I just received this lead from Eventective, almost bought it just so I could ream out this idiot, but decided the $2.50 wasn't worth it.

Laura and Henry's Wedding
Type of Event: Wedding
Number of Attendees: 200
Date: Saturday, 4/24/2010
Event Location: San Antonio, TX 78217
Event Duration in Days: 1
Total Event Budget: $2000 (no this is not a typo)
Planner's Comments: Wedding date not set in stone....about 200 guests...there will be a dance after the dinner reception....budget low at about 2-3K.
Contact Info Provided: Email (Phone not provided)

I wonder how many vendors will actually contact them...

Oh you know a looooot will. Ooo! Ooo! They're cheap, I'm cheap, I'll make their cake super cheap and give everyone in town a bad rep! 40 cents a serving- you betcha!!! Yay! Sign me up! Wooooohooooo!

It never ceases to amaze me.

"I only have $2000 but I STILL want to invite everyone I know, so YOU, vendors, need to adjust YOUR pricing so I can have what I want!"

Bite me.

Now explain to me how they are going to feed 200 people a dinner, and have a cake to fee 200 and buy flowers, DJ, Photographer, Venue rental for $2000? Even if that was just for the catering alone that is $10 a plate, so start hacking away from there and what they are spending $2 per person on a Dinner? I think not.

They're going to ask for donations in exchange for advertising at the wedding at some point! Want to sponsor my wedding? It will be SUCH good exposure for your business!

They better do some serious saving these next six months!

Question....where do these 200 people come from that everyone invites to their weddings?

Do people really know that many people well enough to have them present on their wedding day?

I don't know 200 people, even if I invited all my long lost relatives and their families it would'nt come to 200 .

I heard that people invite anyone and everyone so they can get more gifts, was I told wrong or is that how it goes?

FYI never been to a wedding other then my sis's and she had about 30 people , close friends and family (I made the grooms cakes 10 years ago, with no dowels in a 3 tier,did'nt know any better!)
Hubby and I are common law so we did'nt have the hoopla either, so basically other then there has to be a cake I know nothing about weddings, sad I know.

Maybe they are interested in faux Twinkies and HoHo's?
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Sure, I can tell you, as an event planner, exactly how they could do the wedding on 2K:

location: public park $25 reg fee (or you can use someones REALLY large backyard for free)
Officiant: get a friend to get ordained online, FREE
Chairs: $350
Cake: $300 (one small decorative, and supplimented with sheet)
Champagne: $300
Rental Champagne Glasses: $100
Rental tables for food/drink with tablecloths: $50
Paper napkins, plates,cups and forks: $75
Misc non alcoholic drinks: $75
Favors: homemade from a kit at michaels: $80
Invitations: homemade from a kit at michaels: $50
Dress: $300
Tux: $100
Flowers: $100 package from local florist.
Gifts for Maid of Honor and Best man: $50
Disposable camera pack so everyone can take photos for you: $40


Total for wedding: 2K not including rings

So, possible, yes, but a grand affair, no...a very modest one...and the ONLY way you could have that many people. (notice that there is no "real" food, just cake and champagne, so it would have to be mid afternoon or you would have to have your family members volunteer to make and bring food to serve, and no DJ)

Sadly, I've actually worked weddings where I had this low of a budget and had to find many ways to save the pennies. One wedding I got the Bride to go to an outlet for her dress and she only paid $120 for her dress AND got it cleaned for that too. Good thing since the money she saved paid my fees.

And, yes, in this economic climate people are going to be haggling for anything they can get. I try to keep them grounded and explain the fees for things and what I can do for them within their severely limited budget. Not everyone walks away happy after a consultation but for some they just don't have a real option.

I agree with inviting so many people...we've been married 22 years and STILL wouldn't have 200 people to invite. We are getting remarried in two weeks and our outstanding guest list is 54. I think those families would have to invite their friends in order to fill out our guest list for 200! LOL!

As planners we encourage "nearest and dearest" but there are lots of parents out there who want to invite every family memeber that they have spoken to or heard about in the past 20 years as well as every co worker and client they have ever worked with or for and yet not pitch in on paying for the cost of entertaining such a crowd. SIGH.

Anyways, there's my "other" view.

Cat

I was lucky....had a small wedding in South Dakota 13 years ago where it wasn't rude just to have cake, punch, nuts, and mints...paid a friend to make the cake....rented a pretty little scenic chapel.....had the rehearsal dinner at my parents house as a backyard BBQ and then took everyone to Mt Rushmore....the biggest thing I spent on was the photographs, for about $600. The dress was $300 and then the rings, and everything else was nominal.

Ahhh the good old days. haha.

My concern is why do they have my front page for my website on there site and I keep getting emails from them everyday. Kind of thinking it may be some kind of scam once you give them your credit card # they may keep charging you $2.50. Has anyone used them and have you recieved business through them.

G_Cakes, dandelions are also edible, so you could add that to suggested catering options.

That is the funniest budget I've seen for a long time!

LOL G...too funny! And yes, I could do a heck of a cake for the "leftover" budget! LOL!

This is hilarious!
Edna

oh wow! never heard of that! Thanks for clearing that up costumeczar!

costume, I grew up on cake-n-punch receptions. Was in my 20's before I knew anyone who had food at their wedding and even that was just sandwiches and veggie trays. Our reaction to that simple one was "well la-dee-DAH! Who are THEY trying to impress!"

It's very sad to see the prevelent condescending attitudes here. I think you can have a very lovely wedding on $2-3K. You just have to decide which areas are most important to you and spend the bulk of it on those. In our family,we have several professional photogs, a cake decorator (me) and a DJ (also me) ... so weddings can be pretty cheap.

How do you know the cake budget isn't $1,500 of that?!? If someone has up to $3,000 to spend, I'd want to find out how much of that they planned to spend on cake before I dismissed them entirely... unless I were foolish - which I'm not.

Wykd...you are right, that was what I was showing in my break down. There is a way to have a wedding and reception but just not the grand sit down type with crystal and china. In my notes I added that there could be food if you could get your family to volunteer and bring homemade dishes...this is what we did for our wedding and it worked very well. Our original wedding 22 years ago was on a 5K budget and included renting a hall, tables chairs, dishes and having a photographer. We did not have a DJ, my brothers band played. We didn't not buy a cake, a friend who did cakes for fun made us an amazing 4 tier cake that was gorgeous. But I had a gorgeous dress, ordered invites, real flowers and we did serve champagne, etc. It was small, it was modest, it was what we could afford without anyone going into debt. For many a champagne and cake reception is all the budget will allow.

This time around (for our renewal) we are also on a budget, not wanting to put anything on a credit card, so we did pick and choose what was important. We ended up with about 8k including our honeymoon. We are having a photographer, DJ, catered passed hordeourves, a cake made by a local bakery that graciously is using my design, in a museum in Monterey. As an event planner I have been able to DIY a lot of the trimmings in order to get more bang for my buck. We are having under 60 people, champagne and other drinks as well as boxed lunches for the kids, real flowers that I will hand tie (I've learned how to do a lot in the event business! LOL!). So the wedding we'll end up with will probably save us about 8K with all the stuff I've done myself but it's exactly what we could afford and exactly what we wanted. I think the real problem with the 2K estimated budget here is their expectations of what they can get for the money. Keep your expectations in line with your budget and you should be just fine but too many people, and from what I can see from the sketch the "lead" given implies, these people, are far from keeping their expectations in line with their budget.

In my event world there are a lot of planners who will not even take on a budget that is less than 5k and several who won't consider a budget under 15k. Too much work to get the brides expectations in line with the budget and give her the fairytale wedding she is dreaming on with that limited of a budget. I'm not one of those...I'll work with whatever is given and do my best to do the most with whatever the budget is but am careful to advise on the reality of what they can get. The three things I advise a bride to never go cheap on is her dress, her cake and her photographer...the rest can be worked out!<G>

Cat

I know of a wedding where, they did not want to spend a lot on a wedding cake, I actually do not know what they did for a "wedding cake", but they did ask family and friends to bring a cake for the guest tables they would be sitting at. I was asked to make two of the cakes, for two different people who were invited to bring. I understand it worked fine. The two guests that were asked to bring cakes were happy to do so. I think I was the only one that thought it strange.

As for a wedding with 200 guests, not hard to do in a small town, where both the bride and groom have grown up, and the parents have worked in local businesses for many years. I made the wedding cakes for 3 sisters in one family, and all of them were for a minium of 400 servings.