How much did you spend on your AHR?

[big3n09]

Not sure exactly if $1000 will be enough. I am pricing the same idea for our engagement party and I'm up to $3500, so good luck!

[Jacilynda]

We are using our backyard. FFIL will be bbqing. We're doing burgers & hotdogs, and catering wings and ribs from famous daves. Of course salads, chips, etc. Then we're going to have beer kegs and soda. We haven't decided on liquor cause its a huge expense, but may cater from a friend who owns a bar so we'll see. Then we'll have a cake. We're having a live band, but we're good friends w/ them so they won't accept any money, but we're going to "tip" them $300. We definitely aren't doing formal, our actual reception isnt real formal thats just not us. We're doing it on a college football game day cause we're all HUGE Montana Griz fans and we live right next to the stadium.

 

In total we're spending about $2000 for 200 people. Really in all actuality we're spending all of our money on food, and plates, utensils, etc

[Ayita]

I'm trying to plan an AHR in Paris when I'm back in France this summer. I cannot get anything under 95 EUR per person, which put us at 6.650 EUR for 70 persons - ie 8.500$ approx. I'm trying to find cheaper but did not succeed so far...

[KimmyG]

I think you can totally ROCK IT with a $1000 budget. Just be smart about it and get creative! Don't go out and buy everything today... price shop: wait till plastic utensils go on sale and use coupons. Buy frozen burgers when they are on sale and keep them in your freezer. Go to the dollar store for decorations (candles, balloons, tablecloths, etc). Consider making cupcakes instead of buying a big cake. You don't need to cater it, get friends to help however they can (on the grill, setting up food...)! Don't be discouraged, you can do it!!! At the end of it all, it's a PARTY with your friends and family, how much you spent/skimped shouldn't sour the occasion!

[lolkitteh]

I think it is going to be really tough to feed 200 people with a $1000 budget. I am planning an informal party with appetizers only using drop-off catering for only 40 people, and my budget for beer, wine, champagne and maybe a couple bottles of liquor alone is going to be about $500. My total budget is $1000, and I think I may even be going over that a little.

 

One thing you could do is forgo the alcohol and just do soft drinks. Even if you only do beer, by itself it would eat a huge chunk of the budget. A keg provides around 200 12 oz servings - if each of your guests has 2 beers, you'd need 2 kegs, which would run around $160-200.

 

So let's say you limit to only soft drinks, then a 2L bottle of soda will cost around $1-2 a bottle (hopefully you can get a sale or bogo for these). Each one has 8 8oz servings. If each guest has 2-3 drinks, that's 50-75 bottles, or around $50-150, depending on what kind of deal you can get on them.

 

Assuming the best case scenario for drinks, that leaves you with $750 for food. That leaves $3.75 per person. If you ONLY had one burger and one dog per person, and you don't have to pay for someone to cook it, you might be able to pull this off. But that doesn't account for plates, forks, napkins, condiments, etc. Not to mention that some people are going to eat more than that, and you won't really have a budget for side dishes that others are going to want, like salad, fruit, and other picnicky type foods.

 

If you really can't go over $1000, I would suggest only having a "cake and champagne" or "cake and punch" type of reception, with maybe some finger foods and snacks. That way, people come only expecting to share in the wedding cake and toast with champagne and won't expect to be fed a meal (schedule the AHR outside of mealtimes)

 

IMO, having cake and champagne or cake and punch is perfectly fine for a wedding celebration, especially since this is an AHR. In the end, this really should be seen as an opportunity for people to celebrate your marriage together and share in the wedding cake and toast since they might not have been able to do that at your DW - I don't think you need to feel pressured to provide anything more elaborate than that.

[Kristy!]

We're having a pig roast and are budgeting $5000. It looks like we're going to stay right around that number (currently it's under that, but I know those little costs will creep up).

[August2010Bride]

Our budget is $1,000. I can not believe that some of you guys budgets!!!!

[Jacilynda]

Quote:

Originally Posted by August2010Bride Our budget is $1,000. I can not believe that some of you guys budgets!!!!

Really an AHR budget varies due to formality and guest list. A more formal AHR is definitely going to cost more than an informal bbq, and paying for 40 people is much different than paying for 200 people.

I'm very pleased w/ ours being $2000 for 200+ people, but ours is very informal bbq and FFIL & FMIL are doing most of the cooking.

[August2010Bride]

Quote:

Originally Posted by drtracy Wait a minute Erin, do you expect me to believe you use plates and napkins down in Kentucky? I call shenanigans!

Hey! Wait a minute now! LOL I'm from KENTUCKY too!

[frazali]

We're having our celebration for appx. 80 (still have to send out invites and get the rsvp's back - this is an estimate) at a restaurant. We'll have appetizers, entrees, dessert, sangria, beer, wine, soda, juice, and a dj. The total cost for that is $5100. We're also bringing in cupcakes for $300, and floral for about $600, and we're doing custom hot sauce bottles with our pictures on them for about $200. Total cost is appx. $6500. Not too bad, especially for a NYC restaurant.