Perfect venue... or little cost?

Enchantica

Hey all, normally you will find me loitering around the competition forum but I'm thinking about the wedding again so I'm back here now! Quite confused about what to do. Me and OH are thinking 2011 for the wedding but we may be a bit tight for money. In August 2010 we have to have found a new place to live so we want to buy somewhere. Got £15k saved up so far for the deposit. Still got a bit to go, hoping to save up another £10k by that time. The £15k is inheritance that me and OH have from family so we haven't actually saved anything ourselves yet

Anyway, we found the perfect wedding venue. We are both into metal, I am quite "gothic" I guess so when I stumbled upon "The Caves" in Edinburgh I knew it was perfect, OH agreed. Then we got sent the price list... £2700 for venue hire on the Saturday night. £1625 for Mon-Thur. £2175 for Friday. We were wanting the Saturday because we think more of our guests would be able to make it, some will have a 4 hour journey to get to us. So... not sure what to do. We LOVE the venue but it seems a bit expensive. The food doesn't have options either (although not many places seem to do that, it's all set menus), and is expensive too. So we are looking at roughly £5k or a bit more, for venue hire + food. It's 80 guests minimum for the sit down meal That's the rules of the venue, not us. We would happily have around 30 guests for a meal. But not allowed it seems.

So we don't know what to do. The wedding would hopefully be 2011, if not, then 2012. Do we go with our extorionate but perfect venue? Both of us want somewhere special, that says "us". Neither of us want just any old function room. I am quite willing to scrimp on all other areas of the wedding. I am having 2 dresses, at a cost of £200 for both of them together. I do love ebay! And I will be making the stationery, using artificial flowers for the bridesmaids and me etc so there shouldn't be too many other costs. We already have a photographer friend doing the photography as a wedding gift. And the cake will be home made by a family member.

Just so confused right now. It seems like a lot of money, but isn't your wedding supposed to be one of the best days of your life?

ema_o

The venue sounds gorgeous, and in your shoes I would try and work out a way of having it, even if it means compromising on something else.

Is there a minimum number for the meal if you have it any day other than a Saturday? If you would be happy with 30 it seems a bit silly to pay for more than double that, plus with the money you'd save on the food and the venue it might make it all more affordable.

You will probably find that people are happy to take days off more than you expect, I have done it a few times for Friday weddings and haven't minded a bit. As for the travelling, we are off to a wedding in Sweden in the summer and I am really looking forwards to seeing the sights as well as to the wedding!

MsChazzer

Have you see Marlin's Wynd in Edinburgh, it's cheaper and very gothic. Might have a smaller capacity though, I know it's 100 max for a buffet and then obviously less for sit down meal.

Enchantica

Hi there, thank you for your responses. I think I will try to enquire about getting a lower minimum for the meal because that is really bumping up the price for us, I think our maximum for the meal would be around 40 people, then around 100-150 for the reception.

It's funny that you mentioned Marlin's Wynd MsChazzer, because I was just looking at that! They sent me an email with information regarding it today. And it's only £750 for the hire for full day. And no minimum for the meal. It is smaller though, as you said it's 100 max for the buffet. May have to cut out a few guests, which could be done I'm sure. I was also checking out the place connected with Marlin's Wynd, I think it's the Hellfire club or something? They do ghost tours and murder mysterys. I was thinking that would be pretty awesome for a wedding reception. I've been to a few weddings and found them a bit boring, because the music wasn't quite what I'm into. I don't want my guests to be bored too, because I don't think they will all really be into the music that me and OH like. Although we were going to make sure there was a selection so everyone would like something.

Also, the Marlin people offer a tarot reader, fire breathing, snake handling etc! At a price of course, but still pretty cheap. I would love a lot of that. Although OH really isn't as keen. I guess I just want the wedding to be that bit different, and not boring!

cuthbert_the_octopus

Ooooh I would love to goto a murder mystery wedding ..... but dont tell the guests, it will be a total surprise when someone 'dies'!

sunshinejoclaire

that MarlinsWynd is beautiful! It looks like a bar in Prague I adore that me and OH considered as a venue.