Unique Chicago BUDGET venues

We considered Wilder Mansion in Elmhurst (about 30 minutes directly west of downtown Chicago), http://www.wildermansion.org

@ Mary Jo ~ that location is very neat!

How much was your dinner budget and guest list size?

Do you know what the cost per person was? I can see it starts around 1K just to rent the place.

We held our reception in Crown Point, IN which is about 45 minutes south of Chicago.

The site was the Old Historic Courthouse and they still hold ceremonies in the court room. It is an amazing building, tall windows and just simply gorgeous. I don't have any pro pics back yet though

$500 for rental. And everything is BYO. They have plenty of catering services in the area, we rented our linens from a nearby rental service and brought our own liquor.

We had about 120 guests but the space can accomodate 200.

They haven't updated their pictures on their site recently, but it truly is a gorgeous and unique venue

http://www.cpcourthouse.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=4&Itemid=6

@Hayley actually, we didn't end up having the wedding there.. They didn't have any of the dates we wanted available. We had a very small window of dates we were looking at and were planning for a date less than a year out. We ended up going with a traditional banquet hall.

Hello and congrats! What an exciting time for you and your fiance - I hope wedding plans are going smoothly! Have you considered an outdoor venue like the Morton Arboretum or some park district place? Some of them are very beautiful.

When you are ready to find a floral designer, I'd love to offer my services. I own flowers by stem, and I believe flowers inspire beautiful moments - they make everyday more beautiful, more intimate, more memorable. I love creating innovative, one-of-a-kind experiences through our flowers and think that the key is a personalized approach. To that end, I only take on one event per day, so I can personally oversee every detail of each event. Feel free to see examples of my work at www.flowersbystem.com. You can also see Yelp reviews from recent client at http://www.yelp.com/biz/flowers-by-stem-chicago. As you'll see, my design aesthetic has great range, but tends towards simple, modern and seasonal.

Best of luck and congrats!

*********@*************.***

Hi there!

If you can find a venue that lets you BYO, our caterer was amazing and they're located in Mokena so their tax rate is lower. They did a dessert bar for us as well as all of our rentals too, you can get creative/order off-menu, and they don't charge a cake cutting or plating fee if you use a different bakery. www.poloniacatering.com

For liquor, we had to have a licensed-to-SELL catering company b/c we got married in the city. But if you're in the burbs, you can probably get away with a State-insured to SERVE bartending company, which will be WAY cheaper. We preordered booze from Binny's, they delivered it and we returned the leftovers which was a huge savings.

Also, we used Garland Flowers in Oak Park for all floral, they were fantastic and budget-friendly.

If you need a DOC, Karolina Warren is amazing and her basic pkg runs $600.

If you have any leftover for videography, our video guy was the BEST. www.weddingfilmsbyrobert.com

Good luck.

There's a place called Independence Grove in Libertyville, IL, which is about 45 minutes north of Chicago. I've never attended an event there, but I've seen lots of pictures and it looks beautiful! I would imagine it's a bit cheaper than having your wedding in the city. It looks like there are several venues to choose from within Independence Grove.

http://www.eventsatindependencegrove.com/wedding-catering-venues.htm

@lov3ualways -- I loved Four Rivers when we looked at it online! I can't believe you're allowed to bring your own alcohol! Their website indicated that renters weren't allowed to bring in outside food/beverages, so that was one of the reasons we didn't go with them!

Check out the Copernicus Center. They are near the Jefferson Park blue line (so not right downtown, but still in the city). This is a Polish cultural center basically. Depending on the room (the annex seats 144 w/o dance floor, but if you just take down some tables when dancing begins I bet you could make it work). I didn't see it in person, as my wedding is too big, but I just got a proposal, and it is pretty cheap.

You can bring in outside food, their premium bar package is $21.50/person for four hours and only $16/person for four hours without liquor. Annex is like a loft-ish space, Kings room is a little fancier, but also smaller. Their table and chair rental is SUPER cheap.

I wish I could cut my list down and make this work, but my family is just too big. Figured I'd pass it on so anyone else who is interested can try it out. Good luck to you!

Thank you so much everybody for the advice and suggestions. I ended up finding out the hard way that some of my desires were a little unrealistic for Chicago in our price point. We ended up booking our wedding at Garden Terrace in Irving Park. It's really nice and theyve been very accommodating so far

@Ms.A. - can you send me some info for the FOP lodge? Im interested in using them for a venue but I cant get in contact with anyone!!