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Boston on a budget!

m6connollym6connolly member
First Anniversary
in Massachusetts-Boston
Hey guys i need help! Given my large Irish family my wedding is going to be around 175 guests. My budget is about 17k TOTAL, fees/ceremony fee included. My fiance's family is all coming form upstate New York. I need to have a place that we can have the ceremony and overnight guests all in one spot. We are going to need about 50 or more hotel rooms. Anyone have any suggestions on where to contact? I've been trying on my own but am just getting too overwhelmed by it all. Any help would be greatly appreciated 

Again my needs:
  • 17k total budget
  • 50-60 rooms on site
  • Ceremony on site
  • Buffet style meal or plated dinner, both are fine
  • Outside Tented Recption IDEAL (not required)
HHHHEEEELLLLPPPPPPPP!!!!!
Molly

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Re: Boston on a budget!

  • penelope4612penelope4612 member
    First Anniversary Name Dropper 5 Love Its First Comment
    Total budget for ceremony + reception? Or total budget for everything (ceremony, reception, flowers, dress, centerpieces, invitations, etc)? You likely won't find much (or anything) IN Boston at that price point (<$100 per head, inclusive of taxes and fees). Probably not in Cambridge either, but the venues in Cambridge do seem to be slightly less pricey. You're probably going to have to look in the suburbs. Have you considered a brunch wedding? They tend to be less expensive. The cheapest place I looked was Independence Harbor, which is almost an hour south of the city: http://www.ihweddings.com However, they don't have a hotel on site. I think the closest hotel was a 10 minute drive away. If you end up saving enough, maybe you could rent a shuttle bus?
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  • laurag524laurag524 member
    5 Love Its First Anniversary First Comment Name Dropper
    I agree with PP.  Is the 17K just for the ceremony fees/reception or total budget?  Also, are you inviting 175 guests or expecting 175 to come?

    As a bride who recently got married in Boston twice, this is going to be tough but you need to think outside the box a little bit.  Most Boston venues have minimums you need to spend, especially if you want a Saturday evening wedding - I'd say look into a daytime wedding, especially on a Friday or Sunday.  

     We had a Friday lunch ceremony & reception at the Taj in Boston for our Indian wedding & it was about $5000 for 65 people (I think it was about $60/person for the meal & dessert, drinks & food for cocktail hr was extra)

    I know several hotels offered us pretty good deals on wedding packages if we took one of their "unused" dates that were within 6 months/in the winter, so it doesn't hurt to ask venues about that.

    As for the hotel situation, we needed quite a few hotel rooms as well.  Our venue, The Lenox Hotel, said they can only block 10 rooms at a time, but as long as our guests booked their rooms before the hotel was sold out, they could guarantee the group rate.  Since all our guests were coming from out of town, I looked into blocking another hotel just in case, but nearly all of them would only block 10 rooms at a time unless you're willing to guarantee the rooms (i.e., pay for a certain percent upfront).  Thankfully, the nice thing about Boston is that there are hotels everywhere!

    Good luck!!  Let us know how the search goes!
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