Absolute cheapest venues in dfw

shelbyhall70

We are paying for a large portion of the wedding ourselves and I'm having a hard time finding a way to search through venues by price? We arent the type to want to pay for a space that we cant turn into a peraonal experience. We want to be able to conpletely trasform the area to be our ideal image. Any recommendations.

We would personally love an outdoor wedding. Not at a country club but a HEAVILY wooded secluded area. but we are open to anything. any advice or ideas?

imjustshell

We were looking at the Heard Nature Museum in McKinney. They practically let you do anything to your hearts content and it is really affordable. Nature and animals, not to mention that you get a great place with a beautiful view! 

imjustshell

Those pictures were taken Saturday. I went up to look at the place to get an idea of what it would look like. They were preparing for a party. It was beautiful. So we hung around and looked at the museum and saw the animals. They have an amphitheater that you can also rent to get married at and that cuts out the need for a ceremony space plus you can decorate it any way you want. Good luck! 

professorscience

A couple of places that are very DIY:

Filter Building at White Rock Lake

Winfrey Point at White Rock Lake

YWCA in Ft. Worth

Trinity River Audubon Center

Be aware that a place that is TOTALLY DIY can actually end up costing you more than you'd think in the long run.  Winfrey Point is a great example of a totally blank canvas, but you would have to do a lot of decorating to cover up the years' worth of nails and nail holes.  Filter Building, Winfrey Point, and TRAC all have outdoor options (I don't THINK YWCA does).

Also, the biggest downside to TRAC is how far out it is.  It's a goooorrrrgeous location, but it was quite a trek to get there!

shelbyhall70

imjustshell said:

We were looking at the Heard Nature Museum in McKinney. They practically let you do anything to your hearts content and it is really affordable. Nature and animals, not to mention that you get a great place with a beautiful view! 

Thank you!! That one is gorgeous. You wouldn't happen to know their policies on food and alcohol would you?

aeliza06

Heard Nature Museum provides tables, chairs, and parking. They allow you to bring in your own food and your own alcohol. 

However, you would probably need to rent a dancefloor, linens, and figure out the logistics of delivering the alcohol (whenever we were considering the Heard, getting a keg out there was difficult for us to figure out). Also, they say that you can fit 110, however, this would leave no room for a dancefloor and DJ setup. I would say no more than 90.

We considered the Heard and even put down a deposit, however when I calculated out the cost of renting and bringing things in, choosing an all-inclusive venue was actually less expensive. 

caitlintaylor07

Towering Oaks Ranch Resort - but it's WAY north in Valley View.

shelbyhall70

aeliza06 said:

Heard Nature Museum provides tables, chairs, and parking. They allow you to bring in your own food and your own alcohol. 

However, you would probably need to rent a dancefloor, linens, and figure out the logistics of delivering the alcohol (whenever we were considering the Heard, getting a keg out there was difficult for us to figure out). Also, they say that you can fit 110, however, this would leave no room for a dancefloor and DJ setup. I would say no more than 90.

We considered the Heard and even put down a deposit, however when I calculated out the cost of renting and bringing things in, choosing an all-inclusive venue was actually less expensive. 

For me I feel like it would be cheaper but I'm new to WEDDIG planning. My family is a bunch of cooks so I don't want to rent a venue where I then need to pay for catering. Bring in my own drinks seems cheaper than paying for a bar and bartender. And I intend on doing a lot of DIY. But like I said I'm new to the whole thing. I'm just trying to figure out what's best for me. But I also want a super personal wedding. I kind of want a blank canvas but now I'm a little worried ill spend more that way

imjustshell

They do allow you to BYOB. You can call Brenda and talk to her. It is cheaper to buy your linens and other items. You can always sell them after. We are doing that.  

We thought of having the dinner inside the hall and the dance outside on the terrace. 

shelbyhall70 said:

Heard Nature Museum provides tables, chairs, and parking. They allow you to bring in your own food and your own alcohol. 

However, you would probably need to rent a dancefloor, linens, and figure out the logistics of delivering the alcohol (whenever we were considering the Heard, getting a keg out there was difficult for us to figure out). Also, they say that you can fit 110, however, this would leave no room for a dancefloor and DJ setup. I would say no more than 90.

We considered the Heard and even put down a deposit, however when I calculated out the cost of renting and bringing things in, choosing an all-inclusive venue was actually less expensive. 

For me I feel like it would be cheaper but I'm new to WEDDIG planning. My family is a bunch of cooks so I don't want to rent a venue where I then need to pay for catering. Bring in my own drinks seems cheaper than paying for a bar and bartender. And I intend on doing a lot of DIY. But like I said I'm new to the whole thing. I'm just trying to figure out what's best for me. But I also want a super personal wedding. I kind of want a blank canvas but now I'm a little worried ill spend more that way

aeliza06

I thought about dancing outside on the terrace too, but then I thought about heels getting stuck between the boards, splinters in bare feet, little ones falling and getting scraped knees, etc. On top of that, it splits up the party, which means guests are more likely to go home early. 

It seems like I am being debbie downer, and I am not trying to be by ANY means, but I think these are important things to consider. I asked these ladies their opinion on the boards about the dancing situation as soon as I booked the Heard and this is just echoing that advice. 

Also- in terms of family cooking- they will have to do all the prep ahead of time and then bring it in, find a way to keep the items fresh (the last thing anyone needs is food poisoning), and find a way to serve/replace items. That's, of course, assuming your family is readily happy to be working on your big day rather than enjoying their time celebrating. For smaller guest counts, it is more manageable, but can become a logistics problem for larger parties. 

professorscience

aeliza06 said:

I thought about dancing outside on the terrace too, but then I thought about heels getting stuck between the boards, splinters in bare feet, little ones falling and getting scraped knees, etc. On top of that, it splits up the party, which means guests are more likely to go home early. 

It seems like I am being debbie downer, and I am not trying to be by ANY means, but I think these are important things to consider. I asked these ladies their opinion on the boards about the dancing situation as soon as I booked the Heard and this is just echoing that advice. 

Also- in terms of family cooking- they will have to do all the prep ahead of time and then bring it in, find a way to keep the items fresh (the last thing anyone needs is food poisoning), and find a way to serve/replace items. That's, of course, assuming your family is readily happy to be working on your big day rather than enjoying their time celebrating. For smaller guest counts, it is more manageable, but can become a logistics problem for larger parties. 

I agree with this. If you're looking at throwing a big celebration for your wedding, you're talking about asking the members of your family to work for you instead of actually enjoy the reception.  It's one thing if we're just talking about bringing in some already-cooked barbecue in stay-warm pans, but even in that case, someone's still going to have to keep the food stocked.

Have you thought about doing a backyard wedding?  Find a friend or family member who has gorgeous property and get married there, then at least there is access to a kitchen and it has that real "family" feel.

imjustshell

I agree with you on that about the heels and separating the party. I hadn't thought of that. 

professorscience said:

aeliza06 said:

I thought about dancing outside on the terrace too, but then I thought about heels getting stuck between the boards, splinters in bare feet, little ones falling and getting scraped knees, etc. On top of that, it splits up the party, which means guests are more likely to go home early. 

It seems like I am being debbie downer, and I am not trying to be by ANY means, but I think these are important things to consider. I asked these ladies their opinion on the boards about the dancing situation as soon as I booked the Heard and this is just echoing that advice. 

Also- in terms of family cooking- they will have to do all the prep ahead of time and then bring it in, find a way to keep the items fresh (the last thing anyone needs is food poisoning), and find a way to serve/replace items. That's, of course, assuming your family is readily happy to be working on your big day rather than enjoying their time celebrating. For smaller guest counts, it is more manageable, but can become a logistics problem for larger parties. 

I agree with this. If you're looking at throwing a big celebration for your wedding, you're talking about asking the members of your family to work for you instead of actually enjoy the reception.  It's one thing if we're just talking about bringing in some already-cooked barbecue in stay-warm pans, but even in that case, someone's still going to have to keep the food stocked.

Have you thought about doing a backyard wedding?  Find a friend or family member who has gorgeous property and get married there, then at least there is access to a kitchen and it has that real "family" feel.

Noisy

My wedding is going to be at Meyer's Park in McKinney...its so gorgeous and affordable! Check it out!

[Deleted User]

We looked at the heard and we do like it, right now it's in the running.  We have found many places that were not bad looking AND in the price range as the heard is.  With us being able to bring our own Alcohol made it a lot cheaper then some of the other places.  We still have a few other places we are checking out though.  

I will say our guest lists is under 75 anything bigger and the spot wouldn't be great for dancing IMO. We are also not sure if we will have a dance floor.  I'm not totally against dancing on carpet.  Though FH would prefer a dance floor.  

Keep in mind as well places like this you would also need to figure out clean up it's not included.  While a lot of these places are "cheaper" they do start to cost in the long run.  However, we also haven't found many places that offer more for about the same price.  Many that were deals have raised their prices the past year or so.  

We also checked out The Mckinney performance art and it wasn't bad.  We are hoping to check out Times Ten in Fort Worth soon too and their prices were not bad either and would save us on a few things that we would have to get with the heard.  

Decisions decisions.  I never knew on a small budget (ours is 7k max) how hard it would be to find a place.

NiceGirlNTX

Chicotsky's Liquor Store in Fort Worth delivers and picks up

sydwil23

Ladies, we have a total budget of $5,000, I'm looking for an indoor venue for December. PLEASE let me know if you find anything!