Philadelphia Business Daily

Wedding venues in Philadelphia and Wilmington area?

I'm planning my wedding and I have a very small budget of 10,000 and a very large family. I need help finding budget friendly venues in Philadelphia are or Wilmington, DE area. I have almost 150 guess and I've been trying to find a ballpark price. I know I could always go and find out the prices from the venues but we are having a two year engagement and want to limit my venue visits since my fiance is at naval boot camp. Also please no rude posts they are unnecessary.

Public Comments

1. You don't have to visit all the venues, but certainly you can contact them and ask for information. A lot of places have websites with contact information. Send them a quick email and ask for some more info. When I was looking for my venues I sent out a lot of emails and most of them sent me an email back with an attached brocehure. It really is best to get the info directly from the venue - prices definitely change over time and there are usually a lot of extra's and addons to think about. With the budget that you have and the large family you might want to look into places like Community Centers, Parks, Halls and other rentals provided by the city. Usually you can find some good prices - the nice part about places like this is that you can usually pick your own caterer...if you pick a place like a country club or hotel you will have to use there food, which can be pricey. Here are a few places that you might want to check into. Good luck! http://www.delawaretheatre.org/rent_the_theatre.php http://www.thefarmhousede.com/about.php http://delawareontheweb.com/businesses/banquet.htm http://www.philadelphiaweddings.com/ http://www.weddings-delval.com/
2. Hi Ashley & Warm Wishes for your upcoming nuptials! I'm sure that you are most excited. Sounds like you have some great recommendations for venues in the previous posting. And to add to that, I have a few budget tips for you that you could apply to any of the venues you choose. First of all, I would highly recommend that you also consider hotels in your area. Hotels have other streams of revenue from which to pay their mortgages, salaries, and overall expenses, so a hotel would have a little more flexibility on pricing. Also, most likely, you could negotiate no meeting room/space rental at the hotel provided that you purchase your food & beverage through them. (Most outside venues will charge you a rental fee to use their properties.) Secondly, consider some non-traditional things. Whenever you approach the hotel, give them the date that you would like to hold your reception, however also give them your budget. If they are not able to work within your budget on your preferred date, ask them what date they COULD offer you options within your budget. They might throw out some non-traditional days like a Thursday evening, Sunday evening or you might get lucky & get a Saturday morning, afternoon or perhaps even a Saturday evening. I am currently in the weddings/events/meetings industry & spent nearly 20 years working in different hotels. I guarantee you that if you approach the Catering Manager with this approach, they will give you options within your budget. Also, be willing to go off their Wedding Catering package pricing. For instance, most every hotel has a "Wedding Reception Package" menu that they offer to interested Brides & Grooms. However, it is not mandatory that you use this menu. Also, ask them for their regular Catering menus. You can choose ala carte items from their Catering menu for your reception. You most likely will NOT get a full plated dinner for your 150 guests, however you could select hors d'eouvres from the menu so that your guests are fed. If you are wanting to have alcohol at your wedding, do a cash bar. In other words, where there is a will, there is a way. Hope this helps! Best of Luck to you & your fiance! Christine