"Turnkey" venue or waaaaay less expensive close to home?

How good are you with project management?

Because if you aren't good at paper work and being a professional cat herder- I'd go turnkey. It's just easier. And less stress for EVERYONE.

Price out everything you would need or the second venue and see if it actually is cost effective.

I wanted a semi all-inclusive venue. I wanted the venue to take care of catering and everything that I would've had to rent separately, but I wanted freedom to choose my own photographer, DJ and officiant.

As long as the first one still allows you to choose your own vendors, I would say go with that one. Coordinating every single item gets expensive. I truly think semi all inclusives are worth it.

I'm a pretty good cat herder, but I've also got a special needs kid that just requires a lot. That's Why I'm leaning to the first one...it's sooooo much less drama!

I'd let them deal with it honestly- and leave your hands free for said kid.

The one we looked at- tables, chairs, food everything- I could chose to bring booze or pay them (WIN) and they would still provide a bartender either way- DJ was my pick (not applicable to me anyway) and officiant and photographer - they have suggested vendors but no one gave me push back on bringing my own.

It's VERY tempting. And high on the list. it's easy- and lot of what I've seen is "get everything set up so you have to do the least amount as possible"

I'm terrified of break down and I have visions of my mother and best friend (who are take charge DO-ERS) with trash bags and bare feet cleaning up long after I've gone. Seriously- terrified.

It's a big advantage to have someone to do it for you if you can afford it.

Before we decided on a DW, we were faced with this same situation. Definitely price out everything needed to make the second venue what you'd want and see where your budget stands. If it's just a few hundred dollars in difference, turnkey is probably the way to go. If you're talking more than $1,000 -or whatever amount is enough to justify the extra work - round up friends and family and make the second venue work and pocket the savings.

Price it all out, and figure in where your oot guests will stay. Do both locations have hotels within a 10-20 minute drive? Will there be places for the oot guests to eat, nearby things for them to do? We ultimately decided to not book a particular venue that would have housed all our oot guests on the grounds, because it was 25 minutes from the nearest restaurant. They would have either starved or been in the car all the time, all weekend.

I went with something similar to the first, and the stress it has saved me has been priceless. How much more is the all-inclusive venue? Doing from scratch seems tempting at first, but hunting down vendors for every little thing and coordinating everything.... time is money, and that stuff takes an ABSURD amount of time, organization, and attention to detail.

I went with semi-all inclusive, and now I can focus on diying the things that really mean a lot to me and I enjoy, like little decorations and flowers. The day of coordinator alone is worth her weight in gold.

I'm in the Portland, OR area too! Just out of curiosity what place did you find that's only $250? That's so inexpensive for the Portland area!

I'm down in Silverton. You can do the Silver Falls conference center for that! It's like a million miles past BFE even by Silverton standards though. They also have another spot that is beautiful for $1500

We're meeting with the all inclusive place again on Saturday Leslie, it's the Tumwater Room at the Museum of the Oregon Territory in Oregon City

Sugarunicorn...not only does the less expensive venue not have things to do, it has literally nothing but about 10 miles of forest AFTER you get off the two lane logging highway!

First option has a coordinator? Done. That has my vote.

If money works out. I vote the first choice. We thought about finding a caterer first and then a space that we could do everything, but even with the first option, many things will come up that have to be done. For the easiness and less headaches, I vote #1 (if the price is alright).

I just have to comment because everytime I see this in the feed I read it as "turkey" and immediately think you're having a crazy farm theme wedding with loose animals lol clearly, you are not..... in terms of the real question, I will let you know our "cheap backyard wedding" has snowballed into being more expensive than our indoor venue choice. It's not that big of a difference, but I certainly thought we'd be saving money in the long run, not spending a little bit more.

Dana I also thought it said Turkey!!

Money isn't the only factor though. Imagine coordinating the pick up, delivery, set up, breakdown and return of 200 chairs and matching tables and doing each place setting yourself (or your family) while also trying to get dressed for the day.

There is a reason weddings are expensive, so we don't have to lift a finger!