Wedding in NJ for $70 or under a person?

Hello there, Vida! I am located in the north jersey area but when I originally was looking for a wedding reception venue, I was looking for a shore wedding. We saw a few nice places but unfortunately in the NJ area, finding somewhere for less than $70 PP with tax and gratuity is going to be VERY difficult. My fiancé and I had looked at over 20 places DTS and I can tell you that the lowest for the April month was $90pp with tax and gratutity, and the lowest place I found up here for that month was $85pp with tax and gratuity but these prices give you the BARE minimum. Depending on what you're looking for as far as wedding reception, you may be able to find a more relaxed environment in the south jersey area for a little less.

My girlfriend is getting married next year in the summer at a barn in Stockton and I think with everything included she's paying $75pp.... 1850s house I think it's called.

Where have you looked already?

Hi Vida! If you change your avatar, you will get more responses. Check out the newbie thread to find out how. Late April in NJ isn't really off season. For most venues to give you an off season discount, your wedding would need to be January to March. If you can move the wedding to March, that might help with savings. There are some gems here and there, but $70pp with tax and service fees in NJ for 150 people will be hard. Hopefully Celia weighs in as she should have some good suggestions. The only place I can think of that might fit in that range is Pantagis in Scotch Plans, NJ, but that not exactly in the area you are looking.

I don't know much about NJ venues but I just wanted to chime in regarding price. We are in NYC and looked all over the place for that price range. We finally found a venue in the Bronx only because we opted for a brunch reception instead. We have a brunch buffet with a limited open bar (beer, wine, brunch cocktails). To lower your price you may want to consider options such as a daytime wedding, or a less popular night like a Thursday or something like that.

Agreed with @MzRosaLu. My venue is up North Jersey and I was able to get pricing under $70 but that's because it is a brunch daytime wedding on Saturday. I have full open bar and it includes the cake, linens, caterer, valet, and the open bar mentioned. So you may want to look into daytime options.

I know of one WW bride who was able to secure an unbelievable deal for a conventional banquet hall reception in NJ. Her name is Rosemary and she's pretty active here, so hopefully she'll jump in. She held her wedding at the Empire Club in Little Ferry (I think that's about an hour north of you). Their regular wedding packages are pretty much what you'd expect for NJ, but she was able to secure a non-wedding package with decent buffet options, and I believe PP charge was a little less than $40 (I don't think that included her alcohol package).

If you're interested, here's their link:

http://www.theempireclub.com/

PS: I can't give you my personal opinion of the venue as I've never been there.

I live on the shore and as far as I know, there isn't much if anything in that range. However, I'm getting married in Hunterton county and my caterer has a banquet hall in Phillipsburg, NJ. It's up north on the border of Easton, PA but their prices are excellent as is their food and service. If you're willing to head north their prices are great! For some reason their website is down https://www.weddingwire.com/biz/mariannas-phillipsburg/a8342c599e6406bf.html

I did everything at TCNJ, but DH and I met there, and I still teach part time, so it was meaningful for us. We supplied our own alcohol and only paid about $55 a head. It might be kind of weird if you don't have any connection to the school, but they have a gorgeous facility. Probably one of the only places to get everything under $70. 150 might be a little crowded, though-- I only had 100. Can you cut your guest list to 100 to afford an NJ venue?

ETA: Just realized it was about $71 pp with tax,grat, and room rentals.

Woe...just noticed your wedding date. You're just five months out. I wouldn't spend much more time looking for low pricing, Vida. You do need to secure a venue asap. Perhaps it's time to just bite the bullet and reduce your guest list. I know you don't want to, but you are in a time crunch.

Also, I'm not sure if April 29 qualifies as "off season" in the tri-state area. It's usually January, February, and March (although some venues will offer off season pricing on an April date if it's prior to Easter (which may give you the first weekend in April...maybe). Two days before May begins? I really don't think so.

Centerpiece, I didn't even notice the year...just asssumed she was looking for 2017.

How did you decide on the date, Vida? Unfortunately, you don't have a date until you have a venue.

Oy........that's a tough one. First, April is not really off season any more (even at the shore) ; January is. March is. April? No. Fridays are a little less, but not much.

This April is like tomorrow; to give you some perspective? I'm booked almost every weekend already, and we're usually one of the last vendors to be booked.

On the more reasonable end of the scale;

The Garden Vista Ballroom, in Passaic (Jim, their owner is a sweetheart and they have a 5000.00 special, BYOB). It's a historic landmark building and it's lovely.

The Westwood at Garwood; great staff, pretty rooms

The Spa at Lake Hird, Vernon (I think). Rustic, interesting

Valley Crest Farms in Lebanon (you'll need a caterer, but it's really reasonable and pretty)

You could also look at some of the hotels in Toms River and the area.

I'm going to tell you the same advice that everyone gives everyone when they don't have a huge budget; cut the guest list because at that price point? Well, you don't want to know what I think about the places that can meet it, because I've been in all of them (not specifically the ones mentioned, just all of them). In our area, things are expensive, and when you go to the lowest edge of what is out there, well.....quality suffers in every area; food, service, ambiance. I won't recommend any place I wouldn't go myself, and if I was going to host a party, I'd want to treat less people well rather than more people poorly. Until you've been to as many venues as I've been, you have no idea how poor 'poorly' can get.

It's time to go back to the drawing board and reimagine the plan. Less people, Thursday, March, Brunch....when you figure out that what you're looking for doesn't exist, it's time to look for something else. I'm not trying to be discouraging, but I just don't know that what you want to have can be done on what you want to spend, at least not in the way you imagine it.

My experience with the area is that you're going to have a tough time finding anything in that price range. What type of look and feel do you want? Are you able to do daytime/Friday night?

Have you looked at restaurants? With that guest list, you could book a whole restaurant. They are often less expensive than traditional wedding venues. And they are easier to budget for, because you're dealing with only one vendor for everything.

If you want a 100% DIY wedding, check out Pat's 30 Acres. It's only a couple miles from Belmar. My best friend got married there on October 3rd and I was her MOH. She paid $43/person and her menu consisted of chicken sliders, pulled pork brisket sandwiches, salad, rice, mixed veggies and their cocktail hour food (I wasn't there for that part since we were taking pictures). The venue is all outdoors, so if you have inclement weather like my friend did (her wedding happened during Hurricane Joaquin), you'll need to rent heaters and a tent. The guys who run this place are very laid back and easy to work with. They will prepare whatever menu items you want and based on your selections, will provide you with a price per person. My friend's menu wasn't that fancy, hence their price. Also, they are just getting into more weddings, so there's a good chance they will have your date available. They are a very offbeat wedding venue, so most brides skip over it as a possibility. My best friend just happens to be very offbeat, so this was a perfect spot for her

I suggest what the other PPs have said. In adding to what @Centerpiece said.. maybe early April you will find "off-season" pricing but really it's January-March. (Also Easter is early this year - the end of March)... You may also want to look at pushing the date out a year - planning a wedding now for April 2016 for that price range in NJ, I think is going to be very hard, unless you either reduce your guest list or move it to a weekday (vs Friday) -- just as other PPs have suggested.

Cut the guest list and look at really none traditional venues.

Plain and simple.

You can afford to feed 15 people REALLY well for 70$ a person. Also- April is like.. here. I"m already blissfully grateful by April I'll have my adult braces being removed.

Maybe you could come a little south for your wedding... I think the prices are a little (and I do mean a LITTLE) lower down here in South Jersey. I agree with Rosemary to ask for non-wedding packages. My venue put together a brunch for me and then added in the wedding cake. It came to $40pp with tax and gratuity. They have dinner wedding packages but they also have dinner banquet packages. If you give the venue coordinator your budget, they can tell you what they can do for the price. April isn't off season. I've seen winter discounts offered for late November through March.

I got married at Lakeside Manor in Gibbsboro, NJ for a very reasonable price. If you did a buffet dinner on a Friday in April the owner/caterer could probably accommodate you for 70pp including tax (not including alcohol). It's next to a lake, but it's not near the ocean.