Budget-Friendly Wedding/Reception Venues in the Durham Region?

LadyAidan

Hello fellow planners! My fiancé and I have been engaged for about a year and a half, and we are hoping to have our wedding on a Sunday in May 2014. The purpose of the long engagement has been solely to save money as we are recent graduates with no financial assistance for our wedding. It is getting close to "crunch time" in terms of planning, and we are frantically searching for a venue that is friendly on the wallet but has some sort of "natural" aspect (conservation centres, golf courses with nice natural scenery, etc.). We've looked at a few places, including 4 Seasons Golf & CC, Kedron Dells Golf Club, Jubilee Pavillion, Trillium Trails, Parkwood Estates, etc. but the latter two are out of our budget and/or have guest minimums that we will not meet (looking to have a max. of 80 guests). 

Writing this out, I guess we have pretty specific criteria. We are currently leaning towards Kedron Dells, but I wanted to see if anyone else had any experiences with other venues. Thanks! 

P.S. I guess I forgot to mention we were initially looking at a $10k TOTAL wedding budget, but all of the venues we've looked at so far seem to be driving us up to the $15k mark. 

Angelface225

Have you looked at Bloomfield Gardens in Newcastle? Their Friday and Sunday rates are significantly cheaper than Saturday. We're doing a Friday in September this year.

LadyAidan

@Angelface225 Bloomfield was one of the first places we looked at simply for how darn beautiful it is, but reading through their contract makes me think they're out of our budget. What sort of experience have you had with their approved caterers in terms of pricing? 

@aclarino Thanks for the heads up in that respect. I haven't noticed much of a difference between Friday and Sunday pricing where we've looked, but I'm definitely considering pushing it late into the year if we have to...

Angelface225

@LadyAidan, we really love Pilar's, the caterer we chose. I contacted one of their other caterers, but I found him sketchy. I would send Pilar an email and see what she can do.

Angelface225

I bet she could give you a deal for a brunch reception, that would be awesome on a Sunday!

LadyAidan

Thanks for all of your input, @Angelface225 ! It's coming up on crunch time as far as I'm concerned (less than a year out to our preferred date, now) and I guess we'll have to make a decision this week.  

BrookeSampson

You could also check out Newcastle Town Hall in Newcastle.  It is beautiful, and you can bring in your own caterer, bar etc.  That's where our Wedding is next July, and we are also using Pilar's catering.  A girl friend of mine is getting married at Kedron in September, and she has been very happy with everything so far Good luck!

mcbaine

What about Kortright Centre for Conversation? I'm not sure what the prices are like but it might be worth checking out.  It's in Woodbridge so a bit east but still accessible.

mgarraway

Ganaraska Forest Centre is available, you can rent the whole place for an entire weekend or just the hall, and can have your ceremony right in the woods. 

We're getting married at Windreach Farms in Ashburn in 2015, affordable but you have to bring EVERYTHING in yourself.

KaycElle

I second Kortright Centre. It's beautiful there.

LadyAidan

Thanks everyone for your wonderful suggestions - definitely keep them coming for any future Durham region brides who might want some input.  

We did end booking with Kedron Dells Golf Club, just north on Ritson out of Oshawa. The main room was gorgeous, the grounds were nice, and the co-ordinator (we've spoken with two now, since the first one we met with went on maternity leave) has been extremely supportive and helpful. Their packages included a lot of amenities we might otherwise have had to bring in (decoration, swags, etc.), and now that I'm getting further into the planning process, I really appreciate not having to deal with more details than I have to.  

And we did renegotiate our budget. $10k was just not in the cards for us...