Thoughts on Restaurant Weddings

We are having our reception at a reception, in their ballroom and the cocktail out on the patio on the water. They have a space for the ceremony, but I didn't want to fork over $1500 for the space for 30 minutes. So far, everything is going well and they are responsive. Because its a restaurant, they already provide the basic linens, flatware, plates, chairs etc. There are always options for upgrades which they are happy to facilitate (i.e., their basic chair covers are $1 per chair). This particular restaurant is part of the marina, so we will have great views of boats and inlet. I am really looking forward to it.

If you find the right restaurant, it could be great.

We had ours at the Lemp Mansion Patio & Gazebo [ceremony & reception], 115~ guests on Oct 5, 2019. It's a restaurant, now. Definitely didn't feel like one and no one realized that they still had dinner service going on inside the actual mansion itself (the Patio & Gazebo is right next door). I saw people here and there and they'd congratulate me, so it was kinda sweet. There were no cons, for me outside of parking (but my guests got there early enough to take up parking as needed and I asked in invites to carpool). Pros? They had linen, tables, silverware, actual glassware, a nice bar, they catered my wedding (I was able to get kids for free under a certain age and 1/2 off after another age because they were my caterer and had control), cut my cake, etc. They had a lot of things a normal venue probably wouldn't and it was close at hand and our food was freshly made -- they made me some fresh salad because I couldn't eat the 'group' one due to cheese (lactose intolerance). Our wedding was 5:30p - 11:00p, outside.

My Husband's BM had his wedding inside of a restaurant (in a private dining area), probably about 50 people and no dj or entertainment. It was nice and sweet. It was only about 3 1/2 hours for everything and I felt it was paced nicely with no real awkward point like some might think there could be with it not being traditional. It was a lot of mingling, catching up, food, ceremony -- super nice!

We are doing ours at a restaurant. The ceremony is out in the courtyard and the reception is up in their rafter room. It was way cheaper than most other venues out here and they handle the catering. The venue, food, and alcohol will cost $4,500 for 60 people. I think it's a great option for people. The only down side is that you normally have to use their food, they normally can't accommodate huge guest lists, and their alcohol can often be overpriced.

I went to one in the early spring. It was actually very nice. They wanted something small and intimate, and that is exactly what they got. They had an officiant for their ceremony, which was held right in the restaurant. And then we had a very nice dinner. The restaurant was an old inn at the Jersey shore (the real Jersey shore, not where the stupid tv show was) so the room was very pretty with high ceilings and a cozy fireplace. And without all the extra noise of a DJ and hundreds of people, you can actually have conversations and talk to people. The older I get the more I’m enjoying the small weddings as opposed to the big, elaborate ones. I think a restaurant wedding is a great idea.

View Quoted Comment That sounds lovely (on the water)! I hear you about paying that much for 30 minutes.

I completely agree, for the right restaurant.

Thank you, Sabrina!

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Sounds beautiful! That's one thing I do like about the restaurant idea is you get the linen and etc (thinking it would save us a bunch).

I didn't even think about the kids' meal being discounted, I will definitely ask. We will have a few little ones there.

We plan to have about 50 people at the most. It would be a lot for us to invite everyone on both sides of our family. Plus, I want something very intimate.

This was helpful, thank you, Stephanie!

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I would have like to do an early Spring wedding but since we have people coming out of town, I thought it would be too soon.

I enjoy smaller weddings more as well. I've been to too many elaborate wedding and felt a complete disconnect.

Thank you, Jeanie!

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After searching for vendors, the restaurant we're considering is actually more than half the price of other places.

I'm hoping they have good food and dessert.

Did they do your wedding cake as well?

View Quoted Comment Mine didn't, but they did offer a bunch of dessert options we could have used. We wanted a specific cake made so we ordered that from somewhere else

I looked at doing one. The restaurant has private rooms with family style meals. We love the food. My mom pushed for it, hard.
I decided against it because I wanted my venue to feel special. And the restaurant, while is on the nicer side of restaurants, is still some place we can visit on a whim when ever we want. That to me took away some of the appeal.
But had I went that route I bet it would have made things easy. We did wind up having the rehersal dinner there, but my husband handled that so I have no thoughts on the process

I went to a wedding recent & it was a small wedding at a restaurant & it was inside their wasn't any cons from what i seen.. It was beautiful you can stay in or outside on the patio because it was near the shore so it was beautiful in the fall season and inside it was nice just a lil small but comfortable to move

We've attended restaurant weddings. Done thoughtfully, they are absolutely lovely, and very intimate!

Our friends got married in a Unitarian church, then had the reception at a restaurant. It was super cozy, absolutely private, and quite pretty!

I imagine they had to be very careful with their guest list, and I know renting out an entire restaurant isn't cheap, but if the venue is your happy place, go for it!

We're doing a restaurant reception but the only problem we encountered was actually finding the perfect place. There aren't that many where I live and we had to agree on food taste and some places were too expensive. Our place is rustic looking so that's a plus and they play a variety of soft music which sounds more 80ish to me but we don't mind at all. They said we can either use that music or have our own. They are charging a 1.50, or something really cheap for tablecloths. There's also a private bathroom.

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I can only imagine how nice it was by the shore and all. That's one thing I really have to think about, how will there be enough space to dance while people are sitting down as well at the reception.

My best friend did this. It worked very well as it was a small small wedding/reception. They chose the restaurant that meant the most to them. It was interesting. It wasn't decorated for a wedding but it was what they wanted.

I did this. It saved me more I'd think than others since I didn't have to rent separate items

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That's something else to consider as well, having the ceremony in the church and then the reception at a restaurant.

So far the places, we've looked at have been somewhat cheaper than a regular venue.

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Yes! That's exactly what we want, to save.

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It's definitely limited with finding places, almost at the end of our list, lol