Help me-find a venue!!!! Overwhelmed :(

View quoted message Thank you so much !


I’ll check them out

View quoted message Thank you so much! Such great suggestions 😊

The americana in niagara falls has something that is under $100/pp on a Friday for that time of year. They do have a minimum person requirement though. We had to have a minimum of 80....maybe you could try there? I dont know how much it would be pp with gratuity and fees though....

I'm assuming you've been mainly looking at ballroom style venues at banquet halls, convention centers, and hotels. Unfortunately, you'll be hard-pressed to find anything under $100pp in these venues. As Genevieve says, it's high season and even more super competitive due to the covid double cohort. Venues won't cut you a break when there's double the number of couples who are willing to fork out the dough for a slot.

One thing to note about traditional venues in your case is not the price per person but rather the minimum spend. 50-75 people is a fairly a small wedding but most venues have a minimum spend of at least $10,000 pre-tax and gratuity. I would say on average for a prime season weekend is $20,000, more if you're located in the downtown core or popular destination areas like Niagara. With your numbers, even if you buy into their regular price of $150 you'll still be short.

I think you'll need to consider alternatives based on your guest size and budget. Here are a few:

1) Host it at a restaurant. Assuming your $100 budget needs to include the tax and tip, you'll find many restaurants in the GTHA as well as Niagara that can provide meals at that cost, which is approx $75pp. That price can get you an appetizer and entree with sides plus some change for a drink or two at most mid-range downtown Toronto restaurants (think Sassafraz in Yorkville, Mercatto, Ricarda's, or the restaurant by Susur Lee from Iron Chef). You can stretch that further by going to the suburbs. Wildfire Steakhouse in Oshawa can get you a soup or salad, appetizer, a 12oz steak + one drink at that price.

2) Use a less-traditional hall like a community centre, Legion, or church hall as Genevieve suggests. The only caveat is, you'll also have to pay for staffing (to prepare, serve your guests, and clean up), alcohol permit (most of these are not licensed premises), and insurance (traditional venues may not require it from you but these ones for sure will).

3) Host a daytime cocktail wedding in a small hotel on a Saturday or Sunday. You can find tons of small hotels like run by Sheraton or Hilton with one or two meeting rooms in Toronto, Niagara, and Hamilton that fits 50 people perfectly for a social-distanced ceremony that can be flipped into a cocktail reception.

Unfortunately the all-inclusive locations usually average $150pp in the summertime. You could get around 100pp if you got married in the wintertime during their off peak seasons. If you’re willing to organize the vendors yourself, you could get a hall for cheap (usually something like a legion, church hall or community centre that has tables and chairs) and find a good caterer. You may also have some luck if you look at the more rural spots in the Golden Horseshoe as well.