Venue, all inclusive or bare bones?

If it works with your budget, I would definitely recommend that all inclusive one. There's so much going on the day-of, so any stress you can take off of yourself and your family is well worth the few hundred more!

I definitely agree with WWKatie. A lot less stress for you and others.

I third that!

I agree with Katie as well! For the bare bones one it could easily end up costing much more than the all inclusive since depending on your area, rentals aren't cheap. If our venue didn't provide the rentals we would have paid $1,300 for all the rentals total. Your area could be cheaper but just for the convenience alone I would go with the venue that provides everything.

I would definitely say the one with everything. Our venue has a day of coordinator, tables, chairs, linens, flatware, put up and tear down, all service, food, and bar. It's really reduced the amount of work that I have to do.

See, that's what I'm thinking too... Now just to convince the mothers... Lol we're going to both sites this weekend so hopefully by the time we're done they'll be more in favor of the all inclusive. In the end, as long as my mom sees where I'm coming from I think we'll be gold (my parents are helping $&dollar I want them to be able to enjoy the wedding instead of worrying about every. Single. Detail.

My favorite thing about our venue is that they pretty much do everything. There are enough things to stress about without adding renting chairs and linens, finding time to setup and strike, and hiring a DOC. After the wedding's over, I want to be spending "time" with my new husband and maybe our friends and family too; definitely don't want to have to clean up the venue.

All-inclusive, hands down!

We went with an all inclusive venue. Ours includes flowers for centerpieces, cake, full open bar, appetizers, salad, soup, entree, coffee, linens, tables, chairs, dinning staff, bartenders, day of coordinator and most importantly......less things for me to do!

All inclusive. By the time you add in all that stuff, you won't be saving a dime and you'll have to worry about it on top of it all....

Mine isn't totally all inclusive. It includes the caterer, tables, chairs, linens, plates, flatware, cups, bar, and staff. It does not include a DJ, photographer, DOC, or cake. But we chose it because the other venues we were looking at only provided the space and tables/chairs so we would have had to rent and book everything else which would have cost us more in the long run. Most of the time the all inclusive venues are more cost effective.

I'm in love with the fact they set up and tear down and the DOC. we also found a super affordable caterer through their vendor preferred list and we already have a photographer in mind. All that would be left is DJ and cake. Thanks for all the feedback BTW

I personally really want to rent/buy all my own stuff! Lol although I only have to worry about 20 people or so, maybe less. There's a certain look I want that won't come with any venue. But I wouldn't recommend someone doing that with a large guest list unless you hire a set up/tear down crew.

Yeah it wouldnt be so bad if we were doing a small wedding. We have 100 people we have to feed an clean up after (assuming everyone shows, which they won't) and I just see it being a big chore and I would hate to impose that on my BP and parents even if they're willing

I think the ladies are right, that all inclusive is definitely easier and probably more stress-free. It definitely gives you less to worry about. That being said, my fiance and I chose a bare-bones venue, but our rental company is doing almost all of the set up/tear down for just about everything. We chose an outdoor venue that we fell in love with, and were okay with bringing everything in.

Plus, the other venues that we looked at were not all-inclusive either. Most of them still required us to rent tables, chairs, linens, etc. So we went with what we loved, and what fit us.

Do the all-inclusive! I went nuts trying to figure out if the 'cheaper' bare-bones venues would save us enough money to make it worth the trouble. Most of them would have cost more, once we shelled out to bring in everything - linens, tableware and glassware really adds up!

Also, I have been in weddings at bare-bones sites, where the setup was meticulously planned...and at the end of the night everyone was happy-tired, drunk or just plain frazzled, and wandered off without doing their part of the teardown. It was chaos. Don't be the bride folding tiebacks at 1am while the groom mans the push-broom.

All inclusive. That's what we did and it made life so much easier.

All inclusive! save yourself all the stress.

For an $800 difference, it appears to be worth your time and financially reasonable to go with the all inclusive.

My venue is bare bones and I already regret it. Don't get me wrong...it's a gorgeous venue but it's so much extra work: tables, chairs, linens, dance floor (which originally I was told I didn't need one), etc. In hindsight, I would would've chosen a venue that has it all.

100% all inclusive. We had two venues one all inclusive one bare bones... it ended up being almost 7000$ more after paying for the linens chair covers and all the extras no one thinks about! We have so much included with the all inclusive and way cheaper, plus less stress which to me is PRICELESS!