$10K Wedding Challenge???

Future Ramsey

Hi all,

Has anyone else planned a Saturday evening ceremony/reception in the spring for $10K or less for 100 guests? Seems like it should be doable since I'm willing to DIY some things (thanks to great family & friends) and cut some things, but just finding a venue has me getting discouraged. I thought maybe someone who has been there/done that could share what they did/vendors they used and give me a second wind of inspiration?! Or is this just a pipe dream of some sort?

Thanks ladies!

Mrs.Purdue

have you checked into Shoreline Grill?  We actually booked them before we ran out of room and had to change venues.  We were having about 175 ppl, but I know a friend that had hers there for a little more than 100 and I want to say it was about $5K for venue, tables, chairs, linens, food, drinks, and maybe cake too.  that would leave another $5K for the rest of the vendors, which I think would be pretty doable. 

There's also Mercury Hall that looks pretty nice and I think you bring in everything, so you might be able to get things cheaper since you'll have more options. 

Austin Club wasn't much more than Shoreline and we loved everything about our reception (although we did hide a huge painting of GWBush with a balloon bouquet!)

Goodluck!  I know it can be done!!

hildeedee

Our budget is going to end up being between $10 and $12K for 125. Some venues that fit into our budget that I looked at were the City of Austin spaces (but you have to go through a lottery), French Legation Museum, Inn at Pearl's Street, Caswell House, The Heritage Oaks Clubhouse in Georgetown...there's a lot of places outside of Austin actually that are reasonably priced. We really wanted to be in Austin and decided on the Mexican American Cultural Center. It's not your typical wedding venue, which is what we ended up deciding we really wanted.

I would highly recommend our vendors...Becky Sosa with Stress Free Events for Day of Coordination, Rebekah Fountain with the Glass Fountain for flowers, Liz with Exquisite Cuisine for catering, Chelsey Schrader for photography...all were really great prices and quality after comparing them to lots of other vendors. We also wanted a venue where we could bring in our own alcohol because that was a huge cost saver. And I'll DIY all the centerpieces and paper products so that saves a lot too.

nicoleflores2005

I definitely think that a $10K wedding is doable in Austin.  Check out Austin Wedding Blog.  There is a really comprehensive list of venues at every price point. 
Ditto what PP said about Mercury Hall - they are affordable and the hall itself is beautiful and in a cool neighborhood.  I heard you can bring in your own food and alcohol there too.  Good luck!

austinabi

We are getting married at The Terrace Club in Dripping Springs during the day on Saturday. Because we were willing to forgo the beautiful sunset ceremony for a mid-day ceremony and reception, we got things at over 50% off. So far, so good!

Good luck!

kelseymw

$10K is an entirely doable budget, especially for that guest number. We are coming in at about $13K but have 140 guests. Our original budget was $10K but we splurged and went a bit over our intended budget on our venue (Star Hill Ranch) and ended up changing a few things last minute so we got higher costs (than if we would've booked them months out). We did spend a lot of time hunting down vendors and negotiating prices.

laleighmoore

we are working on the same budget. we are hoping to book Winfield Inn in Kyle the end of this month (thinking of waiting until the bridal extravaganza june 6th just to see if we can get a deal though). they provide the coordinator. We are opting for a Sunday ceremony which will also bring cost down when we have lower attendance.
I will use Vista Print for STD's and invites, I am surfing craigslist for photog and DJ. My best friend/MOH and I will make the cake - a cupcake tree. With cupcakes you can screw one up and toss it out, a whole cake would be hard. I will buy tall paper wrappers that will hide most of the cupcake tops so it will still look uniform between different flavors and we'll go crazy with the decorated stand so it will look like a stack of boxes. We will use Central Market for my FI's cake. I am also doing a feather theme which is cheaper than flowers.
I am likely going to buy my dress second hand or sample and shop shop shop on ebay and etsy.
you shouldnt have any problem at all!

ChrisChelsea10/08

One of my friends had that budget and She got married at Villa St. Clair. I would say about 125-150 people were there

ariemue

I have a guest list of 50, am doing some DIY, venue is vintage villas, splurged on the dress ($1500) nothing is cheap looking...all for 10k. It's definitely do-able.

Future Ramsey

Thanks everyone! This was the encouragement I needed!

Hawaiianpunch512

I did my wedding for about 7K for 50 people.  Our splurges were the location, food and alcohol.  (We wanted someplace downtown and our party is filled with "foodies" and alcohol enthusiasts).  The Palm Door offered a place for both the ceremony and reception, and the site comes with a day-of coordinator.   My fiance bartered his web design services for many of our professional vendors, including the photographer, DJ, photobooth rental and cakes.  He also designed and printed our own invites.  I rented a plain white dress with rushing at Classy Concepts, purchased my own lace appliques and just paid for the labor in sewing them on as well as any other alterations- making it completely my own.   I'm incorporating alot of fruit, twinkling lights and ideas compiled from great DIY sites like marthastewartweddings.com and projectwedding.com.  HTH! :-)