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Venue Rental Fees

ChaCha86ChaCha86 member
First Comment
in Louisiana-New Orleans
Hi Everyone!
I'm from Canada and wanted to have a wedding in New Orleans. One thing that I'm noticing while getting quotes are the incredibly high venue rental fees. Where I'm from, if you spend a minimum on food and beverages, the rental fees are waived. Does this happen in New Orleans and it's just not advertised?
 Thanks!
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Re: Venue Rental Fees

  • louisianabluelouisianablue member
    Tenth Anniversary 500 Comments 5 Love Its Name Dropper
    Most of the hotels I looked at just have a food and beverage minimum for the reception.  Because I had a large wedding, I personally found it cheaper to pay the venue fee and hire a separate caterer.  The hotel packages that I looked at cost around $70-80/person, not inclusive of tax and gratuity and then I had to pay for a $30 beverage package on top of that.  My caterer was about $65/person inclusive of open bar, tax and gratuity.  Some of them even come with the wedding cake.

    I think you'll find that those with just a minimum will require at least $10k for a Saturday evening wedding.
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  • effersonefferson
    10 Comments
    edited August 2012
    New Orleans (especially anywhere in the Quarter) is a prime wedding spot and the venues know it. Some venues may waive rental fees but I don't know of any.
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  • schafenmschafenm member
    Second Anniversary First Comment
    LouisianaBlue, who was your caterer?
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  • carolembcarolemb
    100 Comments
    We met a food and drink min. for the space.
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  • ZeroOrchestraZeroOrchestra member
    100 Comments Second Anniversary 5 Love Its Name Dropper
    We got a rental at 1500 and catering package for around 42pp so with a 70 person attendance was right around 60 a head. We didn't look at any of the hotels, but I'm sure their minimums were way higher.
    photo stringerbell_zps0f292e80.jpg Married! in New Orleans
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  • ChrissyBeachBrideChrissyBeachBride member
    Third Anniversary 10 Comments

    Hi there, I'm also Canadian but I live and go to school in NY.  I know exactly what you mean about the rental fees.  At first, we were looking at renting a space and having it catered but the pricing was crazy.  Even if you "only" pay $50-60 for catering, when you add a 2 or $3000 for a rental fee, that still works out to $85+ per person total when you spread it over the number of guests!

    I want to have one figure to deal with and use to calculate my food and beverage costs, that I can easily multiply by the number of guests.  That also gives me the peace of mind that at some point, if we need to lowers costs, we just lower the number of guests.  We're sticking with venues that come in under $75 per person and have no rental fee and there are more than a few choices.  We're going to visit them next week and finalize things!

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  • louisianabluelouisianablue member
    Tenth Anniversary 500 Comments 5 Love Its Name Dropper
    In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/local-wedding-boards_louisiana-new-orleans_venue-rental-fees?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Local%20Wedding%20BoardsForum:84Discussion:b456eb91-959c-4fb1-a280-2be3eba6e24dPost:393f4a00-1db2-4448-885d-0a95e20a6eef">Re: Venue Rental Fees</a>:
    [QUOTE]LouisianaBlue, who was your caterer?
    Posted by schafenm[/QUOTE]

    I hired Pigeon Catering.  They are very reputable and were great to work with.
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  • [Deleted User][Deleted User]
    100 Comments
    Try the riverview room at Jackson Brewery. There is no room rental fee and the prices were more affordable than some of the french quarter hotel. It has excellent views and great staff.
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  • ChaCha86ChaCha86 member
    First Comment
    Thank you so much for the responses ladies!
    Like you ChrissyBeach, I'll need to do the math and figure out the per person costs for each place I'm interested in and sort it out from there. It seems like the biggest savings with having it in NOLA, is the booze/open bars.
    Back to researching I go!

    Thanks again all :)
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  • ChrissyBeachBrideChrissyBeachBride member
    Third Anniversary 10 Comments
    In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/local-wedding-boards_louisiana-new-orleans_venue-rental-fees?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Local%20Wedding%20BoardsForum:84Discussion:b456eb91-959c-4fb1-a280-2be3eba6e24dPost:8ea5b8ff-c913-4b05-9414-3580432d7ab5">Re: Venue Rental Fees</a>:
    [QUOTE]Thank you so much for the responses ladies! Like you ChrissyBeach, I'll need to do the math and figure out the per person costs for each place I'm interested in and sort it out from there. It seems like the biggest savings with having it in NOLA, is the booze/open bars. Back to researching I go! Thanks again all :)
    Posted by ChaCha86[/QUOTE]

    <div>I have figures for a bunch of places.  Let me know if you want to compare notes =)</div>
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  • lindsaywoodslindsaywoods member
    First Comment
    We are using the Hilton St Charles. They waived the rental fee and we have a food and beverage minimum of $5200 before tax and gratuity. All of the other venues we looked at for rental without catering was $3250-5000 with no back up for inclement weather without another expense of a tent.
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  • MJ4205MJ4205
    10 Comments First Anniversary Name Dropper
    In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/local-wedding-boards_louisiana-new-orleans_venue-rental-fees?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Local%20Wedding%20BoardsForum:84Discussion:b456eb91-959c-4fb1-a280-2be3eba6e24dPost:cc76ed72-a633-41f4-b5d7-a48b49f229ed">Re: Venue Rental Fees</a>:
    [QUOTE]We are using the Hilton St Charles. They waived the rental fee and we have a food and beverage minimum of $5200 before tax and gratuity. All of the other venues we looked at for rental without catering was $3250-5000 with no back up for inclement weather without another expense of a tent.
    Posted by lindsaywoods[/QUOTE]<div>
    </div><div>Hi Lindsay! I just PMed you!

    </div>
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  • kattrav7kattrav7
    First Comment First Anniversary
    HI everyone! 
    I am also Canadian and having some of the same frutrations. I also find the 3-hour reception limits unbelievable since I am used to weddings lasting all night! I have been trying to find places that will let us extend the reception time but it is terribly expensive to do this. Has anyone else had this problem? Do you have any venue suggestions?
    Anything helps!!
    Thanks!
    Kat
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  • ChrissyBeachBrideChrissyBeachBride member
    Third Anniversary 10 Comments
    edited August 2012
    In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/local-wedding-boards_louisiana-new-orleans_venue-rental-fees?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Local Wedding BoardsForum:84Discussion:b456eb91-959c-4fb1-a280-2be3eba6e24dPost:1fe002ef-b50c-4003-b861-27a870318f22">Re: Venue Rental Fees</a>:
    [QUOTE]HI everyone!  I am also Canadian and having some of the same frutrations. I also find the 3-hour reception limits unbelievable since I am used to weddings lasting all night! I have been trying to find places that will let us extend the reception time but it is terribly expensive to do this. Has anyone else had this problem? Do you have any venue suggestions? Anything helps!! Thanks! Kat
    Posted by kattrav7[/QUOTE]

    My reply keeps getting eaten by the Knot but I was trying to say I have found that the same venues that you pay a rental fee to, tend to be the ones that charge more for additional time.  I've found that the hotel ballrooms just charge you for the open bar during the extra time.  Which works out to about $4 per person per hour, or less, if you just have beer or wine.

    I'm actually thinking of nixing my top choice because they want an additional $1000 per additional hour!
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