I *think* maybe the reason your formal seems more expensive is because your overall dues are cheaper. I know that national dues tend to be more expensive than local's, but part of that is because it subsidizes other costs-like formal or a social or a T-shirt. Also, when planning any social function, you tend to get cheaper prices the more people you have. For example, a formal dinner for 50 may be $50 per person for catering, but for 150 people it is only $25 per person. You know, DJ's cost the same reagrdless of how many people listen to them-so splitting it up 100 ways instead of 20 helps out. This is just my educated guess. Everyone's is a bit different. But I've never heard of a "cap".
