Wedding Blog
Before we started to look into venues, we were well prepared by determining our budget and guest list first. Knowing the who and how many of the guest list, plus the total price we could reasonably afford, was such a huge help in narrowing down the possible locations.
I depended on the internet for the bulk of our venue research. Lots of hotels and popular banquet facilities have their room rental fees, menu packages and availability calendars on their websites. With a few clicks of the mouse, I was on my way to finding the perfect venue for our reception.
Knowing our numbers, most of our initial research resulted in a massive elimination of possible venues. Some were unavailable on our date and others were too big or too small. But the main factor for scratching venues off of our list was the cost. After all, we are looking to have a marriage that lasts a lifetime, not a wedding that results in a lifetime of debt.
According to CostofWedding.com, the average cost of a wedding in our zip code is between $19,723 and $32,871.
Call me naive, but spending that much on a wedding in our area seems a little much to me. Don’t get me wrong, though. I know it’s possible to spend that much, but I’m just not willing to do it. I think treating our 175-200 guests to a decent meal, a great, celebratory atmosphere and an entertaining evening can be done for a lot less.
So, our attention steered away from fancy hotel ballrooms and large banquet only, “wedding factory”-type facilities and to the budget-friendly locations farther away from the Pittsburgh Metro area. Even when venturing closer to my hometown, which is in Lawrence County, PA, finding a decent value was difficult.
I called around to a few places and left messages. I also emailed when I could. I started to get frustrated when I got no response. Why do some places do that? Here we were with money to spend and venues in our price range are ignoring our calls and emails. Was the venue booked for our day? Would it kill you to send us an email or pick up the phone and tell us? Then I started thinking it was me. Did I say something rude on the phone? Did I come across bridezilla-ish in my email? Was our money no good to them? Once the fog of frustration cleared, I realized it was poor customer service on their part and scratched them off the list. Customer service and attentiveness is important from the beginning to the end. For me, it’s a deal maker or breaker.
I was finally able to gather information from other locations, crossed a few higher-priced candidates off the list and settled on a venue to check out in person.
Mr. DE and I, along with my mom, decided to meet with the event coordinator of a bar/restaurant/banquet facility* at a nearby marina. I found out about it through an advertisement in a Pittsburgh wedding magazine. Their website didn’t give a lot of details, but the photos looked nice and the description was promising.
I guess you could say it wasn’t all it was cracked up to be. And by “cracked,” I mean cracked walls and windows. It. Was. Ugly. It was fraying carpet and chipping paint. It was a dance floor with chunks missing. It was yellowing walls and ceiling tiles from years of cigarette smoke. And, of course, that also meant an awful ashtray-like odor in the carpet and the chairs. We tried to stay long enough to speak with the coordinator, but the appearance and smell of the room changed our minds. There was no way we would want to celebrate our marriage in a room we could barely tolerate for 5 minutes, no matter how attractive the price. My poor mother’s eyes were watering from the smell. We left in record time.
We were disappointed, and hopes of finding a reasonably priced venue seemed impossible, but we didn’t give up. Stay tuned for the rest of our venue search adventure.
What problems did you encounter during your venue search? Did you get frustrated or feel hopeless?
* Because I feel bad about calling out this venue, the place shall remain nameless.
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Share this post: The Deviled Egg Venue Search Pt. 1
There’s no way I could handle a smoke smell - we had been so concerned about our venue smelling because the first day we visited happened to be a few days after New Years Eve and they had allowed a cigar tent addition to the room. Ugh. Thank goodness the coordinator convinced me to come back in a week - the smell was totally gone! I can’t imagine a room after YEARS of smoke though. 
Oh, Miss Deviled Egg, I am so excited to follow your venue search and find out where you chose! I am getting married in Lawrence County and my reception is in Mercer County, so this is very close to home for me! I know how difficult it can be to find a venue outside of downtown Pittsburgh. You don’t see any places north of the city advertised in local wedding magazines or on The Knot. I had to do my own research, too!
I agree with you about customer service being the most important factor in a wedding vendor. All of the vendors I have chosen share that quality. If vendors can’t bother to treat a potential client properly, it will only get more difficult to deal with them closer to your wedding when they have your money and no longer need to “impress” you.
I ran into issues based on my own requirements, our super small budget and our small guest count of 60. I constantly found food minimums and guest minimums that didn’t work for us. Either the places were to way too big for 60 people or way too small. After numerous un-returned phone calls, from all kinds of vendors, I pretty much labeled our wedding the non-money maker. Really, who wants a measly sixty guests on a Saturday in August when they could give that date to 150-200 guest wedding. But I agree with the original post - vendors, I know you are trying to run a business and make money but a simple two minute phone call or email to say you can’t accomodate my wedding makes an entire world of difference when it comes to what I will tell others about your business. Thankfully we did find a nice place with good prices and the whole place is mine for the entire day.
That place sounds horrible!!! I’m sorry that you had such a rough time finding a venue!
Wow, I hear you. Finding a venue was the most (and probably only) traumatic part of planning the wedding. I got so tired of thinking about it, but knew we needed the right spot. I hated every minute of the venue search.
We went with a restaurant banquet hall, which was perfect for us. It wasn’t outdoors, like we had hoped, but the space was free and we didn’t have to worry about rentals, staffing, etc. We also found theater lobbies to be reasonably priced, beautiful, and the coordinators were experienced. After we had put down our deposit, a friend got married in a park in the most perfect place for nearly nothing. We had dismissed a park wedding because there were so many rules and possibilities of public nuisances, but they picked a secluded picnic area (rather than “wedding area”) and avoided those problems.
Right there with you DE. We looked a few places just like that- and they were technically more than we wanted to spend.
It took us months and months of searching all over our area to finally settle on a place that is AMAZING, but we did bend the budget a bit to fit it.
Like you, my goal is to spend less than the average in our area on our wedding. It helps that we are only inviting 60 or so guests.
We’re right in the middle of venue selections as well, and I’ve figured out several different types to consider:
1. The All Inclusive - these places are great because there is little to DIY in terms of pulling together vendors. They will either have a set list of approved vendors, or will actually do everything for you (like a vineyard or inn). Usually these are the most expensive, but the least hassle.
2. The Put-it-together-yourself Hall Rental - literally, you just rent the space and have to go find chair rentals, table linens, bartenders, etc. Much more work to pull it all together, but you can save a lot of money by buying your own beer/wine etc.
3. The Restaurant Reception - they don’t charge you to rent the physical space, service staff, or tables/chairs, and you know the food is good. Often decor is already very nice. In the end, it’s usually the lowest cost option. Ceremony-only fees for church, park, historical buildings are usually not bad.
Current desire: go with option 3! We have called our favorite restaurants in town and their Saturday night minimums are at the very most $12k for in-town Atlanta.
Good luck!
i had never heard of costofwedding.com, so i went there to take a peek. i was fully prepared for it to be about the same as yours if not a little less. uhhh.. “On average, couples that live in (My Hometown) spend between $23,489 and $39,148 for their wedding. This does not include cost for a honeymoon or engagement ring.” keep in mind i live in a suburban/almost rural area. that is just craziness.
It’s not you! I’m constantly amazed at how many vendors act like I’m doing them a diservice (or actually never respond) by my contacting them! Don’t you want my money?! I’m amazed by the crappy level of customer service out there.
Anyway, we only visited two places during our venue search. One was my “dream” location, a quirky museum in downtown Baltimore. The other, was a lovely historic house near where my parents live. Since the house was $2,000 less than the museum, it was a no-brainer, so I cancelled the rest of my appointments. The venue isn’t what I was thinking, as I’m more of a modern type of gal, but I really fell in love with it and could see our wedding happening there. I also knew there was no way I’d ever find such a lovely venue for so cheap anywhere else, especially one that rents Chivari chairs for only $2.50 each!
I think costofwedding.com is full of crap. I put in where i live and it said it was cheaper here than where we’re getting married - which is totally not the case, i can assure you.
luckily i found a vendor on my 2nd inquiry via a best of vendor list on theknot, unfortunately what i wasn’t prepared for was the lack of patience and condescending attitude of vendor she seemed irritated with my lack of knowledge and suprisingly annoyed with my fresh just engaged positive outlook (i guess she was so used of bridezillas it actually bugged her that I wasn’t)
Honestly all i could remember from my contact with her (we’e only met once) was incessant need to remind me of all the legalities and “do not dare do on”our property rules, it just left me with a very nervous feeling because she just kept reiteritating the rules like and has scared the crap out of me.
why did i book? well, i knew it was the place for us, 1930’s merchants manor and it gave me goosebumps when i saw it in person. it truly spoke to me, however, i hope i caught her on a bad day and that i will be dealing with her assistant in the future.
I’m from Pittsburgh too and you’ve got me utterly stumped for this location! I can’t wait to see where you chose. We too were disappointed and appalled at how many venues had horrible customer service. I even had one place, which shall remain namelss, blame the (at the time) week ago power outage from Hurricane Ike’s remains for not getting back to me for 4 weeks!!
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Mrs. Deviled Egg, Pittsburgh
Age and Occupation: 27, Public Relations
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 28, Accounting
Engagement Date: December 24, 2007
Wedding Date: May, 2009
Blogging Since: October 21, 2008
Venue: Historic auditorium and meeting hall in one of Pittsburgh's commuter cities
About Me: I am obsessed with all things crafty, especially scrapbooking, knitting, jewelry-making & cake decorating. I also love being an aunt, wrapping presents, watching football (Go Steelers!), shopping at yard sales and consignment stores, procrastinating, singing and learning to play the guitar. When it comes to wedding planning, I'm excited about working on DIY projects and finding creative ways to stay under budget. Of course, nothing is more exciting to me than knowing that the wonderful Mr. Deviled Egg will be my husband.
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