Budget

You would have to break down all pieces and see what comes with it. Depends on the venue and the type of wedding you are throwing.

You would have to compare venues that offer all inclusive vs ones you don't to really get a good idea of what would be your best option. Also, I think it depends on what you consider all inclusive. Some people consider all inclusive meaning food, drinks, tables, linens, plates and utensils are included, but others consider all inclusive to mean that other vendors like dj, photographer, flowers, etc. are included. For our wedding, they included food, drinks, tables, linens, plates and utensils. We could have had flowers included, but it would've been more per person.

Sometimes it is cheaper doing it yourself separately but you also have to think about is it worth it if it's not THAT much cheaper. so this is where you have to get quotes for everything and compare

Just me but...I wouldn't pick an all-inclusive venue, especially since Covid. If your venue is all inclusive and goes under, you will have way more money tied up in one place and you'll have to rebook all new people.

That is something only you can decide. Typically with all inclusive there is zero wiggle room for cutting out things you don't want/need or making substitutions. They have a set package of what most brides demand/expect and do not take into consideration that everyone has different tastes and preferences. If you have a different vision or preference than what the pre-determined packages include, you can actually save money by going the individual vendor route.

View Quoted Comment That’s true. The ones I’ve seen so far were more like your first option

View Quoted Comment That actually makes a lot of sense. I haven’t priced individual vendors yet because I’m not set on location but it’s sounding like that’s the way to go

View Quoted Comment That was what our venue was. They did have a recommended vendor list, but we didn't have to use any of those unless we wanted to. I know my sister-in-law wanted option two for her wedding and she contacted over 100 places and her area and none of them did everything for her unless she wanted to hire a wedding planner.

All-inclusive can be really nice if you're planning long distance. My venue is kind of all inclusive, with ceremony/reception space, food, and tables/linens/plates/etc. Then they offer additional decor packages to help customize your event. I found a lot of restaurant-style venues included a lot of the major stuff I didn't want to nitpick over (I don't care what the cutlery looks like) but left bigger choices like DJ, photography, cake from an external vendor, etc., up to you.
I'd say it depends on how customized you want your event to be and how much patience you have to cost compare tons of individual vendors.

My venue is pretty much all inclusive and will save us a BUNCH of time. It's not all about money, time is a huge thing when planning a wedding as well

Oohhhh girllll... This question has got me wondering now! We looked at all in packages for Hawaii destination weddings, and we are planning on probably doing the whole package for $12,000.00 cause it is a one in a lifetime wedding. Get what you want! Cause in the end you should not have any regrets.

All inclusive might be a bit more expensive, but if you take your time into account, they’re a lot cheaper. It cuts down massively on the legwork you need to do in sourcing vendors, saving you a lot of stress as well.

We booked all inclusive. We have lots of options to customize our wedding. It may seem like its more expensive but I would 100% choose it again. Its been so much less stressful! We only have really had to do the fun stuff.

Go for the all-inclusive venue!!! We did my minimony on 10/2 at an Airbnb. My wonderful mother brought in china, tablecloths, napkins, chiavari chairs, catering, garland for the staircase, etc. It all turned out beautiful, but it was a TON of work, and it was only for 7 people. Thankfully our larger reception is at an all-inclusive venue because I can’t imagine doing all of that for more guests.

I agree that you really need to do a thorough apples-to-apples comparison to know which will be less expensive (but I'd still think long and hard about the time and effort involved in working with a bunch of individual vendors). Daughter was married in a high-cost So Cal area. We visited ten venues within a 20 mile radius. They ranged from just the venue, to semi-inclusive (e.g., food, beverage, furnishings, dinnerware, staff, etc.), to all-inclusive with services she could choose to add on (e.g., she could choose to include things like DJ, photographer, etc. for a set price). She created a spreadsheet so she could control for the total cost of having the wedding they wanted at each venue (so stuff that wasn't included with the venue she added in the cost of an outside vendor). When you're considering costs, be sure you include: tax, service fees, delivery, tips, security or damage deposits, etc. Daughter was super thorough and when she was done, the total cost to have the wedding at 9 of the 10 venues we visited all fell within a $1500 range (which wasn't a huge difference when we were working with a $30,000 budget). The tenth venue was the only non-inclusive and its total was $2500 MORE than the highest of the group of 9, and it would have been a ton more work as she'd need separate contracts with a caterer, furniture rentals, linen and dish/glass rentals, etc. and she'd have to coordinate delivery, set-up, and pick-up times, which each had additional costs. Once she had all the information her decision was easy. From the very beginning, she absolutely LOVED one semi-inclusive venue; it was toward the top-end of the nine, but wasn't more than $1500 above the cheapest option she considered. With that knowledge, she felt super confident choosing the venue she loved...and, when it was all done she couldn't have been happier. She loved her venue! Good luck!

We settled on a venue that does food/place settings/etc. but not décor and other vendors like DJ. Since we just about 2 years out I want to DIY most of what I do.

When I started doing a break down of a site + catering or a site w/ catering they all came within a few thousand of each other. Without having an accurate idea of catering, I think it would have been more to do it separately, I was using a rough estimate.

I just couldn't justify a venue w/ a $8,000-$10,000 site fee w/ basic table setup and place settings before you even get into food.

Our venue provided our ceremony and reception space, an AirBnB for the weekend, all food including the wedding cake, and had a few set vendors they worked with that were non-negotiable - the bartending service and rental service for chair and linens. For us, we found having a few things lumped together saved us a lot of time and stress and also made payments, contracts, communicating with vendors, and coordinating all much easier (we did our own planning/coordinating and did not have a wedding planner). We were still able to pick our own photographer, music/DJ, officiant, and florist, and source our own beer, wine, and liquor.

It was also easier for us to accurately budget and get realistic quotes this way. When we had to change plans because of Covid, coordinating our vendors and finding a new date was much easier because we only had to line up 5-6 vendors (not 10+). We also paid less in deposits because multiple things were covered under a single deposit (instead of paying separate deposits for multiple venues, transportation, lodging, catering, cake, etc it was all lumped together), so in the event we are unable to have our bigger event next year or have to outright cancel, our overall financial losses should be less.

One of the other venues we looked at charged a la carte for everything, from drink service to having a fire pit to access to a bridal suite to overnight parking, and that required a lot more mental energy to decide what we did and didn't want and made it harder for us to predict what our final bill would be. We opted for the more inclusive venue because it allowed us to enjoy the planning process more. I also found caterers to be among the least responsive vendors and most difficult to get accurate quotes from, so not having to deal with that and just relying on the chef at our venue, who was amazing, ended up being a huge plus. Also, since the chef owned the venue and the other vendors were used to being there, it would all run like a well oiled machine, which is exactly what you want for your wedding.

All inclusive can be great if you really like all of the options provided, but it can be tricky if it locks you in to things you don't want or need, the venue doesn't meet your standards in some areas but does in others, or you have your heart set on some specific vendors. For example, if you have a particular photographer in mind, love a certain band, or can't imagine your wedding cake being anything other than from your favorite bakery, an all inclusive package may force you to really compromise on things you wanted. If the things that are included in the package are all things that excite you and the service and communication is top notch, then I wouldn't hesitate to go with a package deal.

I searched for venues that included the majority of what we needed, then compared that with individual vendor quotes paired with a venue that didn't offer as much. We ended up choosing a venue that offered more because it came with table linens and china etc. which adds up very quickly when renting or buying!

It will really depend on your wedding style and location really!

It definitely depends on your situation and what the balance for your priorities are on time vs. money. For my fiancé and I, we both work pretty busy jobs so there was no way we would be able to dedicate the time needed for a venue where we would need to bring in everything and do it ourselves. There are definitely different types of all-inclusive venues, but we were looking for venues which would include the catering, alcohol, ceremony space/setup, all the tables/plates/linens, etc. For where we live, that is pretty standard for an all-inclusive venue so we were able to look at about 9 and then compare them. We did find that some venues were stricter than others in terms of making changes to the package and doing customization, but you can definitely find venues that are are all-inclusive and really flexible at the same time. We loved our venue not just because it fit the style we were looking for, but because they have really good set packages and also are really flexible on customizing it. For example, we really want to do a late night snack as guests leave the reception as our favor and our venue has tons of options that we can pick and choose from, such as hot soft pretzels, cookies, donuts or even a candy bar. For us it just seemed easier to be able to do all of this through one vendor versus finding and having to coordinate other vendors. Choosing this type of all-inclusive venue was perfect for us because it allowed us to focus our time to select all the other important vendors (photographer, DJ, florist, etc.) and now I don't need to spend any time worrying about table setup/cleanup or anything like that. All I need to do is tell them what colors I want for the table linens and napkins!

View Quoted Comment We have a similar situation.


For our miniwedding at my parents' house, flowers, photography, food, drinks, dessert, music, rentals (tables, chairs, linens, tent) all had to be arranged separately.
For our postponed reception, we only had to arrange for flowers, photography, and a DJ, and the venue coordinator will communicate with the other vendors on the day of. We'll have around 10 times as many people, but way less work.