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Help! on a budget and need venue ideas.

Amandapgh79Amandapgh79
First Comment
in Pennsylvania-Pittsburgh
hello ladies. me and my fiance are paying for the wedding ourselves and i need venue ideas. we are having an october wedding in 2012 and need it to be around the pittsburgh area. we have family in ross township hampton allison park muhall and everywhere inbetween haha. i dont want it to be too far for everyone to get to please help. im doing this all on my own but hopefully i wont get too stressed out and will make it a day i will never forget.

thanks

amanda


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Re: Help! on a budget and need venue ideas.

  • keystoneXOXOkeystoneXOXO member
    Second Anniversary 10 Comments
    edited December 2011
    My one bit of advice (and I realize it's not the best!), would be to start looking seriously ASAP. My fiance and I got engaged two months ago, wanted a Sept or Oct 2012 wedding, and nearly everyone I talked to was already booked -- and this was over a month ago! We pushed ours back to May 2013 just to get the venue we wanted, at a decent price. Apparently, fall weddings in Pittsburgh are quite the premium.

    Also, make a serious guest list! My FI is already b*tching that we have to cut people he wants to invite, because our initial estimate was a little low and we booked a place that only holds 150 max. 

    Unfortunately I don't have much research of places north of the city, as we're in the South Hills and have been looking down here.
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  • FutureMrsKupkoFutureMrsKupko member
    100 Comments
    edited December 2011
    Try Holiday INN Airport. My Fiance and I are paying for our wedding ourselves as well. THe venue there is great, and the price was affordable ( we are spending 6-7000 dollars for 120-150 people), plus it included everything except the DJ essentially. The table chair covers, linen, sit down service dinner, open bar, flower centerpieces(real flowers you get to pick yourself) and cake were all included. Plus they give you a few free rooms for family/friends. If you have any more questions, feel free to PM me :)Smile
    Good luck!
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  • cgyvhucgyvhu member
    Knottie Warrior 1000 Comments Combo Breaker
    edited December 2011
    IF you give us approximate budget/# of guests, people can suggest things.  Keystone is right...October is the most popular month for weddings in the burgh (June is 2nd most popular) so with less than a year to go, it might be hard to find the things you want (but not impossible!)

    Congrats on your engagement!
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  • arf3420arf3420 member
    100 Comments
    edited December 2011

    We're also paying for our wedding ourselves, and it is definitely tough to find an affordable venue in Pittsburgh!!   We managed to find an extremely affordable caterer (Our Little Secret Catering) and searched high and low for a place that would let us use them instead of their "exclusive" (ie expensive) caterers.  We ended up going with the Pittsburgh Opera House.  It's an awesome venue - very modern and fun.

    Our total cost for the venue, food, cake, alcohol, linens, dishes, etc for 180 people is less than $8000.  I definitely recommend using Our Little Secret if you're able to find a venue that lets you choose your caterer.  Or if you go with the Opera House!  We actually just had our tasting with her yesterday, and everything tasted AWESOME.  For only $14 per person (plus tip and tax), we are getting a buffet with a mixed greens salad, strawberry spinach salad, rosemary beef, chicken piccata, lemon seasoned tilapia, zucchini parmesan, parmesan asparagus, creamy risotto with lobster, and roasted red potatoes.  That's amazing, considering other caterers I'd checked with wanted $35-40 per person for half that much food.  I don't know how she stays in business, but she's wonderful!  :-)

    Also, just one other word of advice, I've found along the way that the cost of the venue, food, etc really is only a small chunk of what your wedding will cost you.  I was really surprised to find out what things cost and ended up being way off on a lot of my estimates.  Our venue, food, and alcohol is only about $8k, but once you add in all the extras (DJ, photographer, dress, flowers, ceremony, etc) the cost of the wedding more than doubles!  Just be prepared for sticker shock :-)  Lol. Good luck with your planning!  

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  • Amandapgh79Amandapgh79
    First Comment
    edited December 2011
    thanks ladies for all of your help. i was hoping to spend between 5000 to 8000. i already found my dress and it is bought and paid for yeah. my fiance already got my wedding ring as well. i am also using a good friend to do my pictures and another great friend to do all my music he is already in the business and does weddings etc all the time. so thankfully that will save us mone money. has anyone ever used the sewickley house or hills it has a log cabin type of setting and it looks perfect. oh we also have someone to marry us he is my fiances cousin. do you ladies think save the date magnets are a waste and maybe use that money towards something else

    thanks for all your help

    amanda
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  • erbear84erbear84 member
    500 Comments Third Anniversary
    edited December 2011
    I personally think Save the Date magnets are a waste...I actually usually wind up throwing them away when I get them.  I know, bad me!

    If you're looking in the Sewickley area, try Robin Hill Park in Moon.  It's beautiful there!

    The Holiday Inn Airport is nice, too, mostly because my sister works there!  :)  She's on the catering staff.  If you ever are there for a wedding and see a tall, curly-haired redhead (who is now pregnant!), that's my sister!  

    arf, can I ask you how did you contact the Opera House?  I looked for info on their site about renting their space and found nothing.  I once did a teacher workshop there and it was lovely inside!
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  • arf3420arf3420 member
    100 Comments
    edited December 2011
    erbear, Here is the link:  http://www.pittsburghopera.org/pages/rentals

    It's kind of hidden on the website.  They really don't do a good job of promoting it for events/weddings... they don't even have any good pictures on the website.  But they are very helpful and easy to work with!

    amanda, I wouldn't do magnets, especially if you're on a tight budget.  Check out vistaprint.com.  You can get 100 free postcards printed for free, and they are very nice quality!
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  • throwermelthrowermel member
    First Comment
    edited December 2011
    have u thought about PNC PARK only 2000 bucks
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  • jkaltenbach23jkaltenbach23 member
    First Comment

    Have you looked into the Hampton Banquet Hall?  They are located in Gibsonia and everything is included in the price (including alcohol). 
    www.hamptonbanquethall.com

    Good luck planning!

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  • IhearttoddyIhearttoddy member
    First Comment
    arf! What about parking for the Opera House? That is an awesome idea for a venue and I love that they have a daily rate because we need somewhere for a ceremony and reception as well so that may be just perfect! But I am concerned about my guests having to pay for parking and all.
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