Reception without food...Tight Budget... I need help!!!

this link will take you to pretty much every reception site in orlando, their address, phone number, price, whether they allow outside catering and pretty much anthting you need to know about the venue.

http://www.orlandomagazine.com/OrlandoWedding/June-2012/VenueChart_FW2012.pdf

Great website... Thanks for sharing it!

The "action stations" are actually a terrific idea, I think, and it's totally do-able.

We did a wedding at the Winter Park Farmer's Market just north of Orlando for about 12K and over 100 people.  We had some extras built in, but that's totally doable.

PM me for some vendor recommendations...I had some truly terrific ones.

I would also highly suggest hiring a Day-of Coordinator.  It might seem like a luxury on a budget but I know that without ours, things would have NOT worked out nearly as well as they did.  She put a wonderful spin on everything for our wedding.  If you end up doing a lot of things yourself, a DoC can really bring it all together.

Nish's suggestions are great too...and I think it shouldn't be that hard to find great vendors and great opportunities.  CFL is not a terribly expensive region in which to get married (compared to, say, Miami).

Good luck and welcome!!

One idea is if you are able to use an outside vendor take a look at some area restaurants. They almost all have a catering menu. The caterer we were going to use for two entrees and two sides with bread and salad service was about 3k (still a good price). We just couldnt shell it out toward the end of planning so we refocused and went to an area italian restaurant that my family loves. We ended up getting 3 times the food for 700.00!!! No joke. If you find the right place it will be WELL worth it! :)