Michigan-Detroit

Budgets

Does anyone have a fairly small budget operating with? We have a pretty small budget to work with so we are cutting a lot of items and will probably DIY a lot of them too in order to make things work. It pays to know people as well. I DJ as a second job so my boss is providing me with a huge discount on that, we have a friend who is an ordained minister (neither of us is particularly religious), I plan on having non floral decor as much as possible. I don't plan on having a videographer, mostly the big things will be the food/bev and photography. Anyone done a wedding in this area for around 125 people with less than $10k? I kinda figured it would be tough but FI and I are having some sticker shock. I told him about some of the prices and he didn't believe me! I had him call up a friend in the printing business who sent us to her link for wedding invitations. He about had a fit - even for the lowest of the low-end listed! 

Re: Budgets

  • Our budget is right around $10k for 125 people and it has been a struggle at times.  I think you are right that your venue and catering will be the most difficult.

    Have you set a date yet?  If not, I would strongly suggest avoiding a Saturday evening during peak months.  Almost anything outside of that will save you a good amount of money.  Afternoon luncheon, cake & punch at an off-meal time, Friday or Sunday evening, or a Saturday between November and March are all good options there.

    There are inexpensive photography packages out there (I found some under $500 even), but they are generally only for a couple of hours, and don't include any frills.  We went with Ramy Photography (ramyphotography.com).  I thought his prices were awesome, and his packages are decent.  Our wedding isn't until May, so I can't really give him a full review, but I liked his portfolio. :)

    I hope that helps a bit!  Good luck, and don't lose too much hair over this. ;)
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  • Here is a run down of the cost of my April wedding based on 125 guest and 8 ppl in the bridal party.

    Venue: 4200$
    Photographer: 1250$
    Dj: 1300$
    Flowers: 320$
    Centerpiece 85$ for 14
    Dress with alterations: 1000$
    Minster: 200$
    Shoes/ necklace/ bracelet: 20$ I bought them on eBay
    Decorations:200$
    Cake:125$ we did cupcakes
    Hair and makeup wit trial; 160$
    Chair covers: 225$
    Invitations and stds: 200$

    Our budget was 12000$

    My total is 9285$ I think I did pretty good. I upgraded almost everything once I paid it off and realized I could before upgrading I was at about 7200$
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  • We would love to have it off season, January is the goal. Friday instead of Saturday works fine for me too, it's just finding a place that will do a discount like that. When you got discounts, were they listed on the websites or was it just calling and talking them down? I saw a lot of "Friday/Sunday/Off-Season" discounts listed on websites that still wouldn't bring things remotely to what I want. We kinda want to stick with the dessert reception but finding a venue that doesn't require a catered meal using their caterer is the hard part. Jessi it sounds like you did well at Glen Gables to do all that. 
  • Thank you. I lost a good amount if money over 1000$ bc I didn't do my research and I booked the first place we seen. I'm working right now but when I get home I'll will see what discounts they have I believe if its off season and a Friday GG is 600$ off. I am doing our in Saturday we got 500$ off for doing it off season. If you want I could email you a bunch of stuff that will save you money.
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  • Where did you get your cupcakes from?
  • And where are you going for hair and makeup?
  • Lemonade if your asking me. I got our cupcakes from SugarHigh in frankenmuth. And for hair and makeup I went with pure bliss. They are on the higher side. But I also looked into different ones. Like octane in Clio Abby rose in Burton. Andreas place in Clio. There's a lot of places. Also are you guys planning on doing chaircovers? I got a ggreat deal on mine.
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  • January & February are great for vendor discounts. For instance we are getting our hall (The Mirage) on a Saturday with their premium package for the price of a Friday regular package. The DJ & Photographer took off $$ as well since it is "off season". Vendors are typically slower those months and will be more likely to be willing to negotiate a lower price.

     

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  • We did our wedding back in August of 2011 for 73 people (had invited 80) for under $7000. About the same as your budget.

    I DIY'd floral (Costco real flowers for 10 centerpieces $173), their 20 piece white rose wedding package was $399), invitations & Save the Dates on my home computer were under $50, programs about $20, favors were glass coasters I actually got at the Knot store on sale, 99 cents for 2, I gave 2 per person, 4 per couple, and DIY'd monogram inserts of their last name initials, made the ring bearer pillow, my table runners from curtains on sale at Penney's, made my card box............the list goes on.

    Having been to tons of weddings, and planning my own, what people will remember is the food and the time they have at your reception. We used a venue where you bring in your own things (Greenmead Village, a public park in Livonia), and used Holiday Market as our caterer. The only thing the venue supplied was the dance floor, tables & chairs, and various tables for the bar. They have a non-denominational chapel. Rental is about $1000 for non-residents. We brought in our own booze, and had just beer, wine & a signature drink.

    I am a foodie and wanted fabulous food. But, to be honest, in the end, I suspect a package deal at a nice hall would have been about the same price...........the food might have been a bit less "foodie style", but when you calculate the price of table cover rentals, chafing dish rentals, staff (servers, chef on site), it probably costs the same as an all inclusive hall. When you do a lot of DIY and have various vendors, you should also have a Day of Coordinator. I used one, it was about $600 for 10 hrs on the day of the wedding, and it was some of the best money I spent. BUT, if you use an all inclusive, you don't have this expense.

    I've never regretted the decisions we made, but it took a lot of my time to arrange everything... it's up to each bride to decide what is going to give you the day you always remembered.

     

  • I'm trying to do 200 people for under 10k. I think it is do-able. I found a hall to rent for $600 for the entire day. I can bring in my own caterer (friend of family) for $1000. Booze I'm thinking $1500. Found a photographer/dj/photobooth package for $1500.

    Still working on flowers, cake, and linens...but I think I can do it now that I backed out of the banquet hall I was originally looking at for 29/pp. Finding a hall that I am allowed to bring in my own food and alcohol is really helping me be able to do this.
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  • If you're thinking of doing a dessert only reception, I would second Sue-n-Kevin's recommendation of Holiday Market.  They have amazing cakes and pastries.  When I looked into them for our dinner reception I asked them for a list of venues that they work with and they emailed me about 2 pages of them.  I found this to be the easiest way to research non-typical venues.  I think this would give you the greatest chance of finding a place that doesn't require a full dinner.

    Granted, some of the venues on that list were really pricey, but many of them were quite reasonable.  Some of them even included some basic things like linens in the rental fee.
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  • edited February 2014
    Hopefully this goes without saying, but if you're doing a dessert only reception make sure it won't overlap a time when your guests will be expecting dinner. :)  A 1:30 ceremony, 2-5 cake and punch reception would be perfect and save you a lot of money on booze too since people won't really be in the parting mood in mid-afternoon.

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  • Oh yes without saying. If we go this route it would be am 8pm ceremony reception immediately following concluding before or around midnight. 
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