All Inclusive wedding venues in Southern California on a Budget

How many guests are you expecting and exactly what does that $10,000 need to cover? Depending on your answers, I think it might be tough in your budget. Daughter visited 10 all inclusives in Orange County, with a guest list of 100. She created a spreadsheet so she could compare apples-to-apples, and when she added in extras so they were truly comparable, nine of the ten were between $14,000-15,000 (food, beverage, ceremony, reception space, furnishings & linens, cake). The tenth was about $16,500. As expected, that total was roughly half of the actual full cost of the wedding (e.g., gown, photographer, DJ, florist, officiant, etc.) of about $30,000. The "least expensive" we visited were Wedgewood San Clemente and Orange County Mining Company, but they weren't much below venues daughter liked much more. If you're considering a smaller wedding, and possibly an off-time, look at the Chapel of Orange. Good luck!

Also, in response to the same question in the last week or so, a bride suggested a country club type venue in north San Diego county, I believe it was in Vista -- maybe named "Shadow"-something? Also, some venues we visited offered off-season and/or less popular day of the week discounts. That's how daughter got her dream venue -- by choosing a Saturday in January she saved $5000 over the venue cost in any other month.

I looked at Weins Winery in Temecula and Citrus State Park in Riverside were 2 place I looked at that were nice and budget friendly. They both don’t include hotels but those are pretty affordable and accessible in those areas.

Try Asian venues in orange county? Those are very all inclusive such as diamond seafood palace. You'd get centerpiece, security, cake, alcohol, food, etc included in the price already.

Try Ranch events in Marina Village they have great packages.

View Quoted Comment Thanks so much for the reply! I was hoping the $10k could cover the entire wedding (ceremony, reception, food, etc). But I am willing to go up to around $13k-$14k. We would be expecting about 150-200 people. I know that’s a lot of people for my budget. I am going to definitely check into the places you listed above 😊

View Quoted Comment Thank you, I’ll look into it!

Any particular reason why you want all inclusive? I know it makes planning way easier, but being able to pick your vendors can help you get the best bang for your buck. I’d look into the French Estate in Orange. It holds 150 people and you don’t have to decorate it. If you did both ceremony and reception for 150 people, which includes rentals and other things, you'd pay $4950 (20% off if you book a mid-December-February date), did their catering deal ($34 per head, including cake), did the $200 upgrade for bartending services, took advantage of their $1300 photography deal, it would come out to $11,550 (one of their preferred officiants charges a French Estate price of $275; another charges $300, to give you an idea of how much to add in for an officiant). You can also bring your own alcohol (Costco is great for this, and there’s formulas out there to determine how much to buy). Basically, the only other vendors you’d need are a florist and a DJ, which the venue has recommendations for as well. The great thing about this venue is that there’s no penalty for not using their preferred venues. So even though it may be more work, you can definitely get a good value for your money. There's also venues out there that are really cheap, but you have to figure out your vendors, and depending on who you pick, you might be able to pull off something within or close to your budget.

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Thaank you for all the info! I will definitely look into what you suggested. I only said all inclusive just because it seems easier and less stress when it comes to decorating.

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I totally understand! As far as decorating is concerned, I think it comes down to what theme or style you are looking for. For me, I was going after a rustic forest vibe, and chose a venue that came with nothing because I didn't have to decorate it. But, I had decided early on that I'd rather coordinate and hire each of my vendors than spend time the night before trying to decorate the venue and get it ready to go.

You might also want to also look into County Garden Caterers. They have their own rustic venue that you don't have to decorate and a pretty good package ($35.95 per person for weddings with 100-200 guests). http://countrygardencaterers.com/ourfacility/

Examples of weddings at the venue:

https://images.app.goo.gl/anxCCWdHxaLYAfGp8

https://images.app.goo.gl/P9XjcXZF1ZwTePST8

I have a spreadsheet with a bunch of affordable venues with pricing, if you're interested, just PM me.

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Ok, thanks so much! I am going to look into it. My colors are white & gold, kind of going for like a very royal or "rich" type of feel. I am open to spending more than $10k, just trying to get the most for our money. It seems so crazy for me to spend $100 per person, especially if its a child that i know will waste majority of the food lol. I am definitely interested in the spreadsheet! I will PM you now

I had a budget of 10k too but with California's high pricing and my large guest count we are at 14k already, hoping to cap at 16k/17k. My venue is 14k but includes everything (I switched from a DIY venue to avoid more work/stress). My venue includes decor, floral, food, drinks (no alcoholic), dessert table, cake and cutting, day of coordinator, servers, dj, bartender and security. We only have to provide alcohol but it shouldn't be must as fiance family does not drink at all.

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That is not too bad compared to the prices I have been seeing. Do you mind me asking what venue you decided on?

I am the same as you. We decided we wanted out budget to be 10k and to do an all inclusive as I didn’t want the stress of putting it all together. Well after a couple venue tours reality hit us and so we knew we would need to up our budget. We gave a 150 head count and most venues we visited offered the basic stuff (venue and ceremony fee, food, drinks, cake, tables, linens, chairs, some even offered dj) and most of the venues will let you add and subtract stuff depending on your package. My advice would be to just start setting up tours at venues and see what they quote you. It won’t hurt and after a few you’ll start to get an idea of how much it will cost.
Also if you decide you still want to stick to your budget then definitely look into just a basic venue and ceremony site and start researching other vendors (catering, tables, chairs, rentals) and see if they come in way cheaper or if you’ll be spending about the same as the all inclusive. It’ll really give you an insight on what to decide on.
We recently just booked our venue and it wasn’t totally all inclusive but definitely checked off a lot on our list and we decided to stick to local so not to think about travel fees and we aren’t doing real flowers. Hope all this info sort of helps.

View Quoted Comment Hi! This is so helpful. I would love to see your spreadsheet if you still have it.

View Quoted Comment Send me a message - I’m trying to send it but it’s not letting me create a message to you.

View Quoted Comment So strange! It’s not letting me message you either and I’ve added you as a friend.

View Quoted Comment Maybe it’s a bug in the website? I’ll come back in the morning and see if it’s still having issues with messaging.

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Hello!

If possible, I would also love to see your spreadsheet. I'm planning a wedding in the next year and trying to get as much info as possible. Thank you!

View Quoted Comment I can’t PM for whatever reason, but I can link a post here that has the link in it: https://www.reddit.com/r/Weddingsunder10k/s/ZPkk6P0jF1

View Quoted Comment Https://www.reddit.com/r/Weddingsunder10k/s/ZPkk6P0jF1


Never could get messaging to work…