Field Wedding Venue in New England on the cheap

Http://www.townofmedway.org/pages/medwayma_bcomm/thayer/brochure1.pdf

Cat: Thank you This is the type of place I'm looking for. I'll have to look into it some more and see if I can make it work.

Have you tried looking at some of the smaller campgrounds around? Most allow camping and/or fires, many have open fields for games (volleyball, horseshoes) that could be used. If it's a smaller place, they may be willing to rent the place out, however, I don't know if they would still be busy or "in season".

Kelly: I have not, but it is a good idea. I will see what I can find.

Ben - it is great that you're helping with the planning!

as others have mentioned, this might turn out to be MUCH more expensive and stressful than you imagine right now. remember, the average cost of a wedding is about $30,000 in the US right now.

There is a reason wedding coordinators, caterers, etc exist and are paid well.

Please keep a few things in mind while planning:

- Hire a professional caterer, no matter what. do not take on the task of cooking the food yourselves. this is for your sanity and your guests health & safety

- be sure there is enough of the following for each guests: food & alcohol, seating, shaded area (tent or trees, whatever), water, restrooms & other 'necessaries'

- do not attempt to hire friends as your photographer, florist, cake baker, etc. this can greatly ruin friendships and lead to catastrophe on the wedding day

- you don't have a wedding date until you have a wedding venue

- don't ask people to be in your bridal party until about 8 months before the wedding date. relationships change, especially when major life events like that are happening. people get distant or jealous quickly.

Novak: Thank you for the advice. The only thing I might disagree with you on is the cake ;p I've got a couple of very good cooks in my family. I wouldn't want to put that kind of responsibility on any single one of them, but if I make it a potluck kind of deal with a bunch of cakes, and a couple don't turn out so well I don't think it will be a huge deal.

I understand that the average cost is might be 30k, but that doesn't mean it has to cost that much. I believe that I can significantly reduce that cost because of several factors, no church, no priest, provide our own booze, no band, outside (no expensive indoor venue). You may be right that ultimately it will be cheaper to pay for some sort of package deal, but I want to see if I can find a cheaper way to do it by piecing things out. My goal is under 20k, hopefully around 15k.

Sarah: Good to know, thank you. So if that's the case, is your wedding going to cost anywhere close to 30k?

I'm not too worried about the weather to be honest. The areas I'm looking average about 70 in September with the lowest temperatures coming it about 50. Rain is another story, definitely a buzz kill, but with a large enough tent you can still have fun.

Lighting was included in the quote for the tent and other equipment. There is a company that basically supplies all of the equipment that you may need.

Benjamin is not worried about anything. He has all the answers, all he needs is a field and a potluck dessert table. And a lot of extension cords.

I'm out.

Celia: Your negativity is unwarranted. I'm sorry if your picture perfect wedding cost you so much money that you are still bitter about it, but I'm trying to save money, and I know that it can be done. I'm very skeptical of the wedding industry, mostly because costs suddenly seem to be doubled as soon as you start talking about a wedding. That food you could go buy at a restaurant for 25 bucks is suddenly 50, that keg that was 100 is 200, the house you could rent for 4000 for a weekend on airbnb is 10k when marketed as a "wedding venue".

If you don't want to help me solve my problem, then don't. I'm sorry if I don't believe you when you tell me that a wedding cannot be accomplished at less than the average cost of 30k (the median is 18k by the way). This is a forum, your opinion/knowledge is appreciated, but I'm not really sure why you feel the need to shut down my post because you are somehow offended that I don't want to spend a crazy amount of money on a single day in my life.

I also do not know any of the answers, that's why I am here asking the question. You don't seem to know them either since you have not supplied an answer to my original question, just distractions and negativity about how it can't be done. Basically the definition of a troll.

Hello Again Ben,

Celia isn't on this site as a bride. she is an officiant. she also doesn't recommend people spend more than they can- trust me, she is an advocate that small weddings can be absolutely amazing.

what Celia was saying, sarcastically, is that every suggestion that has been posted you can come back with "I'm not worried about that". if you ask for advice, take it. don't shoot it all down. that's all.

also, I am not having a church, priest, party favors, menus, programs, uplighting, and many many more pointless aspects of the day.... and we are providing out own booze. If you want to count every penny spent from the engagement ring to the last beer drank on the honeymoon it is a LOT of money. I'm honestly going to guess anywhere from 85-100K will be spent focused around this one day if you include what I just mentioned.

we're trying to WARN you and HELP you.

ps. this is the internet, trolls exist. get over it.

EDIT- one simple reason weddings are expensive is because you need to properly host your guests. potlucks are frowned upon because of food safety, which isn't hosting your guests!

Thanks Novak I probably am shooting people's responses down prematurely/unfairly, but most of them have not been providing useful answers to my original question. I believe that if I find a venue meeting my above criteria I will be one step closer in the planning process, I understand that everything else will cost money, but I am going to take this one step at a time. I had a single, focused question that has devolved into a discussion about every single cost associated with a wedding.

Celia: I am sorry for biting back. I have been to a few tented weddings in NE on a budget, and they were a lot of fun/my favorite weddings. I know that everyone has a different opinion about these things, but I am convinced that I want an outdoor wedding under a tent in a big field. I also want to spend as little money as possible, while providing decent food and booze to my guests. If you think you can help me, or even want to at this point, please do, but you probably won't be able to convince me that an outdoor wedding is a bad idea.

Hi Benjamin, I'm getting married in Massachusetts. We live near Boston, but chose to get married an hour away in Salisbury because everything we looked at was cheaper up there. When you get to florals, check our Lyndsey Loring Designs, she was the cheapest I found.

I don't know of a venue that has everything you're describing. I'm from Central Mass, and I looked at a couple of the country clubs I know do inexpensive weddings. I didn't see any options for tented weddings though, it's all in the banquet hall. You could inquire about whether they allow a tent with the banquet hall as a backup in case of rain. Places like http://campcoldbrookrvresort.com or http://www.westminstercountryclub.com/ might work. It is usually recommended to have a backup space in case it rains.

We didn't look too hard at the DIY-type places, because we realized it would be a lot of work and stress to set up. Yes, you may be able to have your dream wedding for less than the average cost, but you will be working your ass off during the planning process. If you're willing to put in the work, it is possible. Have you looked into the venues PP suggested?

Benjamin, I suggest looking on the state's park website. http://www.mass.gov/eea/agencies/dcr/massparks/ Some of them have campsites (but most people wouldn't be camping at the end of September) so you wouldn't have the noise issue at night. The one downside might be that some charge parking and some don't allow alcohol but its worth looking into. You can also look at area parks. For instance here in Attleboro we have Capron Park which allows rentals (I don't know how late into the evening you can be there; I just wanted to offer some places you may not have thought about).

Before we changed direction in what type of wedding we hosted, we looked at a location in Kentucky (Terrapin Hill Farms) which is exactly what you're describing. Celia is right, and I will reiterate. Doing it yourself is not cheap and you'll end up spending around the same as an all inclusive. We spent around $23k for similar to what you're talking about (ours was at a vineyard but we rented tents and brought everything in ourselves then we had an after party on our 10 acres with a big bonfire and people camped on our land after the wedding), and we didn't go crazy with food, liquor, photography, videography, flowers, rentals, etc. It just... adds up quickly.

Also, you can rent bathroom trailers, and that's an added expense ($800-1200 in my area).

ETA: I would also like to add that my catering costs and alcohol costs per head were lower than what you quoted. My tent and rentals were similar in costs. I had 115 RSVP yes and 100 show up. Just as an FYI.

Wait. You want a field wedding for almost 200 people in September 2016 and you haven't started planning yet?

I'd re-evaluate.