use a little help please :)

  • Hi!  It's hard for THAT many people and under 10k.  It is doable.

    Would you do a Sunday afternoon wedding?  Or a Friday night wedding?  Right there they slash 10%.  Maybe just a cocktail reception with a few finger foods?  

    You can also go in with a set food budget.  Say, $6000 and give it to the hall and say, this is what i want for this amount of money  - will it work for you?  If they want your business, they will say yes.

    Call every vendor in town - from DJs to photogs to flowers.  Give them your budget and see ift they can do it for that.  It is either a yes or no.  

    Use a photography student who wants to build their portfolio (craigs list!)

    Have a family member become ordained (free) and then have your ceremony in the park, standing room only for a personal feel.

    Good luck!
    It's time. Adoption saving and process started in November 2012.
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  •  I would recommend going to a country club or banquet hall (some place that's all inclusive) off season, on an off day. 

     We rented a venue (seperate fee), have to get rentals because our venue doesnt have dishes, glasses, flatware, linens, booked a seperate caterer, have to buy our alcohol and have it delivered, order a cake and get it delivered.  What I am saying is that by doing it this way we will have paid three times the amount than going to an all inclusive venue. 

    I'm ok with it because it's what we wanted, but it definitely ended up costing us much more money. 
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  • First I would seriously consider cutting your guest list (this does NOT mean eliminating peoples and guests) because it is the easiest way to bring down your budget.

    Second, I would consider having your wedding at an off time on an off day. Say Sunday at 2pm. Host a cake and punch reception. Or do later on Friday night, sometime where people will not be expecting a full meal.

    Use an iPod, dont hire a DJ.

    Have you considered delaying your wedding to be able to save more?

    Have you factored in the cost of invites, postage, the church fees (or who ever is marrying you), transportation costs, hair and make up? will you need a hotel? bm/gm gifts? misc costs? etc
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  • I am not sure what suburbs your in but I just looked at the Diplomat West over the weekend they are pretty reasonable. It is located in Elmhurst. We also looked at Kings Hall they had some inexpensive packages they are located in Lombard.
  • I would also suggest cutting the list.   Hope you find something soon!!
  • Hey there!  I have the same budget with the same size guest list (trying to cut it down).  It has been difficult, but I have located Normandy Room Banquet which is located in Elmhurst on Butterfield Rd.  They do not have a website, but the number is 630-833-7800 and you can ask for Pat or Barb.  They have a package which includes the food, open bar for 4 hours (premium brand liquor) and rental fee for $30.50/pp.  It is by far the best deal around and I too was originally considering outside, catering, etc... but realized as previously stated that ends up being just as expensive and much more of a hassel!  I have not visited the venue recently, but did attend a reception there some years back.  Good luck!!!!
  • <div>There are some other great suggestions on here (cutting the guest list, not hiring a DJ, etc.) We are not having a wedding party, which will save some money on flowers and gifts. You also might want to consider a place where you can hire your own caterer instead of being boxed into the venue's food package.Prairie Production is one, and the room rental fee is very reasonable, but you would have to rent chairs, and there isn't enough space to have both the ceremony and the reception there with 200 people. <a href="http://www.prairieproduction.net/" rel="nofollow">http://www.prairieproduction.net/</a></div><div>
    </div><div>You could also consider being a bit more flexible with your radius around your city. If you go west of Geneva/St.Charles, your prices will drop a lot. Blumen Gardens is a really cute place to have a wedding, and they are *so* much cheaper than most suburban and city options. <a href="http://blumengardens.com/rental_space.html" rel="nofollow">http://blumengardens.com/rental_space.html</a></div><div>
    </div><div>You could also consider having a brunch wedding, a buffet, or only appetizers and cake, etc. as a way to lower your food costs.  Good luck! I started with a 10-15k budget in the suburbs, and I'm at the point now where I highly doubt we'll come in under 15k.  We are having a short engagement though, which means less time to shop around. </div><div>
    </div>In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/local-wedding-boards_illinois-chicago_i-could-use-a-little-help-please?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Local%20Wedding%20BoardsForum:72Discussion:fda3addb-973d-420e-af70-86e80e109a64Post:7f0c78c1-2213-417c-9566-65c45f3a0be7">I could use a little help please :)</a>:
    [QUOTE]Hello, I am not sure if this the correct place to post this or not, but I need help. my name is Adrian and I am the groom. My fiancee is really busy so I am th one who is doing the research for the wedding and the budget. The issue I am having is finding a Venue or Hall that only does rental. We have about 200 people going to the wedding and our budget is less then $10,000 for the entire wedding excluding the clothing. This means the cost for the reception place, food, drink, decorations, and photos. I have been researching for about 4 weeks now and most places I have found do not rent and they charge to much for food per person. It looks like to me that renting a hall and then having outside catering come in is the way to go for the budget, but I am not finding any place that just rents and allows outside catering. We are looking at a radius of about 25 miles around from Bolingbrook, IL Please help, any suggestions would be great. Thank you.
    Posted by geek1981[/QUOTE]
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