any ideas..price per head for full package, catering included.
also what about places that allow catering.
This is for a winter reception, december timeframe so not a busy season for these guys anyways.
any info will be appreciated.
Fraudia - will this be a desi event?
I did some research in this area for a desi reception about a year ago. There are couple of good Marriotts right in downtown Baltimore. One is Baltimore Mariott Waterfront & the other is Baltimore Marriott Inner Harbor. I've seen both of them and they are both very classy and upscale. They agreed to outside catering if the caterer had enough liability insurance. I've deleted the price quotes they e-mailed me, but from what I recall they charged ~$55/person to rent the ballroom. We were going to get outside catering done and the place we went with charged I think ~$15/head. There is also a hotel called Renaissance Harborplace hotel, but it wasn't as classy as the prior ones I've mentioned...but still nice. Thier rates were obviously cheaper - ~$40/person + outside catering.
We also looked around some in DC/Nortern VA area...this is about an hour drive from Baltimore. Will that work for you? If so I can tell you about ones I've seen there. The one we went with was in Northern VA called Fairview Park Marriott...It turned out to be an excellent choice....great ambiance...upscale....very nice layout and excellent service. Their rates were $40/person...but we bargained and brought it down to $37/person...it also depends on how many people you expect and based on that they give you discount.
I can also give you names and numbers of caterers in this area too if you want. Let me know if I can be of further help.
sky
yeah desi event. 200 people or abouts. want to keep it not too expensive but the place needs to be decent, dunn hafta be fancy shmancy, but def not some run o the mill joint.
caterers info will be appreciated as well.
For a fundraiser here in chicago where we used Marriott for location and had food catered it ran us about 30/person. i am surpised to see why baltimore is more expensive...significantly so. $30-$40 range is good.
I would've thought December as a busy season due to all the Corporate Holiday dinners and stuff.
funguy is right...with all the holiday parties going on at that time of the year, it's difficult to find a place specially on weekends.
There is Holiday Inn in Laurel, MD that charges $30/person. It's nothing fancy. Quite decent, clean and about average setup. We held an event of 200 people there and they were able to accommodate that easily. Cool thing about them was that halal food was included in this price also. They have their own Pakistani chef that makes food for them. We brought the price down to $27/ person which included food, facility & service. I would recommend it to you if you don't require anything very fancy. This place is about 20 minute drive from Baltimore city.
I don't know why Marriotts in Baltimore are so much more expensive...but they are one of the nicer Marriotts I've been to. I guess it depends on the location and how nice they are...as you know all Marriotts or Holiday Inns etc. are not the same everywhere. Some are a lot more fancy than others.
You didn't say if you'd consider Norther Virginia/DC area which is an hour to hour and a half drive away from Baltimore. If you do, then there is Hyatt Regency in Crystal City, VA...it's pritty nice...specially from outside :~). It costs about $30/person. There is also Hyatt Regency in Dulles, VA...this is better than the other one and it charges $35/peron. They both allow outside catering.
For catering I would recommend the following in order of my preference (they all service the entire MD/DC/VA area):
Abshaar Restaurant - Springfield, VA
Ravi Kabab House, Falls Church, VA
Tabeer - Silver Spring, MD (not as good as the other 2, but reasonable)
Abshaar charges $8/person for just kabab paratha type of food with 1 vegetable & desert or $15/person for the 5 common variety types. I'm not sure how much others charge, but assume it will be about the same. I've been to events that they've catered and the food was pritty good.