(Photo credit: Jason Koenig)
We’re almost halfway through our six-week series on getting married on a budget, and this week we’re tackling a biggie – wedding venues. In fact, it’s so big, and there’s so much information to share that we are devoting this week and next week to cover this important topic.
Your venue can often determine the size, style and feel of your wedding day. Whether it’s a hotel, a barn, or anything in-between, there are ways to cut costs when you begin looking for your perfect wedding venue.
Here are some tips and tricks to saving money for your venue on your wedding day:
Chose an off-peak wedding season
Obviously here in Seattle, we are fairly limited to the seasons if you want that full-sunshine, outdoor wedding. However, if you are willing to take a gamble, or look at having your entire wedding and reception indoors, you will get a lot more bang for your buck. Consider having your wedding from mid-September to mid-April. This is a general range where most venues would consider your wedding to be off-peak. Because you are picking a date that is less popular than the masses, and the venue would rather book that day then lose any potential business, they offer you substantial discounts for booking.
You never know, even if you are looking for that outdoor venue, you could be pleasantly surprised by lucking out and having a beautiful, warm, sunny day in the middle of April. It has happened. 🙂
Pick any day but Saturday!
We are all very well aware that Saturday’s are the most popular days for weddings. So are venues. They significantly mark up the food and beverage minimums along with the room rental fee for Saturday weddings. Picking a nontraditional day such as a Friday or Sunday will save you a significant amount of money for your wedding. Venues tend to drop down their food and beverage minimums by at least 50% when picking an off-peak day. They drop it down even more if you can swing a mid-week wedding. ‘Destination’ wedding in the San Juan Islands anyone? Look at making it a vacation for your friends and family as well by planning a mid-week wedding and having everyone stay in a B&B for the week.
Again, consider what is most popular, and do the opposite. I cannot stress enough how much venues would just rather have the date booked than lose money by not having any event booked.
Consider having a morning wedding
Opting for a morning brunch instead of a formal evening dinner is another great option for keeping money in your pocket for your wedding day. Not only will the venue offer the room at a discounted rate, they will also more than likely not commit you to any food and beverage minimums, as your menu will generally be of lighter fare, therefore you don’t have to provide as much of it. The other great perk for having a morning wedding is you can get onto your honeymoon faster. 🙂 Generally speaking, morning weddings are much more casual, just have a smaller ceremony and reception with light brunch foods and great conversation. Dancing is generally not done. Allowing for a much shorter timeline allows you and your new husband to scoot out early and have the rest of the afternoon and evening together.
Pick a venue that fits your guest count
One of the common mistakes that many brides make is to fall in love with a venue that is way too large for their guest count. Keep your venue scaled to your head count. Paying for a larger venue than what is needed is a huge waste of money. The venue cannot rent out other parts of the building because technically it is just reserved for you. This creates a tremendous amount of wasted space and wasted money for square footage that was not used.
Choose a non-traditional venue
Take a look around your community and see what it may have to offer. Is there a community center or a park that may be able to accommodate the style and guest count of your wedding? Using a non-traditional venue is a great way to save money for your wedding. Look away from the popular hotel or country club weddings, as well as away from the big city. The outskirts offer some amazing venues on beautiful property at MUCH cheaper rates. Here in Washington, there are hundreds of beautiful venues located up north in Arlington, Snohomish, and down south in Des Moines, Sumner and Puyallup. Getting even 15-20 minutes away from the city will save you significantly in the pocket book.
Shop the wedding shows
One of the largest vendors to attend wedding shows are venues. They are hoping to capture your attention with their beautiful decor and amazing views. If you have your sights set on one of these venues that you know will be at the show, do not hesitate to ask for a same-day booking discount. Do play it smart. Attend on the less-popular day (typically a Sunday if the show goes over the weekend) and wait till the end of the show when minimal people are at this booth so they can’t overhear you negotiating. By this point, venues have seen thousands of brides, they’re tired, and looking to have something to show for their time and money spent at the show. Decide between you and your fiancé who is the better negotiator, and go for it! Be kind and respectful saying something like, “I love your venue, and my fiancé and I have been looking at having our wedding here for awhile, but it’s just a bit too far out of our price range.” Then move into something like, “I would be willing to sign a contract today if you could drop the price by X amount of dollars.” Have two or three venues that you are seriously interested in booking with, so if one says no, you won’t be devastated and give in. Instead you can just move onto the next venue. One is guaranteed to say yes.
Next week we will be covering these venue tips:
- Cash Talks!
- The Pro’s and Con’s of using a private home
- Benefits of bringing in your own caterer
- Cut your menu- Full meal vs Heavy Appetizers
- Saving money on your alcohol
- Looking at public parks
I’d love for you to let me know how you cut costs on your wedding venue or if you have any questions that I did not address here, please feel free to message me on my New Creations Wedding Coordination Facebook page.
-Rebecca
About Rebecca
Rebecca Grant is owner of New Creations Wedding Design & Coordination. She has been in the wedding business over seven years now, beginning her career in Honolulu, Hawaii, then moving back home to Seattle and launching her business here in November 2009. She’s now one of Seattle’s premiere wedding planners. Because of her experience in Hawaii, her specialty is working with Asia-Pacific Brides; specifically, Chinese, Japanese, Filipino, Hawaiian and Samoan weddings, however, she also does work a good portion of the time with traditional Western couples.
To catch up see our earlier posts in the series:
Morgan H says
Here is my tip, break all these rules! My venue is a rustic chic barn, booked on a Saturday and very affordable! The best thing you can do for your budget is to keep an open mind and two open eyes! And don’t fall for bridal budget myths, like the one about how heavy apps are cheaper than dinner!
Carrie says
We saved money on our wedding by chosing a grange for our venue. It had a kitchen, bathrooms, large stage and dancing area. They also provided banquet tables and chairs. It cost $1000 (much cheaper than the venues in our area that were up to $2000-$3000) and we were able to rent it for the entire weekend not just 1 day.
Sara B says
My tip – choose a venue that has tables, linens, china and silverwear included. You’ll easily save a small fortune.