cheap venues in tampa....

mcoutinho

I'm looking for a venue in tampa where we can have both the ceremony and reception. if anyone knows of any unique places besides community/rec centers, please let me know. i'm really considering PUSH ultra lounge in st pete, because they have a rooftop for the ceremony and nice dance floor/loungey area for dancing. but i also would like to know if there is anything kind of like this in tampa. thanks!

janinekk

You may want to look into NOVA 535

http://www.nova535.com/FAQNOVA535.html

Not sure what "cheap" means to you though. Nova's pricing includes venue, valet, dj, 4-hour bar, lighting, staff, and decorations. It was a bit out of my price range and too big for what we wanted to do, but looks like a really cool space! It's downtown St. Pete too though, not Tampa. When I was looking I couldn't find anything similar to PUSH or NOVA in Tampa area. I like PUSH too - just didn't like that they opened it up to the regular club goers at 10pm.

Good luck!

mcoutinho

thanks! i hadn't looked at that yet...but i found their price info, and it's definitely out of our budget. at PUSH we'd be able to rent the whole place, with DJ and alcohol for $1750...that's pretty much our budget, around 2000.

mcoutinho

and we're actually looking at a sunday, and PUSH is closed to the public that day, so we wouldn't have a set time that we would have to be out by. i just wasn't impressed with my appointment...their events coordinator pretty much said "go ahead and look around" and didn't give me any info unless i asked questions.

janinekk

That's not bad at all! I really do like PUSH too. Great look! We couldn't afford the rental and alcohol and then have to rent tables and linens and silverware etc. on top of food and stuff too. =O( We ended up scaling way back, but if I had my way that's where I'd have ours. =O)

janinekk

Yeah, I got that from her too. She wasn't very helpfull or enthused.

janinekk

Another place we thought about was Rusty Pelican.

http://tampa.therustypelican.com/rustypelicantampa/event_planning.aspx

It is very pretty and very reasonable with pricing - I just feel like I wanted something more modern looking. I did love the outside ceremony space though - great view!

mcoutinho

yeah, it definitely all adds up. we're not having a caterer, we'll just have family helping to make a bunch of food...still considering not doing a full dinner, but having appetizers and desserts instead. my aunt made all the food for her daughters wedding recently, so she offered to help. we're looking for somewhere that would allow us to bring in our own food.

have you found anywhere with reasonable prices on rental tables/chairs? lucy at PUSH referred me to rent all city...their prices look pretty good, but i haven't really looked around anywhere else yet.

mitchsbride

Look at Egypt Shriners on Dana Shores Drive next to A La Carte Pavilion and Tampa Womans Club on Bayshore Boulevard  both in Tampa.

I believe both venues let you bring in your own food and alcohol.

M1ssJ

Wow the Push price is great! I loved Nova but PUSH definetly has is beat.

janinekk

I never got that far in planning - tables and chairs etc. I just figured it would be expensive. Then we nixed the whole big wedding thing anyways and now will only have 30ppl max. We're doing a beach ceremony and then having our family and limited friends dinner at Red Mesa Cantina - below PUSH. Not the most wedding-y place I know, but we love the atmosphere and just overall feel of the whole place. The brick, wood, lighting etc.

I LOVE the idea of a dessert reception (with some salty options) and a coffee bar.  I love sweets, so that's just me. =O)

M1ssJ

Heck I walked through Costco and saw every type of app you could think of I think if you have unlimited alcohol you need to give ppl a little something to go with it. Heavy apps could be super cheap and easy through wholesale

mcoutinho

Yeah, I actually like that idea better than a full sit-down dinner. I'm going back to PUSH on saturday to check it out again with my fiance and see how he likes it...i'm not sure what we do with seating, because they already have some lounge type seating there...do you guys think we would still need enough tables to fit everyone at the wedding? or figure that some people can sit in the seating already provided?

mcoutinho

and i love the coffee bar idea! lots of people in both of our families drink coffee, so they would really enjoy that.

janinekk

If we choose PUSH, I was going to do cocktail tables and only seating for a small percentage, maybe half (if that)? If it's not a sit down dinner, people really don't need to all be seated at the same time. The lounge seating and cocktail tables provide the opportunity to mingle etc. 

There is actually a company here in Tampa Bay area that does a mobile coffee bar - they come set up a Starbuck's type station and make drinks to order!! Not sure on price or what they're called - will have to look and let you know. =O) 

sb_simmons

We are having our wedding at Push in Oct and we only doing appetizers and cake. We are renting 2 round tables for our elderly guest, but everyone else are use the lounge seating. We are renting the tables and chairs for the roof from out cater, Puff n' Stuff. They worked with our budget and I think we picked some great foods.

mcoutinho

that sounds perfect, thanks for the help everyone! i'm going back to push today to look at it again and ask some more questions...and i'm hoping everything will be set up since it's saturday instead of tuesday last time i went it was hard to tell how much seating and stuff they had because nothing was set up...thanks!!

SuzyQTampa

the centro asturiano is very reasonable