New Here! Question: Wedding Package or Banquet Menu?

HEA123

Hi Everyone! I am new here to the board. I got engaged this past July and am ELATED!! We have finally found a church and reception venue that we love. After reviewing the package info, we believe choosing a banquet menu is a better option for us. The package comes with cash bar, wine with dinner, champagne toast, two choices of tray passed hors d'oeuvres, vegetable crudite display, first course (salad), chicken or salmon, starch, veggies, bread, cake cutting service and coffee. The price for this is $77.25 pp including service and tax If we choose the banquet option we would be getting one hour of open bar, two appetizer platers of cheese and fruit and vegetable crudite, first course (salad), choice of Filet and Prawns or Chicken and Prawns, starch, veggies, bread, and coffee. The price for this is $72.10 In doing this we would be eliminating the tray passed appetizers, wine, champagne toast (we figured guests can toast with what they are drinking). In turn we would be providing open bar and a better meal. Also this choice only puts us $500 over our $8500 food and beverage budget which is ok with us. My question to you guys is if any of you have chosen this route. Any pros/cons. Any thoughts or comments are welcomed. Thanks, HEA123 (Happily Ever After)

Kasi80

Welcome to the board and congrats!  Do you have a date?  The option you chose sounds good but my question is, once the open bar has closed (after the hour) what will the guests be provided as beverages (soft drinks non-alcoholic beverages, etc.)? 

HEA123

Thank you! Our date is 10-16-10. That is a good point you bring up. I will have to speak with them about those options. I would love to provide open bar all night but it's sooooo costly!!

Kasi80

I completely agree.  We had a cash bar but I paid for the wine on the tables and all soft drinks.  When you ask about soft drinks find out if they charge per glass or if it's free refills per person and you pay for the initial glass of drink per person. 

HEA123

That is great advice! Thank you so much. We are actually meeting with them tomorrow. I have spent this past week typing up all of my questions. That is one I did not have. I appreciate it. There is just so much that goes into it isn't there? I hope I cover all the bases!

Kasi80

One other thing I found out too late was the whole gratituity and tax thing.  I knew they automatically added in 20% gratituity so I was prepared for that and did all the #'s and then added tax so I would have an amount to budget for.  What I did not know is that they charge the gratituity after tax has been applied, not before so I was paying 20% on service and tax.  They said it was completely legal (of course) and gave me the reasoning but I can't remember.  It may be that they were allowed to because my venue was a private country club so it may ot apply in your situation but you should ask.  It will be a difference of a few hundred that you want to account for.

Kasi80

Do they charge to cut the cake?  I'm trying to think of everything I was shocked by. 

Kasi80

Nevermind...just saw the cake cutting is included.  :P

HEA123

I was also doing the price per head then adding tax and service combined... aahhhh. So it's price per head, then tax, then service on top of that? WOW they've really got it covered don't they! That will add a few hundred more. Good to know

sdkissez

Some venues also offer drink packages.  You can purchase different combos depending on what your needs are. For Example: 1- Open Bar all night:  $22.95 a person 2- Wine and Champagne package:  $14.95 a person 3- Soft Drink package plus open bar for 2 hours: $14.95 a person Or something like that.  You definitely need to think about your guests and what they would like as well.  If no one cares about wine then you wouldn't need it at your wedding.  Some venues will allow you to bring in your own alcohol, or wine, or champagne, or sodas.  So make sure to ask about that as well.  Maybe they can provide the alcohol and you can bring in your own sodas??I fought my husband on open bar for a long time because I didn't want to pay for it.  But, most of his friends were drinkers and he didn't want to budge on it.  We came up with a compromise, but the venue made a mistake so they told us once we went over our limit they would eat the cost for anything over our initial limit.  It was the best decision my hubby made in having an open bar.

Kasi80

They'll get you any way they can because they know we'll pay.  What venue have you chosen?

breleficent

Hi and welcome to the board Congrats on your engagement. If it were me I would also go with the buffet option. I think one hour of open bar is better than wine and champagne. That will give people the option of what to drink. Plus, like you said, the dinner is better. So, where is this venue?

HEA123

Hi girls! I hope you all had a nice weekend. So we met with the venue on Saturday. The director was very friendly and showed us great customer service. You would think that would be a given but after my experience with some of these venues, we were pleased. We went in knowing exactly what we were looking for after deciding on the banquet option. Also, instead of paying per head for open bar we decided on paying a certain amount up front for alcohol which we think will serve our guests better. The director actually recommended this option. The only thing that kept us from putting down a deposit was that in choosing the banquet option they charge a $1,000 fee for the room. This was a fee that we were not aware existed. Even with the fee, the final cost is less than the "package" fee but it still puts us over budget. We asked her if they could waive the fee we would sign. She told us that she would discuss it with the GM and get back to us. I just heard back from her today and she said the GM would give us 25% off the fee. While we appreciate it, it is still over our budget. We counteroffered 50% off and vaiving the $2 cake cutting fee. We hope they can accomodate us and we would be glad to give them our business. Thoughts?

Kasi80

I never negotiated with venues.  It was pretty much a given where I'd get married since my mom's BF works at the country club.  Sorry, I don't know how it all works.  Hopefully some of the others have experience with that.  Hopefully they can work with you.  It's better than no business! 

breleficent

It never hurts to ask. I think that your counter offer was good. Always negotiate. My FI and I have with every vendor thus far We have save tons!

HEA123

I completely agree with you. As long as you approach them in a respectful manner, it never hurts to ask. The worse they can say is no right!