$9,000 for a venue too much?

We spent $4000 on our venue...normally it's $6000 but we booked within 5 months of our wedding, so they gave us a discount. We didn't get full service bridal planning...but we got all our rentals, which included things like chairs, tables, linens, plates, glasses, etc...we also didn't get the venue until 2pm and had it until 11pm.

Does this venue not include any other types of rentals?

Honestly when I think "low budget" wedding I don't think spending $9500 on the venue. However, what is your guest count? Overall budget? Have you considered a cost per person? Do those 20 tables include place settings and linens? It's stunning for sure. Just a few things to consider.

If it fits your budget, it's not too much. If it's over your budget, it's too much.

You can always try to negotiate. But if it's more than you want to spend, it doesn't matter whether it's a good value or not. Move on.

Another thing is your overall budget and how you're hosting guests. The biggest bulk of any budget is food and drink for guests. It would be weird if you were having low-budget food/drink, like only appetizers and a cash bar, but you spent nearly $10k on the venue.

Do you have an overall budget and a guest list yet? I would start there.....

10,000 is how we paid everything included

Man I hate to hear the truth sometimes... They have 3 different sites. They do offer less expensive ones, but of course I want the most expensive.

I'm just trying to decide if its worth it. Cause if i find something cheaper, then i get to spend the money i saved on other things..

I'm conflicted.

You need to decide what is most important to you Sam. Maybe try writing down in order what is the most important thing you have to have at your wedding...also have your fiance do the same thing (separate from you) to see what they would like as well. Just a way to figure out what is most important on your big day.

It all depends on your budget. But I would say you need probably a $20,000 budget for that to be a reasonable price since it sounds like it doesn't include the big cost of catering.

I completley agree with Cydney on this one. It was a great reality check for us putting it in order of what was most important to us and that is where the bulk of our money went.

Do they provide any catering or linens or decorations for the tables and chairs? $9,000 for just the event space and prep rooms, tables/chairs, and Day of Coordinator seems a bit pricey to me.

You can find other places for that much, or less, that will include more in the package that you're paying for. My venue doesn't provide linens or decorations or catering, so I'm finding out how quickly those things add up on top of venue price, when the venue is ultimately just renting space.

Whether or not it's "too much" really does depend on your budget, and what you're idea of a "low budget" wedding is.

I guess it depends on what you mean by "low budget wedding" I think you can definitely find something a good bit cheaper. Just think about what is typically related to the venue that ISN'T included. For us, the cost of the venue, including chairs, tables, basic linens, etc is $3000.

What is (most of the time) really expensive is the food and beverage. A lot of venues have a "food and beverage minimum" that you must meet, on top of whatever you pay for the space itself.

Our food and beverage minimum is $5000. Just think if this venue has something similar as far as pricing goes. That's $14,000 already.

Trust me, the costs add up reeaaaally quickly when planning a wedding, as I'm sure all these women will agree.

You still have plenty of time, so if I were you I would keep looking.

Just some food for thought

Like kris said -- if you can afford it -- it is not too much... if you cannot afford it -- well....

i think you need to be sure you get estimates for all of the other important components of the wedding to see if this is doable for you.

one thing i can assure you is that 10 - 20 hours is NOT "full service" planning... and remember the planner that comes with a venue - works for the VENUE, not for you. you will still have to hire your own planner - trust me.

if you have a really solid list of estimates for the other things (floral / dj / photog / F&B etc etc etc) and you can do $9500 for venue only and still have breathing room then do it. i would also be sure you are going to utilize all that space and venue - do you know what i mean?

Not to much at all.. How many guest??

You all are giving me great advice!

And I'm seeing that my dream venue probably wont be happening. The catering part we are getting a great deal thanks to a friend.

If Castleton farms wasn't going to work, then my Fiance's aunt's house is just a gorgeous. She has a fabulous horse farm and a tennis court where the reception could go. But even though we would be saving thousands on the venue, other things like TENTS, tables, chairs, linens, etc we would have to pay for ourselves and I've priced a few of those things and they are incredibly expensive everywhere.... So I'm very torn.

But I Thank you all for your wonderful inputs!!

Aslee G, you make good points.

Kadisha: We're thinking around 200, which is one reason why we want to use Castleton farms..

We spent $5500 for our venue and it was an all inclusive package. It came with everything but the photographer, bridal party flowers, alcohol, candles and the normal little things that you would need to get. We love it!

Ashlee makes an excellent point re: the onsite planner. We have an independent DOC. Our venue has a manager and she's very sweet, but she only works on things that are specific to the venue.

Also- you want a neutral person in case you run into trouble with the venue. I was a BM in a wedding on the Queen Mary once. The onsite "planners" COMPLETELY effed up the entire weekend. They double booked our rehearsal with someone else's ceremony, neglected to tell the bride that there was an outdoor punk rock festival next door on the day of her outdoor ondeck ceremony, etc. When all that shxt hit the fan, they disappeared. The person who saved the day was the independent DOC who magically appeared with the floral delivery. Apparently it was part of her florist's package and she forgot about it. That lady whipped out her headset and a clipboard and got the concert promoter on the phone in 15 minutes, after the Queen Mary staff just shrugged and said they couldn't do anything.

9500 doesnt scream LOW BUDGET to me....its beautiful but you gotta think tack on food and everything else your looking at an expensive day!

Omg....that gives me a heart attack...my venue was $800 and that is pretty expensive around here!!!! i couldnt even imagine $9500!!!

but it looks gorg and if you can afford it go for it! but like some of the others have said, food and dj are expensive as well.

what good does it do you to have a beautiful venue with sucky music and sucky food because you couldnt afford to do as much in those areas.

you just have to decide what is more important to you.

good luck!

Our venue for 75-80 people was supposed to have been $8500 including food & cake ... now our # went up to 100 people, so I am not exactly how much will that cost be at this point, but I am sure over $10,000...

What is your overall budget, if you don't mind me asking? It would help determine if its "too much" because what is "too much" is different for everyone.

I know you said that the first thing is the venue. If that's where your top priority is, then that's true, but I just have to say because I've been ranting about this lately, IMO the first thing you do should be your guest list. For us, the most important thing and therefore the highest priority was the PEOPLE, so we did a guest list first and planned everything else around it. You don't want to pick a venue that holds 100 and end up wanting to invite more. Vice versa, you don't want to pick a venue that holds 500 and invite 100 and have it look incredibly silly and empty. Just my two cents to make sure that the venue is the most important thing. Once you pick the first thing, it affects almost every other decision related to the wedding! Fun right?!