California-Bay Area

Low Budget Wedding

I need help finding a wedding venue in the Bay Area that will fit my budget! My budget is $10,000 for the ceremony and reception for about 150 guests (I have a separate budget for dress, dj, invitations, cake, etc.). It seems that many venues in the Bay Area are pricey. Does anyone know of a wedding ceremony and reception that will fit my budget. My fiance and I are planning to get married in November on a Friday. 

Re: Low Budget Wedding

  • Hi....what type of venue and area are you looking for? I looked at over 37 different places from Walnut Creek down to Morgan Hill. Let me know and I will look at my notes.

    Theresa

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  • 37 wow did you go to each place individually?  I like the looks of wedgewood have you looked at the one near Gilroy/ san jose forgot name of place
  • I was a little crazy.....we look at all of them. I booked the Martinelli Center in Livermore it is part of the Garre Winery....I am really happy with it. I was looking for someplace that we could have everything outside and wanted a Sunday Brunch a lot of places just did not work or did not want to do something outside the box from what they do

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  • @tj&cw - we also looked at the Martinelli Center and Garre's new one, the Bella Rosa. We almost went with BR because it was larger. But we ended up going with the Palm Event Center in Pleasanton--it was a bit more afforadable for what we wanted, and I fell in love with the venue space/outdoor space.

    The Martinelli is undergoing renovations right now so I'm sure it will be gorgeous when it's complete!
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  • @arrghamtey--looked at the Palm Event Center too...loved it. We went with Martinelli because we could have the wedding and reception outside.

    Have you tried the wines from the winery next to the Palm? I did a tasting the day we toured and they are good 

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  • @tj&cw - Yes, we've tried them (Rubino). They use pre-selected wines from there for their reception (sparkling, chardonnay, and a cab sauv, I think), which we weren't too sure about at first. What if they were bad? But, fortunately, they were all very good. We also enjoy tasting at Garre--they have a really good chardonnay! And Martinelli does have a much nicer outdoor area than Bella Rosa.

    We just did our first cake meeting/sampling today. Have you decided on your cake baker yet?
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  • @arrghamtey--- I turned down a few venues because of their wine being bad. I just could not think of serving my guest gross wine. =)

    We have not started the cake tasting....we are going to just do a small cake to cut and then have a dessert bar. I am ordering a grooms cake as a surprise. Ordered pie pops and cake pops this week, some family members are making cookies that are family recipes.

    Have you booked your florist? I went with the FlowerHouse....Jinger is amazing. She is doing our friends wedding which is on the 19th of Sept

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  • Ahhh, September 19th, one of my favorite days (Talk Like A Pirate Day, lol).

    We haven't started looking at florists yet. We don't plan to spend a lot on flowers since I am doing lighted centerpieces made out of wine bottles instead. We'll probably look at Delford West Flowers--they came highly recommended and affordable.

    If you are still looking for a place to do your cakes, Cake Creations by Bev Tanaka is who we are going with. Super nice lady who does this as a side job, so she is very affordable since it is not her primary source of income. She charges $3.25 per slice and offers free delivery (lots of places we looked at charged $65-$95 for delivery). She gave us two sample cakes to take home today--they are the size of the top tier of a wedding cakes and they were free!
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  • Will check her out.....it is nuts trying to make those final plans.

    I need to stop second guessing myself.....I have all the big stuff done just need to finish the little things. We are working on getting our friend who does the Rat Pack impersonation thing (he is Joey Bishop and another is Frank) to preform during cocktail hour....we just want a few things to make the wedding stand out.

    Delford did the flowers that the dinner we just went to at the venue. They had a bunch of different centerpieces that were all really pretty. MY mom and her sisters are doing mine....just roses in a square vase


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  • I'm looking into the Heather Farms Community Center in Walnut Creek for a spring wedding next year. They charge 103-170 per hour depending on day and season. Thanks for the suggestion on Cake Creations! She looks great!
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  • blueeyedkat ---I looked at Heather Farms...the thing that I found strange was that people can walk around the venue while your reception is happening. It is really pretty with all the roses.
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  • Does anybody have a rough idea how much flowers cost at Delford and Flower House? I have an appt with Flower House and I'm hoping for good news on the cost. Don't want to spend too much money on flowers.
  • @javes310 We are going with Delford West--Karl was a great guy when we met with him, and he is a preferred vendor by our venue (we have to use preferred vendors). FI and I decided to do the minimum on flowers since they are not the most important aspect of our wedding day. Here is our estimate:

    1 Bridal Bouquet (free toss bouquet)
    5 Bridesmaid Bouquets
    1 'Jr. Bridesmaid' Bouquet (a smaller bouq for my smaller bridesmaid)
    10 Boutonnieres
    3 Corsages
    2 Ceremony Arrangements (to be moved to the reception after the ceremony)
    Sing-In Table Arrangement
    Taxes
    Delivery & Set-Up Fee
    Total = $2,000

    Karl is excellent in his willingness to work with you, though. This estimate includes some pricier flowers (calle lilies) and he can easily go over cheaper flower options when you make your final decisions a couple weeks out from your wedding. Hope this helps :)
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