The bare minimum...

My venue also has a 100 person min. We ended up with 126 so its not a big deal to us. But things to consider, are you feeding your vendors? That may add an additional five or so to your total, I know you don't want to "fill seats" but making sure you include everyone in your meal plan can help you meet your number.

And if you have kids coming, kids under 5 may not count towards your total (at ours, kids under five are free). So you may have more seats than you thought!

Our venue doesn't have a minimum person count, but they do have a food and beverage spend minimum. If for some reason we don't meet that with per person costs, we can choose add-ons that will make up the difference, like a coffee bar and butlered desserts. That way, we're not paying for something that we're not getting.

@Miss to Mrs, thats surprising that you can take the left overs. Many venues won't let you since there is a possibility of someone getting sick and then blaming the venue. Thats nice though! Lucky!

Ours does. Every single one we looked at did.

Our minimum is 100 but thank to my guestlist-happy FH, we will be quite over.

A 100 person minimum is actually a really great deal for a Saturday evening wedding. Most places wanted at least 120 or higher.

My venue has a minimum of 140 people - we're probably going to be under the minimum, but since we're paying for those meals every single one of my vendors is going to be very well fed that night!

I do have to say though, that the minimum price is very reasonable for the area I am in. Most places are much more expensive for what we're getting, so its really not bad paying just the minimum.

We had a minimum and exceeded it easily. We forgot to add ourselves and our vendors into the count so we had six over, even with two no-shows.

Well this is good to know. Now I don't feel so in the dark on this.

I haven't heard of a minimum being that high, but I did look at venues that were like that (usually it was a 50-75 person minimum). I even went to a wedding where they needed more people in the last couple of weeks, so they were scrambling around to try and fill those seats "aka. they sent out a B list."

We have a 200 adult minimum (kids don't even count!) and our invite list only has 226 adults. So we may end up paying for empty seats, which sucks, but it's still cheaper than other places. I'm not too concerned because most of my family and all of our friends should be able to come. The only thing we would be worried about is his family since they don't speak often and they are spread out all over the US.

Our venue coordinator/owner also offered that if we are under the 200, he can make the leftover amount the next morning as a brunch. So if we got 180 people, he would serve 180, but make a brunch for 20 people the next morning for us to host a send off brunch for the out of town guests at our house. We'll see what happens.

Mine doesn't, but that's because it's not all inclusive and charges by the hour. The all inclusive venues we researched did have minimums, but it was like 50 people.

We have a 100-minimum and we just made it -- we have 104 guests including us.

And this is my list for saving costs on the wedding:

1) have a bridesmaid do your hair and make-up

2) david’s bridal coupon for groom’s tux rental

3) grocery store for flowers

4) forget about boutonnieres and do pocket squares instead, also forget corsages

5) don’t waste money on lighting if your venue has enough light (get some candles instead)

6) Have a CD for cocktail hour instead of hiring special musicians for it

7) forget about a videographer -- how many times are you REALLY going to watch a 2-hour video of your wedding?

8) Find cheap and simple favors that are food-related

9) Forget about Save the Dates

10) Use Vistaprint or another cheap website for invitations (or make them yourself)

11) If getting married in a church doesn’t matter to you, do it on-site at your reception venue

12) Forget programs

13) forget transportation in a limo unless you have a HUGE bridal party

14) Don’t have a huge bridal party

15) Buy your dress used or at David's Bridal

My venue has a cost minimum that equates to their cheapest package for 100 people. We will have less than 70 guests, so that just means we have to order more/better food to get to the minimum cost. We are a-ok with that!

Hahahahahahaahahaha I forgot to add myself and vendors.lol so that's 5.

we're up to 73!!

My venue in south jersey has a minimum of 150 people (was 175 but I negotiated that down), but we will easily exceed the 150 anyway...

Yes, most venues have minimums. . . and if you're lucky its only 100! (The number I've seen a lot is 125-- ours is 65, but the room can only fit 100 to begin with).

I was asking FH the other day if we're suppose to include ourselves in the final count - we totally didn't. I totally thought maybe that was the veue gift to us (us not having to pay for our plates, lol). I only thought this bc when we went over the numbers she kept saying guest and never said including you guys. hmmm...

Most venues I looked at in NYC had a 50 guest minimum. With our venue she usually requires people to have a 100ppl minimum for using both spaces, but we negotiated down to 70. We currently have 60 yes and still waiting to hear back from a few people.

Didn't you say you had a few people requesting to bring dates? Allow away if you're paying for 100 no matter what!

My venue has a minimum of 100. However, it wasn't much of an issue to meet the minimum. I have about 30 LOCAL family members that I had to invite, and then his family, and then we have a lot of really close friends. Right now the guest list is at 150.

Oh and feeding my vendors is adding about 16 meals to it. I know that's a lot but I have 3 videographers, 2 photographers, my hair stylist, and two sets of five people that are doing something special for our theme.

Every venue i work with has either a person or a dollar minimum. Any given venue only has so many available event slots, and they have to guarantee they bring in a certain amount of money. It's not unusual at all. In off season, you might be able to negotiate that down but not in September.

I'd upgrade your food, add a station, some hors d'oeuvres or a premium bar, but the dollar amount is going to be the same.

August gave you some good suggestions; while the venue WILL usually charge to you have the ceremony on site, it might make up the balance for you.

My venue doesnt have a head requirement but definitely a food/beverage minimum I need to hit.

There was a venue that was way cheaper here but they required you to have 150 people. I dont even know 150 people.

Ill hit my food requirement and then I get to bring home any left overs as long as I sign a form saying they arnt liable if I get sick.

There always has to be some minimum otherwise someone could try and rent a whole venue for 15 people and they wouldnt make any money. You should explain it to your mother like that.