Destination wedding in Florida on a budget?

Amber, you're doing it wrong. All wrong.

First, you shouldn't hire friendors and the groom's mom should not be baking the cake, but more importantly, cash bar??? Rude AF.

Sure, you can have a wedding for that price if you want to be a rude host, but not if you want to host properly.

@Amber: Did you verify that your friend performing the wedding is legal in Florida, because I was told that it's not. They have to be properly authorized to solemnize marriage. I wanted my Uncle to perform my wedding, to become ordained, I was told that that is NOT legal in this state. Also super cheap caterer isn't always a good thing.

Reading compression goes a long way. OP said she would like to spend $5k if possible. Everyone said no it's not possible. She hasn't said well too bad I'm only spending $5k. Give her the benefit of the doubt. She is looking for advice we provided it and she has said nothing to suggest she is not listening. If I was a bride serving BBQ and I read your comment I would find it super judgey and rude. If I chose to go to a wedding in Italy that is on me. If the host decides that cake and punch was what they wanted to do that is on them. Maybe next time they have an event I evaluate if I should attend or not. Once again an invitation is not a summons. I rsvp yes expecting to be hosted properly. If that includes BBQ then so be it. I will fill my plate eat drink and be merry. I wouldn't side eye cause I decided to fly in and I wasn't treated to lobster and champagne. OP will have the wedding she can afford to host properly which is a big mantra on WW. If you could afford to do more for your DW than good for you but that doesn't mean it's the norm for DW wedding just because you did it.

Good for you Keisha. I wholeheartedly disagree with every word, but you do you.

@Amber, just because you are not properly hosting your wedding (friendors, cheap food, homemade cake) doesn't mean that other people should do that.

If I flew to Italy for a Punch and Cake reception, i honestly may be a little upset..

You forgot the cash bar, A.L.

Oh, lol, I didn't even see the cash bar.

I live in FL and your budget would be really tight for 50 people BUUUT if you do some research you may be able to find small beachside properties that can be rented and catered (through homeaway or AirBnB) or a nice restaurant. Destin is nice, but also check out Panama

City Beach, St George Island and Seaside. The latter 2 are very cute sleepy beach towns with gorgeous properties. Good luck!

You can search Pinellas County for beach front ceremony venues and then have your reception in a rental hall. Pass a grille will let you have a ceremony in the sand for about $100 and you can rent the Boca Ciega ballroom from St Pete Rec for $2300, and they let you bring in your own catering and alcohol. I'm not using them because I didn't want a beach wedding, but I saw one there and it was lovely. If you search the St Pete Rec website you can find others, or try Clearwater Beach/Madeira Beach/Sarasota for more beach front rec centers. I can't help with alcohol cost calculating because my guest list is 130 with all being ver heavy drinkers, but you could do beer and wine for cheap. My catering for that many is 4K but I'm having 3 apps, 2 meats, 3 sides, salad, and DOC. I'm sure you could get it down to less than 3K. Pinellas County is sorta popular because if Clearwater but to me it's a real hidden gem on the gulf coast

Here's the St Pete website:

http://www.spbrec.com/facility-rentals/communitycenter/

I don't think that Florida is going to be any cheaper than a local wedding for you. I live in South Florida and the pricing is on the mid to higher end nationally I think. As PPs have said you will get cheaper prices for destination if you go international like Mexico or Bahamas etc. If you simply want Florida as a location I think it's a great idea, but will be challenging to find a cheaper place versus national prices.

ETA: If you decide to get married in South Florida I'm happy to share vendors I've found!

@Bride2Be yes, it's definitely not cheap down here.

@HisBeauty yeah not at all!!! Great place, but not cheap!

@Bride2Be, I'm in West Palm, and on the hunt for a venue! I didn't realize the huge cost difference between Monday-Thursday, vs Friday/Saturday for some venues.

@HisBeauty I'm getting married in West Palm also!! Check out National Croquet Center! That's where we are doing it and the prices were less than a lot of other places. It's still not "cheap" but less than some of the other places like the Addison etc.

ETA: Its also a beautiful venue and I don't understand why there aren't more reviews on WW on them. The coordinator is named Scott and is super laid back and I really like him. They also do offsite catering so they know what they are doing!!

I know you don't have your date set yet since you don't even have a venue but since you have it currently listed as July 2018 I just want to point out that outside Florida in July is miserable. So my first tip. Don't do outside, Florida after about mid April or before mid November. Even November-April can be questionable sometimes. Next, Jacksonville as some pretty locations. There's a hotel called Casa Marina and their lobby leads straight to the beach and it's very pretty. Idk how much it costs but I don't find it likely that $5K would cover everything. I think $10K is more reasonable for 50 people. $5k for maybe 15 people but even then some stuff (like photography) are set costs that probably won't change based on your guest list size. That's what makes $5k pretty difficult for any size guest list. And food and drink is typically 50-60% of budget so that's only around $2500-3k for food and open bar. When you factor in taxes and tip, that may cover 30 people but everything else in your budget would have to be really cheap. $2K-2500 leftover after food would be difficult to cover dress, groom attire, photographer, cake, decor, officiant, etc.

Hi Jessica,

From experience it will be difficult to keep it under 5k especially if the dreamy eyes and wants get in the way. I don't understand why people are recommending a resort package wedding? They're expensive. Can people not go to a beach location for a small recreation fee and have a wedding in FL? Our ceremony in the Colorado mountains is the most affordable part of the day. For less than $250 my ceremony is complete! No need to decorate as we are surrounded by 14'ers and a beautiful reservoir. It was my dress, photographer, restaurant with open bar, and florist that topped me out. Thank goodness my FH's parents have offered to cover restaurant and florist as that has allowed me to expand my wedding planning beyond where I started or ever dreamed I could do. With that said about 7k is coming personally out of my pocket. If 5k is your budget stay flexible and open minded with everything and remember this is your and your FH's wedding. A lot of the crap I've received or seen given to other posters about what should or should not be done on this site isn't even close to the response I've received from my family and friends. Btw, my decline rate was less than 10% for a DW so many people on here say you have to give 10000% more of an experience to your guests because it's a DW, I respectfully disagree

I'm getting married in Destin 2 weeks from today. Our all in budget ended up being $10,000. We are getting married at Regatta Bay Golf and Yacht Club since I don't like sand. It overlooks a beautiful lake and the food is amazing. We have around 30 guests.

We are doing a 50 guest wedding in New Orleans in November 2018. It's right at $5500 for our venue with all inclusive package (food, booze, wedding cake, some extras). So we will spend another $5k, conservatively, on our attire, travel/ hotel, photog, DJ, officiant, and minimal decor.

One thing we are probably doing is staying in a "nice" hotel where we have a block booked, but we will probably move to a less expensive place for the rest of the trip. ETA: If my family and friends are willing to dress up, travel to NOLA, pay for a room, and likely give me a gift, they will not open their pockets once they hit my venue.

I used to live in Brevard county. I attended university in Melbourne. Several of my friends got married there on tight budgets. Melbourne Beach has a pavilion you can rent and bring in catering. You have to be careful about end times certain times of year because lights aren't allowed on the beach during sea turtle breeding season.

There is also a park (I can't remember the name right now) in Viera or Titusville. It is on the river, not the ocean. Some of my friends got married there and it was beautiful. It was also a rented pavilion, but a little nicer. It was technically a DW because most of us didn't live there any more, including the bride and groom. I don't know cost specifics.

I worked at a hotel on the beach down there too. I never saw a wedding invoice go through for less than 25K, but it was a luxury hotel.