Ashleysbrideguide.com

One of the first questions we asked ourselves when we got engaged was how much we are going to spend for the wedding. I thought setting up a budget was quick and easy. It actually turned out to be a long process that requires a lot of research for both of us who knew so little about wedding budgets.

There are many elements in a wedding. Setting up a budget not only requires coming up with a single number, but several numbers for each element. How much of your total budget will go to food and beverage, flowers and decor, photography, entertainment, etc?

There are lot of wedding budget tools on and offline that can help. But there’s one important feature missing on most of these budget tools. They don’t factor in your priorities. I learned that setting your priorities is very important in coming up with a budget breakdown. While most tools recommend allotting around 30% to 50% of the total budget to reception, our reception (including venue fee) turned out to be almost 75% of our total budget. Crazy, isn’t it? Well, to us, good food and a beautiful venue that requires minimal decor (one way to save) top our priority list.

These are the steps I followed to create our wedding budget:

Read on…

We finally decided and booked our venue!  We’re getting married at Belle Mer in Newport, Rhode Island on May 22, 2010.

I have fallen in love with the place the first time I saw it online.  We knew that the place will cost more than we were willing to spend on a venue.  But when we came for a visit, John loved it and I fell more in love with it.  After a few months (yes, months) of thinking it over, we decided to book the place.  Now, our biggest task is yet to come - how to plan our wedding within our budget, when the venue and catering takes almost 75% of that budget and only 25% left for everything else.

The Chanler is located right by Easton’s beach so the view is just magnificent.  It is a quaint little mansion.  Wedding ceremonies are held in one of the two manicured lawns and receptions are held outside in the Terrace.  The Terrace is not that big so the venue allows only up to 80 guests.  If you have more than that, the reception can be extended into the dining room which means you will have to rent the whole place.  And that is way out of our budget.  We didn’t stay long as soon as we learned that we have to rent the whole place to accommodate our number of guests.

If you are having a party for 80 or less or you have a huge budget, I think the Chanler is a beautiful place for an intimate affair.  And it’s perfect for beach lovers as it is just a few steps away from the beach!

Info as of December 2008 for a 2010 event:

Ceremony site fee: $800
Reception site fee: none
Capacity: up to 80, more than 80 needs to rent the whole place
Minimum: $8,000 food and beverage
Catering: $135+/guest
Bar: $65/5hr/guest
Tax: 8%
Service charge: 20% added to the bill

*Accuracy of information above is not guaranteed. Contact the venue for a more accurate quote. For venue comparison, click here.

Other Venues:
Venue Saga #1: Wequassett Resort, Cape Cod
Venue Saga #2: Belle Mer, Newport
Venue Saga #3: Hyatt Harborside, Boston
Venue Saga #4: Palm House, Brooklyn

Venue Saga Sequel:
Venue Saga #5: Castle Hill Inn, Newport

Castle Hill Inn is a gorgeous venue situated on a 40-acre peninsula giving you a much-needed seclusion from the hustle and bustle of downtown Newport.  The ocean and small rivers surround almost the whole property.  It is a good four miles south of downtown Newport, but the scenic drive was just breathtaking.  We went down to tour Castle Hill Inn just at the tail end of the winter storm and we were in awe of what we saw on our way there.  The waves were crashing against the rocks and “steam” was coming from the water.  It was foggy and visibility out to the water is low, but it just added mystery to the beautiful seascape.  Castle Hill Inn boasts of 35 beautiful Victorian and classic seaside guestrooms.  Unfortunately, since they only have so little, accommodation discounts for wedding guests are not available.

Castle Hill Inn only holds one wedding per day from April to November.  They do not host weddings during the colder months.  The advantages of hosting one wedding a day is that they allow you to set the time and there is no chance you will see another bride at your wedding.

They only have one venue for weddings.  Receptions are held in a tent that can hold up to 250 guests for a seated dinner.  The tent is attached to the Chalet where the band/DJ is set up, an area where your guests can lounge around or vendors can eat.  The spacious 2-bedroom bridal suite is on the 2nd floor.

If Castle Hill Inn fits your budget, I HIGHLY recommend it.  Nell, the event sales manager was very sweet.  She responds very quickly even when she’s not in the office.  She remembered that I live in NY and John lives in Boston, and she followed-up with me during the winter storm.  She was very thoughtful and accommodating.

Info as of December 2008 for a 2010 event:

Ceremony site fee: $1,500
Reception site fee: included in Saturday packages; $3000 for other days
Capacity: up to 250
Minimum: 100+ guests
Catering: $175+/guest
Bar: $32+/4hr/guest; $8/guest addl hr
Kid menu: $35, ages 12 and under
Vendor menu: $35
Tax: 8%
Service charge: 20% added to the bill

*Accuracy of information above is not guaranteed. Contact the venue for a more accurate quote. For venue comparison, click here.

Other Venues:
Venue Saga #1: Wequassett Resort, Cape Cod
Venue Saga #2: Belle Mer, Newport
Venue Saga #3: Hyatt Harborside, Boston
Venue Saga #4: Palm House, Brooklyn

Venue Saga Sequel:
Venue Saga #6: The Chanler, Newport