Okay, so I had a little bit of a wake-up call when talking to a potential wedding caterer. We have a budget of about 3700 for food, drinks, booze for somewhere around 90 people (assuming everyone RSVPs) for a winter wedding. The caterer I talked to gave us two options to look at-- one was with everything we wanted for more than 6000 and the other was exactly our budget for one entree and some sides. No booze, no drinks at all. She suggested a cash bar, which is not an option.
We have a little more than ten months until the wedding, and we have a little (very little) wiggle room in the budget since I was lucky and won my wedding dress, and we are only doing bouquets for flowers. Still, I'm struggling to find someone who is within our budget.
I figured I'd post here because I've seen some awesome suggestions on these boards on proper hosting. I want alcohol at the wedding. Even if we have to start stock piling now and just do beer, wine, limited drink options. I've even thought of ordering pizza, or finding a restaurant willing to let us pick up enough food for everyone. However, I really want my guests to be properly hosted and wasn't sure if that would be inappropriate.
Does anyone have suggestions?
ETA: I know food is one of the most important aspects to guests. I'm willing "sacrifice" other, less important things to get it right. We are buying cheesecake and just adding a few little touches for the cake. There aren't going to be a lot of decorations. The food and booze are most of my budget.