daisy7851

i want to have a very pretty wedding although i dont want to break the bank. what are some good ideas to cut costs?my ceremony is being performed at my church for basically nothing.its the reception that gets expensive.here in florida it is about $25-30 a head for a sit down or buffet dinner at all of the country clubs,banquet halls,and hotels. we have 100-120people that HAVE to be at the wedding(we have big families).so at the min of $25 for 100 thats $2500 right there. which wouldnt be that bad except the reception halls have a "food minimum" of $3000 so now i have to add something which will cause me to go way over the $3000. it all so confusing. i cannot have it at someones house. does anyone know of a cheaper way to handle reception costs in jacksonville?i am prepared to pay $5000 if i have to for the reception. i just wanted some ideas for possible eliminating cost because the more i save the more i can spend on the honeymoon!i cant have it at my church because the are strict and dont allow dancing and drinking.

kill_yr_television7258

Doesn't your church have a social hall? How about the local lodges like Moose and Elks? You can get "corporate catering" for a lot less than $30 per person too. They set up chafing dishes of hot foods, buckets of ice, paper plates and cups, then come back later and transfer any leftover food to foil chafing dishes for you to take home and clean up the serving area.

Shay6683

The reception is normally the highest thing when it comes to wedding. Unless you plan to have family members cooking for your reception, that is about the cheapest thing you can do. Another thing to consider is what you are serving. At my reception, instead of having a a full course meal, I had heavy hors d'oeuvres which consisted of meatballs, chicken drummets, green beans, pasta salad, dinner rolls, beverage, fruit and wedding cake. I came out a lot cheaper this way. Good Luck and Congrats.

TaraC3103

Go to Barnes and Noble and get a wedding planning book. It will help you a lot keeping you on track and within your budget. I can already tell you are slightly unrealistic in your costs. This book will help you realize this before you walk in a venue and feel sticker shock. Even at $25 pp this does not include tax, gratuity (generally 15 - 20%) of your cost, or alcohol. So you food minimum has already exceeded $3000. Another thing I would consider is meeting with the venues and really negotiating. Most receptions are 4 hours long. It's ridiculous to have an 8 course meal in 4 hours, not to mention cake and dancing. A lot of times venues will reduce the price or make an exchange for something you like more. For example, at one venue I went to they had a cocktail reception, then sit down appetizer, salad, soup, dinner, then pastries. We got the price down $12 a person. Because we did the photographs before the wedding we didn't need such a long cocktail hour. So I opted to take out the hot snacks for the cocktail hour and only had cheese, crackers, fruit and veggies. We also opted to nix the soup since it was in the summer. And we also nixed the pastries since we had spent a lot on a delicious wedding cake. Negotiate!Also, think of alternatives for centerpieces. And watch all those wedding shows on Oxygen channel. I wanted a really big cake covered neatly in fondant, but it was ridiculous. I saw one of the planners on there request that the first two and very top layer be cake. Everything else in the middle was covered box. It saved me $300.