Weddings are a day we all dream about. Once you’re planning a wedding, however, that rosy dream can easily become a logistical nightmare, especially where finances are involved. If you’re looking to plan an affordable wedding in Los Angeles, we’ve made it easy for you. Our pros compiled a list of some of the most attractive and affordable wedding venues in and around the L.A. area.
Keep in mind that your guest list will make or break your wedding budget. It’s easy to get caught up in the pressure from family members and friends. The reality, however, is that your wedding day is YOUR WEDDING DAY. You should never go into debt to plan a wedding, nor should you have anyone present that you don’t absolutely want there. For this reason, managing your guest list is one of the first things you can do to plan an affordable wedding.
Short of planning a backyard, potluck style wedding (which is a very sweet, realistic and a highly enjoyable way to involve the ones you love and to keep wedding expenses to a minimum), the following list will help your wedding budget remain in check.
Something Worth Noting: We’d also like to point out that when experts review American marital statistics, the couples who report being the happiest in their marriages are the ones who’ve spent the least on their total wedding expenditures. That is something to keep in mind as you work to plan a wedding that is personal, meaningful and just right for your desires, needs and mutual budgets.
Beautiful Event Spaces in LA for $10,000 or Less
Electra Cruises – A Local Take on a Destination Wedding
Did you dream of a destination wedding? While they’ve become trendy, destination weddings rarely fall into the $10,000 or less category, especially when guests’ travel expenses and missed work time are considered. Experience a local take on a destination wedding by booking your wedding with Electra Cruises.
The Electra Cruise wedding yachts can accommodate as few as 20 guests and as many as 300, although your budget will shoot right out of the $10,000 ballpark if your guest lists creeps above the 75 to 100 mark. The iconic Electra yacht (the original) can host a nice, clean 100 guests, but you can choose any one of their multiple fleets depending on your tastes. Wedding guests will enjoy a beautiful cruise around Newport Harbor, living large as they watch you celebrate a precious moment.
For 50 guests, Electra Cruise weddings average between $6,000 and $8,000.
Outdoor Weddings at The La Mirada Golf Course
Country Club weddings are always a popular choice. They’re easy to plan, the club’s special events coordinator facilitates all the arrangements and your surroundings are guaranteed to be beautiful. Such is the case with La Mirada Golf Course.
The La Mirada Golf Club has both outdoor and indoor venues, including lakeside wedding spots and beautiful gazebo options. Brides have only to meet with their wedding planners to efficiently plan the wedding they want – with almost all rentals coming through the golf course itself, and with plenty of reliable and trustworthy resources when it comes to the music, flower, and any other off-site needs.
Prices to rent the club range from between $6,000 to just over $10,000, depending on your selections. Always remember that guests are most likely to remember the fun, love and camaraderie of being at your wedding, they care much less about the color or quality of the chair covers…
The Sportsmen’s Lodge Hotel
This is a sleeper when it comes to stunning wedding venues in Los Angeles, never mind affordable ones. While the title doesn’t seem very romantic, The Sportsmen’s Lodge Hotel is a stunning venue for outdoor weddings – surrounded by giant redwoods, waterfalls and lush gardens. It offers a way to enjoy a natural, rustic (or not) wedding without having to travel up into the mountains.
Even if you opt out of the outdoor option, The lodge has beautiful indoor spaces, not to mention convenient, on-site guest lodging, and guests can partake of the beautiful grounds before and after your ceremony.
Guest lists of 50 or less can enjoy affordable prices ranging from $4,000 to $8000.
Wedding Venues in Los Angeles in the $5000 range
Pomona Valley Mining Club
Here’s a venue that is both beautiful, as well as unique and eclectic for both you and your guests. The Pomona Valley Mining Club has hosted weddings for more than 30 years now. The venue is designed almost like a historical site, celebrating California’s mining history – and all of that makes for a very fun and creative wedding site.
The panoramic views of the Pomona hills and surrounding landscape yield stunning wedding photos – by day, by sunset or by night. The Pomona Mining Club’s event menus offer a little something for everyone, which makes it easy to satisfy guests.
Prices for a wedding with 50 guests begin at just under $4000.
Chapel of Orange
Treat your guests to a church wedding in one of LA’s only “Gothic” styled historical sites. The Chapel of Orange is the place to go for “Once upon a fairytale…” themed weddings, as well as simple, scaled back versions. Now privately owned by a couple who wanted to preserve its historical value, while also providing a spot for memorable weddings, The Chapel of Orange has everything a bride and groom could ever want in terms of both ceremony and celebration.
We like the simplicity of the pricing, which begins with all-inclusive prices of $135 per person, including both the ceremony and reception.
Chester Washington Golf Course
Like most country club venues, the Chester Washington Golf Course can accommodate guest lists as large as 300. However, its smaller guest lists that give you the best bang for your buck at any traditional wedding venue. Your wedding will take place underneath a beautiful archway, with guests seated on white chairs overlooking a beautiful greenspace.
Afterwards, they can get down at your reception in The Lounge, the club’s beautifully lit banquet hall. You can enjoy a wedding with 50 guests or so, starting at $4600.
Los Angeles Wedding Venues at Less Than $5000
Angels Gate Park
Do you dream of getting married with the ocean as your backdrop? That’s not always easy if budget is an issue – unless you book your two-hour slot at Angels Gate Park. Operated by the LA Parks system, this public space is meticulously maintained and overlooks the Pacific Ocean. The park is available from sunrise to sunset, every day of the week.
You can have up to 100 guests at this location, and it will cost you roughly $600, which includes a $100 cleaning deposit.
The Center of the Arts in Eagle Rock
Weddings are a high dollar industry, and so we love when we can pair brides with venues that put those dollars to good use. In the case of The Center of the Arts in Eagle Rock, brides and grooms have the satisfaction of planning a beautiful wedding, and knowing that the reasonable amount spent to do so is supporting the local arts. It’s a win-win.
The center’s architecture, consisting of classic mission revival style – lots of wood beams and stucco/plaster work – makes for a gorgeous interior that requires minimal décor to be completely stunning.
You can invite 125 guests (seated) and it will cost you just $3500 for a full 8-hours. If you make it a potluck or consider fun, affordable catering (food trucks? BBQ?) you can wind up with an extremely affordable wedding that everyone raves about for years to come.
The Clark Estate
Public spaces make for super affordable wedding venues and the Clark Estate is a lovely and prime example of this. Beautiful architecture and landscaped grounds make this Santa Fe Springs location a desirable one for weddings. The Clarke Estate is a historical landmark, and was designed by renowned architect Irving Gill. The venue has a kitchen available for caterers or collaborative friends and family members who volunteer to cook a family style wedding supper…
The venue’s wedding season is weekends only, May through October. Indoor weddings seat a maximum of 30 (a great way to force yourself into a smaller guest list), while outdoor weddings can accommodate 200.
The base price for The Clarke Estate range from roughly $2600 to $3,000.
A City Hall Wedding
City Halls always offer affordable venues because they’re public spaces too. Los Angeles and the surrounding areas offer several City Hall options. Visit our Los Angeles City Hall Weddings page to learn more about planning a wedding in one of the area’s seven City Hall options, some of which cost as little s $25.
Keep it Cheap: Additional Tips for Sticking to Your Wedding Budget
Wedding venues are almost always the “tipping point” for any bride’s budget so finding an affordable wedding venue in or around Los Angeles is certainly a top priority. After that, however, there are other things you can do to keep wedding expenses on the smaller side.
Create a moderate guest list
Your guest list is the primary determinant of your total wedding costs. This is because set up, clean up and food costs are often solely dependent on the total number of guests. If budget is an issue, a selective guest list makes all the difference.
If this is a challenge for you, specifically choose a wedding venue with a small, maximum guest allowance, and blame it on that! The minute you start getting into, “we have to invite X because we invited Y…” the wedding budget will inflate exponentially.
Skip all the extras
How many wedding favors do you actually remember? How many custom “save the date” announcements have you kept over the years? Our guess is that you answered, “none or hardly any,” to both of those questions. The same is true for your wedding guests.
Work to save every way you can by skipping unnecessary extras:
- Send electronic save the dates and save the paper for the “real” invites
- Keep favors to a simple chocolate or candy in a wrapper with your names or a simple motto.
- Choose a venue that requires minimal décor
- Forgo fancy food that is impossible to make delectable en masse. Choose simple foods that people universally love – they’re cheaper and make everybody happier.
Your guests want nothing more than to celebrate your love and send you off into wedded bliss. If it makes you happy, it should make them happy.
Don’t forget that the experts have proven the happiest couples tend to be those who spent the least on their weddings. Those are the couples who know LOVE is the most priceless thing of all and that a happy financial forecast will help to pave the way towards a more peaceful, marital future.
Start exploring this list of cheap and affordable wedding venues in Los Angeles and create the wedding of your dreams for a reasonable price you can afford. You’ll never regret it!