First things first – congratulations!
He asked, and you said, “Yes!” Or maybe you asked and he said, “Yes!” Whichever way it happened, you’re getting married. That one wonderful word, “yes,” now starts a whole process in motion. From as long ago as you can remember, you’ve thought about how your wedding day will be. You’ve looked at your parents wedding album, maybe even you grand- parents timeless images. You have been to others weddings, maybe even been in a few weddings but now it’s your turn. OK, so you’ve told everyone you know that your getting married, after all the excitement one of the first questions you’ll be asked is “when will the wedding be?”
The Planning
There’s a lot of work to do because now you and your fiance have a wedding day to plan. This will be one of the biggest days of your lives. Your going to bring two families together to celebrate the union of a brand new family, yours. This is a day you will remember for many years to come, hopefully 50-years or more and you want to hold onto everything you can to help cherish these timeless memories. Keepsake images that you will pass on to your children and even grandchildren. Your going to be meeting with many different wedding vendors: DJ’s, caterers, invitations, limo, photographers, videographers, florist, clergy, dressmakers and more. Before you do anything, it may be beneficial to see what average costs for these services are going for in your area. This gives you an idea about how much things are going to cost and will help with figuring out a budget by seeing what local brides, just like you, have paid.
How much will it cost?
The first thing you should do is to determine what your budget is. Find out who will be contributing to the wedding and deciding where the money is going to go. After the budget, the couple must prioritize what is important to them. Whether it be the flowers, wedding dress, photography, or reception hall the couple needs to decide what is the most important to them. Below are average costs of weddings in Northwest Indiana. You can use this to budget your wedding expenses, these figures show the range of average costs (low – high). These costs are based on spending and not vendor prices. Remember, prioritize!
Attire & Accessories Bride Accessories $284 – $473 Groom Accessories $149 – $249 Groom Suit/Tux $205 – $341 Headpiece/Veil $266 – $443 Wedding Dress $1,178 – $1,963 Beauty & Spa Hair & Makeup $149 – $249 Ceremony Ceremony Accessories $166 – $276 Ceremony Decorations $494 – $824 Ceremony Location $578 – $964 Ceremony Musicians $532 – $886 Officiate/Pastor/Priest $208 – $346 Rehearsal Dinner $1,123 – $1,871 Flowers Boutonnières/Corsages $157 – $261 Bride Bouquet $134 – $224 Bridesmaid Bouquets $215 – $358 Ceremony Flowers $384 – $640 Flower Girl Flowers $44 – $73 Reception Flowers $867 – $1,445 Gifts & Favors Gifts for Attendants $419 – $698 Gifts for Each Other $338 – $563 Gifts for Parents $149 – $248 Favors $316 – $526 Honeymoon Honeymoon $3,281 – $5,468 Invitations Bridal Shower $89 – $149 Guest Book $44 – $73 Invitations & Reply Cards $378 – $630 Save the Date Cards $146 – $243 Thank You Cards $78 – $130 Jewelry & Rings Engagement Ring $4,074 – $6,790 Her Ring $822 – $1,370 His Ring $579 – $965 Photography & Video Photography $1,799 – $2,999 Video $1,307 – $2,179 Planner Bridal Consultant/Planner $1,178 – $1,964 Reception Beverages/Bartender $1,961 – $3,268 Bride/Groom Hotel $246 – $410 Cake $474 – $790 Cake Knife Set $38 – $64 Cake Topper $30 – $60 Decorations/Centerpieces $947 – $1,579 Reception Food Service $6,675 – $11,125 Reception Location $2,171 – $3,618 Reception Rentals $972 – $1,620
Finding The Perfect Reception Hall
Once you have your wedding costs guide (and had a good chuckle) in hand, one of the first things to decide is how large a reception are you going to have. By large I mean how many people are you going to invite to the party of the year. Believe it or not this is where many couples hit their first bump in the road. During consultations we have talked with many couples who fell in love with a particular banquet hall to only find out later (after the deposit is paid) that the hall didn’t have the capacity to seat the number of guests desired. You need to know how many guests will be expected before choosing the hall. This will determine how large a hall you will need. How much will the reception hall or banquet center cost? I can’t tell you what each hall charges but I can tell you how much the average couple (Chesterton, IN) spent for a reception or banquet hall last year, are you ready? ….. $15,876 (thats $2,646/hr) after it was all said and done (doesn’t include the DJ). This cost includes Bar, Food, Venue plus rentals an?d this was for an average of 200 guests. To be fair that was an average, the low cost for the survey was $6,717 and the high cost was $20,134. No wonder that you are looking at the single largest expense of your wedding. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying it isn’t worth it because that’s up to the individual couple to decide. Our son and new daughter had their ceremony/reception at Aberdeen in Valparaiso, In last year. It was beautiful and it took a lot of money to make it beautiful plus an army of servers to get the food prepared and served to our guests. Looking back on it all I’m glad it happened that way.
Determining the guest list may seem like an easy chore but it’s going to be anything but easy. There are going to be people that you just have to invite even if you don’t know them that well (cousins new boyfriend or parents second cousins). Unless you have a small family this list is going to grow and grow. The reality is you can’t invite everyone due to space and cost restrictions. You know when you want to get married but you may have to be flexible on? this date due to the availability of the hall. Get everything together so you can reserve the hall as soon as possible. This should happen 18 mths prior to the desired wedding date. Yes, it’s true that some halls get booked up that far in advance. Especially if your looking for a hall in Northwest Indiana where we have a very popular wedding season of May-October and those days fill up fast.
Below are some of the Northwest Indiana banquet halls & facilities where RH Francis Wedding Photography has had the pleasure of photographing weddings at:
Aberdeen Manor
http://www.aberdeenmanor.com
216 Ballantrae St., Valparaiso, IN .. 219-465-7130
Ambassador Banquets
http://www.ambassadorbanquets.com
1967 E. 37th Ave, Hobart, IN .. 219-947-8282
Avalon Manor Banquet Center
http://www.theavalonmanor.com
3550 E. Lincoln Hwy, Merrillville, IN .. 219-945-0888
Our Lady of Sorrows
http://www.dcgary.org/parish/parishes/ourlady_val.htm
A Visit to Seven Dolors Shrine conducted by the FRANCISCAN FATHERS
http://campus.udayton.edu/mary//resources/shrines/Sevendolorsshrine/Sevendolorsshrine.htm
356 W 700 N, Valparaiso, IN .. 219-759-2400
Knights of Columbus
http://www.kofc.org/un/index.cfm
3916 173rd St, Hammond, IN .. 219-845-9760
Elks Hobart Lodge
http://www.elks.org/
3580 W 61st Ave, Hobart, IN .. 219-942-1152
The Legacy
1356 W Lincolnway, Valparaiso, IN .. 219-464-2410
St. Maria Goretti
http://www.stmariagorettichurch.org/story.html
500 Northgate Dr, Dyer, IN .. 219-865-8956
Sheffield’s .. 219-322-5808
http://www.sheffieldsdyer.com/
1027 Sheffield Ave, Dyer, IN
1515 E 82nd St, Merrillville, IN
Serbian Social Center
http://www.serbiansocialcenter.com/
18550 Stony Island Ave, Lansing, IL .. 708-895-8998
Atrium Banquets .. 219-928-6311
http://www.theatriumcatering.com/banquet.html
Hellenic Cultural Center – 8000 Madison St, Merrillville, IN
The Hall of Justice – 220 Main Street, Crown Point, IN
Indian-American Cultural Center – 8605 Merrillville Rd, Merrillville, IN
Operating Engineers Hall
http://www.local150.org/MemberServices/CreditUnion/tabid/64/Default.aspx
2193 W 84th Place, Merrillville, IN .. 219-736-7710
The Patrician
http://www.patricianbanquetcenter.com/
410 E US Hwy 30, Schererville, IN .. 219-864-4000
Old Town Banquet Center
http://www.casadelroma.com/CasaFrameset.html
711 Calumet Ave, Valparaiso, IN .. 219-465-5444
Casa Del Roma Banquet Center
http://www.casadelroma.com/CasaFrameset.html
712 Calumet Ave, Valparaiso, IN .. 219-465-0478
Strongbow Banquets
http://www.strongbowinn.com/
2405 Morthland Dr, Valparaiso, IN .. 219-531-0162
Woodland Park & Yacht Club
http://www.ci.portage.in.us/
2100 Willowcreek Rd, Portage, IN .. 219-762-1765
Pine Grove Banquet Hall
http://www.pinegrovebanquet.com/index2.php
4293 N US Hwy 35, LaPorte, IN .. 219-324-4768
Country Lounge
http://thenewcountrylounge.com/
3700 Montgomery St., Hobart, IN …. 219.942.6699
Dynasty Banquets
http://www.dynastybanquets.com/
4144 Calumet Ave., Hammond, IN …. 219.937.0500
Duneland Falls
http://www.dunelandfalls.com/
1100 N. Max Mochal Hwy, Portage, IN …. 219.362.2643
White Hawk Country Club
http://www.whitehawkcountryclub.com/
1001 White Hawk Dr., Crown Point, IN …. 219.661.2322
Halls of St. George
http://www.hallsofstgeorge.com/
528 W. 77th Ave, Schererville, IN …. 219.864.1458
http://www.hestonbar.com/hestonhills/index.shtml
1933 E. 800 N., LaPorte, IN …. 219.778.9595
Croatian Center
8550 Taft St., Merrillville, IN …. 219.736.1890
The Patio
7706 Broadway, Merrillville, IN …. 219.769.7990
The Barn at County Line Orchard
http://www.countylineorchard.com/
County Line Rd., Hobart, IN
South Haven Christian Church
780 Juniper Rd., Valparaiso, IN … 219.759.2575
Calumet Conference Center
http://www.calumet.purdue.edu/thecenter/
2300 173rd St., Hammond, IN …. 219.989.3220
Rosser Hall
(1421 W 37th Ave, Hobart, IN)
Andorra Banquets
http://www.andorrabanquets.com/
1112 US 41, Schererville, IN …. 219.865.1230
Villa Cesare
http://www.villacesare.com/
900 Eagle Ridge Dr., Schererville, IN …. 219.322.3011
Center for Visual & Performing Arts
http://www.cvpa.org/
1040 Ridge Rd., Munster, IN …. 219.836.3255
Briar Ridge Country Club
http://www.briarridgecc.com/
123 Country Club Dr., Schererville, IN …. 219.865.0846
Cloister in the Woods
1101 Park Dr., Munster, IN …. 219.838.9900
Lakes of the Four Seasons
http://www.lofs.org/
1048 N. Lakeshore Dr., Crown Point …. 219.988.2201
Ceremony Locations
First for some Non-Traditional Alternative Ideas
So you’ve decided that a traditional church wedding may not be for you and you want some alternative ideas for your wedding ceremony. The following is a list of ideas to get you thinking of some alternatives to that traditional church wedding. Use these ideas to generate ideas of your own for a great wedding ceremony. Keep in mind that most of these areas will require permission or even a license for the ceremony to take place.
Family Home or Farm
Family Business
At the place you first met
Top of a skyscraper
City Hall
City Park
Museum
County Park
Water-park
Baseball Stadium
Football Stadium
Zoo
Country Club or Golf Course
On Horseback
Vineyard
On the Beach
Lakeside
Dinner Cruise on Lake Michigan
Marina
Sky Diving
Skin Diving
Theme Park
National or State Park
Banquet Center
This is not a definitive list but is meant to give you a starting point for coming up with ideas of places other than the traditional church setting.
Second for a more Traditional Church Wedding
Typically this involves the church that your family is associated with and has been attending for years. Although it could include a University Cathedral that you may have went to college at or if there is one in the area that you really like. Valparaiso University has a beautiful cathedral that is open to the public for weddings. Here are some of the churches in the Northwest Indiana area that RH Francis Photography has photographed wedding ceremonies at:
…. to be continued
Liberty Bible in Chesterton, IN