All inclusive or not?? 😊

Our reception is all inclusive. What are you looking for?

I did individual vendors. I had a venue that could technically do things for me but I think it would have cost more

I think finding a venue that is truly all exclusive is rather difficult. My sister-in-law tried to find one and after reaching out to over 100 venues she was unable to find one. For our wedding, we got married at a hotel so guests had the optional to stay there. Most did, but others went home, stayed at a different hotel, or rented an Airbnb. Our venue provided all of the food, tables, chairs, plates, utensils, linens, uplighting, a bridal suite for my girls and I to get ready in, a free room for us to stay in the night of the wedding, and they had a contract with a local bakery where we got our wedding cake. We could have gotten flowers through them, but it was an additional cost and they charged for centerpieces per person. In addition to our wedding, we had our after party at the bar inside the hotel and breakfast with our guests the next day at their restaurant within a hotel. They provided a list of recommended vendors, but you weren't required to use them. If you wanted to use any of their recommended vendors, you had to contact them all on your own. We only used one of the DJs they recommend. Otherwise, I found our photographer, florist/decorator, videographer, hair stylist, makeup artist, and officiant on either The Knot or WeddingWire. We also had my shower and rehearsal dinner at other venues because our wedding venue was way too expensive even with the discount they offered.

Ours was a country club that was semi all inclusive. We hired our own photographer, dj, florist, and HMUA. Otherwise, the food, linens, tables, chairs, etc were all included, as well as an event coordinator. It was so much easier than hiring someone for silverware and tables and all these things.

View Quoted Comment 😊Just wondering if all inclusive will be worth it. I just started planning and it’s seems like having all the vendors is a lot of work. Also, I don’t wNt to stress out with that much load of little things.

View Quoted Comment For us it.

Our original (now post-covid reception) venue includes all food, rentals, and a DOC. We're bringing in flowers, a photographer, and a DJ. For our miniwedding, we had to bring everything in. Even with <10% of the guest list, it was a lot more work. Go with an all/mostly inclusive venue if you find one you like and can afford.

Daughter physically visited 10 venues when she was planning her wedding. Most were fairly inclusive and one was just the venue -- everything else was a separate charge. She did a very detailed spreadsheet where she compared the total costs of all 10 venues (controlling for differences in what each included and what she'd need to pay for separately) so she could do a true "apples to apples" comparison because looking at the stated costs on websites or in written info the venues provided it seemed like the prices were all over the map. When she got done with the spreadsheet, 9 of the 10 only varied within a $1500 range (for a roughly $30,000 wedding). The 10th venue was about $2500 more than the most expensive of the other nine, AND it was the LEAST inclusive.... Once we understood they were all pretty much the same, it made it easy for her to choose the venue she truly liked more than any of the others. We also came to the conclusion that wedding price fixing is a real thing -- at least in south Orange County, CA. Good luck!

View Quoted Comment Thanks 🙏🏼 the spreadsheet idea of comparing venues will help a lot for sure😊

We're planning to use individual vendors because we want more creative freedom than the all inclusive venues offer. Based on price quotes, they are similar or cheaper depending on the vendor.

Our venue includes food, centerpieces, and most linen, we got a deal where chair covers are included as well. They also partner with a local bakery, so our cake will be included as well. The linen part was not so important to me, we would have made due with a venue that didn't offer that as long as tables were nice rustic looking ones and not like folding tables or something. But having food and cake taken care of onsite really helped us make our decision. Photographer and DJ are individual vendors, but they know our venue well so it just worked for us.

I feel like the definitions of "inclusive" are so subjective! When I first looked at venues, I assumed "all-inclusive" meant venue, food, drinks, maybe some extras. But then I learned there are venues that literally require EVERYTHING to be done through them--music, photographer, decor. We didn't look at any like that, and personally I find that unappealing because some level of customization is important to me.

We ended up touring places that I guess are "semi inclusive" (venue, tables, chairs, linens, plates, food, drinks, day of coordinator) and then "sort-of inclusive" (venue, tables, chairs). Nothing we saw was fully inclusive or fully DIY. It was seriously hard to compare them all! We ended up with a sort-of inclusive venue. I feel like we have the potential to end up spending less than at an inclusive place--but we will need to pay attention to make sure we don't book a vendor that turns out to be more expensive!

We're still in the beginning of planning, and I will say one thing we didn't think about is the value of having fewer contracts to deal with. Especially with COVID, having clear postponement policies is key, and fewer vendors means fewer conflicts in case we need to move dates.

I originally wanted to do all inclusive and found a place I liked except the food was just not something we could get on board with. They offered 1 meat & the other meal option was vegetarian, him & I couldn’t agree on a specific meat option so I knew there was no way out guest would be satisfied

There are several all inclusive venues by me, but we didn’t go that route. Our venue does include a coordinator, catering, alcohol, staff for everything, aa room block, setup and tear down, an in house spa for hair/makeup, and lots of little things like a golf cart to being older guests from the hotel building to the ceremony site. The vendors we had to find were our photographer, DJ, florist, and baker. (Most venues around here include a cake, but we’re glad ours doesn’t because we don’t want one.) It really hasn’t been bad! I didn’t want to have to find rentals for things like linens, tables, chairs, etc.

The venue we are looking at and most likely going with is all inclusive, they can do the ceremony there but its not exactly the vibe we were going for. The venue with their all inclusive package includes food, alcohol, photographer, dj, and a cake, for 130 people for under 6,000. I love that they will just give me choices and i can pick from those. As of right now we are looking at having a smaller intimate ceremony at a farm then our larger reception on a different date at the all inclusive venue.