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RECEPTION VENUES IN CLEVELAND/AKRON AREA

MICHELLE0830MICHELLE0830 member
First Comment First Anniversary
in Ohio-Cleveland
Hi all-

I'm looking for a unique venue to host a reception for 200-225 people in December.  Any realistic ideas that are not costly (our budget is VERY limited) and not typical (no budget rental halls, buffet dinners, etc) are greatly appreciated!


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Re: RECEPTION VENUES IN CLEVELAND/AKRON AREA

  • SlymShaydySlymShaydy member
    First Anniversary First Comment
    edited June 2012

    Can you give a little more information?  Is it going to be a plated dinner or just apps, or cake/punch?  What is your per person budget?  What are you including in the budget for the reception location (food, cake, alcohol, etc.)?  200-225 for dinner withough a buffet or budget hall could be pretty difficult.  What are your expectations?

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  • MICHELLE0830MICHELLE0830 member
    First Comment First Anniversary
    It will be a plated dinner with a total wedding budget of $20,000 max.
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  • July2012brideJuly2012bride member
    First Comment
    edited June 2012
    By typical budgeting, 20,000 max for the wedding would put you at about 10,000 for food, drink and venue.

    Honestly, your per person max cost including alcohol and per person venue costs is then going to have to be $44 pp (with about $20 of that going towards venue costs and alcohol).

    You are going to have a really hard time finding places that offer a plated dinner for $24pp and are not the venues you have described above.

    The easiest way to afford more is to cut your guest list.  If you keep your numbers under 175 you will be able to look at many more unique venues in your price range.
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  • cvolk2cvolk2 member
    First Comment
    I'm having mine at Quail Hollow Resort in Painesville (25 mins east of Cleve).  Since it's a hotel it may not be as unique as you want....but it's not like other typical hotels since it's on a golf course (I love it!).  For 200 ppl I am paying approx 10K for food, drink & venue since it's in December.  Cake isn't included in my package but you can build it into yours.  They offer plated, buffet, and family style. 

    Good luck!
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  • JKohioJKohio member
    First Anniversary Combo Breaker First Comment
    Ditto the pp. You may either need to cut your guest list or reevaluate what's most important to you. I can give you a few places to check out (for a guest list of 200-225) that would put you in the $25-35/pp range, but these might not include alcohol: St. Clarence pavilion in N. Olmsted, Carrie Cerino's in N. Royalton (excellent food!), and Skyview Lodge in Brunswick (lodge style hall). Houston Hall in Norton is budget friendly ($20/pp or so plus BYOB) and holds up to 230 if you can incorporate using their pavilion area, but it's well away from Cleveland. I guess that's another thought: places that aren't right inside/near the 'city' will cost less than the popular, better located venues. Basically, unique venues charge more because they CAN and people are willing to pay the extra to be 'different'.

    We had our reception at the Belarusan American Community Center in Strongsville. IIRC, their pricing is now around $35/pp (for buffet, but I think they would do plated for more $$) and it's BYOB which can save you $$. It's a good size to handle 200-225 (we had 175) and has a very pretty and HUGE wooden dance floor, chandeliers, etc. Great food, too. It's a hall, but not a banquet center so they only do one party at a time. It's a standalone building.

    The more unique spots around town are going to cost you $50/pp and up (plus alcohol). The 100th Bomb Group near the airport (awesome view!) starts at that price, for example (you have to buy alcohol from them). The West Side Irish American Center, which would also be large enough for 225, runs about $45/pp for plated and is BYOB, just to give you an idea. I forget pricing for the Cleveland Zoo (we considered them until we found out how much it was then quickly took them off the list), but it was up there. Our budget for our total wedding was $15k for 175 people.

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  • July2012brideJuly2012bride member
    First Comment
    Julie said it much more eloquently than I did.  I realized my response came off snarky, so I apologize for that, I just wanted to get the reality across.  I have a list of unique venues that I looked at that do plated, but most are far above your budget in food costs alone OR only hold max of 180-200.

    Julie gave some great suggestions, and I think you need to evaluate what is most important to you, be it the uniqueness of the venue, the plated dinner, or the number of guests.

    What worked best for FI and I was to cut our guest list because I found the uniqueness of the venue and quality of the plated meal were most important (particularly since the extra people were people I wouldn't have been heartbroken if they had responded "no")
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