All inclusive venue vs not?

I'd go all inclusive. It's far easier in the short term and the long term. You won't need to absorb the expense of a coordinator, something you'll probably need if your education is going to make it difficult for you to do all of the research, pricing, negotiating, on...well, everything. With all inclusive, the event manager or the coordinator assigned to your wedding will keep things on track.

I know the bring your own alcohol factor is tempting and it would probably save you money in that one particular area (which, admittedly, is a big area), but most venues allow you to customize a bar package that works for you and your budget...a few wine selections, beer, and perhaps a vodka based signature cocktail (vodka is one of the most popular liquors and can mixed in so many ways) should be enough to keep everyone happy.

Look into all inclusive packages is my suggestion I was pretty set on having an outdoor wedding in a country club or something but I really don't want to spend all that money for 1 day when I know we will make it beautiful where ever we have it.

FH found a few places but ended up going with an all inclusive TONS of delicious food and it also includes all floral arrangements and bouquets, dj, open bar for 5 hrs, ceremony, limo, photography, light show and more...

I don't know what your budget is but we have about 100 guests in NY on a Saturday Evening in Aug and with tax and gratuities included it's about 12k and the place is still beautiful but I feel completely stress free bc every thing is taken care of all we have to do is find pictures of what we want and come up with the money.

So I'd do some research on places like that! It's your wedding and you day but where ever you have it it will be beautiful and you will be surrounded by loved ones and have a wonderful day!

If you find a good rental company they can deliver. If you have a day of coordinator may be able to set up tables for you.

Thank you so much everyone! All very helpful.

You can usually get tables, chairs, lines, napkins, dishes from the same place if it's a big rental company.

I'm doing all inclusive but my venue does have table & chairs. Hired someone to do the linen, dishes, & set out decorations. It was more in my budget.

We chose a venue that provides the tables and chairs as well as DOC. Our caterer will take care of dishes and glasses as well as our linens. Renting everything can add up really quickly, and if the cater wasn't providing so much I don't think we could have fit everything in with our budget.

Our venue comes with tables, chairs, linens, and a doc. We found an event planning company to do a lot of the rest (catering, cake, DJ, floral). Having only a few people to communicate with is awesome.

Do all caters usually provide dishes and glassware?

I know I'm going against the grain here, but I'm personally a fan of a venue that allows you to bring in everything you want.

The venue I'm getting ready to book includes tables and chairs, but other than that I'm allowed to bring in whatever caterer, dj, etc. that I want. I'm finding that it's cheaper for me to weigh my options and book things separate.

HOWEVER, if I had not chosen a longer engagement.. I would have gone the all inclusive route because it can take a while to meet different vendors and prioritize.

We are doing an all inclusive-isn restaurant. So everything is included minus linens if required (they have wood tables), cake, floral etc.

Basically I don't have to deal with rentals, tables, chairs, glassware and decor. And it comes with a coordinator.

My venue is semi all inclusive, I have to get vendors for cake, DJ and linens but they take care of tables, chairs, ( for 2 areas, for ceremony and reception) tables, silverware, glasses, bartenders, alcohol, and DOC. Plus they do the tear down at the end of the night. That's a big deal if you do not want to be tearing down your venue after your reception is over!

OP, I think very few catering companies provide silverware and dishes, most likely you will have to rent this separately along with linens and napkins. If I were you I'd look at the inclusive one or at least semi inclusive venues.

Hi Melissa, and welcome to WW!

I have a relatively short engagement (9 months) and was originally looking to rent a hall and customize everything myself. Then I woke up one day and realized that probably wouldn't be best for us. We ultimately went with an all-inclusive venue; they provide just about everything, including the florist, baker, and DJ. I had to research an officiant and photographer on my own, and meet with the individual vendors offered in my package. It really relieved a lot of stress and freed up a lot of my time for the rest of wedding planning.

Just my two cents. :-)

I sat down for a day created an excel spreadsheet and priced out both options. It was really helpful to write down and price out all the things you need for non-inclusive venues, from the big to the small (i.e., flatware, water pitchers, wait staff). For me, I found an all inclusive venue that was significantly cheaper as compared to doing everything myself. The non-inclusive venues are also more of a headache as there are so many things to coordinate. If you do go down the non-inclusive venue it is also important to find out what options they have for storing and heating food; that was a big issue I came across when searching for non-inclusive venues. Also caterers, from my experience, do not provide flatware. If you are interested in the spreadsheet I created to priceout non-inclusive venues just let me know.

Thanks so much for everyone's input. @beachdreams, I would love to see that spreadsheet!

All inclusive is less stress, and probably less money in long run. No worries on who will set up and many cases take down. Try pricing out chair and table rentals, then add linens etc. My reception at all inclusive was a breeze.

Ours includes nothing. Finding a bar tender has been super stressful. At this point I almost wish we went with an inclusive venue, it would have probably been a little cheaper and a lot less work. However it really wouldn't have been within the theme. It all works out in the end though.

I would just try to price out a few of the bigger items and see how it will play out. How much will the chairs, tables, etc cost? How will all of that once you add it up compare to the inclusive one? Also be sure to consider the cost of buying alcohol from the inclusive venue rather than at the other place being able to shop around.

Our venue supplied tables, chairs, and linens which I will admit was very handy. On the other side we were able to bring in our own drinks and I know we saved a ton by doing so.

If it ends up pretty close then I would just go with wherever you prefer but if you like both places well enough and there's a decent difference then I would go with the cheaper place.

We decided to go with an all inclusive venue. We are having a DW and wanted the least amount of stress possible. It saved us A LOT of money. It includes everything from the cake, food, dj, photographer, etc. There was a blip with the photographer but I'll figure it out. A friend of mine had her reception at a brewery. She had to rent everything and set everything up. It was HORRIBLE and I would hate to have to do all the work she did the day before my wedding.

Melissa, there doesn't seem to be a messaging option but this is what I used to as a reference when creating my spreadsheet.

http://www.eventurespartyrentals.com/downloads/wedding_checklist_7-08.pdf ETA: I then just searched for party rental places in my area, many of which had websites with price listings.