Where to start

Thank you all for your advice! You have been very helpful!! And as crazy as it sounds I feel a little less stressed this morning after reading your posts than I did last night.

I am taking the advice that October is a peak time of year and when we go to look at places, see the difference between the date I'd prefer to have it and possibly the first weekend in November. If the difference is that much and my FH doesn't mind, than there is a way to save money right there.... what's 2 weeks anyway??

We've started calling places for quotes and will be going to the extravaganza in Huntington on September 12th, so hopefully ideas will come from that.

Thank you for the tip about getting quotes in writing!! I would have never thought about that. Do you find that being to many places gives you a bargaining point with other vendors? For example... well I went to 'Place A' and they offered 'X,Y, and Z' for this price what can you do?

Ive started looking up pictures of flowers and found a few gorgeous bouquets and centerpieces.

Did anyone search on Craigs List for Photographers or other venders? My FH found a photographer and likes his work. His name is Guy Chan. Anyone hear of him?

My darling FH is so good .. he sees how stressed I'm getting already and is stepping up to the plate..

I think the peak time varies by venue. I'm getting married this Oct at the East Wind and there peak is Apr-Sept. We opted for the Sunday b4 Columbus Day and got the cheaper price $89 but have to promise at least 175 people.

Also if you want to save money...try the Wedding Center in Commack. They have packages with photo/video plus flowers, DJ, invitations, and etc.

They also have Wedding, bridesmaids, MOB, dresses and tuxes. They will match any price on the dresses. I found my dress for $200 cheaper somewhere else and they met the price.

Good luck!

Congratulations and Welcome! This is very exciting!. As all the girls mentioned creating your guest list is the most important and creating a budget! From there everything will just come into place! Negotiate even it if you think your venue wont! You will be surprised...even if the venue can knock off 3 to 5 bucks pp thats great. Every dollar adds up.look around and compare...definitely negotiate. It doesn't hurt. Being flexible too wont hurt. For example in certain places sunday is cheaper than having a saturday night wedding things like that. Don' worry when i first got engaged i was feeling stress but after the third venue i saw i booked them and i felt a sudden relief of stress. After that the fun begins so enjoy planning and good luck!

Congrats! I, too, am an October 2012 bride. Keeping the cost under $100 a head was important to me, and we are paying $96 a head at the Fox Hollow for a Friday evening. That's not including tax and tips, of course, but for everything that they provide, it's an awesome price - and especially in October (which is now the new June, if you haven't already discovered! I thought I was being sly by picking Fall for our wedding - guess not!). The Fox Hollow is beautiful and we couldn't be more happy with our choice. For me, I'd say don't skimp on the food, the drinks, or the music.

Congrats again!

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Posted by IrishAli

October is also peak month...if you moved it to the beginning of November, you could save a lot of money

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It's sad but one week apart really makes a difference. We were looking at Oct 2012 too...but the price for the following weekend (the first one in Nov.) was such a difference that we jumped at it!