Help: affordable venues in Nyc/nj area

Go on eventective.com or the local parks department and look at blank slate venues that let you being in your own catering. Then look for restaurants you love that offer corporate catering services.

We found that some camp grounds had large halls for rent and we could do almost anything! The owners were really great and had plenty of suggestions. They know all the local vendors too. Of course, woodsy needs to be a theme you like.

Unfortunately, the NYC/NJ area is pretty expensive. Our biggest cost was by far the food and drinks for guests. When we were looking (and this was in 2018 for a 2019 wedding), the cheapest venues we saw had a $100 per person cost. You can look at VFWs and places like state parks, along with restaurant catering, but even restaurant drop-off catering tends to run about $40-50 per person, maybe cheaper if you do something like an Olive Garden or other large chain. You can cut costs in other places like negotiating with your photographer, minimizing decor (especially floral which are crazy expensive), using sites like Ann's Bridal Bargains for invitations (we used them and thought the quality was great and not much different from the more expensive sites), skipping save the dates, and so on. We cut out optional things like favors, wedding signs, and a videographer (still don't regret not having a wedding video). However, your biggest expense is most definitely going to be food and bev, so cutting the guest list is really the best way to save money. What budget were you hoping to stick to?

View Quoted Comment Thank you so much! I’ve yet to come across anything less than 120+ a person yet and our guest list estimates to 100 people right now with already cutting down. I’m pretty handy and figured I could DIY some stuff to save on some things like invitations and certain decor. I’m also going to skip on a videographer. Initially I was hoping for about 10,000 until I realized venue, food and bev were going to cost me that alone. We’ve agreed to not exceed 15,000 at this point which I know is going to be pretty tight.

View Quoted Comment Thank you! I’m going to look into the site 🤞🏼

You could considering having your wedding on a week day and save a lot of money! We’re having our wedding at Bogey’s on a Thursday night. And it’s saving us about $5,000!

View Quoted Comment Yeah, it's crazy. Our original budget was $15,000. We saw that wasn't possible in our area and ended up spending about $23,000 for 115 people.