Gregster
Legacy Member
Not to bump an old thread but my wedding is in 7 days. I can tell you 20k doesn't get you much these days , maybe if you have it at so so venue with 75 people. We are 200 at mine, venue is tier 1 and has been excellent to deal with. Not the cheapest option but they had all the answers and everything was black and white. Some venues we visited were useless at life and didn't want to accommodate what we wanted. Remember it's your day! Well more for the bride The typical halls have preset menus etc and don't deviate from that because they know it works. We decided to pay a bit more per head and get exactly what we wanted at the venue we wanted close to home and central to where most guests will drive. Those usual halls in St Leonard, St Laurent or Laval are craptacular meat markets.
The venue is just a very small part of it and IMO it's the easy part. You just pay them, assign a date and wait. What starts to up up quick are the ancillary costs. I'm not even talking about the dress/suit but more like decor, wedding gift to people etc. We have lots of people coming from Europe and we are covering their "head fee" that's how it's done. Photographer is around 3000-3500$ 2x photographers for 8 hours, engagement shoot which is more like a test run a few months before. So how does it break down who pays what? Well my wife is italian so her parents are covering a good part of the actual event, mom bought the dresses etc. My dad paid for my suit and anything to do with my side of things (best men gifts etc). The rest we are paying for, photographer, decor, DJ, parking at the venue, whatever else including a portion of the venue fee. Im sure I am forgetting things but its been a year of planning, phone calls and meetings.
40-60k is pretty much the norm. We are at the high end of that number. Cancelling before 30 days for us is 10% of total estimated cost, Within 30 is 25%. Directly to my Amex card.. That number isn't even including the honeymoon. Her parents paid for the Cruise and that portion.
The venue is just a very small part of it and IMO it's the easy part. You just pay them, assign a date and wait. What starts to up up quick are the ancillary costs. I'm not even talking about the dress/suit but more like decor, wedding gift to people etc. We have lots of people coming from Europe and we are covering their "head fee" that's how it's done. Photographer is around 3000-3500$ 2x photographers for 8 hours, engagement shoot which is more like a test run a few months before. So how does it break down who pays what? Well my wife is italian so her parents are covering a good part of the actual event, mom bought the dresses etc. My dad paid for my suit and anything to do with my side of things (best men gifts etc). The rest we are paying for, photographer, decor, DJ, parking at the venue, whatever else including a portion of the venue fee. Im sure I am forgetting things but its been a year of planning, phone calls and meetings.
40-60k is pretty much the norm. We are at the high end of that number. Cancelling before 30 days for us is 10% of total estimated cost, Within 30 is 25%. Directly to my Amex card.. That number isn't even including the honeymoon. Her parents paid for the Cruise and that portion.
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