i haven't blogged since monday?! i disgust myself.
but even more disgusting is the fact that i've actually been busy...researching like a hound for venues. i found another resource www.projectwedding.com and scrolled their entire list of reception sites. literally. i think there were 400+ venues. and i couldn't find even ONE that would fit my budget.
a reader suggested Villa del Sol D’oro, because they charge $17/head for catering services. it perked me up because i could have sworn i had seen that venue marked as $$$ out of $$$$$ on the projectwedding site. and, uh, anything even $$ out of $$$$$ seemed to be too expensive. so, not wanting to rely on my shoddy memory, i googled bios and came across popular knottie greengelato, whose pictures i had seen many a times off other sites. her review stated that the site rental cost $4000. wow, right?
so i dug around and found first that the site rental is now $4500. but, more importantly, and i guess not surprisingly, i also found that there are a ton of manual costs involved. like a $25 delivery fee, a per table/chair/napkin fee, required server/security/bartender fees, and greengelato mentioned ICE FEES?!?! ai yai yai.
but doing all that math in my head isn't practical. so i drew up an actual budget scape.
$4500 site fee
12 tables x $8 ea. = $96
120 chairs x $1.60 ea. = $192
12 linen sets x $15 ea. = $180 (p.s. i don't know what 'linen' means. i initially thought it was linen/napkin per person...but at $15, i'm thinking not...)
6 servers @ $125 ea. = $750
2 security @ $80 ea. = $160
1 bartender @ $150 ea. = $150
TOTAL = $6028
+ sales tax = $6525
food stuff
wedding cake package: 120 guests @ $7 ea. = $840
meal: 120 guests @ $20 ea. = $2400
TOTAL = $3240
+ sales tax = $3507
+ gratuity = $4033
so. without alcohol, it would run $10500. and sadly, that is out of my budget realm.
but you know how i'm all about looking at links of links of links? the catering site mentioned a prince erik hall that seemed to offer significantly lower fees.
$1200 site fee INCLUDES tables/linens/chairs/china!
6 servers @ $100 ea. = $600
2 security @ $80 ea. = $160
2 bartenders @ $100 ea. = $200
TOTAL = $2160
+ sales tax = $2338
food stuff
wedding cake package: 120 guests @ $7 ea. = $840
meal: 120 guests @ $20 ea. = $2400
TOTAL = $3240
+ sales tax = $3507
+ gratuity = $4033
so without alcohol, it would cost $6371 which comes out to $53/pp. which isn't too shabby. and i'm glad i did all this mapping out of costs because doing this taught me something...that concentrating on just the cost of food per person vs overall cost per person could be uber misleading.
the bottom line figures are not out of my range (yay!) and especially taking into consideration that i included tax and gratuity in my estimates, this venue is certainly a possibility.
here's a picture. what do you think?
Friday, August 10, 2007
#142: going to the chapel.
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4 comments:
Wow. You researched that pretty quickly, I'm impressed. Have you considered cutting your number of guests?
is it an outdoor event and do they provide tents or will you go without?
by the way... any "packages" venues provide- you can usually bargain down. i only had iced tea, champagne, and cake and that cut it in half. i think my meal was $17?
I find it odd that wedding planning sites/articles talk about booking the ceremony & reception venue without any consideration of the overall cost that will inevitably be associated. The FIRST thing I do is calculate how much the site rental, approximate food & drinks (especially with venues that do not allow for outside vendors), chairs/tables, miscellaneous fees (pretty hefty), tax and (forced) gratuity is. That is going to be your biggest and least maleable cost and should be absolutely be considered before booking a venue.
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