How much did you spend on your AHR?

[DanielleNDerek]

Quote:

Originally Posted by GracieBebe Hi Everyone, It's been really interesting to read everyone's responses! I think you're right and we may have to rethink our AHR budget. But I'm hoping I can still keep it close to the original budget. We have a friend who works for a food distributor and so he said he can get us a huge deal on the food. Liquor might cost a bit, but none of our friends are really big drinkers so I'll have to really think about that. As for soda/drinks, plates, and utensils, we plan to get in bulk at BJ's. I can get a 200 fork box for about $10-15. I can buy 8 boxes of pasta in bulk for a total of about the same price or less which should easily cover 200 people. I'll have to see how good of a deal our friend can get us on the rest of the food. I plan to prepare most of the food myself and then we'll hire someone to man the grills for 3-4 hrs so our friends and family won't be working/cooking during the party. I guess I'll figure out more as I get closer to the date.

When are you going to have this AHR (i mean how soon after the wedding)? It seems like after the wedding most girls dont want to do a lot of work for their AHR. You will be taking on a lot of work if you plan on preparing the food for 200 people. I couldnt imagine doing all that work. I'm not trying to be a debbie downer I just wanted to make sure you know what you are getting yourself info. I dont want you to get yourself all stressed out. Goodluck with everything.

[KimmyG]

I like the idea of the AHR being a Sendoff party, and take place before the wedding. That way the guests can share the anticipation excitement with you rather than feeling like they missed out on the big event. Plus this way when you're back from your honeymoon you can focus on married life and not another wedding party!

[GracieBebe]

We plan on having our AHR before we leave for our DW, like Kimmy G said, kinda like a send off party. Because we're getting married early Sept, by the time we have the wedding and honeymoon, it'll be late Sept and we're not sure how the weather will be like in New England, cuz it can get a little chilly to do an outdoor picnic sometimes by then. As for the work involved, I'm hoping some of my friends will help me prep everything (i.e. my bridal party, LOL).

 

BJ's is like a Sams club or Costco, so we're hoping to get a lot of things at a discount. And our friend can hopefully hook us up since he's a food distributor. I think alcohol will definitely be our biggest expense, but I have yet to see any of our friends get really drunk or trashed at any of our parties (we usually host 4th of July and you'd think they'd drink a lot then but they're not big drinkers) so I don't think an AHR picnic is going to be any different, especially if people have to drive afterwards. In fact, FI and I are prob the ones who are more likely to outdrink our friends.

 

I will definitely keep everyone posted to let you know if we can pull it off!

[DanielleNDerek]

That'll be cool a send off party. Goodluck with everything.

[HotTamale]

Talk about being overwhelmed - I'm more than that after reading this post - you girls put everything into perspective for me. I was going to budget $1500, but there's no way this can happen now...I'm thinking around $2500 total for drinks, food, and everything else...ouch. I am also shocked at some of the numbers...25000.00 - wow!

[big3n09]

Quote:

Originally Posted by KimmyG I like the idea of the AHR being a Sendoff party, and take place before the wedding. That way the guests can share the anticipation excitement with you rather than feeling like they missed out on the big event. Plus this way when you're back from your honeymoon you can focus on married life and not another wedding party!

FI wanted to do like a sendoff party and as of now I'm not sure what were doing, LOL! What I will say is I'm not gonna be stressed out that's the whole reason we chose a DW. I will be willing to have a small engagement party with close family and friends and then a AHR about 150 people costing no more than $7500, I'm in a major city so I have to be realistic. Or a small engagement party and a big sendoff party. Or no engagement party and a big AHR still within the same budget. I just don't want to be bothered with too much and wouldn't mind saving the expense.

[islandbride317]

My AHR, early estimates, are going to be between $5-6K. We are having it on a private chartered boat in Baltimore's Inner Harbor ($2400, for 3 hours, up to 60 guests), the non-alcoholic/alcoholic drinks will run us about $1380, the cake will be at least $200, and the rest will be for the Caribbean foods buffet and Pasta stations -- AARRGH!

 

It's more than we'd like to spend, but a lot of family and friends may not be able to afford to join us in Jamaica, and we want to make sure we do something at home they can feel apart of!

 

Good luck!

Christie

[stefnicole]

We're figuring between 2K and 3K. We're going for the more casual, less "reception-like" party. We're not even having alcohol (not allowed at our site), so that cuts down on the cost a lot. But, we've invited ~240 people, so the food is the biggest chunk of our budget.

[Adlergray]

We budgeted 3500. but we are at about 4500.00 We are doing a formal sunday brunch though. with a piano player and at a historical venue for bout 100 ppl so I Think this is a pretty good number

[seaprincess]

Ours cost about $3K for 100 people, cocktail reception with host wine and non-alcoholic punch. We had a DJ and I made cupcakes instead of buying them.