Any AFFORDABLE reception venues in Pittsburgh?

FutureMrsKupko

My fiance and I are planning for a Spring 2013 wedding and we are scouting for an inexpensive venue to hold our reception, where we can bring our own alcohol and catering. Does anyone know of a place like this? We were qouted at the Bigelow Conference Center $3000! Is this typical?

FutureMrsKupko

Also I will add that we are willing to go someone that provides food that is inexpensive as long as we can bring our own drinks. ( We are having a barrel of bourbon aged beer made for our wedding)

cgyvhu

affordable is relative...

What is your budget and how many people are you inviting??  Depending on the size of the space and the amount per person you are looking at spending for the venue, we can try to help.  And let us know your catering budget (dollars/plate), since it is pretty hard to find venues that allow outside catering.  Also, section of the city you are looking at?

FutureMrsKupko

Well to be honest, we dont know what to expect to pay.:/  We are working on our budget now, so we are trying to find out where some good places are in Pittsburgh that fit our needs ( with allowing alcohol). We are planning for 150 guests. We hope to reserve Heinz Chapel ( my FI is a Pitt alum) in April, so we would like a place that is close to Oakland. We found a possible caterer ( Our Little Secret) that we estimate to cost around $15-20 per person ( total $3000).  I would say over all, we would like to keep our wedding costs around 12k-13k

Its somewhat challenging to know the ends and outs of everything since we are planning from Harrisburg ( 3 hours away from Pitt) So any help or leads will be appreciated. 

bgfst1

Wow - does that $3000 catering total for 150 people include wait staff, tax, gratuity, etc? If so, you found a good deal! If not, remember, those things will hike up the cost. Also, when looking at venues that allow you to bring in a caterer, remember that things like plates, glassware, flatware, linens, sometimes even tables/chairs will often need to be rented. My FI and I had a budget of 12k-ish as well, and you don't realize how fast things add up when you don't go with a full service type place.

FutureMrsKupko

The $3000 is for food, setup, delivery. Wait staff would be an extra 18% of total costs. We havent taste tested http://www.ourlittlesecretcafeandcatering.com yet...but I heard great things and the price is right! Hopefully we can find a nice affordable venue ( around $1500). I just contacted the Pittsburgh Opera Co to see what rates they have.

cgyvhu

A lot of area venues don't allow outside catering...  the only two I know of off hand are Laube Hall and Andrew Carnegie Free Library.  There is a list of these venues on the PGH knottie website, check the sticky posts at the top of the page for info.

NIKIKRUISE

The aviarylets your bring in your own alcohol I believe. But you have to use their caterers ( they supply a list).  You could probably make that budget work depending on what you decided to have for food. I would check it out.

LetsHikeToday

You can bring your own alcohol to the zoo but you have to use their caterer. We loved our experience with them.

FutureMrsKupko

Thank you everyone for your help! We will check out all places suggested

arf3420

Glad to see you might go with Our Little Secret :-)  Missy is fantastic!!  I went through the same problem you are, we wanted to use that caterer because she is so affordable and came highly recommended, but there really aren't any places in Pittsburgh that let you use your own caterer.  The Pittsburgh Opera House was pretty much all that I found.  Their rental fee is $1400 for the whole day, that includes chairs and some of the tables.  I'm having my reception there, and we are also having 150 people, and they only have enough round tables for half that amount of people, so the rest you'll need to rent.  And I think he said they only have 5 of the long banquet tables, so you may need to rent a few of those too. 
The Parador Inn on the north shore also lets you use your own caterer and bring alcohol, but the rental fees were more expensive than the Opera house, and the venue wasn't as nice I thought.  Plus if you go over 100 guests, they have to be split between the inside and outside, and we wanted everyone together. 
I checked out the Andrew Carnegie Free Library as well, it was very cheap, but the space would have been very cramped with that many people.  They don't have tables or chairs, and I didn't really like the layout.  Plus they don't have AC, which was an issue for us having a summer wedding.  
Also as an FYI, Our Little Secret charges $100 total for service (that includes 2-3 servers for the whole night) and $75 for each bartender.  Then you'd have to add the tip too, but it's still very cheap compared to other caterers. She includes plastic silverware and plates in the price, but if you want real china you'll need to rent it.  FYI - I found it to be much cheaper to buy than to rent.  Plus you can resell everything after the wedding to recoup some of the money.  I've slowly been filling our guest room up... lol.  We've already purchased dinner plates, 300 wine glasses, silveware settings, glasses for the bar, and linens.   Plan on spending about $3-4 per person for the whole table place setting (plate, silverware, glass, napkin), and you can get tablecloths online for about $11-12 each at linentablecloth.com.  The big deciding factor for me in buying vs renting was that with Missy, included in that $100 service fee, the servers will wash, dry and pack up ALL of the plates, glasses and silverware for you, so you don't need to worry about what to do with it after the reception!  Very nice of them I thought :-)  They also package up all of the leftover food for you to take home.   Another thing, if  you want them to do coffee service, there is a $125 charge for that. 
Since your wedding isn't until 2013, mine is in June 2012, and I'll be selling all of our plates, silverware, glasses, etc after if you do decide to go with the Opera House so it'd be even less for you than buying new.  Sorry for the long post, but hopefully it will save you some time! I know I wasted a ton of hours researching everything :-)

FutureMrsKupko

Thank you arf340! I sent you a private message about your plates and some additional questions!

You girls are fantastic! I am so glad I signed up for this site. Thank you everyone for your help!

blondieb0912

The Edgewood Club is affordable and the caterers they work with are also inexpensive.

majoret017

Try Holy Cross in Mt. Lebanon...you have a choice of 4 caterers and they are VERY reasonable.  The cost for the hall is only $600!

FutureMrsKupko

We finally found a great venue! We just booked the Holiday INN Airport in Corapolis. The minimum for the Ferris Room is $6000!! and its absolutely gorgoues! It will include EVERYTHING- food, service, table clothes, chair covers, flowers ( of our choice!), cake and open bar. For us to reach their minimum, we will need 121guests ( we also got a 15% discount plus 7 free rooms for booking before Oct 31) I def reccommend for everyone to check them out!

blanksp

In Response to <a href="http://forums.weddings.com/Sites/Weddings/Pages/Main.aspx/local-wedding-boards_pennsylvania-pittsburgh_affordable-reception-venues-pittsburgh?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Local%20Wedding%20BoardsForum:116Discussion:86783cb2-aa60-49bb-8bb2-83faca9469a5Post:1b2948b3-9e8a-4337-8cd5-4b8145bc5adf">Any AFFORDABLE reception venues in Pittsburgh?</a>:
[QUOTE]My fiance and I are planning for a Spring 2013 wedding and we are scouting for an inexpensive venue to hold our reception, where we can bring our own alcohol and catering. Does anyone know of a place like this? We were qouted at the Bigelow Conference Center $3000! Is this typical?
Posted by FutureMrsKupko[/QUOTE]

<div>
</div><div>McDowell is beautiful and reasonable and allows you to bring your own alcohol and caterer.  412.471.0257 ext 105</div><div>
</div><div>Garden City Fire hall 412.372.1837.</div><div>
</div><div>Good Luck!!!</div>

jamiehelman

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/local-wedding-boards_pennsylvania-pittsburgh_affordable-reception-venues-pittsburgh?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Local%20Wedding%20BoardsForum:116Discussion:86783cb2-aa60-49bb-8bb2-83faca9469a5Post:d6dcc783-6acc-413e-b803-66e18f738266">Re: Any AFFORDABLE reception venues in Pittsburgh?</a>:
[QUOTE]The Edgewood Club is affordable and the caterers they work with are also inexpensive.
Posted by blondieb0912[/QUOTE]


thoughts about the morning glory inn and pricing?

jamiehelman

what are your thoughts about the morning glory inn and pricing for about 40 people?

Nhall08

Hi I was looking into the opera house for my venue for summer 2014.. I was wondering if that's what you went with and how you liked it.. Also if you bought anything that you were interested in reselling? This is my first time posting on this site email may be easier for me:/ if you don't mind! Natmhgn123@gmail.com

fluffy1969

Hi nhall08 I've coordinated and styled a wedding at the Opera house the staff was friendly the wedding was beautiful!!

fluffy1969

Hi nhall08 I went to their website they are showing our ceremony in the round! The photo was taken just after we set the chair covers we were in the process of setting the space My email is epiphanyweddings@ymail.com

alm199

Nhall08, did you decide to go with the opera house? I'm looking into having my spring 2015 wedding there...if you are going to be selling anything after your wedding I would be interested!