Wedding Downgrade

Or has anyone had a change of hearts during wedding planning at all? Also, I am now just looking into having our reception at a restaurant, with a cocktail hour and dinner and doing a consumption bar that we will pay for. Will that be an adequate enough reception or will people want a DJ and dancing. I'm thinking the reception will only be a few hours.

Is the forfeited deposit plus the cost of the new venue going to save you money in the long run?

@Asta the deposit was $500. I'm not sure how much under the minimum, I would have to look at our invoice. The room is very large and it may look odd with us having so few guests. I'm thinking we're going to have somewhere near 40-50 (but 50 max).

As soon as we got engaged I jumped gun and put a deposit down on a venue. I started really thinking about it and realized I hated the venue. I did lose my deposit unless she is able to rebook the date, but i'm not expecting to get it back.

In the same situation right now. We just put a contract on a new home PLUS I was starting to feel like canceling and just getting married on the island! But we were originally planning for 150 and we only have half rsvpd so far. If we can close in time we are going to do everything in the back yard of the house, which I'd prefer anyway. If not, we may still just go with the smaller guest list at our venue. I'm ok with losing our deposits since its way less than what we owe. I'd rather change our plans than to struggle financially with everything at once. So far all of our friends and family agree with that.

It's not that I hate the venue. It's really beautiful and sits on a hill overlooking a lake. I've booked a really good photographer and florists and next thing you know out $15,000 budget jumped to $25,000. Having a smaller wedding will put us closer to our initial budget and I don't have to worry about all the bells and whistles that's associated with a bigger venue. Plus I think a smaller venue would be more us. I'm just hoping I don't regret it after I cancel the first venue.

Ceremony and dinner at a restaurant will be lovely and beautiful. As a guest, I would love it (I like smaller affairs). If a dance party vibe isn't important to you, a DJ is not necessary, especially for a restaurant reception though you may want to look into background music.

Our wedding was at a restaurant, very simple and nice! We had the ceremony in the patio area, and we rented a room that will hold 40-70 guest. We had 58 guest, and we offered extended cocktail hour (we have a awesome deal for the open bar) and a 4 course meal. We didn't have a DJ, we use the restaurant background music. Photographer was there only for 3 hr.