Is it possible to have a wedding under $10,000 in NJ/NYC?

$18k and $10k are not the same thing.

How are you people spending 10k or even 40k on a wedding? I can understand location and food, but I know family members who spent at most 3k on their wedding. I am so shocked. Although I've only started planning my wedding, I already found a venue for $100 for the ceremony and another one at $1200 for the reception that includes food and bar for 100 guests. My main goal is to make sure more money is saved for a honeymoon than a one night party. Also I have to agree with Katrina. It's a great thing to know people in the business. I have friends and family members who can definitely help out with things and it will cut so many costs. If you can have a 6k wedding and it turn out to be a fun and beautiful one, then props to you. I hope that I can have a great wedding too and have it cost at most 6k. Weddings are just for a day to party and get nice pictures, but a honeymoon can last a week or 2 with someone you really want to spend time with. I choose to spend more on the honeymoon.

@Jennifer, where do you live?

It's all about who's in your network remember? haha

@A.L.C -- I live in PA and I found a beautiful park that a co-worker told me about. She had her wedding there 2 years ago and it looked beautiful. My second location is at the place my FH took me on my first date. We spent yesterday on our 5 year anniversary looking at both venues. The park was lovely and we got estimates. We still need to plan more out with the reception, but with food and drinks all done at one place, it will make things easier.

OK, well, rural PA is a lot different than NJ/NY. But I don't think I would trust anywhere that served for $12 a head.

" $1200 for the reception that includes food and bar for 100 guests."

SERIOUSLY? what are you feeding your guests? I m curious...

It's a big option menu, we haven't worked out the details on what dishes to pick. But depending on which wedding option we choose, it comes with 3 different hors d'oeuvres, 3 options of entrees, and the bar. I could up the price by adding the dessert or special add on's, but you already have a wedding cake for dessert.

Also this place is owned by the restaurant we had our first date in so everything is made right there. We also live 5mins down the road so the location is perfect.

Well first of all- I want nothing to do with an outdoor venue.

It's to risky- I want high heels- and quite frankly- I'm an indoor kitty- I don't want to be outside. I get eaten alive- and I as much as I love riding my motorcycle outside- I do not under any circumstances want to be dressed up- outside.

NOPE. NOPE.NOPE.

So- there goes my free fucking venue- which means basically 2500 base for a ROOM to rent- or upwards of a restaurant with 3-8K food and beverage minimums.

So- nope. no park for me.

Add in a catering company. at a minimum for a crappy company- it's like 50$/person- in NJ- 80-100$ per person is realistic.

We upgraded because paying for delicious food is important to us.

So 30 * 100 = 3000.

So now we are up to 5500.

Booze- 6000.

Musician.

officiate.

Service fees

Gratuity

Rental for all the things you need/upgrades on chargers etc shit like that.

Yeah- it's really easy to make it to 10K for under 50 people.

Weddings are celebrations. You are treating your family to an event and a evening- WHY THE FUCK WOULD YOU WANT TO INVITE YOUR FRIENDS OVER TO CELEBRATE THEN FEED THEM BEANIE WEENIE HOTDOGS.

Oh that's right- you wouldn't- you'd buy some nice food AND a great bottle of wine and you would take care of them.

There are a lot of times its' okay to cut corners- feeding your family on such an important night- is not one of them.

My choice was- go cheap- have more people. Go high end- have less people.

Spending more and having fewer people was really important to me.

Sorry, Jennifer, I don't actually believe you can find anywhere that would serve that amount of food of any quality for $12.

"How are you people spending 10k or even 40k on a wedding?"

@Jennifer, because in the metro tri-state area, it's expensive. Posts like yours are the reason why some people are hesitant to talk about how much their spending. If someone wants to spend $50k on their one day party, so be it. IDGAF, and neither should you. As long as you are hosting your guests properly, it doesn't matter how much (or little) you choose to spend.

OK, stop trolling. Prime rib for $12. OK.

I never said my entire wedding will cost $1,200 total. I said the food at the venue I'm looking at looks like it will cost around that much.

This simple question on the forum turned into a who will spend the most contest and have the best wedding. What happened to wanting to save for and on the big day so you can actually have money afterwards to afford a house with your FH or FW? Money to afford having kids?

Why spend 30k on a wedding when you could possibly pay for a fraction of the price while still getting great food, music, and a day of fun?

So many rude and dis-believing people on here who can't see how that is possible.

I would like to apologize to the OP of this forum. I hope you are able to find a beautiful location for your wedding at a reasonable price.

You don't have to spend tens of thousands of dollars on your wedding. If you know people in the business, then that will save a lot of money. If you can do it closer to home or even at a realitive/friend's house to do it at, then all the power to you.

It just sucks at how much money wedding are these days. U wish you and your FH a happy and beautiful wedding. Can't wait to see the pictures.

I don't see a who can spend the most contest, I see people sharing their budget and why they feel the OPs idea may be unrealistic.

How are we spending $12k to host 30 people? $5k to rent a boat for the afternoon, $2k to treat everyone to dinner, $1200 for appetizers and drinks, rings, a dress, a tux rental, probably pizza for the rehearsal dinner.

Shaming people for spending more than you are willing to is disgraceful. We're saving hard and pinching pennies now to treat people to a great night. Once the wedding is over, we'll move on to saving for IVF or a hardwood floor or whatever. It's our decision that we made together and I find it rude of you to judge us for it.

Reduce your guest list and consider a restaurant. I was going to invite 70 and it still was over $10k. Check out Victor's Chateau in Little Falls, NJ. I think they reasonable rates based on what I saw if you end up cutting your guest list.

This is the cheapest place I saw in Queens NY. Still over 10000 but includes everything except your clothes it has bouquets invites cake etc

Jennifer you're not getting it. People are are saying she can't have as many guests as she wants for the money she's willing to spend.

@Jennifer -- Just to clarify, I don't want to spend that much (pretty sure the same as most posters here). The market dictates the price. Where we live, photography alone starts around 2-3k and the better ones start at 5-6K! I would love to save more if I can. However, we decided to proper host our guests which mean not asking them to do anything but to enjoy the day. This decision alone inevitably will lead to a bigger tab.

@Jennifer, I didn't fucking curse in my last post but there's no rule against it here and I damn well can if I fucking want to. Your "How are you people spending $x .... I'm shocked." Followed by pointing out things YOU think are better uses of other peoples' money comes across as excessively critical or judgmental to me.

Where do you live? That affects the cost a LOT. More than half of our guest list lives in/near Peoria, Illinois, and one option we pondered was getting married there because we could do it for a FRACTION of the price we can here. Ultimately we decided to spend more to get married in our very expensive area. The OP is asking about an incredibly expensive area. She's going to have a hell of a challenge on her hands hosting the number of people she wants with that budget.

I've had a couple of bad ideas in my wedding planning process, and the folks here on WW haven't hesitated to tell me how my poor hosting would look to my guests. I was a little salty about it for a minute, sure, but they're right and they have my best interests as well as those of my guests in mind when giving that feedback. That's the beauty of this place, you can get real, raw, honest feedback. If you want nothing but rainbows and butterflies, there are other places on the 'net where you can find people who will be 100% supportive of any kind of hosting.

I hope the OP is reading this and is taking the advice in the spirit it's intended, which is helpful and realistic.