Venue Blues

If you have a limited budget check out rec centers/community centers and spend more on decor to make it nice. There are also beautiful condo party rooms that are SUPER cheap and look so nice. check ur area. You could also rent a huge huge cottage and do the ceremony in the backyard that way you can pick any date you want!!

View quoted message Thank you, I have just started looking at banquet halls/event centers and they are much more affordable! I've finally found at least one I am excited about that is within our budget and has the aspects important to us so I am hopeful again

Sorry to hear you missed your venue hunt with the fallback of staying home. Guest list does help to know if a home that does rent out for weddings will be helpful and within budget since they use it for revenue at the same time.

Another way is community center that may have a nice room for all your guests to enjoy their time and less expensive too.

View quoted message Yes! Thankfully we are able to do a weekday wedding without inconveniencing most of our guests. We have even considered doing a brunch reception to cut costs even further but I'm not entirely sold on the idea yet lol

View quoted message I think we may have to go this route - though even the permit for the popular parks in our city are a bit staggering. I haven't looked into an officiant yet, and I'm absolutely terrified to look into photographers ! We had even considered a backyard wedding to save costs but unfortunately don't know anyone with a large enough space - big city life!

View quoted message Yes! We considered waiting until 2021 but...the 2020 year is just so appealing for some reason!! I'm hoping we will find something still available since we are planning to do a weekday wedding - We are fortunate that most of our guests don't work set Monday - Friday schedules so it works for us.

View quoted message Having a separate/outdoor ceremony site can still be very budget friendly.
First, you may still be able to do it all at a restaurant. I know of a restaurant in my city that has an amazing outdoor patio with a garden vibe and they host ceremonies there. You may have something similar near you.

But parks are great for ceremonies and the permits are usually inexpensive. If you are having a really intimate wedding you might even forgo chairs for the ceremony, which will reduce costs even more (dependent on how able to stand your guests are). You can have your guests form a semi circle around you. This is what we did for the handful of guests we had and it was really nice.

I found the best way to keep things inexpensive was by creating it myself (as opposed to packages or things offered as intended for a wedding). If you have your officiant or photographer already, they are frequently a wealth of knowledge regarding possible locations. Intimate wedding ceremonies can happen anywhere!



Good luck!

Are you open to changing your date to a Sunday? We wanted a specific day that fell on a Sunday, and I found that many places had lots of availability on Sundays in general. Sundays can also be cheaper in price.

Oh I can believe it! We did when we were looking for one over here as well. Usually venues book just over a year before your wanted wedding date. For us we booked about a year and 8 months prior to our wedding.

I assume that next year is going to be an even bigger wedding year though because 2020 is a cool year. Just looks nice. Why get married in 2019 or 2021 when 2020 looks cool?? (I got engaged in 2017 so no way could I wait longer than I already am!)

View quoted message We are looking at a couple restaurants, I'm a little hung up on having the ceremony in the same space as the reception, as I had hoped for an outdoor ceremony, though I know opting for a separate ceremony space = extra cost.

Have you considered having your wedding at a restaurant? A lot of restaurants have private dining rooms for events. It can be more cost effective than a hall, decor costs are less, and they are frequently not booked as early as other wedding venues.

View quoted message Thank you! I am trying to be flexible and open to compromise as well, my expectations for even our tiny simple wedding are being challenged a bit in the process.

Finding a venue is the most important and can be the most stressful for sure.

I know talking to my venue, they are already booked for Sept/ Oct of next year, and this was back before the summer. For some reason next year is a big one for weddings!

Don't give up, the right one will come along! You may have to get creative with what venues you look at. Think outside the box!