Planning a Formal

[AndrewFU21]

I am the treasurer of my fraternity and am starting to develop our budget for next year. Our organization has not had a formal for several years now, due to membership and financial issues, but we would like to try to have one this year.

Anyway, I'm trying to figure how much this would cost, and see if it is reasonable, and I would appreciate help from anyone who knows what goes into planning a formal. At our school, most fraternities generally go out of town to another city, sometimes by the beach, for formal. I'm not sure if you would normally stay for one or two nights, but it seems that hotel rooms would probably be part of the biggest cost. Beyond that, it seems like we would need to rent out space at a hotel or somewhere, and hire a band or DJ for the night. I know sororities here do dinner at their formal, but I think most fraternities don't include it, and just have people go out to dinner on their own beforehand.

So basically I'm asking for advice from people who have experience with this kind of thing. Any responses will be appreciated, thanks.

[WVU alpha phi]

I PM'ed you.

[twinkle555]

im the social chair for my chapter and i planned our formal last semester. it is a long process...start as soon as you can. our budget was a little smaller than most other GLO's but it was sufficient. we had it at a building near downtown that was built in the 1800s so it was really classic and not to mention gorgeous! we also had a DJ but i got him for $300 off. thats another thing..having hookups is a WONDERFUL thing..it can make or break your budget.

we couldnt fit dinner into our budget so instead i bought little dessert trays and cheesecakes. we also had a cash bar. it was alot of work, and stressful, mostly because i didnt want to let my sisters down, but once it was over it was totally worth it. hope that gives you a little insight.

[WVU alpha phi]

Originally Posted by twinkle555

thats another thing..having hookups is a WONDERFUL thing..it can make or break your budget.

Agreed. One of my sister's dad's is a wedding coordinator in Pittsburgh (about an hour north of Morgantown) and we were able to get some great deals on DJs and other things.

[AndrewFU21]

Thank you for the responses, and WVU for your PM. It looks like, as I feared, we probably won't have enough money to go out of town because of the costs of renting hotel rooms. Can anybody possibly give me some sort of ballpark figure on what we could expect to pay for bus rentals and renting out a room for an evening?

[AOII_LB93]

Why my husband's fraternity had their formals out of town all the guys paid for their own rooms, that wasn't on the fraternity to pay. Maybe try and find somewhere relatively local to keep costs down for this time?