North Jersey venue guide
Updated
This is the commuter belt, from Jersey City and Fort Lee out through Morristown, Parsippany, and the Somerset hills. Most venues are hotels, Italian restaurants, banquet rooms, and country clubs that sell a package: dinner, drinks, staff, and a coordinator, quoted per guest. It's the most affordable corner of New Jersey we hold prices for, as long as you read what gets added at the end.
We've gathered details on 11 North Jersey venues. Pick a starting point and Sage will rank them for your day, with cost estimates wherever the venue publishes its prices.
What should you budget?
Use − and + to reprice every figure below.
$25k
Typical estimate
The median cost for North Jersey venues that include their own catering.
$19k–$34k
Typical range
A narrow range, because most venues here sell a similar kind of package.
These are our estimates, not quotes from the venues. Packages here usually include dinner, an open bar for a set number of hours, and staff, so the quoted number covers more of the wedding than it would elsewhere. Service charges and tax are added on top of it, and they are not small. For estates and country inns further west, see Skylands wedding venues.
Every filled dot is one North Jersey venue that can host 100 guests, shaded by its own estimate on the same scale as the New Jerseyguide's map; grey ones don't publish a venue-with-catering price. Outlined dots are venues in neighbouring regions.
Narrow it down
See which North Jersey venues fit your guest count and budget, and why
Guests
By budget and guest count
How many North Jersey venues come in under common budgets for the venue and food, at the guest counts couples plan for most. Each row counts the venues that can host that many guests and publish a full price for the venue and the food, so the list gets shorter as it grows.
| Guests | Typical venue and food | Under $15,000 | Under $25,000 | Under $35,000 | Under $50,000 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 50 guests | $14k | 5 of 7 | 6 of 7 | 6 of 7 | 6 of 7 |
| 100 guests | $25k | 1 of 7 | 4 of 7 | 6 of 7 | 6 of 7 |
| 150 guests | $37k | 0 of 7 | 1 of 7 | 3 of 7 | 6 of 7 |
| 200 guests | $49k | 0 of 7 | 0 of 7 | 1 of 7 | 4 of 7 |
Our estimates for the venue and food, including service charges and tax where the venue lists them, on a Saturday in peak season. Not quotes. A typical figure is shown only where at least five venues publish a price.
How venues price weddings
Pick one to see what its price contains, what it leaves for you to buy, and what it typically comes to.
You pay for the space and their kitchen
Venues publish their price in two ways: as a site fee plus a per-guest menu price, or as a bundled package (venue + food).
$25k
typical for venues with catering
$19k–$34k
where 80% of these 7 venues land
And then you still buy
don’t want to worry about sourcing a caterer or any outside catering fees.
What you’d still need to find out
Whether drinks are inside the menu price or billed separately, and what the service charge and tax add at the end.
The package covers most of the wedding, and the fees are the fine print. Venues here are in the business of running whole weddings. You pick a package, and they handle the catering, the bar, and the staff, and give you someone to plan it with, which is why there's less to organize than anywhere else in the state and why the prices sit close together. The catch is at the bottom of the quote: North Jersey adds more in service charges, fees, and tax than the rest of New Jersey, so a package that fits your budget can stop fitting once it's all counted.
In service charges, admin fees, and tax, against 29% across New Jersey. Get this in writing before you compare two packages.
Compare full estimates, fees includedOf the venues that say either way, and most offer full planning rather than day-of only.
See venues with a coordinatorOf music, rentals, décor, planning, and photography. Food and staff come from the venue either way. This is everything else.
See what each venue includesMostly the hotels, against 45% across New Jersey. Everywhere else, guests drive home or book nearby.
See venues with rooms on siteWhat kind of place
A ballroom, a bar, and beds for anyone travelling, which matters when half your list is coming from the city or the airport. Ask how many rooms you can hold and at what rate, whether another wedding shares the building that day, and what the parking situation is for a hundred cars.
4 of 11 venues here
Find venues like theseKitchens that do this every week, sometimes with the Manhattan skyline across the water. The food is usually the reason people remember the night. Ask whether you get the whole place or one room, what time you have it until, and how the minimum changes on a Saturday in the autumn.
5 of 11 venues here
Find venues like theseBuilt for a big guest list: a large room, a lawn for photos, and a package for everything. Ask what the package actually includes hour by hour, when the open bar stops, what overtime costs, and whether the ceremony outside carries its own fee.
4 of 11 venues here
Find venues like theseThe same wedding costs different amounts at a barn and at a hotel — and so does the shape of the bill. One way to look at it, for 100 guests.
The whole bill — the room, the meal, and the fees on top.
Venues behind each figure in brackets. A venue can be more than one kind of place, so it may appear in more than one row.
What changes the shortlist here
Every venue quotes per guest, but no two packages hold the same things. Write down what each includes: how many hours of open bar and which brands, whether the cocktail hour is separate, cake, a room to get ready in, ceremony chairs. Then price them all at your real number, not the one on the brochure.
Compare full estimates for your guest countAsk for a sample invoice for a wedding your size on your date. It should show the service charge, any administrative fee, sales tax, and whether the tax applies to the service charge as well. A package that looks cheaper per head can land higher once all of that is on the page.
Compare full estimates for your guest countPackages are convenient because someone else made the decisions. Find out which ones you can still make: whether the menu can change for dietary needs or a cultural tradition, whether you can bring your own baker or band, and whether an outside caterer is possible at all. In New Jersey it usually is not, so ask before you plan around it.
See what each venue includesof venues that say either way (10 here)
at least, of all venues (11 here)
at least, of all venues (11 here)
at least, of all venues (11 here)
a planner, insurance, security or similar, of all venues (11 here)
What affects the cost of your wedding
Wedding venue pricing is seasonal. 5 of the 11 North Jersey venues we track charge differently depending on the day, and 5 charge differently depending on the month. Every figure below compares a venue with itself, so it says what moving your date does — whatever kind of venue you pick, and whatever the size of your wedding.
Day of the week
Months you’d consider
Peak months are selected to start. Tap any month to compare.
Saturday, peak season
The most expensive date most venues sell, and the date almost every published price assumes. Choose a different day or month to see what typically comes off.
6 of the 11 North Jersey venues that can host 100 guests put a floor under what you spend — a minimum on food and drink, or a headcount they bill for. It is the one charge that feels worse the smaller your wedding is, and it is rarely made clear on other platforms that show venue pricing.
4 of 6
would bill you above what your own 100 guests come to.
Most of them stop topping up from around 150 guests. Below that, inviting fewer people doesn’t lower the bill at these venues.
Cutting 20 guests takes $0 off the bill, even though they actually cost $4.3k — because of the minimum spend
A venue can set more than one.
What gets added at the end
Every pricing model carries them. At the 8 North Jersey venues that publish their fees, the middle result is 31%, with most landing between 28% and 32%.
Service charge5 venues
23%
The venue’s charge for its staff. Not a tip.
Sales tax8 venues
6.6%
Set by the state, and charged on the service charge too at most venues.
Dots are sized by how many venues charge that rate. The gold line is the median rate, and every fee has its own scale: read the spread within a row, not across them.
Places worth a closer look
These include hotels, restaurants, clubs, and ballrooms, priced in different ways. Open a venue to see its pricing, capacity, spaces, vendor policies, and other planning details.
Florham Park
Planning and rentals come with the venue
$15–25k · Venue Fee + Catering
See pricing and policies
Basking Ridge · Up to 250 guests
Guests can stay on site
$15–25k · Venue Fee + Catering
See pricing and policies
Gladstone
Helps you plan the whole wedding
$25–35k · Venue Fee + Catering
See pricing and policies
Jersey City
Planning and décor come with the venue
Food & Bar Est.
See pricing and policies
Parsippany
Guests can stay on site
Food & Bar Est.
See pricing and policies
Jersey City · Up to 150 guests
Helps you plan the whole wedding
Food & Bar Est.
See pricing and policies
Describe your guest count, your budget, and anything you can’t compromise on. See a ranked list of venues, with why each one fits, trade-offs, and what to double-check.
Sage the Date reads each venue's own published details, including pricing, catering and alcohol rules, music curfews, rain plans, whether you get the whole property, and how many guests each space holds. Every estimate uses your guest count. When a venue doesn't say, we tell you instead of guessing.
Before you book
Sage reads each venue's own published pricing and policies, puts different kinds of quotes on the same footing, and estimates the cost for 100 guests. If a venue doesn't say something, we treat it as a question to ask, not a no.
