Unique and Affordable Venue Ideas

CCREECH1

Hello everyone!

Well to say the least my venue search has been very heartbreaking. I had no idea how expensive it was to get married! We have viewed several of your known venues: Cedar Grove, Balcony, Champagne Palace, ect. and they all are over our budget!

We are trying to keep our wedding and reception right under 10k for 150 people. We are flexible on the date and do not mind doing a Friday night. I was wondering if anyone knows of some less popular, unique venues that are inexpensive and within our budget!

Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks!

ZeroOrchestra

Parkview terrace at City Park would come in just under your budget and avkages include cake and different bar options. Also try House of Broel, it's pretty unique although I'm not sure how many they can accommodate. If you can find an inexpensive caterer, you can try renting a space. We used Capdebosqc at the Benachi house.

louisianablue

$10,000 including everything or just for catering and venue fee? 

You may want to consider White Oak Plantation outside of Baton Rouge http://www.jfolse.com/whiteoak/weddings_main.htm

Louisiana Castle in Franklinton

Joeybinabliss

Are you doing a destination wedding or are you local?   I ask only because our guest list is 100% out of town, so it wasn't as crucial to have a Sat wedding.  We ended up deciding on Sunday.  We figured people would rather take off work on Monday than Friday, although many people are coming in Fri or earlier anyway.  We found that ALL vendors we wanted were available and we received some very nice discounts on our venue and photog as well!  We considered a Friday, but found ther weren't really many discounts involved, as Friday weddings are becoming very popular.

mcahil1

I am using The Rose Garden and we are so excited about having our reception there! We are having about 150 and it was less than 10k for a Saturday night reception. I was extremely happy with the room, the food is delicious, and and questions are answered very quickly by Ms Vita the owner and she is really sweet. I have been to a wedding here before, and I know other people who have used them and have nothing but wonderful things to say about it. I called The Balcony for prices, just to price shop bc I don't like the actual layout of it, and they were outrageous! They just increased all their prices and I was shocked they wanted me to pay for 300 people when I was only having 150!

CCREECH1

Thanks for your comments!

I am local so 95% of our guest will also be local, so Sunday wont work for us.

I have checkes with Southern Oaks and they are very expensive.  City park was also pretty pricey. How many people can the Benachi House fit? I have use Capdebosqc in the past so I know their food is delish!

I have not checked out Rose Garden so I will give them a call! Also we are open to looking outsdie the New Orleans area, so I will also check out the White Oak Plantation!

MarcusandMelissa

I can personally attest to Parkview Terrace at City Park.  We did EVERYTHING there under 10K and we did a lot of extra stuff.  I wrote this endorsement of it last week in another post about wedding venues:

"We did Parkview Terrace in City Park and could not have been happier with our choice.  It's affordable (less than $10K for EVERYTHING but we did a decent amount of upgrades/extras) and BEAUTIFUL.  There is a 360 degree terrace that overlooks Popp Bandstand (where we had our ceremony), the nearby bayou with swans, etc. and the live oaks with Spanish moss.  Seriously it's really lovely.  The inside is so bright and open.  We had 105 people there for a cocktail reception (no sit down dinner but LOTS of food) but I think you can go up to 150 people there (with no sit down dinner).  I would highly recommend it.  My contact there was April Laughlin and she was nothing short of awesome.  There were no hidden fees with City Park and everything was just as we'd been told, which is SUCH a Godsend on your wedding day." 

newmansilvawedding

I'm having mine at Ralph's On The Park. They're super affordable and great to work with. We're having a sit-down dinner so they can only accomodate up to 104 in the room with a tiny dance floor, but we're only having about 80-88 guests. So, we're taking away tables to enlarge the dancing area. Though, if you're doing a non-seated passed food type of reception they could totally accomodate more. It's literally right across the street from City Park and their upstairs rooms have a balcony that you can open up for more seating/space.

Nolagirl12

How is the food there? Are you having ceremony & reception? What does Ralph's on the park provide?

NikNik2013

Have you thought about a Sat afternoon? We are doing Cedar Grove at 1pm...we booked in Feb of this year and it was only time avail for our March 2013 wedding, but it will actually work better since we are OOT. It was cheaper, also!

Novena2014

You can definitely have your ceremony and reception for $10K at Smilie's in Harahan.  In the Garden District, house of Broel is also in your price range and includes catering, cake and dj.  If you're willing to go to the North Shore, check out Anndele's Guest House. really pretty and affordable indoor/outdoor space.

newmansilvawedding

sorry, just getting back to the boards. Ralph's provides everything except for decor. So, tables, chairs, linens, stemware, etc. I'm bringing in all my decor and they're setting it all up for me. We're bringing in our own DJ and our own cakes. The food is amazing! I promise, our menu will be praised! We are not having our ceremony there. We're actually having the ceremony across the street at City Park. So, it's also super convenient. There's tons of non-metered street parking and Anita, the sales rep, is very helpful!

CaseynMike

Just an idea...Check out the St. Charles Room at Loyola University. My wedding and reception are both at Dillard University and THE PRICE IS AWESOME! 

The St. Charles Room holds 500 people but is beautiful! You have to use the university catering and also you have to purchase a parking package for your guests. We were quoted $125 for our wedding. We didnt choose Loyola because they don't have a chapel that we can use being that we aren't Catholic. Good luck I hope all goes well!

ur+my+sunshine

NOLA Pharmacy museum. Small, but gorgeous and very affordable!