I am located in Somerset, NJ and just moved from NC. I am getting married next summer and would like to know if anyone has any ideas on locations. We will be purchasing a house just before the wedding so that after the honeymoon we can come home to our new home. So I am trying to keep the wedding under $3,000. Any ideas would be appreciated.
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I suggest looking into local firehouses, since they usually have banquet facilities at a bargain price.
Hi,
My son and daughter-in-law made their own wedding announcements. They also saved on flowers...she had a bouquet, but her maids carried a single stemmed rose...looked lovely. For the "banquet"....I don't know if it is a tradition that you really want, but a simple reception with a cake, punch, and a few sandwiches works well.
Thank you both for your input. It means a lot and is appreciated.
I am looking for something more traditional. I will be making the wedding and grooms cake myself so I'm not worried about that.
Most of the things for the wedding will be done by myself. I will be taking on the invitations, programs, favors, and thing like that.
I just have to find a location. I could go and look at some places but I would rather get input from people that have actually used the places.
Aisha
Use public property for your ceremony and have people stand rather than renting chairs and such. Pick a place that has a natually beautiful backdrop and skip out on ceremony side decor. Think parks, bird sanctuaries, lakes, beaches, pools, etc.
A sit down dinner on less than $3k will be VERY hard considering they charge per person for every last thing, usually. Try skipping the sit down and do a variety of filling passes hor 'dourves.
Do a toast with wine instead of champagne.
Borrow everything you can! Put ads out on craigslist for things you can't borrow from people.
Have a local pastry school or high school's food service program make you came for hundreds, maybe thousands less.
Make your own invitations, hand deliver as many as you can to save on postage. I handed mine right to most of my family and friends and saved SO much on postage.
Thank you so much for all of your ideas. I think they will help a lot. THANKS again!
I know a caterer, but not price though. How much are you willing to pay for catering? I am a jewelry designer and would like to help you with this aspect. In terms of favors and invitation, you can visit dollar stores and craft stores as well.
Most catering I will be doing myself. I will defiantly be doing all of the desserts myself including the wedding cake. I guess if I found the right person for the right price I would consider it.
Check out the Rutgers Gardens:(rutgersgardens.rutgers.edu/
I would use this venue for my daughters' wedding but it only holds 150 or so people.
I thank you so much. I am looking into it now. I am looking for a venue that I can cater myself. Just in case I would love to have her number.
I was so excited when I booked my wedding at Perona Farms, but that excitement was short lived.
When signing our contract with Perona we were shown pictures of lobster tail appetizers and gorgeous food displays. My fiance and I were saving for our wedding for a while, and Perona was slightly out of our price range, but we were in love with the large barn as our ceremony space.
We were told that their prices were slightly high due to the high quality of food. We decided to go for it! After signing, we were invited to a Perona Farm brunch, where we told to use the quality of the food at brunch as a good measurement of the quality of food at our wedding.
Two weeks later, we attended the tasting. We were very upset to find that the clams and oysters were very fishy, and the very small shrimp cocktail were displayed in a way similar to a fish market display. We had planned on having the seafood bar at our wedding, so we were quite concerned, but we continued on at the brunch.
In addition, we found the food in many of the hot chaffing dishes was served cold, along with having very little taste at all. When I asked about the cold food, my waitress acted like it wasn't a big deal and told me it was just because the sternos went out, as if that would comfort me.
Our wedding coordinator was nowhere to be found. After 20 minutes of asking for her, a manager came to talk to us. We explained why we were very upset and told him we were thinking we should cancel and focus our little time left in finding a new place for our wedding. I was almost in tears, being so disappointed. He told us to hold off and invited us to a wedding two weeks later (totaling 1 month after signing the contract.) We agreed and I went to hunt for my wedding coordinator. After finding her, she seemed unconcerned at my obvious displeasure with the buffet.
We did attend the 2nd tasting and found the food to be barely acceptable. There was no seafood bar at this tasting to judge and some of the food was still not served hot. I had ordered the steak-medium well and it was served very, very rare. My wedding coordinator, we ran into her while there. After a quick hello from her, she was gone!
My fiance and I reluctantly decided to cancel and just hoped that we would find another place for our chosen date.
We requested a partial refund of our deposit at Perona if and when the date was booked by another couple. As a couple on a wedding budget, we really needed our money back. Since we only booked a month prior, we didn't feel this was a big request.
We received a reply from Perona stating that the contract clearly stated "no refunds."
My fiance and I have saved our money for a while in order to have our wedding, so that setback had hurt us. But mostly, I was so upset by how were were treated. Very unprofessionally. We have moved on and are excited to have our wedding booked at a better venue where we are treated like special clients booking a special event!
My advice; stay away from Perona Farms!
Caterer is GOOD ENOUGH TO EAT (she is in East Brunswick). Chef is Linda. Cell 732-991-3884. Other numbers 732-967-8560 or 732-967-0233. You can phone her and she'll mail you menu.
Terri
How about wedding at a small church and reception at county park? Options include decorating part of the park for your use and cleaning up after to booking an area of park. I have been to several summerset parks, Bayonne Park and such. My cousin had booked a Holiday Inn near Newark airport at reasonable price: he had booked it when it was being built- a year in advance. Booking firehouse, church or start up place will be good also. You may want to google Ragini, Rajbhog etc. These are venues that cater to mostly Indian clientele but are also available to other communities.
Best wishes on your journey
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