About 5 months until wedding... nothing booked. Help

Re: About 5 months until wedding... nothing booked. Help

• professorscience member

  

  February 2014

  Expected guest count? Budget? For some quick ideas, we have a vendor list at the top of the board. Are you open to Fridays and Sundays? Are you planning a church wedding (some churches require you to complete marriage preparation counseling)?

  

  
  

  
  

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• BrittyBoop12 member

  

  February 2014

  250ish.... I wish I knew our budget. FI's parents say that they want pay for venue, food/drinks and DJ..... I am open to Fridays and Sundays, those actually work better for us. 

  
  

  We are not planning a church wedding, but as a therapist, I do believe in premarital counseling.... 

  
  

  
  

  I just feel really lost right now in all of this. 

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• professorscience member

  

  February 2014

  Okay, I am going to seriously advise that you take a deep breath before you dive right in.
  
  I'm not saying you absolutely can't plan a wedding in just a few months, but why can't you wait until your FI is relieved of whatever duties he has beginning in July? I get not wanting to wait one more second to be married. I had a long engagement and was soooo ready by the time I was married. However, waiting a year and a half-ish allowed us the time to plan exactly the wedding we wanted. If you're feeling overwhelmed already, it might be worth it to consider a wait. Especially because you will have much better luck finding vendors if you book a year or more out.
  
  Okay, as for the budget: you need that nailed down before you plan anything, really. 250 guests will be pretty expensive to accommodate. I don't know much about venues in Ft. Worth, but for catering you should have lots of options. What kind of food are you thinking of?

  

  
  

  
  

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• BrittyBoop12 member

  

  February 2014

  Haha! There is no way we are waiting to be married. It would be a year and a halfish about before we could get married and he'd live 4-5 hours away. That's just not an option. I have 4.5ish months to plan a wedding....

  
  

  I am not an overwhelmed easy person... yesterday I just had a lot going on. I have no doubts I can make this happen in 4.5 months... I just need to not stress eat hahaha! 

  
  

  Anywho, I am really aware that it will be expensive to accommodate that many people. The reason I really don't know what my budget is (which I'm trying to get my Fiance to get me an answer) is because his parents would like to pay for the venue, food, bar, DJ, cigar bar, candy bar, photobooth and something else. My future MIL hasn't really given me an answer when I ask, just that her kids will have the best and she will spare no expense.... So, I have an idea of what that means but I certainly don't want to take advantage of that or feel like its a free-for-all.

  
  

  As far as food, I don't know what we are looking for yet. I've found several venues where you do the food with them. My Fiance's family want it to be an amazingly fun and unforgettable party for all. I am a pretty thrifty girl. I appreciate them more than words wanting to pay for things first of all AND sort of giving me a sky is the limit kind of thing... But I want to honor them and stay within a budget and it helps me to know what I need to look for. 

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• professorscience member

  

  February 2014

  Okay, just a suggestion.

  
  

  Well, I totally recommend some place that includes your food.  It just makes things easier.  Hotels would be a good option for this, as they have onsite catering AND ballrooms big enough to accommodate large guest counts.  If you go the BYOCaterer route, some that I've seen mentioned here with good reviews were:

  
  

  Gil's

  Celebration

  Black Eyed Pea

  Sonny Bryan's

  
  

  I know one popular FW venue is the YWCA, but it is completely DIY and I don't know if it's big enough.

  
  

  Just to give you an idea, we had somewhere around 250 guests in 2011 and our venue + food/beverage was $17K.  The food and beverage minimum at our venue was $10K.  If your FMIL is not giving you a set number, it might be worth it to present several options to her so that she gets a good idea of what she's looking at.

  

  
  

  
  

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• BrittyBoop12 member

  

  February 2014

  I will check out those places and thanks for the idea! We have given her some things... she just keeps saying she wants her kids to have the best! 

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• kateyg711 member

  

  February 2014

  The YWCA will probably be booked (unless you don't care if it's on a weekend)! I booked my August wedding last October and it was one of the first dates available
  

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• professorscience member

  

  February 2014

  That was my other thought. I'm not saying take the first available, but if you liked a place and they had a date on such short notice, I'd call that a sign.

  

  
  

  
  

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• BrittyBoop12 member

  

  February 2014

  So far all the places I have called still have dates available on Fridays or Sundays... which actually works better for us anyways. I talked my Fiance into The Milestone (I think)

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