Florida-North Florida

Location

My fiance & myself are having to pay for most of our wedding. With that being said the budget is around $5,000. Does anyone know of places to hold a ceremony & reception that won't cost an arm & a leg?

Re: Location

  • edited May 2012
    Shop around your local restaurants that do private parties.  I found one that served a plated dinner for $17 per person for my first wedding in '07.  I only had to guarantee 60 people (i.e. pay whether they show up or not) and they waived the room rental fee.  They even had a live band that night that we didn't have to pay for; we just finished up with dinner and the cake cutting by 9pm and when they started playing we opened the doors to our private room and let our guests enjoy the band.

    The key to a small budget is sitting down with your fiance and deciding where to cut the budget.  The best way to cut the budget is to cut the number of guests to 50 or less.  If that is not possible because you have a big family and/or you really want to invite everyone you know, you have to cut elsewhere.  The next cut is typically the food and drink since it's usually half the budget.  You could do a cake and punch afternoon reception or a brunch which is way cheaper than dinner.

    There are tons of ways to cut your budget.  Check out the book Bridal Bargains for even more tips.  It was invaluable for planning my wedding.

    As for actual sites, it depends on what you want.  A $5000 budget is very doable depending on what you have in mind.  You could do a beach ceremony or a ceremony in a park by the river or in your local church (check their fees though b/c some have ridiculous fees!)  If someone has a big backyard you could have your ceremony and reception there; just beware of rental fees because they really add up.

    We are doing a $5000 wedding for under 50 people.  For that we are renting a beach house for a weekend and having the ceremony & reception there.  We are catering the dinner with BBQ from a local restaurant for about $12 per person.  Everything will be served buffet style on plastic plates (yes, plastic to save money because rentals are expensive.)  We are buying booze at a discount store (beer keg, bottles of sparkling wine, and lots of vodka.)  I found my dress online at an eBay China store.  We are buying flowers from Sam's Club or Costco (simple white hydrangeas.)  I am making the centerpieces using $1 vases from the Dollar Tree (check out their website!)  I also found discount invitations online using the Bargains book recommendations.  The only extra added expense that may cause us to go over is if we have to rent a tent for rain.
  • Thank you so much for the ideas & advice on my budget. Thankfully we have time to figure everything out since we both come from slightly large families.
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