Affordable, elegant, unique NY/PA venue possible for $10K catering/site budget?

Thanks for your response Samantha. The reason for the broad range in location is because my family is from Philadelphia and my fiance's is from Rochester, NY. We are trying to more or less find something in the middle, or otherwise, something outside NYC (where we both live together now). That's the reason for including Hudson Valley & LIC into the mix.

I was hoping that our openness in location would provide more options. And in any case I'm nervous that people won't want to come if the venue is not special.

Ugh...so much stress at this early stage in the planning! I hope it gets easier once the venue/date is chosen.

I'm in Rochester! Do you have a place where you are looking for? Type of a place in mind?

The Riverside Raddison is my favorite location! it's right down town on the river the ballrooms are gorgeous!

Outside of Rochester is the Genesee County Museum love it!! It's worth the trip!

https://www.gcv.org/

Bellhurst in Geneva is an actual castle but they usually book uber fast but it's amazing!

www.belhurst.com

Also the Glen Iris in Letchworth State Park, it speaks for its self beautiful amazing view it's outside of Rochester but the park is beautiful!

Casa Larga is a wine vineyard I have attended a couple weddings here it's very nice!

I can name more, this is a WIDE range of idea's not sure what you are looking for in a venue.

When you look at places, don't forget that every place is going to be plus grats and plus tax. which means you need to start at about 80 bucks. With all due respect, it's not a generous budget; not un-doable, but not unlimited either.

I'd look at Perona Farms first, in Andoverl; David's Country Inn, in Hackettstown, and the Olde Mill Inn in Basking Ridge. The Woocliff Inn, in Woodcliff Lake could work, as could The Tides in North Haledon. Along the Hudson River, Jersey side; the Charthouse in Weehawken, Riverside, in North Bergen might fit.

I can't think of single place along the Hudson Valley that will fit that bill.

Further west, possibly the Stockton Inn, in Stockton, which is lovely, or the Riverview, up in Pike County (sorry, I don't know the town, but it's cute and right on the river...)

Up in NY state, try the Villa Borghese in Wappingers' Falls.

I'm from Lehigh Valley, PA. We found a few venues at $100 or less per person -- Loft at Sweet Water, Green Pound Country Club, and Bank St. Annex. You can also look at places where you rent the venue but can bring in your own caterer, like barns, parks, some historic places, wineries, etc. You might be able to save some there! Good luck!!

How many people are you expecting? I'm getting married at Bear Mountain in the Hudson Valley, and with about 70 guests its just under $12K for the items you mention. Part of that is the reception site rental ($1500 for merry-go-round pavillion) and rentals ($18 pp), neither of which are charged if you choose their overlook lodge instead of the merry go round. Overlook lodge reception space is pretty standard, but they do have huge windows overlooking beautiful Hessian Lake, which give it something special. The ceremony space at overlook though is incredible-- an outdoor patio on the mountain overlooking the lake. Prices are also lower for Friday and Sunday weddings. They post their pricing on their website, so if you want to have a look its: www.visitbearmountain.com

My advice would be to avoid Long Island-- we looked into a few venues out there, and they were ridiculously expensive. On top of that, getting to LI from anywhere other than NYC or LI is not very convenient, and the travel

Time can really add up.

Bear Mountain is amazing; we've officiated at all three of the venues there; Overlook (which has a gorgeous patio with a view "upstream"), the Merry Go Round, quirky and personal, and the Bear Mountain Inn, just this weekend. I didn't mention them because I wasn't sure they'd be in the price range, but our experience there has been really wonderful. The settings are all very different, but very natural, and all of my officiants love them.

LI would not be my choice. The traffic can be insane.

Thank you so much everyone for these great suggestions! I will look into all of them. @Barbara - we ideally would want about 100 people, but if that's not possible due to budget constraints then we may try to cut it down to 80.

@Irishlove - I've always dreamed of something in/near a garden, at a mansion or other historical location, or something else picturesque. Traditional ballrooms and banquet halls are less of my thing. But I know I just may have to come to terms with the fact that I just don't have the budget for the kind of places I am envisioning. (although hopefully one of these suggestions will come close!)

Also, I'm thinking that Saturdays are my only option (unless I book on Labor Day weekend or another 3-day weekend) because nearly everyone will be coming from out of town?? Anyone else have these concerns?

You should check out www.partyspace.com they have a bunch of venues on there, although they're closer to the Philly area than NY. It has a ton of nice features, for example it lets you check out the calendars of each individual location and then you can follow them to see when your date is taken or if it becomes available.

We are getting married at Tyler Arboretum in Media. Its outside of Philly but might be worth checking out if you're looking for a non-traditional venue.

Best of luck!

Blue mountain ski Area is that price see my s'mores post about everything included. The room is beautiful !

Blue mountain ski Area is that price see my s'mores post about everything included. The room is beautiful !

Since I am now married, I thought it might be helpful for other brides to know the outcome in case anyone is ever faced with a similar venue problem. We had family/friends in NYC; Rochester, NY; and Philadelphia, and thus, we decided to go with Stroudsmoor Country Inn in the Poconos. It was a little bit out of our initial budget, in that rather than $10K for 100ppl, the package we wanted (incl alcohol, taxes, and gratuity) would have come out to around $****. This did, however, include the ceremony fee, wedding cake, and planning/day-of coordination. And we didn't actually end up spending that much as our final count was only around 80ppl in the end. And I have to stress that THEY ARE AMAZING. SIMPLY AMAZING. Gorgeous sites with great Plan B options for rain. Incredible food. BEST COCKTAIL HOUR EVER...the hors d'oeuvres will keep coming and your guests WILL notice. Impeccable service all around. And it can be as all-inclusive as you want with tons of extra services available on site (salon/spa, florals, invitations, bakery, etc)

For the sake of comparison, we visited 8 other venues and here were our thoughts:

- F.E.A.S.T. Caterers at Round Hill in Washingtonville, NY (Gorgeous venue both indoors and out, amazing food, a bit too pricey for us for peak season, out of the way/inconvenient for out of towners...would probably need shuttle service to hotels)

- Fox Hollow in Woodbury, NY (Stunning Indoor venue and lovely convenient hotel for guests; outdoor site slightly noisy from road traffic, but not terrible; HUGE food options/great package; was too far out of our budget)

- Woodbury Country Club in Woodbury, NY (Gorgeous and trendy; the outdoor ceremony and cocktail area feels like a Hollywood VIP party; and if you like the ballroom look, the indoor area is wonderful. It was just out of our budget)

- The Shawnee Inn and Golf Resort in the Poconos (Beautiful hotel and compound; lovely pavilion for outdoor Plan B; lots of food and cake options/nice package; we didn't like the smaller ballroom which was for our size party. The large ballroom is the place to be...it's beautiful, but requires 130ppl minimum.

- Belhurst Castle in Geneva, NY (Impressive castle-like venue on the lake. One of the ballrooms looked a bit dated, but the other one (the blue one?) was lovely. The problem was the Plan B...if it rained, all three events (ceremony, cocktails, reception)would happen in one room with awkward set up/breakdown visible to guests. This was a deal-breaker for us.

- Hotel Bethlehem in Bethlehem, PA (Lovely hotel venue...the place is quite charming. The food was passable...not the best we'd tasted, but certainly not terrible. We just felt the ballroom was a bit dark and we'd perhaps have our work cut out for us with decor to cheer it up a bit. Plus, cocktail hour is in the lobby...not at all private.)

- Warrington Country Club in Warrington, PA (Great venue overall...should be on all budget bride lists for the value. Gorgeous out door ceremony site and both indoor reception sites are lovely. Two issues: the bathroom is shared and with multiple weddings, we were concerned that there'd be quite a bit of intermingling between parties which wasn't our thing. More importantly, for our size wedding, the cocktail hour space occurs in a space that has low ceilings and resembles a rec room...it just wasn't elegant enough. If you have a large party, though, you are fine.

- Dutchess Manor in Beacon, NY (Lovely venue inside and out with an incredible view. This was our 2nd favorite choice. But like FEAST at Roundhill, the location is a bit tricky with hotel options. Would require shuttle service)

I hope this is helpful!