An all inclusive wedding vs not so inclusive

We were going to do the all-inclusive but their photographer, DJ and cake person didn't have the best reviews and we wanted to use other vendors. So we decided to go get our own vendors and it was wayyyyy cheaper

We are doing the non-inclusive. They provide the space, tables, chairs, linens, ceiling decorations and lanterns if you want them. We are bringing in everything else, caterer, cake, photographer, dj, alcohol, etc.

It will equal out to be about the same in the long run but I had the chance to pick who I wanted.

We are doing a somewhat all inclusive. We can bring in our own photographer, florist, DJ. They cater and do set up and tear down. Cake included. Lodging onsite. Ceremony and reception same location. A DOC is available day of and we have 2 meetings beforehand (one about 10 months out and one 1 month out) and she is available via phone, text, email anytime during our planning process.

I would go with a place where you can bring in your own cake, florist and photographer. those are the things that i would want to choose, there is not way that i would have gone with a place that i didnt get to choose my photographer.

i am doing a DIY place, the only thing they supply is the building and tables and chairs, i had to bring in caterer, photographer, cake, flowers, rentals (tent / some tables). bartender/ alcohol. etc...

it really depends on how soon you want to get married and how much time you have or are willing to dedicate to the wedding. i gave my self 22 months to plan my wedding so everything has been spread out. i am sure that i could have done it in less time but i am not sure if i would have had the time to do it in under a year.

eta: i also have hired a DOC to organize the vendors and other day of tasks.

I would just make sure linens are included. I got some serious sticker shock with the price of rentals.

We're doing not so inclusive. Our venue provides the chairs and tables, we do everything else. However, we purposely chose a caterer that will also do our alcohol, linens, set-up of tables etc.

Although we love our venue, I wasn't keen on doing everything myself or dealing with tons of different vendors, so we tried to minimize that by choosing a caterer who also does some event planning/organizing.

We are doing all inclusiv but abring DJ and cake and photograper.

I was agant DIY, i dont want to be stressed out about the day. Or the food or the drinks. Etc. yo be surprised how fast that will add up and how much stress.

Our venue only provided tables and chairs for the reception, we had to bring in everything else: linens, caterer, dj, photo, ceremony chairs, china, cake, alcohol, decor, etc. It was a lot extra work and more expensive than some of the all inclusive places we looked at. None of the all inclusive places we looked at included photographer, that would be a deal breaker for me. I was picky about our photographer choice and I wouldn't want to be stuck using the one provided by the venue. I am very happy with our choice of venue, it was beautiful and unique, but if I had two equal choices I would pick the all inclusive.

I agree with @Surfergirl about the photographer. Our venue is what I consider all inclusive in that all set up, tear down, caterer, alcohol, linens etc is included, ceremony and reception on-site, lodging on-site. We're just bringing in cake, photographers, DJ and florist. I'm very happy that our coordinator there is in charge of everything else. I have enough to stress about

We are doing all inclusive. We will have to bring in cake vendor, photographers, florist, and DJ. I rather not have to worry about food, drinks, table lien etc. I also like having one big bill for the most part.

I did the all inclusive for the reception. It could have included open bar and cake,but we chose less booze and bring your own cake. Saved us about $800 that way. They did furnish linens, chairs, plates etc. All nice glass, except sodas were served in plastic cups, did not give a crap about that.

Mind mostly all inclusive. But I can bring in my own cake, florist, and photographer. I can also choose my own officiant if we want but they have one also.

Our venue is mostly-inclusive. We are doing the ceremony there. Then the package includes all food, soft drinks and alcohol. It also includes cake and centerpieces. The cake you can choose from two bakers. Flowers are their provided florist.

We are providing our own DJ, photographer and photo booth. The venue had recommended vendors, but only our photographer was one of their recommendations. We also paid the florist extra to do our bouquets/bouts and the baker to upgrade the design.

Less vendors to coordinate means less work mess I will be less stressed! We definitely went with an all-inclusive But we weren't too focused on the details.

Thanks y'all! We are just trying to figure out what works best for us. The non-inclusive venue does not provide the food, cake, or photographer. It does give us a 2,300 dollar bar tab. The all-inclusive venue has everything but the alcohol. The difference is only about 4K which is not bad..

I think it depends on how hands-on you want to be. Do you want everything in one place/one person to coordinate or do you want the fun/stress of picking out things yourself?

My friend went the more DIY route and it was very beautiful and she saved some money but partially lost her sanity lol. It depends if you have time to put into all that or not. I was ok with paying to have someone else do that (plus their vendors rock) so I went with the more inclusive venue.

That's the thing I'm mostly worried about (loosing my sanity lol!) bc I'll be starting a new job in August AND grad school..so it's like, is the difference in the cost really worth it? I'll be looking into the non inclusive venue today to see how else they can help.

We are going with a completely non inclusive venue. Doesn't even have a parking lot! lol. Im in new orleans, getting married in the french quarter so it goes with out saying. I am having to bring EVERYTHING in, tables, chairs, linens, utensils, decor, coordinator, florist, dj, band, officiant, photographer, videographer, baker, caterer. Literally all we are getting is the venue but compared to all the inclusive places in my area I am saving approx. 3k-4k by going this route. Its just a WHOLE lot of extra work. but thankfully I'm a teacher and have summer break to plan it ALL. I'll be honest Ive been planning for years I'm just finally choosing exact vendors & such. & Im making it more difficult for myself I could choose a caterer that could do rentals & food but they were like 5k for 85 people. Mine is 1500. but i don't want specific bar stock so instead of having my catering company stock the bar we are going to. You know cause I don't already have enough to do =)... Worth it to me & positively OBSESSED with my venue!

@Krystle- I'm also a teacher! I am teaching summer school though which ends next week. So I still have a month and a few weeks to plan everything. We decided to go the non inclusive route. Although it does have the majority of the things. We just need to add the cake, photographer, some alcohol, and food.