Ashton Gardens & a 2nd Opinion

cindyj23

Hello, I was curious if anyone has had their ceremony or reception here recently? Our wedding is planned to be on a Sunday afternoon at 1pm at Ashton Gardens. The FI & I will finally get to go check it out next month. They gave me a quote and my mom flipped out and said it was super expensive. (NOTE: She is NOT helping pay for the wedding, we're paying for it ourselves)

However, I think it's a reasonable amount for the DFW area. We were quoted $6650 for 100 people. The price INCLUDED the following:

Food (Hor d'oeuvres & champagne)
Chapel
Ballroom
Taxes
Security Officer
Full Service Wedding Coordinator
Tables with Linens & Centerpieces
China/Silver flatware & crystal
Direction lighting for cakes & food
Cake cutting and service
Mics for groom & officiant

So, basically the only things we'll have to cover is entertainment (if any), flowers, cake, photography...and any other extras. So, is that price unreasonable? I've looked at other places that host both the reception & ceremony, and haven't had any luck with liking them or they don't host both and include the stuff above.

elidellio

Based on my research, I don't think that's an unreasonable price for everything that's included. You could definitely do it cheaper but you would probably have to hire everything separately and it sounds like you don't want to do that. 

At the end of the day, if you guys are paying for the wedding it's your decision. We're not even telling our parents how much everything costs so that we don't have to have any arguments about it. Good luck!!

angelsong21

I have not been to Ashton Gardens myself, but I can at least give you a comparison to what we are paying at our venue.  Our venue includes:

Ceremony space (outdoor gardens and an indoor chapel)
Reception hall seating 300
All tables, chairs, linens, china, utensils, stemware, drinking glasses
Food for 100 guests
     - A full meal including two meat entrees, two sides, salad, and light apps
Waitstaff to serve the meal
Cake cutters to cut and serve the cake for us
Bartender and cocktail glasses
Dance floor
Centerpieces
Sound system in chapel and reception hall including mics
$1400 to put toward the open bar (that's what's left of our $3900 food/bev min.)
Coordinator
Full clean-up and set-up by the venue
4 hours rental time
Taxes
20% gratuity

Basically our venue is entirely full-service minus flowers, photography, DJ, and whatever additional touches we want to add.  We are paying $7000.

If you're venue has already calculated in gratuities into the total you gave us above, then I think that's a decent price.  The big difference I see between our two venues is that we are getting a full meal and gratuities are included in that total (I'm not sure if you already included it or not). 

HTH!

cindyj23

Thank you SOOO much for that comparison! Where are you guys having yours at? I felt the food was a bit high since we're only having hor d'vrs & champagne and you guys have a full meal.

On the quote it had Sales Taxes and Service Charges separate. For Service Charges, it had "Svc Chg - 18% (Food, Beverage, & Ballroom)" - Is that gratuity? It seemed like another set of taxes to me. But maybe that's what other places call it too?

I know. I should ask and I will but you all have helped me a lot already on other stuff so asking you too.

MarieSD

I was curious, so I added up our costs for the things you listed. We had our wedding at the YWCA, which is one of the venues you can bring in your own vendors (and therefore you can make it as expensive or inexpensive as you want). We tried to be careful with costs.

Anyway, my total for most of the things you listed came to $6687. So, I think it's reasonable, as long as YOU think it's reasonable and can afford it. And, make sure you have priced out the other things that aren't included and know you can afford it in your budget.

Food (Hor d'oeuvres & champagne) - Hor d'ourves only. (I have no idea how to separate out the cost of champagne from our liquor total, so I didn't)
Chapel - Included
Ballroom - Included
Taxes - Not included
Security Officer - Included
Full Service Wedding Coordinator - Included
Tables with Linens & Centerpieces - Included
China/Silver flatware & crystal - Included
Direction lighting for cakes & food - Not Included (we did not do special lighting)
Cake cutting and service - Not Included (Ours was free by the catering company)
Mics for groom & officiant - Not Included (free)

juliebug1997

The service charge is the gratuity.

fallbride1109

It isn't uncommon for parents to flip when they hear how much weddings cost.  They usually have no idea.  Ashton Gardens is known to be on the higher end of the scale but it is also very beautiful.  I was really hoping it would be finished by my wedding in Fall 2009.

Usually the service charge does cover the gratuity but you will want to clarify that with your wedding coordinator.

angelsong21

Ditto Stephiehall... both sets of parents flipped at our wedding costs.  "Our wedding was only $500!"  We hear that quite a bit LOL.  We are having our wedding at Reflections on Spring Creek in Plano. 

I agree with PP that if YOU feel good about what you are paying, then don't worry about what the parents are saying, especially if you are paying for it yourselves.  Weddings are definitely more expensive today than they were when most of our parents got married...there's a lot of sticker shock I think.

FinallyMrsJ

I got married at Ashton Gardens on a Sunday evening. We paid a little more but we had more guests and a full meal (Around 8K) I had no complaints about Ashton Gardens. They treated us like a king and queen from the moment we booked and made sure we had a great experience. The chapel is absolutely gorgeous and pictures do not do it justice. The good thing about them is there is no hidden costs they lay it all out in the beginning. You really don't need floral to decorate their chapel or reception hall but if you do want some you can DIY and save some $$ there. There are ways to save $$ on other things to. For my husband and I, the three most important things were venue, food, and photography so that's where we spent the majority of our budget.

bigbabyface

We're having our wedding at the YWCA in Fort Worth like Marie...i think our total for your items listed for us came to a little under $5k for 150-160 guests


Food - 4 pastas, salad, and apps.
Chapel - included
Ballroom - included
Taxes - included
Full Service Wedding Coordinator - included
Tables with Linens & Centerpieces - included
China/Silver flatware & crystal - included
Direction lighting for cakes & food - not included, we're no doing any special lighting either
Cake cutting and service - included
Mics for groom & officiant - included

bellakc871

Ashton provides an awesome package where you don't have to worry about much. It was our 2nd choice only because Ashton is off 35 and farther from where we live.  We thought Ashton was reasonably priced. 

Knottie59458824

Where is your venue? Looking for one now.

almorine2014

I personally love the Milestone, which is not too far from Ashton Gardens.

itsdrnotmrs

I love Ashton Gardens. Everyone there is super helpful and the venue is AMAZING. Another thing is that you do not have to spend money or effort on decorating anything, even the chairs! The ballroom is already beautiful. No chair covers, no renting chivaris, already much more beautiful chairs than anywhere else we saw, which is for some reason a big thing for me. We did a ton of research and visited tons of places in DFW. We compared pricing of places where it's all included to hiring everything out individually and we couldn't get it much cheaper when you get down to renting coffee makers and saucers and each individual fork! Plus since we are getting married at Ashton Gardens my family doesn't have to stay late and count up the silverware and make sure the different vendors come get their stuff back, etc. Which is a huge plus, obviously.

I also loved that AG is beautiful whether rain or shine, summer or winter, etc etc. And no where else that we visited included a champagne toast for every guest. All the little extras are included, not an extra nickel and dime for every little thing. As in...You don't have to rent their individual cake stands (Ana Villa!) And if you have a cash bar and pay the minimum, you could end up getting that money back if guests spend more than that at the bar. Also your coordinator there will stay until the extra cake is packed up and you drive away. (Other places I hear the coordinators will leave as soon as the cake is cut and if there's a problem you have to find someone else to handle it, i.e. your family who are supposed to be having fun not working). Also they make 5% extra food in case extras show up or your photographer needs a plate, etc. All around better deal from everything we priced when you think about every thing you would/might need to do if choosing somewhere else. So much less to worry about and for one price you know exactly what you're getting.

jadenkelan

I think that's a good price for 100 people.