wedding on a budget
 

Me and my boyfriend are planning of getting married next year around May/June. We are thinking of Carmel by the beach or Napa valley. We would have at least 100 to 150 people. We need suggestions of reception sites and caterers that is inexpensive in this area? Or better yet we are open to suggestions. We are both catholics and plan to have a church wedding. Carmel Mission is on the list, any other suggestions? Thanks in advance ;0)

What do you mean by inexpensive? How much per person? Obviously the simplest way to have an inexpensive wedding is to have a small one instead of such a large one!

PIP:

Have you gone to www.tietheknot.com?

Your querry will be answered by at least 40 to 50 others who have been where you are trying to go.

Your Catholic but have selected a non Catholic specific Mission? What church do you have in mind for Napa, California? I am not judging or trying to give you grief.

You WILL get loads of great help from the above site.

Congratulations!
Oaktown Traveler

thanks for all the replies, I know that I am not that organized. I am still in the process of collecting facts. Our estimate budget is at least less than $7,000.00 for the whole thing. We may have to cut the number of guests. I will check out the sites you have recommended. Mission in Carmel is just an option, we both liked the place when we visited there last Month and I thought it is a Catholic church, sorry for my ignorance ;0)
Napa, any suggestions????

Go to www.theknot.com
It's a HUGE site of resources, but the best one is the message boards. Go to the 'Local Wedding Talk' and pick the one for your region. THe boards are searchable.

prettyinpink, one of the easiest ways to stretch your wedding dollars is to get married in the morning and have a breakfast/brunch reception.

You thereby can severely limit alcohol (mimosas and bloody marys) and breakfast entrees are about half the cost of and afternoon evening reception.

You can also omit the band and/or DJ which is a big expense.

I'm in NYC, but I'm about 3 weeks (!) from getting married and have exhausted every possible budget resource. First off, I'd say the WeddingChannel.com message boards are way better for a lot of things than theKnot, mostly because the threads get more traffic and the boards are similar to this. The brunch reception is an excellent idea, one I considered. I ended up going with a cocktails reception, which better suited my hard-partying crowd.

But this is a travel board, so I'll refrain from going on and suggest you try a more wedding-oriented site. Good luck!