Venue pricing?

I feel for you, and I'm going to write a long post, because I went through this exact thing... I contacted (no exaggeration) over 70 venues asking for price quotes. We considered farms, barns, wineries, restaurants, event halls, hotels, historic sites, country clubs, golf courses; we priced Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays; we considered all times of the year; we compared separate ceremony and reception sites; basically every possible variation we could think of to keep the price low. We're on a serious budget, and were looking for a venue next year in the Hudson Valley NY, which I was told could be very pricey. I found everything from a (very basic) restaurant for $0 space rental, to places charging $50k+ for just the use of the space.

After looking at alllll these places, I came to a few conclusions, and in the very last week of looking, I messaged a venue by accident. It was PERFECT. We visited just the one place, and booked. $4,000 flat for a summer Saturday, at a gorgeous non-profit, national park / historic estate, with an outdoor garden ceremony and a beautiful indoor reception hall in the art gallery, with a Caterers kitchen, chairs, tables, and some event direction included. My FH's advice: look for places that aren't specifically "wedding venues". My advice: just. keep. looking. (At every stage of planning). Best of luck, the right venue is out there!

Thank you so much!