Need LOTS of help!

DG925

Sooo my brother and his fiance were set to get married May 19th in FL, but due to changes in circumstances they will no longer be able to do that.  They are hoping to get married in Cincy now, date is now negotiable.  They are on a tight budget (the main reason they were going away was because my family is huge) so now a lot more people would be attending.  The wedding will be around 250 people.  She would prefer outdoorsy and rustic which makes decorating easy and cheap with around $15,000 budget for everything excluding dress and honeymoon.  Not sure if it's possible, but we will do our best to try.

You all were a HUGE help to me as I planned my wedding so I know you won't let me down.  I need lots of reasonable ideas from the venue to the photographer to the flowers.  Everything really!  Any help would be much appreciated.

A few venues that I have found that could fit around the amount of people we'd need are listed below.  If you have any thoughts or ideas on these places please let me know.  I was unable to get a lot of the pricing info online so I figured we could look into that once a few places are weeded out.

Coney Island Moonlite Gardens
Chateau Pomije: up to 350 people $$ (whatever that actually means)
Peterloon EstateCincinnati Playhouse in the park: Up to 285 people
Cincinnati Nature Center: Krippendorf Lodge: 100 people in/ 200 people out
Lake Lyndsay: Seems a bit steep on price
Mulhauser Barn: 220 people $1,000
The Redmoor: 225 people
The Grove: Up to 300 people $1,100
The Elements: Couldn't find much info
Turfway Park:Couldn't find much info
French Park: 150 inside and up to 500 out $2,000 Nov-Apr no idea what all that includes

Thanks in advance for any help you can give us!

wallaby2011

I am having my reception at RSVP in loveland- they can hold alot of ppl. we are having about 200 ppl and i think for all the catering and use of the venue it is about $6000- but we are getting one of the more expensive packages and having an open bar- so their lower levels and not open bar could potentially be around $5000 i think

andrearae0620

caterer: vonderhaar's. they are the best.

venue: please looks at laurel court. it is STUNNING and the caretaker/organizer/lady who lives there, judy {i think} will make you want to be her daughter.

flowers: i know it sounds silly but kroger. they do a great job so inexpensively.

DJ: cincy dj entertainment - ryan is fab.

photographer: rachel spears. seriously.

invitations: if the budget is tight, DIY.

favors/decor: spend a lot of time on pinterest.  

dori851

Inlight Photography Stuido is located in Eastgate Mall & takes great pictures for a VERY reasonable price! We are getting more from them for less money than anyone I could find (I know another Cincy Knottie just used them for her pics last weekend!)

Erika Cargle with Cargle Photography is another AMAZING photographer! She just did our engagement pictures & I absolutely love them! She has been taking pictures of my son for a while now & recently started doing weddings. She has an FB page & www.carglephotography.com is her website. Her prices, again, are EXTREMELY reasonable.

Designs by Tia is a florist who does weddings out of her home. She has an FB page that you can find. I'm using her for my May 12th wedding & she is providing ALL of my flowers for a very reasonable price! She's been great to work with so far, I highly recommend her!

Raffel's Catering is on Rt. 42 & they offer a Pasta Bar menu with different pastas/sauces, salad, breadsticks, for pretty cheap! And they're food is good for the price! We aren't using them, but I'd still recommend them!

Mixbook.com is where I got all of my invitations. I made them myself from a blank template on their website & got 85 invitations, envelopes, accommodation cards, RSVP cards, & reception cards for $125. They always have great deals on Groupon & Living Social, so keep an eye out for those! I plan on using this site for my STDs & guestbook as well!

Spoon Fulla Sugar is where we're getting our cake from. They have excellent prices & excellent cake! I know a lot of girls on here have used them for their cakes before & I've heard nothing but great things about them!

Most of my little details I am either DIYing or purchasing from Etsy. Definitely check out Etsy, there is SO much stuff on there for all different prices.

HTH Good Luck!!

shaypb

http://wedding.theknot.com/wedding-planning/wedding-budget/articles/cheap-wedding-in-cincinnati-ohio.aspx

Article published in The Knot awhile back on budget weddings (under $10K).  Great information; very useful and timely.  It might give some ideas where corners can be cut to save money to help accomodate a larger venue for your large family. 

BrightFirefly

Dori, I am going to check out that photographer based on your review. We want decent pictures - but nothing too over the top and nothing too pricey. Thank you for the suggestion.

DG, any thoughts on using Hamilton County Parks? They don't charge a service fee.

clearheavens

Venue/caterer: I'm a fan of Receptions Inc. at one of their 5 locations. Their prices are all-inclusive and affordable.  You can fit that into your $15k budget. We had ours at Receptions Fairfield.

DOC: You will need one, believe me...I thought our huge families could help, and they did, but the DOC truly had my back. I recommend Sue Glew, who helped us tremendously with our wedding of 325 people. It's only $30/hour - 

http://www.bestfrienderrand.com/

Flowers: We gave Susan Foy The Wedding designer our budget, she told us what our money gave us, and it was much more than we expected. In fact, she gave us more for our buck. That was a very good feeling. We were so happy with what we got, it was like she was in my head and knew what I loved.

http://www.theweddingdesigner1.com/

DJ: Party Pleasers is a bit more pricey than others but you get amazing service and lighting options with it. They really made our party and our guests remember our wedding due to their work.

http://www.partypleasersdj.com/

Photographer: Take a look at Lisa Rice Photography. She did our engagement pics and we loved them. I encourage all brides to put a lot of their budget towards photography because that's what they have left after the day is done. - http://lisaricephotography.com/blog/

Invitations: DIY if you're crafty, but let me tell you, it's a lot of talent and work and you'll need a reliable team to back you up. Otherwise, use vistaprint, Ann's Bridal Bargains, or Weddings by Dawn.

Favors/decor: Skip favors, you're going to save at least $1/guest on that and the appreciation for favors is minimal. Get your decor off of the classifieds and then resell them after the day.

mrs.dilligaf

Peterloon and Krippendorf are probably too pricey.  French park would be pushing it.  Hamilton County Park lodges are probably too small for the guest count.  That is a good budget, but it stinks when you get set on a place that's out of budget.  If they're up for outdoors, my friend had a beautiful wedding at the Little Red Schoolhouse in Indian Hill.  It doesn't fit many people inside (they just did cake, food and gift table inside), but it is a pretty location.

smittojess88

we are having roughly 100 guests, and our wedding and honeymoon to jamacia is totalling 10,000. Here's what we've booked so far to keep the price down:
Venue is a church in oxford, Reception is at FOP Event Center in Joyce Park Fairfield, Ohio. they charge $700 on the weekend and do all the clean up and set up for you. You can decorate teh tables a few ngihts before but they have a closet full of stuff you're free to use glassware, candles, etc or you can bring in your own. Also they are owned by a catering company so they do the catering. We're having a pasta buffett with chicken for $10 a person. We bring our own alcohol. Some of the places you listed we checked out and they are very expensive. I think someone already mentioned it, but suprisingly the state park venues are expensive (at least the ones we talked to).
Photography wise, we are using someone named Sheila Castle. I have a whole list of individuals who are around $1000 or barely above who do a great job just alot less than many of those in the area. We found alot of the recommendations we got were closer to $2000. Good luck but you definitely can have an affordable wedding around here! feel free to email me @ jess.judy@gmail.com if you want any information about who we used.

HarperBargo

Coney Island gets pricey because they charge you $5 a chair on top of there catering price. And a lot of stuff is not included, bar tenders, meat carver, decorations, ect.