Comments | weddingplans: Reception on a Budget

amiyuy in weddingplans

Reception on a Budget

Aug 09, 2011 12:11

Hello! I just happened across this today and it was great timing as we're getting down to the wire on choosing a wedding location. We've gotten quotes from about 30 locations found through HereComestheGuide.com and WeddingCompass.com already, but only 3 or 4 are even near our price range.

Wedding Date: Nov 5th or 6th, 2011 (got engaged July 18th ( Read more... )

reception: daytime, caterers, california, reception: venue, ceremony: venue

Comments 18

dostehseh August 9 2011, 19:21:14 UTC

I tried to stay in a budget, too. I had a morning wedding with a brunch reception. Breakfasty foods are my favorite, and it was a surprisingly big hit. We had scrambled eggs, bacon and sausage, corned beef hash, home fries, pancakes, French toast, seafood chowder, muffins, juice and coffee. It was half the price of dinner.

amiyuy August 9 2011, 20:58:23 UTC

Yum! A full morning event is a bit too early for us, but lunch/brunch is definitely something we'd like to do for those reasons, not to mention we'll get a lot more time to hang out with our out-of-town guests afterwards! :D

miraje August 9 2011, 19:27:14 UTC

I can't help you with #1 or #2 since I'm not from the area, but my area has a website for their bi-annual bridal expo that lists many of the often-used vendors for food, venues, etc. That was a great help for me initially because I could browse the vendors' pages and see about what they were charging. I would imagine that there has to be a website like that somewhere for you since you're in southern california ( ... )

amiyuy August 10 2011, 22:55:41 UTC

Thanks for the estimates! And I'll look for a website like that. :)

plainsalt August 9 2011, 19:42:02 UTC

If you choose a location in which nothing is provided it is way more work, but not necessarily that much more expensive since you can choose your caterer ( ... )

amiyuy August 10 2011, 22:57:53 UTC

Thanks!

Are you guys setting up, breaking down and cleaning up yourselves?

plainsalt August 10 2011, 23:22:39 UTC

No. The caterer and his staff will be doing 90% of it, with the rest falling the the venue's janitorial staff. The florist will be doing only the flowers, but she will be setting everything up herself. We have hired a friend of a friend to be a day-of coordinator. She will have the phone numbers of all the companies involved and the cell numbers of our contacts with them as well as a timeline for the day so she can supervise and organize various vendors.

sillyd August 9 2011, 20:14:28 UTC

I know this place is a bit more than you wanted to spend but the price includes alot of stuff. We had our reception there in Dec 2008. It is wonderful.

http://www.wedstar.com/WestminsterManor/index.html

amiyuy August 9 2011, 21:05:00 UTC

Still always worth checking out. Thank you for sharing!

chickenboo42 August 9 2011, 20:49:26 UTC

So when we were looking for venues in the OC, we came REALLY close to going with having our ceremony and reception at the Woman's Club of Orange. This was a couple of years ago, but I remember it being a fairly cheap facility to rent, and they allow you to bring in your own catering. If you can find options for catering (there's tons of corporate caterers that would probably fit your budget (My company uses Country Garden Caterers pretty often?), you might be able to make it work?

As far as other money savers, you can always use bouquets bought at Costco or Sam's Club and arrange your own the day before. I wouldn't recommend trying somewhere like 50Flowers.com. I tried them for my brother's wedding, and it turned into a disaster.

I've also heard that the Springfield Banquet Center in Fullerton is very affordable. I've been there for a wedding before, and I thought it was a great option.

Hopefully that helps somewhat :)

amiyuy August 9 2011, 21:03:20 UTC

Thank you so much for the links and information! I will be checking those places out for sure.

Funnily enough I just emailed Country Garden Caterers for a specific quote last night, so it's awesome that you mentioned them. :) I'll investigate other corporate caterer's too, like we have Panera Bread on our list, but that doesn't come with staff, linens or anything obviously.

Flowers from Costco/Sam's Club is a GREAT idea! Never would have occurred to me, but that's perfect for us!

chickenboo42 August 14 2011, 01:17:45 UTC

You're totally welcome! Hopefully some of my rec's work out for you! Keep us updated, for sure!

Holler if you need a photographer or DJ too. I've got some good ones if you're still needing them and they're relatively cheap for the area :)

(ALSO--Hyperbole ♥!!!)