Venue

slgirl21

Hi all!
Ok so me and my FI have been discussing places we would like to get married, we have a small budget, my parents are giving us 10K, which is a lot, me and my FI currently have 500 saved of our own money. My FI likes the idea of getting married by the beach, I've contacted hotels on the beach and they are pricey, I do also like the beach wedding idea, but for our budget I just don't see that happening, unless we put off the wedding for another year and, we plan to get married april of 2014, and i know most of the ppl on here will say that I have plenty of time and I know that I do, but if you think about it we are already 12 days into the new year so time will fly by. has anyone come across the same issue and how did you and  your FI come to agree on a location and/or vision?

kdjj

Congratulations! Have you started your you guest list? That's the first thing I would suggest figuring out. Next would be time of day for ceremony/reception. Bar or no bar or limited bar. 10k is a good chunk of change, and you can do a beautiful wedding with that if you budget correctly, but I don't think you can do a full plated dinnerfor 200 at an on the beach hotel. Are you wanting everything at one location or a ceremony on the beach and then reception elsewhere? Depending on your guest list size you do have some beachside hotel options. Newport beach hotel is supposed to have decent economical prices in north Miami, Wyndham hotel in deerfield beach had some economical prices and also embassy suitesjust down the road from Wyndham in Deerfield. Also, you have some time to do some negotiating with vendors. I started looking at venues over a year out also. I knew about how many I had on my guest list. I knew I wanted an outdoor ceremony, cocktail hour by the pool or with a gorgeous view and a ballroom reception (I've had other dreams but FI are paying ourselves). I started pricing venues and wasn't sold on the cost until we were meeting with our now venue. All of a sudden I started negotiating things into the price. For instance, chair cover and sashes were included, I hate chair covers, so she gave is chiviari chairs for the same price - included. Also, our ceremony is on the beach, I didn't want to worry about another vendor, she included ceremony chairs and setup/breakdown in our package. I wanted a late night snack for when we've been dancing all night, she included this. Our bottom line never changed. The price is still the same even after getting these few things included. My point is, look at the bottom line based on your guest list and what can you afford. Then if there are things you would like to have ask for them, the venues have some wiggle room in their package price. If you want the price pp lower then haggle and ask for it, if you are comfortable in the price point, but want a few things added ask for it. Until you sign on the line, you can negotiate things. Check in with us and let us know how it's going.

slgirl21

Thanks! Our guest list is 125 ppl, and we want an evening wedding.. We do like a sit down dinner, but we are open for buffet and we do want an open bar and we want everthing at one location, even if we get a nice deal at a hotel, I still have to add on flowers, DJ and photographer and if I only have 10K and the majority of that goes to the venue, what is left?  and when you call to ask for infomation they want you to come and at this point I don't want to go visit because what if I fell in love with the venue and its out of reach for us, then all other venues I will be comparing to the first one and they say never to shop out of your budget.

empiregrl5

I feel for you, because I had the exact same issues....I suggest emailing locations and asking for their wedding packages. This way you can look over things ahead of time and not risk falling in love with something you can't afford. Also, I think Wyndham in Deerfield beach offers one of the most reasonable packages for beach weddings. I wanted to go look there, but FI didn't like it, because we live around the area and he wanted it to be somewhere different. My mom is giving us $5000, and the rest we are paying on our own (hoping not to go over $12,000 for everything). One of the first things I did was start trimming our guest list. In order to pay for things like dj, flowers, etc. I decided I couldn't have more than like 75 people. My top choice of locations right now is the Lighthouse Point Yacht Club. it's not the beach, but it's still on the water and the price is in our budget. Plus, i absolutely love it! It stresses me out to stay within our budget, and FI even suggests waiting another year, but in all honesty, I don't want to spend much more on the wedding, even if I had it. I rather start saving for our future house and family! Good luck with your planning!

PriscyScraps

If you want to see the Wyndham Deerfield Beach Resort without any pressure, then you should go to the Bridal Show tomorrow.  The show is free and is from 1-4.  I will be there just because i am curious about this venue.

empiregrl5

I will be there, too!

kdjj

I agree the Wyndham did have reasonable packages for being on the water. I didn't actually go check it out because we fell in love with embassy suites because Alicia yeses me to death. There's also the ballrooms just over the bridge on hilsborough that have some good deals, so you could still have the beach ceremony and a ballroom reception. I don't remember the name of it but its just over the bridge. Minutes from the boardwalk. Also, if you go online to the different hotels, you can do a request for proposal and provide your wedding day, time, they'll email you their packages you can go from there. When we first started looking, we drove up the beach and I used the iPad and went hotel to hotel as we passed them and did the request for proposal. That next week I had so many packages appear in my inbox I was overwhelmed. But it did give me a starting point. Also, depending on your centerpieces and types of flowers for bouquets etc, your budget is doable. I'm doing my own bouquets and floral centerpieces and ordering in bulk online for less than half what I was quoted from florists. I started emailing florists with my inspirations and asking for soft quotes so I could get an idea of pricing, I had found a florist I was happy with until I found out I could do the same thing for cheaper. I order some flowers and did a mock up of my centerpieces for the holidays and found another several hundreds to add back into my budget. Just start calling around. One thing at a time. Starting the process is overwhelming but come here and let us be your sounding board. You can do this.

JBSMADA10

Big time tip! If you want a sit down dinner it may end up costing the SAME or less as buffet. Don't get a buffet because you think it will be cheaper. You would have to order enough food to feed everyone. You'd have to think of will uncle so and so have two plates or one of this dish? You'd probably have to double your order. And in the end might waste food because it's illegal for them to box food from a catered event. So all the wasted food would be thrown out, and being on a budget you don't want any money thrown out. And open bar make sure the vendor doesn't have hidden fees for corkage and pours. And that you don't have to rent the stemware that it is included. Oh and etsy will be your friend! Seriously, I'm saving thousands of dollars using etsy.

slgirl21

thanks ladies! I have started email hotels and I have gotten several emaisl back and they are pricey..Ocean Sky resort which is what my boyfriend likes, to have the ceremony is 1,250.00, ballroom set up is 500.00, and dinner is 74.95 per person....!!  Now I know that not all 125 ppl will attend, but that is still alot of money. 

Renaect

I have the same budget as you, and I'm making it work with a little more to spare. However, I am going unconventional and decided to have my ceremony/reception at a restaurant. 

With a restaurant you don't have to worry about seperate catering and rentals because that's all taken care of. I imagine you can still find somewhere to have your beach ceremony and have your reception at an affordable restaurant. Look into places such as the Chart House, Red Fish Grill (for a lunch reception) (or even my venue, AeroSquadron). 

Like I said, my budget is the same as yours, and with all my vendors, I'm still coming out under 10k. It can be done, you're just going to have to be a little unconventional. 

slgirl21

Ok wow, so I went to the bridal show @ Wyndham in deerfield beach and I got the information and WOW..its very expensive sit down dinners range from 89 to 99 a person and buffet dinner is 119.00 per person, so wyndham is out of reach for me, I got a better deal at Ocean Sky resort.

also how did you all find out about this bridal show at the wyndham.

PriscyScraps

I went yesterday and one of my friends won a giveaway prize for a free photo studio session. I received an email for it by the Wyndham themselves. I don't know how they had my info. But I usually get these in my wedding email inbox.

PriscyScraps

Also what area/county were you looking at?

elesley11

I feel like time is flying by too! My FI & I  got engaged this Decemeber & are planning our wedding for the end of February 2014 & when I started planning right away, he thought I was crazy but a month has already passed & we have nothing done besides looking at venues!

What I did first was make a master list  with contact info of all the venues I found in South Florida (we are willing to have our wedding from Palm Beach down to South Miami), & sent a mass e-mail asking for information on menus with pricing, rental fees, packages,etc. &  how many people they can accomodate & called the ones that didn't have e-mail contact asking for the same.
Second, we made a rough guest list so we could have a number. Remember if you invite 125, you can expect about 20-25, if not more, to say no.
Then, I took the amount of our budget that we are willing to spend on food & beverage & divided it by our estimated number of guests.  So, lets say you have $7000 of your budget  to spend & 100 guests, you can spend up  about $65pp because you have to remember the service charge which is usually around 23% & then sales tax which is usually 6% (btw Miami Beach has the highest rates around 27% & 9%)
Then, came all the e-mails! My e-mail was ridiculous for a week but  I immediately eliminated any that were out of our budget per person & any venue that couldn't accomodate 100 comfortably. Surprisingly, we were left with a much smaller list!
Then, I made appointments & to tour the venues left (about 15!) Now, we have our top 2 & just have to make the choice!

Also, I know you said you want an evening wedding so consider a Friday night! We too, wanted an evening wedding & originally had a Sat. night date but quickly found out Friday night is drastically cheaper! We are saving $10,000 by doing it on a Friday night! No exaggeration there, seriously, it is $10,000 cheaper to do it on a Friday night at over 10 of the venues we looked at. 
If you're willing to budge on the time of the wedding & you do a day time wedding, you can do A LOT more. The luncheons menus, rental fees, etc are quite cheap in comparison to the evening. You could possibly afford the beach hotel or one like it, during the day.
Think about what's most important to you & your FI, the time of day, the location, the food, etc. & it will fall into place much easier.