All-Inclusive or DIY?

[snow_happy]

Hello everyone,

For those of you planning your wedding, did you go with an all-inclusive site that includes catering, linens, chairs, alcohol, etc. or did you piece everything together with different vendors and rent a location?

I''m thinking about booking a site which is a community center by the beach but then I will have to bring in everything myself since they don''t have any on-site wedding coordinators. I don''t really have any experience in event planning so am I going to be in over my head?

Any advice would be helpful.

Thanks

 

[JCJD]

There are costs and benefits to both. With an all-inclusive, everything is decided already (you can relax and focus on specifics instead of searching for vendors AND specifics), but you are restricted to those vendors associated with your site. With an a la carte location, you get to choose exactly who you want to be your caterer, your baker, etc, and might be able to save some cash at the same time, but you do have to put in that extra time and effort to find them and get who you want.

I passed up an all-inclusive (Holiday Inn banquet hall) because I wasn''t totally comfortable with their event coordinator. We ended up going with an unaffiliated location. He had lots of recommendations of vendors he''d worked with before, so that helped, and we weren''t stuck with a caterer who wasn''t quite our style. Our caterer is wonderful - great suggestions, wonderful food, her presentation is perfect for our reception''s "feeling", and she''s vegetarian. I''m vegetarian, and it''s very important to me that I get good food at my own wedding! We also weren''t stuck with a DJ, so we''re saving money by doing it ourselves - renting an amp and speakers for less than $100 versus a DJ for $400... Our baker is my girl friend''s mother. We had our choice of beverage caterers. We can decorate however we want to as long as we clean it up afterwards.

OK, long-winded way of saying, if you have the time, patience, persistence and ENERGY to find your own vendors, you will be very happy with a non-inclusive location. If you don''t want to have to think about where your tablecloths are coming from, go with an all-inclusive.

 

[AmberGretchen]

I think that the time available to plan is also important here. If I was getting married in six months I would definitely lean towards all-inclusive, but since I am looking at more like 2 years I feel like that gives me a lot more time to do things piecemeal. I am also into art projects and so I hope to incorporate that into the planning either way. I think for us though a lot of it will come down to price - it looks to me right now like we may be able to save a lot of money by going piecemeal, which would be a plus, and I also like the idea of having everything be a bit custom.

 

[flopkins]

I would have preferred a site that was at least partly inclusive, but those tended to be hotels, or almost cookie cutter places, and the place I ended up loving is an ''a la carte'' site, as they call it. It is definitely goingto be more expensive (we are bringing in tables, chairs, all the way down to the salt and pepper shakers) to bring in all the vendors, but you have the flexibility to select the ''perfect'' vendor for everything. However, price points will depend on what site you select, you might be able to find a gem somewhere for cheap! And that may bring the cost down.

If you have the time and energy to research vendors and want the flexibility, go for the DIY. If you want to save time and energy, but lose some control, definitely go with all-inclusive, or, you can just hire a coordinator to take of stuff for you!!

 

[heart prongs]

Our wedding was held in Gloucester, Mass. at a privately owned resort. They have an awesome restaurant, so they do the food and that''s pretty much it.

We brought in our own certified and insured bartender (they recommended him) and we bought all the alcohol -- huge savings!!! They did all the tables in terms of linens and place settings...we could have rented chair covers, but my husband said they reminded him of dropcloths, so we nixed that idea!!!

When we found out floral centerpieces would cost at least $40 per table for something I wasn''t all that jazzed over, we decided to do our own...for $10 per table we had hurricane vases 1/3 filled w/ natural colored sand, light blue and clear sea glass, starfish and sandollars, and a pillar candle in the middle...we did smaller versions of these for the cocktail tables. We named the tables as well after local beaches and painted the names on a little "message in the bottle".

We hired our own florist, photographer, cake, dj, and made our own CD favors...didn''t need a limo b/c I stayed there the night before and our ceremony was right on the deck overlooking the backshore.

The savings came in with the DIY centerpieces, alcohol, and transportation...I really enjoyed making the wedding ours...I got pretty emotional when I walked into the reception room to check it out all set up about 3 hours before the wedding -- it was the most amazing feeling because I was really proud of what my now-husband and I, along with my mom, my sister, and my best friend had accomplished in a year''s time!

It really depends upon whether it would be an enjoyable thing for you to plan, and of course, what is offered in terms of choices if it''s an all-inclusive type of package.

Have fun, and if you have any other ?s, feel free to ask me!!!

klr

 

[bar01]

We are having our wedding and reception on a public beach and rented the beach shelter. We use a combination of people.

1) Our own food caterer
2) Our own music players
3) An event planner who will provide flowers, shelter decorations, wedding arch, and a few tables/chairs. This person will also coordinate the others.

 

[snow_happy]

Thanks for all the good advice and suggestions!

After hearing what everyone had to say I think it''s so nice to be able to walk into the reception area and know that it reflects the couple!

I''ve found that most nice reception sites that are just event rental locations are not certified to have ceremonies as well. Are you ladies getting married in the church? Or finding a location where you can have both the ceremony and the reception?

Thanks again!!

 

[zoobiedo]

For my first wedding, the reception was at a quaint Inn in New Hampshire. The Inn caters so I used them (yummy) and their tables, tablecloths, chairs, china and silverware. I then hired a baker for the cake, florist, bartender and brought in my own liquor. I also hired my own band, of course. The Innkeepers were fabulous caterers so that was a HUGE plus. Being able to supply the other elements really helped with the cost factor and they were my personal choices instead of being dictated to me. I highly recommend this over the facilities that provide everything for you.

 

[JessesGrl]

I found a site that I love...w/excellent food and reputation. We got top shelf open bar for 5 hours, centerpieces ( a dozen roses our choice of colors, in a rose bowl), the cake ( they use our favorite local bakery and we get to pick the cake), food, cocktail hour and chocolate covered strawberries, plus wine and champagne served butler style during dinner for 116$ per person. It actually worked out REALLY well b/c the cake came from a bakery we know and love and the flowers included are my fave ( roses) and I loved the "feel" of the venue...exactly what I wanted. Plus now I do not have to worry about the flowers and cake myself!!!!

 

[flopkins]

snow_happy - my ceremony and reception will take place at different locations, but both are near each other... only a 5 min walk/drive, so that worked out well for us... it would''ve been nice to have everything at the same spot, but we are both Christian, and wanted a church ceremony. (the chapel we''re having our ceremony at is multi-denominational however)