food/drink minimums??

skl14

Hi, I'm new here and JUST started planning for my wedding. I found a venue that I love in Grand Blanc, the only problem is the $10,000 food and drink minimum for a saturday wedding. I was just wondering if food and drink minimums were normal, or usually that high. I looked at other places in town that didn't have a minimum and were surprised I even asked. I plan on having ~150 people, and I would have to get every food upgrade just to get close to that figure, and that's not including rental fee. I was hoping this might be something negotiable since it seemed out of the ordinary based on visits to other venues. 

emarston1

It's pretty common to have minimums.  This is to ensure that the venue makes enough revenue to make it worth hosting the event.  My guess is that if they have a minimum that it will not be negotiable especially for a Saturday event during wedding season.

Our venue had a minimum of 6500 (pre tax and pre gratuity) for our room.  Other rooms in the venue had a 10,000 minimum but they had larger rooms and would accomodate more people.  If you don't think you can make the minimum without the upgrades, I would look elsewhere.

Oh!  And welcome to the board

brandym22

Yes, every place that I looked at had a minimum... expecially for certain rooms. We are having our reception at Arnaldos. The minimum is 180 and we were able to negotiate 160. However, after the guest is finalized, its back up to 180. Obvioulsy, not what my budget wanted... but oh well!!

Milsey32

It's common to have a minimum, but we didn't. And fwiw, we had 150 people and spent just over $5,000 for everything our caterer provided: bartenders/servers/dishwashers, hor'dourves (fruit and veggie trays), late night pizza that was served at 10 or 10:30, the bar package without alcohol (which we provided for less than $1,000) that had soft drinks, juices, and coffee, and the buffet that consisted of roast beef with mushrooms, pineapple glazed ham, skinless/boneless chicken breast in some type of sauce (I don't remember what), bowtie pasta with marinara sauce, vegetable medley, redskin potatoes, the basic salad/rolls/etc and there may have been more at the buffet but I honestly don't remember- I didn't eat much that night! lol 

LOTON01

My room has a minimum, which is larger for Saturday night vs a Friday night. You just need to make sure that you will make it. 

lauraprevost

What venue in Grand Blanc are you looking at? My reception is going to be in Grand Blanc and I don't have a minimum, I looked at several venues in the area and wasn't told about a minimum cost at any of them. 

I have heard that it is common to have a cost minimum, it just depends on your budget and whether or not you are going to be able to meet the minimum. For instance, we are having approximately 250 people and our estimated food cost will be about $8500-9000 + the cost for drinks which I am blanking on right now!

skl14

It was the Captain's club at Woodfield. It is a pretty space, but I probably just don't have enough people to make it a reasonable option. 

theleos

We have a person minimum of 150 guests. If you're not set on a date yet....here is an option. Ours is at the Palazzo Grande in Shelby Twp. Their ballroom is 4 sections, each fit approx 200-300 guests. We wanted one of the sections on the end...with windows, so she told us we could have it for the Friday minimum (of 150 guests instead of 200 guests) if we had it on July 7 or August 18. Those were dates she had the rest of the ballrooms sold and made it so she left all other dates completely open for HUGE weddings she would make more money on. We decided on August 18th and got our minimum we wanted. Hope this helps...and welcome!

spartybride3

Our minimum was $12k, but it was reduced for since our wedding is on a Friday. Typically it is $14k

MrsGilliatt

We have a minimum at our venue - and I believe they are really common.  If a venue tells you they don't have a minimum it's a sales tactic in my opinion.  It's kind of silly not to have one given what people are willing to spend now a days.  I will say; that minimum is much lower than anywhere we considered- so you're getting a deal!!