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Budget Weddings Forum
JadedSkies25
member
Wedding Venues under $10k in the NJ/PA area
Hello!
I am recently engaged and new to the wedding community. I am finding myself overwhelmed with prices, venues and every fact you could possibly imagine! I want to keep my wedding at $15k, but its hard when every venue I find has a minimum of $100 a plate! I was not able to find any recent discussions about affordable venues in the area. Can you ladies help me out? Here's a few facts for starters.
-Guess list will be about 150 ppl (Or less)
-Looking to get married during the off season of 2019. So March/April-ish
-Looking to have the Ceremony/Reception in one place, between $6-$8k for everything. ( leaving room for all the other aspects)
-These are the few places I've found and fell in love with so far. (They don't seem very promising on price though!) Anything similar to these would be great!
-Celebration Weddings Bensalem, PA
-Brigalias Sicklerville, NJ
-Luciens Manor
-The Manor West Orange, NJ
I am recently engaged and new to the wedding community. I am finding myself overwhelmed with prices, venues and every fact you could possibly imagine! I want to keep my wedding at $15k, but its hard when every venue I find has a minimum of $100 a plate! I was not able to find any recent discussions about affordable venues in the area. Can you ladies help me out? Here's a few facts for starters.
-Guess list will be about 150 ppl (Or less)
-Looking to get married during the off season of 2019. So March/April-ish
-Looking to have the Ceremony/Reception in one place, between $6-$8k for everything. ( leaving room for all the other aspects)
-These are the few places I've found and fell in love with so far. (They don't seem very promising on price though!) Anything similar to these would be great!
-Celebration Weddings Bensalem, PA
-Brigalias Sicklerville, NJ
-Luciens Manor
-The Manor West Orange, NJ
Re: Wedding Venues under $10k in the NJ/PA area
I got married in southcentral PA at a venue that included both ceremony and reception for $2,500. It wasn't a big sprawling landscaped mansion, but it had some nice outdoor spaces and the inside was efficient for larger weddings and events so it worked well. I am not as familiar with your area and this is an international board so you may not get a ton of locals responding.
If you are looking at a March/April wedding, I would plan on your wedding being indoors. There are a lot of rainy and "too cold" days that time of year in your area. You can always go off site to a nearby park for photos if the weather is nice, but a bad weather plan is a must. With that in mind does it change the type of venue you are looking for?
I would agree with the PP that guest list is one of the biggest factors in cost. Catering is usually the biggest expense on the list (and the last thing you want to be "too cheap" about.) Things that you can cut/reduce right away to help stay in budget:
- Favors: No one misses these!
- Flowers: Less is more, pick in season flowers or skip the fancy centerpieces altogether in favor of something cheaper...books are nice. Some flameless Candles? You get the idea!
- Cake: You can get a very simple cake, or simply serve sheet cake. No guests will really care as long as it is tasty!
- Dress: Skip the designer label and go with "Off the Rack" or sales.
- Photographer/videographer: You can find someone who is just starting their business and often get a reduced rate.
If your venue is taking a larger portion of the budget than I would look into a place that allows outside catering and then hire a catering company that does BBQ, Mexican, or Italian foods. These three are typically the cheapest options to feed a large number of people buffet style. If you are set on plated dinners it will be difficult to find much under the $50-70 per person range. Also check to see if your options includes beverages! The lowest package is soft drinks/coffee/tea, then there is beer and wine (a great budget option!) and then the open bar followed by the premium bar (which is a waste IMO). Never have a cash bar!!! It is considered very rude to make your guests pay for anything at your wedding! It is better to have a limited selection than have some things free and some things that cost money!
Also when you are planning your guest list, be sure to include all SO's, and room for new SO's. Anyone who considers themselves in a relationship at the time invites go out is a SO and must be invited. A good guide is to give all single guests a "Plus One" which gives room in the list (and budget) for SOs, when invites go out.
If you need more help with the budget, feel free to ask!
I was not looking for an outside venue at all, given the time of year. Some of the venues I have chosen include seating, plating, food, drinks, and ceremony. Pretty much everything I would need. I am just scrounging around for the best price, still offering everything that is needed. I am eliminating any need for purchasing a limo, so if the venue has a decent landscaping, I'd much rather do my pictures on site. I am pretty much trying to knock EVERYTHING out in one go! lol Sidebar: Where did you get married?
As far as my dress, I am not a big designer girl and am very resourceful. I am a hop, skip and jump from NY. I know there is a garment district where there's a 8 floor wedding warehouse, full of options for every girl in the wedding party. So I will be using that to my advantage.
I was honestly trying to find a way to stay away from favors. Its such a waste sometimes lol I can stalk Michael's and Jo Ann's the next two years to catch amazing sales on flowers and other trinkets for the Center Pieces. Def wont be wasting a bunch of money is that area either. lol
We got married in Carlisle PA, it is a smaller town not far from Harrisburg (capital city). The place was called Whispering Pines. (https://whisperingpinesofcarlisle.com/).
It sounds like you have a decent amount of room in your budget for a nice (fairly inclusive) venue. I found mine listed on the Knot. We skipped the fancy limo ride and no one missed that either. In fact the only places we spent any larger amounts of money was the food/drinks, and DJ. Our flowers were minimal and the Photographer was a "mid-range" for our area. Everything came out great! People still talk about how awesome our wedding was! Also look into printing your own invites (either at home or through Vistaprint) if you need to cut a little bit there.
It was fabulous, the food was amazing, the waitstaff and maitre d' were wonderful, etc. So I highly recommend. But keep an eye on that budget... don't forget your attire and your FI's, hair & makeup if you're doing them professionally (I did my own makeup), invitations and other paper (if you're doing menus or save the dates or anything), and even postage. Postage adds up fast! We did small flower arrangements, didn't have the photog for the getting ready timespan, and nixed favors.