Young and Broke

amilinia · December 2010

I am planning a fab cermony and I hardly have any money. The catch with the ceremony is the facility and priest is free for us. So I will be saving tons of money with that part of our wedding. My problems is the reception. I do not have tons of money to pay to rent out a large enough venue for my guest and feed them too.

So I planned on doing a cocktail reception that everybody can attended that is close to the ceremony site. I have called some lounges in the area of the ceremony to hold a cocktail reception. These facilities will allow us to hold a cocktail reception during none business hours. The lounges will allows us to bring in some appetizers, cake, and will offer a champagne toast. The catch is the facility is free but the alcohol must be paid for.

I wanted to still have a sit down meal with my close family members, wedding party, and hubby. I was thinking of throwing a backyard party/bar be que.

Does anybody have any ideas of how we can cut the cost? Input will be appreciated given how insane this idea maybe. Thank you

fallbride1109 · December 2010

So you are wanting to do the cocktail reception and the dinner? Try the Chicago board for local recommendations on budget friendly vendors. One big way to keep costs down is to keep the guest list as small as possible.

[Deleted User] · December 2010

I think she wants to have the cocktail reception for all of the guests and the sit down dinner for just the immediate family and WP.

Definitely check out your local board. I don't see any problem with this as long as you have it noted that way on your invites. Only inform close family and WP about the dinner, obviously not the rest of the guests.

marissa_claire · December 2010

I would personally say to have the sit-down meal with your family on a different day. Either have a brunch the day-after or make it the rehearsal dinner.

I'm kind of wishy-washy on this, so I don't know for sure. I can see hurt feelings if some people get invited to spend more time with the bride that day, whereas with the brunch or RD people tend to know that not everyone is invited to those.

aerinpegadrak · December 2010

I think it depends on ratios. I was totally fine with SBIL's plan to do cake and punch at the church for everyone, followed by dinner for just family, figuring there would be probably 100 or more at the church and maybe 20 or so at dinner. It works in theory. Then I got there and discovered that the numbers were more like 75 and 60, and it wasn't just dinner but a full-blown reception. Yeah, it didn't go over well, the whole day was just an unmitigated disaster.

Why not just do a backyard barbecue for all of your guests, or cut the guest list down to only those you can afford to feed? It's usually not a good idea to segregate your guest list like that, it makes things needlessly complicated and gets people mad at you.

garcias1 · December 2010

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_reception-ideas_young-broke?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding BoardsForum:5Discussion:09c32432-66a7-4e86-a294-16784f3682ffPost:3675e21f-f48d-44c0-b934-3422f00fa460">Young and Broke</a>:
[QUOTE]I am planning a fab cermony and I hardly have any money. The <strong>catch with the ceremony is the facility and priest is free for us. So I will be saving tons of money with that part of our wedding. </strong>My problems is the reception. I do not have tons of money to pay to rent out a large enough venue for my guest and feed them too. So I planned on doing a cocktail reception that everybody can attended that is close to the ceremony site. I have called some lounges in the area of the ceremony to hold a cocktail reception. These facilities will allow us to hold a cocktail reception during none business hours. The lounges will allows us to bring in some appetizers, cake, and will offer a champagne toast. The catch is the facility is free but the alcohol must be paid for. I wanted to still have a sit down meal with my close family members, wedding party, and hubby. I was thinking of throwing a backyard party/bar be que. Does anybody have any ideas of how we can cut the cost? Input will be appreciated given how insane this idea maybe. Thank you
Posted by amilinia[/QUOTE]

I agree with PP on your main question. But on a side note, I don't know exactly what kind of facility you are using (I am assuming it's a church) or what religion the priest is, but they might expect a donation for their services. So keep this in mind when you are budgeting for everything. GL with all of your planning.

MyNameIsNot · December 2010

The easiest way to keep costs down is to keep the guestlist short.

If a meal is important to you, do a meal and invite only those you can afford to feed. Lunch is cheaper than dinner, a brunch is cheaper than lunch. A backyard BBQ style reception is quite a bit cheaper than a ballroom, also.

Ashes_3 · December 2010

Keeping the guest list short and alcohol is the way to keep it cheaper!!! If your serving liquear that will make your prices a lot higher. You could always just do beer,wine and a signature drink!

KtCa · December 2010

Could you have a backyard available after the ceremony? As has been said, try to keep the day of together. People talk, and if only some are invited, the others think they are and tag along or else feel slighted. So best to do another day as said.
So, after the ceremony: Go to a backyard, get a case of wine or a keg of beer (either/both will be cheaper than a cocktail hour markup) and have some small apps or a BBQ there. Even making a few appetizers and buying some fruit punch and a few bottles of champagne for "champagne punch" will save you money over a lounge. I was a waitress/bartender through college and once priced one bottle of Jagermeister.
You can buy it for $23, but to sell it in a bar, they charge $4.50 (conservative) a shot and expect 17 shots from that bottle (including waste) = $76.50. Over 300% mark-up. If you have access to a private back yard use it and serve your guests yourself. (You can hire a bartender to pour drinks for ~$150)

SCogs18 · December 2010

I would keep alcohol to beer and wine only, especially if you have to pay for it yourself.

Also, it is totally find to have a sit down dinner for immediate family and special friends, but just make sure it's on a different day, it would be really weird to have some people eating big delicious dinners in front of your guests who are clearly not as important to you.

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