Our hall starts at $5,000 from April through November and at $4,000 from December through March. Same room, same hearth, same three hundred seats. The only thing that changes is how many other couples want that Saturday.
What you actually lose off-peak
Daylight, mostly. A November ceremony at four o'clock finishes in the dark, which moves every outdoor photograph you were planning into a window roughly two hours wide. It is workable - it just has to be planned rather than assumed.
You also lose the grounds as a place guests will linger. Cocktail hour outdoors is a summer proposition here. In February it happens inside, which means the room has to hold both the drinking and the dining, and that changes the layout.
What you gain
The thousand dollars is the obvious one. Less obvious: availability. Peak Saturdays are claimed first and furthest out. Off-peak, you can often have the date you actually want rather than the one that was left, and your photographer, florist and band are more likely to be free on the same day.
And the fireplace stops being decoration. A stone hearth in June is a handsome backdrop. In January it is the reason the room feels the way it does, and it is lit on request.
The shoulder weeks
Late March and most of November sit at the edge of the pricing without sitting at the edge of the weather. They are the least-asked-about dates on the calendar and frequently the best value on it. If you want the saving without the full commitment to winter, start there.
How to decide
If your guest list is heavily out of town, peak is worth paying for - travel in an Ohio February is a real ask. If your list is local and your budget is the binding constraint, off-peak is the largest single saving available to you and it costs you nothing anybody will notice.
Put both dates through the estimator and look at the two numbers side by side before you decide on feel.