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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Wedding Venue Cost -AIBU or just tight?

30 replies

Boys2mam · 16/09/2010 19:40

I genuinely don't know if I am or not.

DP and I have decided to get married (Smile). We are to marry in a registry office and are looking to have our reception at a local restaurant that has recently started doing wedding parties. They want £1400 just for their marquee hire and the round tables and chairs. This just seems alot to me just for effectively a function room.

You could have your meal within the restaurant or you can hire their marquee. The marquee is a proper job; flooring, carpets, chandelier and they will put a bar in too so guests don't have to troop through to the main building.

You then have to sort your own decorations or pay them extra and they will sort them.

I know its probably not the best place in AIBU but I want some well rounded input.

So, long post short, AIBU to consider spending this amount just on the room or being a tightarse for an actual good deal?

TIA x

OP posts:
HRHPrincessReality · 16/09/2010 19:41

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Original poster
Boys2mam · 16/09/2010 19:48

Really? All I keep thinking is that you can hire a room for a couple of hundred and it just seems an extortionate amount to pay for the convenience of this place we'd like to use.

OP posts:
googietheegg · 16/09/2010 19:48

I think it sounds like a rip off. Do you really want a marquee or could you do without and use the restaurant?

Without wishing to be all we-slept-by-the-side-of-the-road-in-an-old-flour-sack-and-we-were-grateful about it, we hired the local village hall for £100 and had a farm shop do the catering (including filet steak!) and it was ace! I think the marquee and ribbons on chairs are the least noticed things at weddings but really bump up the price - get good food and wine and don't invite too many people I say!

mazzystartled · 16/09/2010 19:50

er - i wouldn't expect to pay for use of their marquee if they were catering it. depends on whole package.

Original poster
Boys2mam · 16/09/2010 19:55

The marquee has to be taken down and repitched for each function.

The appeal of the marquee as opposed to eating in the restaurant it is that we can stay for the whole day and night rather than having to find another location for the evening do.

Or we can just go to the local I s'pose. Thats starting to seem like a really appealing idea. Classy, eh? Blush

OP posts:
bigfootbeliever · 16/09/2010 19:57

Run away to Las Vegas! Highly recommended.

googietheegg · 16/09/2010 19:58

I agree it depends what else you're buying from them - they can't expect you to pay for the marquee and then food, booze etc - I think they are pulling a fast one on you.

Original poster
Boys2mam · 16/09/2010 19:59

God I'm turning into a right old wedding bore.

Sorry Ladies; Thanks for your help x

OP posts:
collision · 16/09/2010 19:59

ooh just get married with a couple of witnesses and go out for fish and chips!

Then in a couple of weeks you can have a party and ask all your friends......

that is what I would do if I were to wed DH again. Save aaaaall the hassle and expense.

DuelingFanjo · 16/09/2010 20:01

sounds expensive to me but then I hired the local masonic hall for £200!

perfumedlife · 16/09/2010 20:01

We had the function room above the chinese restaurant, free bar, not fancy decor but big round tables and dance floor for the sing song/dancing. Oodles of langoustines, food was to die for.

All for under two grand. Best day ever, apart from by son's birth.

I think it sounds steep. Why not just use the restaurant.

Habbibu · 16/09/2010 20:02

We did village hall. It was magic.

mazzystartled · 16/09/2010 20:18

imagine how AMAZING a pretty little village hall could be if you had fourteen hundred quid to spend on decorations and grub.

(home-made weddings are much nicer)

SkylineDrifter · 16/09/2010 22:06

£1400 for just the marquee? If you've got money to burn it's probably a good deal, otherwise you're being taken for a ride.

TrillianAstra · 16/09/2010 22:18

"Best day ever, apart from by son's birth"

Really? Obviously having your son arrive is great, but surely the day itself was a bit, er, painful and messy? I'd much rather eat prawns and dance Grin

That sounds like a silly amount of money to me when you're not really getting anything yet. Plus even well-constructed marquees are a bit shit if it rains. Where are the loos?

cat64 · 16/09/2010 22:33

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

perfumedlife · 16/09/2010 22:34

Smile Ah, but epidurals are wonderful things. I count the whole day as special.

So op, are you any closer to a decision?

splashy · 17/09/2010 00:28

£1400 sounds really cheap to me! but then I do live in London, where is this?

Original poster
Boys2mam · 17/09/2010 06:49

I have reached a decision - I'll wait until the rest of the quote comes in, if they won't drop the price of the marquee then they can keep it and we'll just have the meal in the restaurant. I have then found another free venue for the evening which will just require catering and entertainment.

Village hall sounds fab but we just don't have anything like that round here without loads of faf and I just want someone to do it for me.

Thanks for putting it in perspective for me Smile

OP posts:
TheBolter · 17/09/2010 07:00

WE hired a marquee and furniture for £1500 from a marquee hire company - but we did a home made wedding, where we hired a lovely house for a further £1000 and pitched the marquee in the garden. We then paid for caterers on top, bought our own booze and paid the house owners a minimal corkage fee.

It was a lot cheaper than most wedding packages we looked at. But I didn't begrudge paying for te marquee because we were saving money on getting outside caterers and bringing our own drink.

I think if the venue is charging for catering and drink then the marquee should really come as part of the deal, after all by hiring out their marquee you are freeing up lots of restaurant space for them. But I do remember lots of places doing this - including a particularly expensive hotel where my sil got married and paid about £10,00 just to hire. On top of that she paid them for the catering, wine and extortionate bar. If she'd wanted her wedding in their marquee, she would have had to pay extra Shock.

TheBolter · 17/09/2010 07:01

Sorry, that was not meant to be a capitalised 'WE' - looks a bit imperious Grin

TheBolter · 17/09/2010 07:02

£10,000... just woken up can you tell?

Original poster
Boys2mam · 17/09/2010 07:21

The £10,00 made me giggle!!

Thanks TheBolter, this place is trying to compete with all the main 'Halls' but forgetting its just a pub/restaurant with a tent attached. I think its with them having to pitch/take down the marquee after each function the cost is similiar to hiring one out yourself. But then paying the restaurant charges on top.

I really like it though so hoping we can strike some kind of deal to tie in with the food/drink. Its in October so presumably out of season too.

OP posts:
Bunbaker · 17/09/2010 07:28

I have no idea how much a marquee costs, but you have to factor in the man hours for erecting it and taking it down. A village hall is already there.

JimJammum · 17/09/2010 19:37

Marquees are expensive. It would cost less to hire a function room in a hotel, and even less to hire a village hall. They are (unfortunately) not all the same although they may feel like it. Much as apples, bananas and oranges are all fruit to the uninitiated....
Maybe consider doing it in a cheaper venue and get a caterer to do the food?? Or in a hotel which may be a good halfway option?

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