Wedding venue cost

This wildly varies, depending on area, venue style, type of food being served (steak will be more expensive, BBQ will usually be cheaper), what's included in your drink package (just beer and wine is usually cheaper than a full open bar), number of guests you plan to host, and more. Venues that offer their own catering often have a minimum number of guests that you need to pay for, so be sure to ask venues whether they have any minimums that you need to be aware of, as well as factoring in tax and also gratuity for any servers. The day of the week that the event will be hosted on may also change the price - hosting your wedding on a weekday or off-season date is usually cheaper than a Saturday during peak season. Ceremony and reception costs (which usually just include use of the space) can range from a couple hundred dollars, up to a few thousand dollars. The quickest way to cut down costs is usually to reduce your guest list, since food and beverage is usually priced per person. It's tough to give specific numbers, since it depends on a lot of different factors, and as well as what you're looking for.

View Quoted Comment Thank you for the info, our guest count is 80 people in California Bay Area. Trying to go as cheap as possible but still have a nice venue!

Echoing Lisa above. This can vary soooooo much due to which city/town they’re in, what products and services they include, whether it’s by any landmarks or scenic views, what kind of food they serve, etc, etc, etc.


As far as budgeting though, I’ve been told before a good rule of thumb is to try to keep your venue, food, and beverage total around no more than 50% of your max budget if you can help it so that there’s room for other items.

Agree with above- it can vary so much! For example, our catering (including open bar) cost $120/person in New Orleans. My friend’s catering cost $55/person in Iowa. If it helps, the average cost for catering in California is $70/person.

View Quoted Comment

Makes sense! Do you have a max budget figured out for your venue? Check out the Venue tab here on WeddingWire - you can filter by price and find some good options that way. Also consider looking at non-traditional venues (such as, a historical library, city aquarium, scenic state park, community center banquet room, etc), as those may be cheaper than traditional venues.

In your catering budget, I would factor in costs of labor. Buffet servers will prep the food on chafers, serve the food, keep the reception tidy, bus dirty dishes, and take out garbage. I would confirm they do complete end of night venue clean-up. I would recommend staff for all weddings including casual weddings. You don't want guests to work/ clean your wedding, nor yourself in your good wedding attire.

The Bay area may be comparable to NY unfortunately. I don't know about rental fees, but all inclusives start at $150pp years ago. Maybe you can find artist galleries to rent in Oakland. Libraries, community halls, VFWs are solid indoor options. The park service may offer reasonable permits for outdoor. Good luck.

It depends on the area where venues varies and make sure that you have a budget that will cover the type of venue you want that would include food etc.

This varies as others have said.


Our venue was $210 per person. We are in an upscale area on the water. This included cocktail hour w various stations, plated dinner, top shelf open bar, champagnes toast, a Coordinator, and valet parking. It also included rooms for our parents the night of wedding and complimentary one year anniversary stay for bride and groom.. Everything was lovely and the service was impeccable.

Our wedding had a minimum spend of 10k for venue, food and drink on a Monday evening. original dates looked at were waaaay too much: Thursday evening was 18k and Saturday was 30k.

There’s also the service fees and tax, which may not be included in the minimum you have to meet. So my all-inclusive venue, for example, has an overall minimum that we have to spend including food, beverage, venue fees, etc, and then within that we also have to meet a per person cost on food and beverage. That’s the most expensive part, though, so with our food and beverage costs we’re meeting our overall minimum without even taking the venue fees into account. But then on top of that we have the 22% service fee and sales tax, which doesn’t count toward either of our minimums. So just make sure we you’re reaching out to venues you know what extra fees are involved and don’t pick one that the minimum is right at your max budget.