How much did you spend on your AHR?

[cougs]

Quote:

Originally Posted by 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 Good luck! Christie

ooooooh christie that sounds like something i'd like to come to!

[melisML]

My AHR is going to cost about $8000 for 125 people. We were able to find a great wedding package with the caterer we chose. It includes the hall rental, a buffet style dinner, late night snacks, DJ, decorations, cleanup and all licenses and any insurance needed. Its perfect for my fiance and I, very little work required for me.

[foxytv]

I haven't read through this whole thread ... but my suggestion would be to keep it casual and ask guests to "bring a dish." Others have done that and it worked great. Most AHR's are informal and casual anyway, so a potluck isn't unusual. Just a thought.

[foxytv]

Oh, and to add ....

 

Our AHR was at my DH's bar/restaurant (we closed the upstairs bar and rooftop deck to the public from 2-6pm) - so no cost for the location.

 

Live acoustic music - $300

 

Wine - I am a wine distributor, so I bought different wines (at cost) which saved $$. Spent $200ish.

 

Beer - We bought cases so we wouldn't run through the bar-stock ... but tapped into the bar stock before 6pm ... so probably $900 in beer.

 

Liquor - cash bar

 

Food - Low Country Boil - I think we ended up paying about $400 for that, b/c we paid actual cost, but it may have been more.

 

Cake - My Mom and I and some friends all made cupcakes and I made candy starfish molds and had a cupcake tower, so minimal cost for that. $35??

 

Decorations - I bought colored burlap to match some placemats and tablecloths that I got at Tuesday Morning and we re-used our DW centerpieces, with shells, sand and candles as decoration, along with our bouquets.

 

We had over 100 people.

[Sandra&Mario]

We're having our AHR at a local restaurant that has a nice hall (we've been there tons of times for other events or just dinner)...soup, salad, choice of entree, cake, and open bar is running us $65pp. Our DJ is $1,000. We're cutting costs with centerpieces and favors (those things aren't a big deal to us)...but definitely not on food or music!! We're having about 150 people, so around $10,000. But we figured we wanted to keep it nice for those who couldn't travel to Mexico. We couldn't imagine just having burgers and dogs in a backyard (no offense to those that are having it this way)...to me it's like wanting to be as cheap as possible but still expect gifts. That's not our style. I rather our day leave us with some debt, LOL. At least everyone will be satisfied and complaints will be kept at a minimum.

[blushingbride]

Wow, some of these prices are outrageous! I'm hoping ours doesn't come out to more than $500...but thankfully, we'll be receiving help.

[Chanti]

Ours will be $2500 for 60 guests: Mexican food with interactive stations (food prepared at different stations in front of guests), pinata, iPod hook up for music and dancing, cash bar, laptop connected to projector for photos of the wedding and week in Mexico with our guests, hall rental all included.

We'll probably buy 3 bottles of wine per table. We'll be buying Mexican arts/crafts while we're there and that will be the decorations, along with our red paper lanterns on a string that we will use :-)

I'm getting excited about this! I'll get to wear my wedding dress again :-)

[BBtoB]

We are doing our's for about $3,500 for 100 guests. That includes a nice City Center, a kick a$$ band (this was a splurge, but we had to have them!), Mexican Buffet with staff and bartender, all linens/glasses/tableware, liquor, cake , centerpieces and favors.

 

I originally wanted to do a picnic in the park, and once I got into my research, this is what we have come to. You also have to think of parking which was a big problem for us to try to do it at someone's house. So we went with a Rec Center that has a really nice room and a full kitchen and of course parking!

 

We are calling our's a Celebration...more of a party than a reception.

 

$1000...will be tight...

[jdrewett]

Great thread. It's interesting to see everyone's budgets for informal v. formal AHRs. We are hoping to keep it casual and affordable in my mom's backyard. We have started a rough budget for about $3000 for 150. We will be getting discounted catering from a family friend.

[*Linds*]

My AHR is going to be a traditional reception at a country club...costing around 12k for 200 people....