$10,000 Budget - Denver Colorado

Is the $10k the budget for the venue, or your entire wedding? Have you checked out the venues here on WW? Maybe if you can include some more details on what type of reception you are wanting and what type of venue you have in mind, some local brides may have some ideas for you.

Also Elizabeth, Welcome to Weddingwire! Please change your avatar from the double rings, you will get more responses. People associate that pic with trolls/spammers. Also - Check out the below link for some great info and FAQs

https://www.weddingwire.com/wedding-forums/welcome-to-the-weddingwire-community-please-read-for-forum-lingo-helpful-faq/b433c40c1a62b96a.html

Thank you so much!! I have not checked out the venues here but I will do so ASAP.

In regard to the detail of our wedding, we are looking to support flowers (for the ceremony, in a church) and the food, venue, alcohol, flowers, band for the reception with 10k. We are more focused on the vows so as long as 180 people are fed in a happy way for 10k, I am the most happy bride.

So any good vendors of venues are EXTREMELY appreciated!!!

Thank you so much for all of your help. It is SO valuable!!!

I had a wedding in Denver this past October- mine was quite small, but I can pass along into to you that I found out, and things that I've heard and learned from others in the area that planned bigger wedding than my own

I just sent you a invite to connect, hope I can help!

btw to see who has sent you a invite, you click on planning tools at the top of the page, then go to couples we know, it will tell you if you've been sent a invite- hope to chat soon!

Look at it this way-- start with what you HAVE to have (officiant, license, two people who want to get married, two witnesses) and start adding in what you want (lots of guests, food, flowers-- whatever) in order of importance to you. When your budget's spent, that's your wedding. And remember-- the couple who spends $500 on a wedding is just as married as the couple who spends $50k.

Kudos for you making the statement, "as long as 180 people are fed in a happy way for 10k, I am the most happy bride." Hosting guests properly is so very important, and we see some brides that forget that.

With a guest list of 180, IMO, food and alcohol will take up a large portion of your budget. I'd suggest looking into parks, public areas, and non traditional venues for your reception. There are some brides on here that have made large weddings work on a budget your size, I'm sure you can get some better feedback from them Good luck and happy planning!

Thank you SO, so much Jamie!!! I greatly appreciate your help and kind words.

Thank you ALL of you!!!

I just sent you a message-

what sort of wedding do you envision? my dream was a old church in the city, and that's exactly what I found but denver is a place of options, so if you start looking for a venue quickly, I bet you could have options that will be great!

btw- you get your messages by looking under planning tools, then mailbox

edit for add on

Elizabeth, I agree with Jamie - you may be surprised about places that you can find cheap. We found a historic barn held in a trust that charges $900 for the whole day - that's in Maryland, but point is that is a really good price for a large venue, but still a lot. My catering for 84, plus alcohol, plus rentals like table and linens and utensils and plates and such (don't forget a mandatory 20% tip and state tax) was $6600 for buffet of grilled chicken fettuccine alfredo and beef tenderloin, green beans, corn, dinner rolls, spinach salad, and coffee/tea/water.

- Skip the favors - you don't need favors.

- You didn't mention your dress, but my big tip - I feel like a broken record - is to buy a Bridesmaid's dress in white or ivory instead of a regular wedding gown... it will look just like one, but they run $99-300 instead of $500+, and alterations are much cheaper. Alfred Angelo is where I got mine, but I'm sure you can find others.

- Many brides here have done grocery store flowers to save money... I'll tell you this, Daisies last forever, and are super cheap. They'll be in season in April already, I'm pretty sure. You can mix in hypernicum berries and chamomile flowers (which looks like mini-daisies), and add greens, and that is a super-cheap and beautiful floral arrangement for a wedding.

- Alcohol - if you plan a daytime wedding, you'll cut down the alcohol you need, but also don't be fooled by the industry's 'recommendations'... Buy BOXED wine (black box is an excellent one) to save tons on wine, and it is in a vaccum sealed box, so you can take home what's left; for beer, just do 2 basic ones. And use an online alcohol calculator to figure how much, and then cut it down by 1/3 to 1/2 depending on if you have a lot of younger friends coming, or it's more older family who'll drink less. You could probably get away with around $400-500 for alcohol this way. You do not have to go open bar, and do not do a cash bar! Buy a reasonable amount, and when it's gone it's gone. Done.

- Invitations - use Vistaprint.com and watch for coupons. You don't need to order anything now, but two or three times per year they run a 40% off invitations sale. Everyone here agrees, upgrade to a premium finish paper - I chose the linen finish - and they'll turn out beautifully. I did a print run of 120 invitations for $38 on sale, and matching envelopes I think ran an extra $10. (Don't forget you need to over-order invitations - don't cut it *too* close - and order a dozen or so extra envelopes, too.) There are other discount print sites, but Vistaprint is a fav of the girls here, and I can vouch that everything they did was gorgeous - but the upgraded paper makes a big diff.

- Veils can be bought on Etsy starting at $35 and the girls here also report very good experiences. I ordered a bridal sash/belt on Etsy, made in China, for $55 and it was even more beautiful and just as well made as the $180 ones from the bridal chain store.

- Shoes - a full length dress really doesn't show your shoes. Go with something inexpensive and comfortable. Payless has great options, or mid-range price is Touch-Ups on Zappos. I got $38 silk beaded bridal flats from Beachcombers Indian Khussa shoes and they're like wearing slippers - but really really pretty ones

One more thing... Please, for the love of God, do not ask 6+ women to be your Bridesmaids! If you want to keep it simple for yourself and your budget, go with 2 or 3. You would typically buy each of your girls a gift of something to wear for the wedding, a bracelet, or their earrings, etc., and even if you just spend $25, with six girls you're at $150, and with your budget, you're going to need every $100 you can get.

Hello! My now-husband and I looked at more than 20 venues in Denver and couldn't find even ONE less than $20k for just the reception! Had friends do Arrowhead and Red Rocks and mentioned, compared to other places, that these places were doable for big wedding receptions.

My cousin had a BEAUTIFUL reception in DoubleTree in Colorado Springs for under $7k, with DJ, flowers, cake, and no booze included. Very elegant and fun.

Public parks like City Park require permits but no reception cost... You just have to rent stuff and hire people.

I recommend hiring a company like Catering by Design if you consider paying for booze. They buy from Argonaut and you only pay cost, no up charge. Unopened booze gets returned and you only pay for what what you drink. They're great to work with too.

I was on a budget too and ended up getting married in Aspen in off-season, if you can believe that. Every place in Aspen was cheaper than every place in Denver we looked at, with 1 exception. Our reception, with booze and splurges, was under $10k for 80 people and we got so many compliments for it all. The result? See for yourself:

https://vimeo.com/131150494

Husband's parents couldn't make the altitude, but Denver was simply out of budget so we did a separate legal, special legal ceremony at the Denver city and county building, which was also amazing and inexpensive.

I agree that looking off-the-beaten path is the best bet on a budget. It's more difficult to find a big reception venue in-city for under 10k. We spent 5 months trying. Smaller crowds and/or outside the city venues gives you so many more options on a budget. Our legal ceremony at Humboldt for dinner/drinks was $2500 for 32 people.

OH! Sorry also - the only dinner venue that was great budget-wise in the city for a big crowd was Kate Mullens. Of all the places we looked at, this restaurant was $20-$50 per person; a fraction of the other places. My friends, the Tooles, got married there almost a year ago with 350+ people and i had the time of my life!

I wish the very best of luck in your search! You can make it happen

We paid about 15k for catering,dj,photog,cake,alcohol,attire,DOC,flowers, and rentals. That didn't include a venue (we had a free one) and it didnt include our honeymoon, videog, or all the trillions of little things. For 80 people. Just to give you an idea. Good luck to you regardless though.

Jamie is making some good points. I ended up having a very small DIY wedding so my head count didn't amount to much costs. if you're looking at a DIY wedding that isn't during a meal time, then a nice inner city for your guest list could probably be well done. but if you want a catered meal, inner city denver is difficult.

my Venue was First Unitarian on 14th and Lafayette. parking could be a challenge for a guest list your size, but they allow for you to bring in pretty much whatever you want, including cake. when you aren't locked in to certain caterers and can bring your own in, that can be a big price reduction as well. they even allow for alcohol to be brought in if you like last I heard.

like I said, my guest list was very small. I was going to bring in food from places to eat at the venue, but when I asked my guests, nobody wanted to do that, everyone wanted to out to eat instead, so we did we just had the cake and drink at the actual venue. my wedding wasn't what most people do, but it worked well for me.

first unitarian was exactly what I wanted, so I just stopped there. but I like Jamie's suggestion of city park - if you can bring in your own people to hire and do things, gives you a lot more freedom and control over things.

like someone mentioned about grocery store flowers- I only needed my bouquet, so my flower costs wasnt much. but denver has so many options for flowers and so many grocery stores with flowers, you can really keep the cost down.

there are king soopers that have floral consultation. I got some of my roses from whole foods on colorado, and I think overall they had the nicest selection of quality flowers, and they are very nice to deal with. you may get a better price per flower somewhere else, but whole foods has great quality. I wanted roses, so I had no trouble with going to a few places a few days ahead and just hand picking what I wanted. I wanted white roses, and I wanted to hand pick them rather than order, since white roses can be so fragile, and vary in color.

here's my bouquet:

Elizabeth, I know you didn't mention photography, but check out www.courtlandphotography.com if you're interested in photographing your day

You've heard it before and you're about to hear it again; cut the guest list or do a non-meal reception. It is virtually impossible, in any market, to feed that many people for your budget. Even a glass of wine in my area costs 8.00.

You are also talking about prime time (in most places) next year. That makes it hard to bargain.....

I forgot to mention, for venues... Libraries often have lovely gardens or 'reading gardens' and will allow weddings. Also, some urban condo developments have gardens or parks they own, and allow residents and sometimes non-residents to rent them for events, which are cheaper than a full venue.

Celia is right though... even though you feel like you *have* to have 180 guests, I bet there is a way to get it down to 150 or even 120... I went with aunts and uncles and first cousins, my parents 2 bffs, and dear friends (based on the totally subjective criteria "Is this the kind of friend I can call at 3am and they would drive to the pharmacy to pick up a prescription and bring it to me before going to work for an important meeting, if i were sick?" , and came up with a list of 120. I cut out my parents business associates, friends I love but who live far away (because to ask them to pay that much to fly in and i talk with them for 5 minutes would suck), and children of my first cousins, as well as my parents cousins. As long as you have a rationale, you can make it work.

Also, a lot of folks forget, this is one reason there is such a thing as a wedding ANNOUNCEMENT. This is sent out to people you couldn't, for whatever reason, invite to the wedding, but want to acknowledge to them they are in your inner circle and you want to share your good news with them. This doesn't obligate them to a gift, but it's a nice way to acknowledge you're thinking of them.

Here's a page that might help-

if I hadn't wanted a old church, I probably would have gone with the washington park boat house

http://www.denvergov.org/parksandrecreation/DenverParksandRecreation/RentalsPermits/EventVenues/WashingtonParkBoathouse/tabid/443664/Default.aspx