Wedding Package vs Do it yourself?

Question

I am planning a wedding in May for around 300 people (hopefully less if I can get the guest list down). I have friends that will do the catering and alcohol (so will save there)...but was wondering if after the cost of set up/venue hire etc. it will work out cheaper.

Or..am I better of just going for a Wedding Package. Most 4-5 star hotels will do it for $80 - $100 all inclusive for a three-course menu and 5 hour drinks package.

Is it worth the hassle or does it end up working out the same (price wise)?

I really want to keep the cost down otherwise we are going to end up as broke newlyweds!!

Please Help!

Answer 1

let people help you. personal is better. they must really love you to want to help out. get your friends and family involved. it will be alot more fun in the end.

Answer 2

A few things to keep in mind when you are looking at a package. Just because the package looks appealing it is not always what it appears. There are numerous additional cost that you might not know about. If you choose a different cake type there is an additional charge, upgraded alcohol is an additional charge, changing the menu is another charge. Then of course you have the big 20-22% Service charge and tax. Look at your package now the price has skyrocketed.

So check out pricing about do it yourself with all the rental you will need. If you need any help you can email me

Answer 3

If you have friends that will cut you deals on catering and alchohal then go that route if you are looking to save money. Make sure when looking at venues you select one that allows you to work with your own caterer and does not charge you a corkage fee otherwise you can get stuck with extra cost any ways.

For the most part I think the package are not good deals, true they are more worry free cause they handle all the details but the $80 - $100 per person cost is base cost, once you customize that package to be what you want you will probably find it costs you way more then what was quoted.

Answer 4

You would have to work out the actual bottom line of your friends doing it vs the hotel. Personally, I would do the hotel for several reasons. One being, you want your friends to enjoy the day, and more importantly REMAIN friends after the wedding. If something goes horribly wrong, you don't want to have to blame your friends. If you have it at a hotel, there is no setting up you have to worry about, or cleaning up after. They usually will have a wedding coordinator at the hotel that handles all the messy details so you don't have to worry about it. Plus, don't under estimate the amount of alcohol 300 wedding guests will drink. That alone would be worth having it at a hotel for the open bar. I'm sure you will get the number under 300, we started out with almost 275, and have gotten it down to around 210.

Answer 5

if you can't cut that list to less than 125 people than your better off to do a package not only is just about everything included you won't have to run around like a lunatic trying to make sure that every body is taken care of and all is going well. plus when you do it your self there are lots of hidden details and decisions that rear their ugly head at the last minute so if your going to have a big wedding than i'd say do it so you can relax and enjoy the festivities your self .i did my own wedding and it was fun but we only had about 75 people and this was 14 years ago and it ended up costing way more than planned at with doing it our selves it was not as much fun as it could have been if we were to have had it somewhere else...good luck if your gonna have that many people your sure to at least break even money wise because most people give money anyway at a wedding , i don't mean that in a materialistic or greedy way either it's just fact

Answer 6

It really depends on what kind of wedding you want.
When I got married, my husband and I had the exact argument. My husband and I both worked in the hospitality industry, knew of lots of people who could help out, etc..
But, we wanted to enjoy ourselves and have our friends join us without having them work at our wedding. We got married at a bed & breakfast, that did a wonderful job. We got married on the grounds by the waterfall. We then had our reception in a tent that they had set up on the terrace. They did everything, decorations, food, etc...
We had a small wedding though, 55 people. We wanted those at our wedding who were our very good friends and family that we actually spent time with. We could have easily had 300 guests, but a lot of them would be family that I see maybe once a year. So we decided to invite people we see often. I did have some out of town guests, they stayed in the near by town that is a great little tourist town, by the water, with lots of B&B's. We and the wedding party and both our parents stayed at the B&B which held our wedding. They fed us breakfast in the morning!
Our wedding with everything included, dress, tuxs, booze, food, gifts, accomodations, pictures, flowers came to just under $10,000.00.
We were able to put in our own personal touches, we did the music, we made our wedding favors and put disposible cameras on all the tables.
There are lots of great places out there, $100 per person seems like a lot to me. You can try and save money other ways, pictures, flowers, favors, invitations, dress, etc..
Not knowing where you are from, I'm not sure what is in your area, but I am sure there are alternatives to going to a hotel and spending $100 per guest.
Good luck!

Answer 7

My husband and I planned our wedding on our own, four years ago. It turned out very well, on a small budget.
We were married in a ballroom that was built in 1902. Because the vendor wasn't a hotel we were able to choose our own caterer which saved us a lot of money.
We also made "Wedding Mix" CDs of our favorite music (as opposed to hiring a DJ/Band), which also served as wedding favors. We compromised in areas that weren't so important (Bought flowers the day after prom, and made my own boutonnieres)
in order to splurge on others (like a 3 tiered, hand shelled raspberry/vanilla bean cake)

The day will be over before you know it! Congratulations!

Answer 8

If you can get some of your friends to help in making and doing the set ups and decorations and just pay someon eto serve the liquor. and it will be a whole lot cheaper than the package. And also have disposible cameras set out ont eh tables and tell your guests to feel free to take as many pictures as possible of th ewedding and reception and when it's used up have a box where they can put them. That way you will have lots of pictures.

Answer 9

I would prefer Mac.. I don't know why. I just feel as if they'd be a tad more experienced and professional. Also I agree, you may want to do a test run with a particular makeup artist if your wallet allows for it. ;) Or actually I think makeup applic is free if you buy a certain amt of makeup. I personally know this woman at Prescriptives, and so I would do mine there. (It's in Holt Renfrew)

Answer 10

More help means less stessed bride. What's better for you? Being happily broke, or saving a nickel and becoming a stressed out Bridezilla?