Any ideas for an outdoor wedding on a budget?

dscheld

I recently moved to Colorado, but we are having our wedding back in New Jersey. Its a little difficult picking a veue from just the pictures online. We also have a lower budget, meaning, we don't want to go wedding broke. Does anybody have any ideas on how to save money, but still have a nice outdoor wedding?

Our ideas so far of what we like include a buffet style wedding with open bar. We heard its way more expensive, but we would prefer a live band over a DJ. I also plan on saving money by making my own centerpieces and favors. The wedding is going to be on 10/11/12.

I've called a quite few places and looked into a lot of reception sites and it all seems to be at least $100 per person including tax and gratuity. Our guest list will be about 125 people. We were thinking  more towards $60-$75 a person or lower. Any suggestions on venues would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

shoebie

I dont rememebr the name but there is a bed and breakfast in andover that does tented and or barn weddings my sisters friend went to one there and said it was very nice ill see if i can get the name

dscheld

thank you I really appreciate the help.

maddie7

I have an awesome catering company rec. and they were rated highly in The Knot- Feast Catering in Westfield, NJ. The food is delicious!
http://feastcateringwestfield.com/contact.html
I grab dinner from them once a week to take home!
I would tell you to look at some bed and breakfasts, in Lambertville you will get lower prices.

If you want indoor/outdoor, this place was $85 pp when I looked at it
http://brettonwoods.net/

Others under 100 are Panatagis, La Affaire, The Galloping HIll Inn, Gran Centurians

Lobsters25

No clue if they could do it but Hopewell Valley Vineyards might have something

akcrrr

You might want to look into the Englewood Women's Club (although I don't know if they have an outdoor area). 

Also do a search on this forum for venues and a lot of people have asked about venues under 100 pp. 

Merrimakers on the Water would be well under your $100pp as well. 

mbcdefg

You know 10/11/12 is a Thursday, right? Is that going to be a problem for your guests?

Anyway, with a Thursday wedding, you might be able to negotiate the price down a lot. My reception was at The Tides Estate in North Haledon and we paid about $100pp (factoring in tax and gratuity) for a Saturday night in April 2010, so if you do a Thursday night maybe you can get them to go lower than that. They were offering us $65pp (before tax/gratuity) for a Friday night in March, so they can definitely go pretty low. And they have a nice outdoor space for a ceremony.

Also look into Bridgewater Manor and maybe Perona Farms.

smilygrl17

Not sure how much of an outdoor wedding you want, but here is my suggestion. I was supposed to get married at Valley Road Picnic Area in Hopewell Twp. (Then Hurricane Irene decided to show up) It is one of the Mercer County parks and is completely secluded. There is a covered pavilion with picnic tables and then two other covered pavilions, one with big grills, and one as like a bar area. In the back there is a grassy area surrounded by trees (there are trees all over, but this is more in a circle) which would be perfect to set up chairs for a ceremony. You can find a caterer that does buffets (we were going to use Business Bistro and do a BBQ buffet). There are electrical sockets and in between the pavilions a black top area that could be used as a dance floor.
I was getting married in August and having a more casual feel, so I'm not sure if this works for you. But if it does, it gives you complete control of what you want and no limits!

dalm0m

the outdoor place in Andover is Crossed Keys & it's probably about $150+ pp.  It's really one of the more expensive places. 

Where in NJ are you? 

In Northern NJ I'd suggest you check out the Lake Hopatcong Elk's Lodge.  They have a lovely park like setting, with an outdoor bar / refidgeration settup.  You can use their caterer who is pretty good or bring your own. 

The Lacey Township Elks is on the water.   They have a lovely pavillion & a nice view.  

It's indoors but the Somerville Elks off Route 28 is a beautiful facility.  It looks like a real catering hall not an ugly dark lodge with dead animal heads on the wall.  The food is good.  Packages w/o booze start at $19/pp.  They have floor to ceiling windows looking at a grove of trees so it feels park like. 

You can find all of these places through the NJ State Elks association.  www.njelks.org.

You should also try firehouses, knights of columbus, moose, masons, VFWs etc. 

renatari

I'm getting married at the Rutgers Gardens pavilion in New Brunswick in 15 days (yay!). The rental fee isn't astronomical & their prefered caterer really worked with us to stay within a good price range per person. We are having a buffet style dinner with a beef, chicken, & fish. There will also be a pasta, an egg plant parm, potatoes, rice, & vegetables. The food was great when we went to our tasting. We cut down on the cocktail hour to save some $ and we ended up at $60 a person. We are having an open bar & the caterer works with a liquor store on cosignment so anything we don't open, we give back & don't pay for. The open bar is going to be about $10 per person. We could have cut back by just serving beer, wine, & a signature drink but we decided to have everything.
Here are the links to the garden: http://rutgersgardens.rutgers.edu/rentals.html
Here are links to our caterer: http://www.twinoakscaterers.com/weddings.html

Feel free to PM me if you have any questions!