Hi guys,

I recently got engaged and have started the planning process for our wedding for the summer / fall of 2008. Since we're both living in the suburbs of Chicago we're planning on having things in the area.

We already have a chapel picked out and sort of want to stick with it. We're having the ceremony at Alice Miller Chapel in Evanston (Northwestern's Campus Chapel).

The problem now is to find a place to host a reception (Dinner or Lunch). We're trying to be very budget minded since we are covering about 90% of our wedding.. sort of hard to save up with mortgages and bills but we're trying. I want to keep the whole wedding at or below $20,000 (minus the honey moon). We're budgeted roughly 10-13k for solely the reception hall and catering. We're trying to play by the book with this wedding planning guide (given to my finace by her friend that is getting married this winter).

We want to keep costs down so we're planning on inviting around 75 people that matter most to us. Alcohol will not be served other than champaign for the toast.

Does anyone from the Chicagoland area know of any nice places we can host our reception? We've looking into the Botanical Gardens, Crystal Gardens, the hall by Lincoln park zoo and the Library downtown. Those areas are nice, however their rental fee alone would cripple our budget.

Any input would be great Along with any suggestions for Florists and Photographers!!

 

maybe you should go to chicago subforum?????

 

I don't know Chicago / Evanston, but Yahoo! does: Give this a try. (Maybe click "Next", then "Beyond Evanston".)

Good luck!

Oh, and congratulations!