$5k-$10k Wedding In La? Can we swing it?

Typically, half your budget is the reception. To get a rough idea of your reception budget, look at what it would cost to take someone to a restaurant in your area, and multiply by the number of guests. So, could you feed each of your guests in your area at a restaurant for about $50-$60, including alcohol, tax, and tip? If so, then you could simply have a restaurant wedding. If not, then you'll need to think of other alternatives--e.g., switching to a cake and punch reception, cutting your guest list, or increasing your budget.

It's doable but it'll be tough. We're almost at $9K with 30-35 guests (7 being kids) at an Airbnb. No DJ and my mom is doing our flowers. We spent about $4K on the venue and we're looking at around $1K for food and alcohol. Mexican and Italian tend to be cheaper for catering if you're open to those and you could do wine and beer rather than hard liquor. You could hire a photographer for a shorter amount of time which will save you thousands too.

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The WeddingWire vendor directory is a helpful tool to search for venues based on location. It’s not possible to filter by price, however, you can filter by venue type (e.g. restaurant), capacity, etc. and find venues which fit what you’re looking for and reach out via their WeddingWire storefront for pricing. Many venues have some pricing information on their storefronts also.

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I also wanted to share some resources with you which will help planning a wedding on a budget. Check out the below WeddingWire articles. I hope you find them helpful!

How to Plan a Wedding on a Budget

Wedding Budget Breakdown 101: How to Divide & Conquer

6 Costs to Eliminate from Your Wedding Budget Right. Now.

Splurge vs. Save: How to Prioritize Your Wedding Budget

10 Ways to Avoid Going Over Budget on Your Wedding

It is possible to do a wedding under 10K in Los Angeles. If you decide to do it at a park or beach then reception at a restaurant route, it's possible. You would have to decide to skimp on a few other things like DJs, Florist, and Photographers.

You would have to do extensive research on the best deals possible. I was lucky that my venue is owned by a House Association so the price of the venue (which holds about 140 comfortably) is about 2.5K and allows outside vendors and reserved for you the whole day. I was also able to find a caterer who prices their menu base price at about 16 pp (including linen, napkins, dishware). That base price is WITHOUT the appetizers, beverages, (which you can add for about 0.99 pp - 4.00 pp).

If you have friends who can gift you DJs (or have an IPod/iTUNES playlist going all night), Photography, or someone who can MC. Pull your friends who are not in your bridal party to help out and you might be able to swing it under 10K.

If you would like to know where I am having my wedding and such, shoot me a private message and I'll be happy to share. Good Luck!

I’m in OC, but if you’re willing to travel a bit, consider these:
Look into Five Crowns restaurant in Corona Del Mar. It’s a cute place with a garden. They apparently don’t have event fees, but instead charge for the food.
https://www.lawrysonline.com/five-crowns/private-events

Santa Ana has a similar type of deal in Country Garden Caterers’ facility. It’s a rustic building venue that charges $35.95 per person for their weddings with at least 100 people (package includes more than just food), and you can add a $395 ceremony fee.
http://countrygardencaterers.com/ourfacility/

Another place you may be able to swing with the right combination of vendors is The French Estate in Orange. The rental fee isn’t awful and it comes with quite a bit, such as a guest shuttle to and from offsite parking, and the preferred vendor list shows which vendors have special pricing for French Estate brides. For instance, they have a catering deal for a complete buffet dinner and cake at $34 per person and a $1300 photographer deal. However, they do allow outside vendors. One thing about this venue is that events must end at 9pm due to the historic nature of the house and the fact that it is located in a neighborhood.
https://www.thefrenchestate.com/weddings/

I’d also look into college campuses for venues. CSULB has a Japanese garden that can be rented for weddings, and CSUF’s arboretum is commonly used for weddings as well. One downside is that these venues require you to use certain vendors or select vendors off a pre-approved list. Another is that they may have earlier event ending times, like The French Estate.
https://www.csulb.edu/sites/default/files/groups/japanese-garden/2019weddingpackage.pdf
https://fullertonarboretum.org/pdf/FAeventpacket2018.pdf

Finally, if you are open to a cheap “blank slate” venue, look into the Newland Barn in Huntington Beach.
https://www.huntingtonbeachca.gov/residents/parks_facilities/rentals/newland_barn.cfm

Beyond that, I’d recommend looking into community centers, women’s clubs, event halls; they tend to be affordable, but you’d have to put in effort to decorate them.

Good luck!

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Just chiming in here about Country Gardens. They're my caterer for my wedding next year (at a different location) and the food is really good. Diana is my catering contact there and she's amazing at making sure you have everything you want. If you're interested, they do have a free Open House in October that you can RSVP for so you can sample their food, see the Santa Ana ceremony/reception space, and meet other vendors.

I think thats doable, but more work for you and groom. Im doing my wedding in long beach and i was also super determined to spend as little as possible on my wedding, so im skimping on flowers and doing my own centerpieces (no florists, just a wedding coordinator to help set things up), and we created and printed our own save the dates and invitations, and doing a lot of diy. I'm spending a few hundred $ over our budget of $13,000 for guest count of 100 at a golf course.

You could do it for 10k IF you cut some things out. You could do a warehouse type of place with an affordable caterer, dj and if someone else did flowers etc. Look at Peerspace and see if you can find a location that's under 2k for rentals. Mona Lisa Catering has a very affordable package that includes linens and china.