The average and the next one are different numbers

Type your own contract into it. The figures below are the ones this venue actually charges, and the calculator moves with whatever you put in, including a caterer who is not us.

Your wedding numbers

Guest countVenue hireUSDMinimum spend, food and drinkUSDCatering per headUSDDrinks per headUSDGuests per staff memberCost per staff memberUSDSeasonal uplift%Other fixed costsUSD

What this guest list actually costs

$11,200

$140.00 per guest, on average, across 80 guests

Per-head rate most venues quote$5,200

What you're actually billed$11,200

What the next guest costsGuest 81 adds $85.00 to the bill, not the $140.00 average. Once the minimum is cleared, an extra guest costs close to the full $85.00 per-head rate.

The minimum-spend cliffUnder 59 guests, food and drink is billed at the same $5,000 minimum whether you cut ten guests or add ten. Above it, every guest is billed at the real per-head rate.An estimate from the figures entered, not a quotation.

What this cannot see

It prices the contract as typed. It cannot see a venue quietly renegotiating its own minimum spend, which is the one number here most likely to move in a real conversation, and it treats staffing as a clean step when a real Saturday sometimes needs one more pair of hands than the rule says.

Thistledown

A barn, a walled garden and an orchard, an hour north of anywhere. We publish every date we have left and what each one costs.

Thistledown Farm, Netherby Lane, North Yorkshire

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Thistledown 2026

Fees shown include the room, the tables and the chairs. They exclude catering, drink and VAT.