Free venues in Chicago?

Where is your church ceremony taking place? It's hard to suggest any reception venues without knowing what area of Chicago your ceremony is.
Also, you may not get many suggestions on here since not every bride is familiar with the chicagoland area.

How many people? What if you rented a boat on the river and brought in a caterer? Not sure if there are any free venues...

Look for a local VFW or Elks Lodge or something like that. They typically have tables and chairs and a bar and bartenders, so you just need to arrange catering, which you can then order from anywhere within your budget.

An outdoor event is going to require you to rent a tent, tables, chairs, etc. and can get quite pricy unless you're going for a backyard bbq kind of feel and want to use the picnic tables and shelters the parks have as your seating and your rain plan.

Some of the park districts in Will County are really cheap or free. My sister got married at Pilcher Park in Joliet for a modest donation: http://jolietpark.org/bird-haven-greenhouse

I agree with Stephanie. Look at VFWs, et al. especially if you or a loved one are a member. We have gotten ridiculously discounted rentals of the local Moose lodge for events due to membership.

There are plenty of places that will do less than $68/pp. It just depends on the area that you are looking at and your priorities.

There's some vfw halls around that will let you have your event at their hall for a small fee.

Maybe consider cutting the cut list? $68++ sounds economical to me. Or finding a place that will let you bring in BBQ or Italian which tends to be cheaper.

I don't know where exactly you are located, but check out places that include gratuity, tax and extra charges in their base price. I'm in the suburbs and I booked with a venue that gave us the ceremony space for free and we are paying $75 per person which includes tax, gratuities, the cost for an open bar, food, chair covers, centerpieces, linens, uplighting at the head table, a DOC, and probably some other details that I'm forgetting at the moment.

I think that's an EXTREMELY reasonable price in my opinion. My fiance and I are getting married at a downtown Chicago hotel so we know what we're getting into. We negotiated our prices and are getting everything we want for what we have deemed reasonable. The average cost of a wedding in the US is $35k. In Chicago it's $60K. ON AVERAGE. So manage your expectations and be sure to negotiate