Have any of you paid for a large dinner banquet?

Adex_Xeda · Post by **Adex_Xeda** » June 12, 2003, 7:34 pm

Do any of you know how much it would cost to rent a big hotel room and host a banquet for about 100 people?

My parents will have their 40th wedding aniversery in October and my brother and I would like to invite a bunch of their friends in for a sit down type party.

If you don't go crazy and stick with a holiday inn type budget, how much do think it would cost?

Truant · Post by **Truant** » June 12, 2003, 7:57 pm

Depends on who is providing, where it is located, the dates, and all sorts of variables.

Your best bet is to figure the date, and start calling various places in the area you wish to hold it and get quotes.

There's so many variables in play that it'd be pretty hard to give an estimate.

Are you going to serve like, bbq? Or have a nice dinner? Are you going to go to a bigfuckingfancy hotel downtown? Or just go to the holiday inn down the street?

Alcohol? Entertainment? Cake? Decorations?

~

Ennia · Post by **Ennia** » June 12, 2003, 8:03 pm

Do you just need a room and cook/have someone cook or cater?
Instead of guessing I'd suggest calling a hotel of your choice and asking, or a restaurant, here in Chicago we have lots of restaurants large enough to have a hall for 100 peeps and not trying to take your arm and a leg, polish and italian style places come to mind.

oh and if I have to use a number I'd say 5k and up, depending on what Truant said (alcohol, dancing, just dinner and go home?)

Trek · Post by **Trek** » June 12, 2003, 8:25 pm

Living in Nevada I am guessing I cannot give you an accurate figure. I believe Hotel/Casinos are the way to go.

Neost · Post by **Neost** » June 12, 2003, 10:20 pm

Assuming you aren't heathens, go to their church and check on using their facilities.

We had my grandparents 65th wedding anniversary at their church. Of course all the other old ladies wanted to pitch in and cook, clean, etc. etc. so we pretty much got off with just the cost of the food, cake and any decorations we wanted.

Of course no alcohol was served. My grandparents were strict Southern Baptist so dancing and drinking were out of the question. But they enjoyed having other church members as well as all the family there.

noel · Post by **noel** » June 12, 2003, 10:57 pm

I agree. We used my grandparent's church for their 50th wedding anniversary, and it was an excellent way to go.

Coatlicue [KoE] · Post by **Coatlicue [KoE]** » June 12, 2003, 11:20 pm

well, just to give you an idea for a formal banquet type, but this is the Chicago suburbs area.... without alcohol, we're paying $25.50/person for our wedding reception for a full white gloved service sit-down meal. it gets expensive too since tax/gratutity aren't added to that figure, so in actuality, we're probably paying $31 or $32/person, but that's without alcoholic beverages.

Soooo unless you want a formal reception type deal, i'd go for a church fellowship hall or a garden luncheon or champagne/cake deal with a nice jazz or even an 8 suit orchestra. Depends on what your grandparents like, what kinda crowd they are with, etc.[/i]

kyoukan · Post by **kyoukan** » June 12, 2003, 11:39 pm

no dancing? what the hell?

even fucking hillbillys dance.

Canelek · Post by **Canelek** » June 13, 2003, 12:06 am

kyoukan wrote:no dancing? what the hell?

even fucking hillbillys dance.

A jug, a washboard, some corn mash liqour, what more do you need?

noel · Post by **noel** » June 13, 2003, 12:09 am

Canelek wrote:
kyoukan wrote:no dancing? what the hell?

even fucking hillbillys dance.
A jug, a washboard, some corn mash liqour, what more do you need?

No. Just NO!

Canelek · Post by **Canelek** » June 13, 2003, 1:55 am

Aranuil wrote:
Canelek wrote:
kyoukan wrote:no dancing? what the hell?

even fucking hillbillys dance.
A jug, a washboard, some corn mash liqour, what more do you need?
No. Just NO!

Don't be so sad, Aran. Kooky is going to dance for us.

And to think, LA will be banning lapdances soon. Enjoy! Pull up a rock! /hands Aranuil a mason jar of hooch.

Thank you Kyoukan

:):):):):):):):):)*HUGGLES*:):):):):):):):):):):)

Demags · Post by **Demags** » June 13, 2003, 5:03 am

Neosts post reminded me of an old joke:

Why dont baptists have sex standing up?

Someone might think they are dancing.

vn_Tanc · Post by **vn_Tanc** » June 13, 2003, 6:30 am

A Wedding reception with NO ALCOHOL!!!!!!????????

I'm literally lost for words at the enormity of the concept!!!

Fallanthas · Post by **Fallanthas** » June 13, 2003, 10:24 am

Adex,

I serve on a committe that puts on an annual bowhunters banquet for the state bowhunting org.

We draw, 400-500 people for dinner. Price is generally around 20-22 bucks per plate, depending on what type of meal you decide on.

Here is a tip. Get the hotel to block a set of rooms for your event and have folks identify themselves as members of your party when calling in a reservation. You can usually get the dining room gratis if you can give the hotel 12-15 room nights of revenue.

Also, don't let them talk you into a buffet service unless the room seat at least twice the number of people you expect to feed. Lines, cold food and waiters tripping over guests as everyone mills around makes it very hard to enjoy the dinner.

Oh, and just say no to the pork cutlet !!

masteen · Post by **masteen** » June 13, 2003, 10:34 am

LA is going to be banning lap dances? Truly, California is a shithole!

XunilTlatoani · Post by **XunilTlatoani** » June 13, 2003, 10:41 am

vn_Tanc wrote:A Wedding reception with NO ALCOHOL!!!!!!????????

I'm literally lost for words at the enormity of the concept!!!

What Coatie meant was that we're paying roughly $33 a head without alcohol, not that we aren't having alcohol at the wedding. With alcohol, we're paying closer to $40-$45 a head.

It's going to vary though. You can find some big restaurants that can accomodate 100 people easily for 10-15 a head, and then add on a bar package if needed. All in all, if you want to hold it in a restaurant/hotel, you are looking at anywhere from $1000-$3000 w/o alcohol.

Aabidano · Post by **Aabidano** » June 13, 2003, 10:47 am

Depending on the area, American Legion, VFW Halls and the like are decent and inexpensive places to have this sort of thing at also. They almost always have a banquet room. Rent the room for a couple hundred bucks and get a caterer, which they can get you a deal on, or do themselves in some cases. Caterers here run anywhere from 20-50 bucks a head, depending on what you want.

The town I live in has a nice community center that folks do receptions and such at, something to look at.

Make sure you book at least a month in advance, 2-3 is even better. The prices seem to scale up the shorter the notice is. And you may not get what you want at all.

Adex_Xeda · Post by **Adex_Xeda** » June 13, 2003, 10:52 am

Thanks for the tips guys.

rhyae · Post by **rhyae** » June 13, 2003, 10:55 am

Botanical gardens, arboratums, and museums also have facilities you can rent sometimes, indoor and outdoor, if you want something more interesting than a hotel. And you can decorate sites yourself which can be fun if you're into that sort of thing.
Some zoos do as well =D
Not sure how prices compare but its an idea for some venues.

Voronwë · Post by **Voronwë** » June 13, 2003, 11:04 am

i would advise a restaurant over a hotel actually. Depending on the size of the town of course, but at least in Atlanta there are tons of restaurants that have rooms that can accomodate ~100 people. the reason i say this, is the food will be better for the same price. hotel banquets tend to have pretty mediocre food, unless you are at the Ritz Carleton or similar type of hotel

.

The room doesnt have to be that gigantic. I agree with other peoples' cost assessment, you should expect to pay $20-22 per person without alcohol. If you want to add beer and wine for ~3 hours, i'd add about $10 per person. So you'd be looking at $3500 or so which is obviously a lot of money. For a full bar it will be more like $15-20 per person just for the beverages.

Regardless of how upscale you do it, your parents will be thrilled, and obviously the most important thing is just everybody being together. Sounds like fun =).

For our rehearsal dinner last year we really had an awesome meal for 85 people with great service in the price range i'm talking about above. I couldnt have been happier with how it went and the quality of the meal.

vn_Tanc · Post by **vn_Tanc** » June 13, 2003, 11:29 am

vn_Tanc wrote:
A Wedding reception with NO ALCOHOL!!!!!!????????

I'm literally lost for words at the enormity of the concept!!!

What Coatie meant was that we're paying roughly $33 a head without alcohol, not that we aren't having alcohol at the wedding. With alcohol, we're paying closer to $40-$45 a head.

Shew well thank criminy for that! I've been sitting here at my keyboard, agape and paralyzed since coming to the wrong conclusion this morning.

My hangover after the last wedding I went to was so bad I was awake 15 mins before I worked out wtf was wrong

Drolgin Steingrinder · Post by **Drolgin Steingrinder** » June 13, 2003, 12:14 pm

You mean when you looked over and saw your wife there, Tanc?

vn_Tanc · Post by **vn_Tanc** » June 13, 2003, 12:25 pm

LOL Yes. His name was Bernard ><

Psyloche · Post by **Psyloche** » June 13, 2003, 12:29 pm

Truant wrote: Alcohol? Entertainment? Cake? Decorations?

~

Dude, doesn't Entertainment go under alcohol?

Voronwë · Post by **Voronwë** » June 13, 2003, 12:33 pm

did Bernard carry you across the threshold?

i had a friend who told me that he wasnt having alcohol at his wedding reception because his wifes family would flip out. he basically told me dont bother coming, it is going to suck

vn_Tanc · Post by **vn_Tanc** » June 13, 2003, 1:08 pm

I think it's against the law to stay sober at a wedding reception in this country. I think it was brought in by a lobby of ladies in their "autumn years" who wanted more opportunities to put on the glad-rags and grope their children's 30-something friends.

I don't remember any thresholding

Never mix the grape and the grain! Or more specifically never mix champagne, white wine, red wine, another bottle of champagne, a few beers to "cool the pace a little" then double gins til 4am :drinking:

Dula Allazaward · Post by **Dula Allazaward** » June 13, 2003, 2:15 pm

A wedding reception or anniversary party is never complete without one of these:

http://www.mysticsun.com/images/shayna1.JPG

Truant · Post by **Truant** » June 13, 2003, 5:39 pm

Psyloche wrote:
Truant wrote: Alcohol? Entertainment? Cake? Decorations?

~
Dude, doesn't Entertainment go under alcohol?

Only when it's us drinking ^^

Canelek · Post by **Canelek** » June 13, 2003, 9:45 pm

masteen wrote:LA is going to be banning lap dances? Truly, California is a shithole!

Well, it should be up to vote by the City Council soon.... customers must remain within 6 feet of employee at all times.... yep, that will keep LA the safe harbor that it has always been before all those evil strippers took over! heh

Coatlicue [KoE] · Post by **Coatlicue [KoE]** » June 13, 2003, 9:53 pm

if there were no alcohol at my wedding reception, I wouldn't even go

Like Xunil said, I was just quoting the price without alcohol involved in the banquet dinner, since we're adding the alcohol separately anyway... just to give Adex an idea of what a banquet might cost.

However, I am getting a helluva deal on this cost for the reception... for one of the top 5 restaurants in the Chicagoland area, $25.50/person is freaking awesome.

The menu

Chicken & rice soup
Chef's tossed salad
Chicken Imperial (stuffed chicken breast with rice and white wine cream sauce)
twice baked potato
Stuffed tomato with broccoli au gratin
Strawberry sundaes
White buttercream wedding cake with marble and raspberry filling
unlimited wine/soda/water

I'm drooling thinking about it now. this week is gonna go by too slow!

*edit* Spelling > me

Samoseus · Post by **Samoseus** » June 14, 2003, 9:40 am

Sup bro,

Like some others have mentioned already, you should check around various banquet facilities and restaurants to see their price rates and policy.

I've thrown big niteclub party and luau events where we could not bring in food or alcohol. We could only use "their" exclusive caterer that had a menu with pricing per person. They throw in the banquet room for free after.

The alcohol bars were provided by them but we had to put some security money for each bar we wanted. If each bar made more than that amount we put down, we got our money back. If they didnt, they kept that money.

When I rented out the Anaheim Convention Center, we couldnt even bring in our luau food, roast pig, etc. We could only use their caterer....lol

There are many nice restaurants that would do just as well for your event than a hotel banquet room. Some restaurants have dancefloors, etc too.

Just start calling around and try to negotiate if you can on what they can do for you and your event if you chose them.

Good luck bro

Voronwë · Post by **Voronwë** » June 14, 2003, 8:13 pm

samo is 100% on about negotiating. a lot of places you can really negotiate with them on the price.