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Venues for 300-400 guests?

mlofromsopomlofromsopo member
First Comment First Anniversary Combo Breaker
in Maine
I am newly engaged and have started looking at venues.  Unfortunately, I have a LARGE family and a small budget (hoping to do a lot of DIY and aiming to keep it under $8,000).  Any suggestions for sites that can accommodate this large of a group?  I am open to all seasons except winter (Maine weather), preferably spring or fall, even late fall.  I live in Southern Maine but am open to travel.
Thanks!
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Re: Venues for 300-400 guests?

  • hcorr34hcorr34 member
    First Anniversary Name Dropper 5 Love Its First Comment
    Do you mean you're looking to keep the reception aspect of the wedding under $8000 or the entire wedding (dress, flowers, photographer, dj, cake, reception, etc.)? 

    If you just mean the reception, then you're looking for a place that's less than $20 a plate.  If you mean the entire wedding, then you're looking to pay a lot less than that, which is going to be very hard to find.  You may save a lot by doing DIY, but if you're going to feed 300-400 people, it's going to be very expensive.

    Check out the Italian Heritage Center in Portland (http://italianheritagecenter.com/weddings). They are one of the few places that I'm aware of that can hold that many people. 

    I got married at Seasons Event and Conference Center and they have pretty reasonable prices.  I'm not sure what their capacity is since I had less than 100, but they were great to work with and one of the most reasonable I could find in the Portland area. 

    A friendly word of advice since you're newly engaged and probably very excited about starting the planning process.  Before you determine your guest list, you need to figure out your true budget and determine how much money you will be able to spend on different aspects of your wedding, especially the parts that will vary in cost depending on how many people you invite.  If you only have 5-6000 to spend on a reception, you may need to rethink your guest list.  300-400 people means that many favors, that many invitations, that many place cards, etc.  When I first started planning my wedding, we had close to 200 people on our list.  Once we realized we only had about $4000 to spend on our reception, we had to cut back.  It's not an easy process, but it was something we had to do to stay within our budget.  We only ended up inviting 110.

    Good luck!
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  • eliseboutineliseboutin member
    First Anniversary First Comment
    Have you considered renting a tent? Im renting everything (linens, tables, chairs, dance floor, tent, lighting, china.....) from one stop party shoppe out of portland. My guest list for 260 people requires a tent rental of 1,500.00. If your on a small budget you could just rent the tent and tables and chairs and use paper cloths and paper plates... check out the website www.partyshopmaine.com

    all prices are listed under product catalog (except for tent rental prices)
    Good Luck!
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  • GreatoutdoorsmeGreatoutdoorsme
    First Comment
    The great outdoors in turner Maine can seat 250 to 300 people, with indoor and outdoor options. Check out www.greatoutdoorsme.com
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  • hcorr34hcorr34 member
    First Anniversary Name Dropper 5 Love Its First Comment
    edited January 2013
    Please stop advertising your venue.  It is not allowed here. 

    No soliciting of any kind on the message boards or in the chat room -- it is neither allowed nor appreciated by the community. If you are interested in advertising opportunities, please contact salesinfo@theknot.com Wedding professionals involved in a wedding-related enterprise cannot post any information on The Knot message boards, even if offering services free of charge.
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