For those who DIDNT meet guest minimum

This happened with my FH cousin... he didn't meet the minimum catering bill so he had to make some add ons. I think they did special end of evening desserts and stuff to reach the minimum.

BUMP we went into it Knowing we wouldn't meet minimum.

Contractually, our venue charges a flat fee if we don't make the minimum, so it wouldn't cost the full amount of the number of guests we are missing, but we still have to pay essentially a "penalty". However, I bet if we asked to just add on some stations or something instead, they would agree to that-- they've been super flexible in that regard.

We have a guest minimum of 75, so even if we end up with 47 guests (which is our list so far) we still pay for 75. its all inclusive, so no real way to swap things out. we are on the hunt for adults we dont dislike, but didnt love enough to make the first small list. hahaha

My venue has a minimum of 100 people, but we are only planning on having around 60. It is an all-inclusive (ceremony & reception location, food, alcohol, chairs/tables, linens, and DJ - we have to pay separately for china and glassware). Since it is all-inclusive, our venue said that they cannot throw in any extras, but we knew this going in...it was such a great deal, even with paying for more people than we will actually have, that we went ahead and booked with them.

Similar to AndixLyn, we are now considering whether we want to invite some other people who we like but aren't necessarily close since we will be forking over the cash anyways.

If it's an option, I'd add some great stuff instead of people you didn't want there to begin with.....just me....

@shoelover, we're slowly making a list and will know as it gets closer about co-workers or new friends. the only upside of less guests, is the cake will still feed 75 so we get cake to eat for days! hahahaha

We were able to upgrade food. We contract for 100 people, so we had to pay at least 80% of that. Whether that was 80 guests or 70 guests and something else didn't matter. We ended up with 84 people but upgraded appetizers anyway since we already had the money for the full 100 people. As long as they got the amount of money they didnt care what it went to.

It didn't occur to me to ask-- we just paid for 30 meals we didn't need. 8-/

I wish it was an option to do a photobooth or some other fun stuff, but it would be extra cost and the missing guests wouldnt change pricing. kinda lame. but in the end, more people means more party!

That would be awesome if you could do something fun AndixLyn. I mean am all about stuffing your face but at this point looking at menu's I'm like damn I never remember eating that much at weddings. Probably because I stuffed myself into spanx.

The first venue we were looking at, we had a 75 guest minimum and knew we were only going to have MAX 60. Mom and MIL offered to bring gallon zip lock bags and huge purses to fill them with food from the buffet so we weren't paying for food that wasn't being eaten.

We do not meet the minimum at our venue, we are having 65 but minimum is 100. We actually do not have to pay for the other meals just a $4 surcharge per person attending. I think this is because we are at a hotel that does have another room that will hold a larger wedding.

My venue doesn't have a minimum headcount but rather a minimum dollar count. With our current package we would need 85 people to cover the minimum, which I doubt we will have trouble making. If we did fall under though, we could upgrade all sorts of things to make it up. Linens, Food, Dessert, Centerpieces, Uplighting, Photobooth etc. It's all inclusive but a lot of stuff can go bigger for additional cost.

Our venue normally has a minimum of 75 for a Friday night but for some reason or another, they waived it for us. I guess late July isn't their best season for weddings.