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Does your venue include tables and chairs and lighting? (Lighting could be a big deal for a night time event) Does it have an area for the bar? (also, a way to keep the kegs cold?)
Are the caterers dropping off the food or staying to serve it? I think you're supposed to tip if they stay and help.
By the way, I'd hestitate to plan on "turning it into a BYOB" after the drinks run out unless there's a nearby place to buy alcohol. People won't know if they should bring booze or not and it could get awkward if only a couple of people bring something but everyone's drinking it (I'm thinking of some of my college friends who won't care where the booze is coming from and my poor Aunt Sally who will have thought ahead and brought wine and then not get any).
Good luck! Sounds like you've thought of pretty much everything :)
Depending on how many of your guests are wine drinkers, I think you might need more wine (or, at least, more towards the 20 bottles you mentioned, versus the 10 bottles you mentioned).
I’m not familiar with that catering company – what exactly do you get for $12? That sounds like a good price, but if you are really looking for the cheapest way, you should probably do BBQ for less than $12 a person, especially if you have a Costco or BJ’s near you, where you could buy meat. There are lots of things like macaroni salad and cole slaw that could be made the night before, so you wouldn’t have to cook that much the day of the dinner. Mac and Cheese can be made earlier in the day, and kept warm in an oven on low temp. Up here, we can get a good salad mix that is big enough to feed 8-10 people for $4.99 at both the grocery store and BJ's.
Lemonade is super easy to make, and Costco/BJ’s usually sell big bags of lemons for cheap.
You could also ask some people (family, good friends) to bring a plate of cookies, or a pie or other favorite dessert. If you did that, you could then save that $100-$150 you’ve budgeted.
Check with the catering, sometimes they have weird things about not bringing in outside food, which can really drive the cost up.
Also check the plates and silverware. We were planning on doing something similar to you, but then realized BBQ = need for sturdy plate and really strong silverware. The cost of decent plates and silverware actually pushed us over our budget (and arranging for tables, chairs, drinks and keeping it all the appropriate temperatures, and of course decorating...)... Now we are doing the whole shebang at a fancy restaurant where they are handling ALL the details and guess what?! It will be less expensive this way! Who knew we could have an event at a very nice restaurant for less than an outdoor BBQ!?!?!
The venue is just our neighborhood clubhouse. It is kinda like a house with a little living area with a fireplace and sofas and then a large dining area with 5 big tables and chairs. There is also a back deck with about 5 tables and chairs. I am really not sure if we should worry about decorating it. It has normal lighting, do I need something special?
The clubhouse is ours for the night, there aren't any rules so it doesn't matter about brining our own food.
Sonny's is a southern BBQ chain that my FI and I love. While we would love to try to make our own food, we really love Sonny's food and love the fact that we don't have to make it! We also love the idea of pot-luck but too many of our guests are from out of town.
Here is more details about the Sonny's BBQ catering menu:
All Catering Includes:
We would have our choice of three meats (pulled pork, smoked turkey, and chicken probably) for $10.99 pp delivered or $9.59 if we pick it up.
@HHausman - Good point, I forgot to include ice because there is no ice maker at the clubhouse, we would have to go pick up a few large bags.
We are really don't want to look cheap and only provide a small amount of alcohol, but we also don't want a huge all night party (we will be leaving early regardless). Maybe we do 1 keg but more wine.
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My FI and I will be paying for our rehearsal dinner. We have a couple of options, but right now we are trying to figure out costs to see which option will be cheapest and meet our needs best. Here is was the best option looks like right now, but I am not sure if our budget is correct.
The rehearsal dinner will include about 30 guests (wedding party and immediate family). After dinner is complete around 7 pm, we will invite our OOT guests to come for drinks and dessert (could be up to 80 guests).
Budget:
On the low budget side this is about $1,250. On the high budget side this is around $1,500.
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