Ceremony & reception details

My future husband and I are looking at various options for our reception. We know some people with a beautiful property that has a massive gorgeous waterfall on it. We are contemplating hiring marquees and everything else we need and host our reception there. The other option is going with a restaurant/function centre. I can’t afford a wedding planner so I know doing a reception on the property would be more work but the idea really appeals to us both. 

Now really the question is cost. Will it be more expensive to do it ourselves on the property? and is so do you all think it will be much more? Out guestlist is 200 and our budget is approx $40,000 not including the honeymoon.

your thoughts are appreciated.

Hi Caryn,

It sounds like the private property would be a wonderful place to celebrate your marriage. Depending on your location, you might be hard pressed to find a function centre that you really like that can comfortably hold that number of people. IMO you could certainly have your wedding on the property within that budget, it just comes down to research. You will need to be prepared to get multiple quotes on EVERYTHING to get the best deal. You will also need a good support team to help you get everything organised – be prepared to delegate.

You will probably find that a lot of marquee places have the option to supply all of your table and chairs, linen, dance floor etc they are almost a one stop shop and tend to offer discounts if you order everything through them and will often have links to a decorator to help with lighting etc inside the marquee.

You can also save a fair bit on your alcohol by buying in bulk and having your caterer serve it for you.

One of the issues you might encounter though is a power source – but you could discuss this with your potential suppliers.

Good luck!!

Depending on what kind of wedding you want to achieve for your wedding will affect what is cheaper.

Consider that if you set up a marquee etc etc, you will need to hire the place settings and also hire the chefs and wait staff, who will be charged to you by the caterers.

For our wedding, we looked at function venues, but also empty function spaces (where we need to hire everything from funiture to cutlery to the wait staff) and generally, the latter has come in more expensive because of all the saff that is required. I’ve looked up marquees for previous work functions and they can run quite expensive, especially for the numbers that you are considering.

I think the property sounds amazing, so if you do end up wanting to hire a marquee and going with that option, you might need to be flexible in how it’s set up and perhaps consider a buffet style event to reduce the number of staff you need. Also for buffets, the food tends to be pre-cooked and kept warm at the event, meaning you won’t need to pay for chefs either.

Hope this helps

Hi

I don’t want to be a debbie downer but have you consider the legal ramifications of holding it on someone elses property?

Basically when you hire a venue you are covered by their insurance….if you are borrowing a location most insurers will not cover you under the owners insurance policy. A lot of vendors will also not work at a location not covered by insurance (it is not safe for them to let their staff do so).

That said you will save a heap in venue fees for not using a function centre however suppliers may charge more to deliver if the property is out of a city/town.

Basically I would get quotes for doing both and see what works out best.

thank-you for the comments and suggestions. Most helpful!