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I am
planning an elaborate Renaissance style wedding
in September for 50 people, and my budget for
the combined wedding and reception is around
$1,500.
The
budget includes the garb (costumes) for myself,
my husband and my two children; All the food,
including a nice (period) sit down dinner,
individual cakes, and the drinks;
Invitations/Announcements; Decorations; A
professional photographer; Flowers; Rental of
the place where it is to be held; And my
husband's wedding gift, a "real"
sword.....
First I
researched my subject a little and decided to
call the caterers, thinking I would get a good
deal because of the simple menu I had planned...wrong!
First off, no one wanted to even talk to me, as
soon as I said Renaissance, I could detected a
wary tone in their voices, and after I explained
the menu, they were all sorry, but they couldn't
help me, until the last one. After her initial
misgivings, she became excited about the
project, and I thought, finally.......Well, when
she called me back a couple hours later to give
me the price I found out why she was so excited.
For 50 guests, and the menu consisting of: 10
Whole roasted chickens, 25 Smoked turkey legs,
15 lbs. Roast beef chunked (not sliced), Bread,
Cheese, Stewed vegetables, and Whole apples,
apricots, plums and grapes, not including drinks
mind you, I was quoted a price of $2,000. Yes,
that is $40 a plate for simple fare. I could
have gotten Filet Mignon and escargot on the
menu at a better price.
Well,
since that went way over my entire budget, I
called around some more and discovered a good
Bar-b-que place that offered a catering service.
Not only did they think my idea was "Great",
they told me what they could prepare all the
meats and provide 18 lbs. of an exceptionally
good quality cheese, and with small delivery
charge it came $275 plus the gratuity, possibly
less because turkey legs are cheap and
she is going to try to buy an entire case for me
at a discount. They couldn't help me with the
rest of the menu, but I figured that it will be
easy and inexpensive to put together with some
help from friends. I chose seasonal fruit and
vegetables, and I always get good buys on bread
rolls in quantity at Sam's club..so I am
figuring maybe another $100+ for the food that I
will have to get myself.
Next I
called about cakes. One bakery, after I
explained that instead of one big cake, I wanted
50 individual cakes for each guest (traditional
for that time), said I was looking at $500. I
thought to myself, good grief, here we go
again.....that would be $10 per guest to have a
little piece of cake. So I made some more calls.
Another bakery offered to make 5 dozen 2"x2"
Petit fours for $12.50 per dozen, that is
$62.50, good, but I made a few more calls just
in case and found another bakery who was willing
to do 5 dozen, petit fours for $8.50 per dozen,
that is only $42.50. Bingo, I found my bargain.
For the
drinks, I plan on keeping in period by serving a
fruit grog and ale, I figure that we'll need to
spend between $50 - $75. I should be able to get
the ale from a bottling company, Sam's club or
the commissary, depending on who gives me the
best price for what I want, and the grog
consists of fruit juices and tea with
spices......
Lets
see, just on food alone I saved over $2,000. |
$4.50
