newbie here! and a venue question!

emilyschrock

Hello everyone!

Just got engaged a few weeks ago, and I'm trying for a June 2012 wedding to give me a little time.  The only thing I'm really concerned about right now is finding a venue, because stuff books up so far in advance depending on where you look.  The Knot is providing me with a lot of great ideas, but the real issue is, I'm on a very tight budget, and I don't know what they're dollar amount limits are on the $ signs for the venues.  My parents can only afford to give me just a little bit of cash (about 5,000), and while we're going to be paying probably about that much or a little more out of our own pockets, I wanted to invite something like 200 to the wedding.  I know I can save money by having a much smaller guest list, but I'd like to try all my options before cutting the guest list down more than I already have to save cash.  My question is, does anyone else have any other suggestions that might not be listed on the site?  I'd like to ideally have everything (ceremony and reception) in one place, like a hotel, since so many people are coming from out of town.  I've also already ruled out outside just because you can't really count on the weather in Pittsburgh, even with tents.  If anyone else has any low cost suggestions for ceremony/reception site, let me know!  Thanks!!

Dana526

Welcome to the board! This is a great place to get help and advice.
In regaurds to your question about venue, what area of Pittsburgh are you looking to be at (North Hills/South Hills/City)? Its alot easier to give recomendations when we know what area of the city your looking to be in.
Also, check out the sticky post at the top of the board for recommended vendors.
HTH!

amy727

You may want to try Friday or Sunday at different places to save money.  Also if you are open to moving your wedding you may get better discounts January-March.  Most venues and even some vendors offer discounts then.  

cgyvhu

Amy has great ideas - Friday and Sunday weddings, and December-March/April are sometimes discounted.  Looking just outside of the city could keep costs down, and there are some good banquet halls outside the city that brides have used.  Check the sticky post at the top for recommended venues, and if you give us some specific areas in mind post back.

emilyschrock

Those are great ideas, actually.  I wanted to try to stick with Saturday because so many people are coming in from out of town and I wanted to make it so people wouldn't have to take too much time off of work, but moving to Friday would definitely save me money.  I've already given a lot of though to moving the wedding up by a few months to save more cash, which I think I'm going to do.

I'm open to anywhere in the city, and I'm also open to outside of the city.  I found what I think is a good deal, but it's in Somerset, which is at least an hour away, so I wanted to try closer options first and then work my way out. 

The only venues listed under the $ sign (the cheapest) were the Lamplighter and the Quality Inn Conference Center in Somerset.  Does anyone else know of anything I might be missing? 

Unfortunately, I've only lived in Pittsburgh for about 2 years so I'm not sure about all the options around here...

cgyvhu

emily - you can't rely on the knot's list of venues - only venues who pay to advertise there will appear, so you are missing out on tons of potential venues if you only look at their list of places.  The $ estimates are sometimes wrong, too.

http://sites.google.com/site/pghknotties/vendors

if you go there and scroll down to reception location, you can get a bunch of recommended venues that could fit with what you want.  For 200 people on a $10K budget, I'd recommend banquet halls on the list.

I could be wrong, but if your entire budget (food/drink/photog/dress/etc) is 10K for 200 people, you could really have a tough time making that work.  You'll either have to sacrifice in the guest list area or pick very very affordable vendors, and that could mean sacrificing quality.

sarilynnep

I agree with Md. Having a budget of $10K for 200 people might be really hard to do. Is that the amount you want to spend on the entire wedding or just the reception? Does that include the amount you want to spend on the flowers for the reception, photography, favors, etc?

My suggestion is to start calling vendors and getting estimates per person for catering, rentals, etc. Then see what you have to spend on flowers, photography, music, and favors. Also remember to figure in all your taxes and gratuity as well, as that can be quite costly when you add it all up.

I'm not trying to upset you, just wanted to share these things up front so that you know ahead of time. It's best to be realistic in the beginning about all the costs of a wedding.

pantherRN

Our original budget was similar to yours and we are inviting over 200 guests. We are having our reception at Holy Cross Banquet Hall, which I consider to be very affordable. We still had to increase our budget.

Like the other girls, I'm not saying that it is impossible. But, it could be difficult.

jlbaxter33

Try Riverside Landing or Greek Orthodox Hall in Oakmont, both would fit your budget.