I doubt it. The only raffles I’ve ever heard of have been to benefit a charity, to fund a volunteer organization, or to help a family experiencing severe illness or other calamity. They’re done locally and licenses are required. It’s considered gambling.
The only on-line fund-raising gimmick I’ve seen that comes close to a raffle is the prizes given during NPR and PBS fund drives, but by law, they have to give an equal chance for the prizes to people who don’t donate. You up for that?
Maeglin’s suggestion makes a lot of sense.
I’m trying to (and I have sold some). I’m also trying to sell originals. I’m quite actively trying to sell prints, both through my website and through the gallery that is currently representing me.
As for who would “want to donate” to my wedding, the point is that it’s a way to get around the loophole of the “is having a raffle legal” thing. I’d not be asking blindly for donations, I’d be raffling off artwork so people would not be donating to the wedding so much as entering a chance to get a $200 print for $3 or something. So the “who” would be “people who were interested in owning that particular piece of art.”
And yes, the jugglers would be friends and family, not paid performers. There is always juggling at weddings in my fiancé’s family! As for the open bar, we’re bringing our own liquor, so it’s also a way to reduce stuff we have before moving. We’re not paying bar prices for drinks for everyone or anything like that, and sodas and mixers are included in the price along with the food at the hall where the wedding will be.
As for pot luck and all that, as I said, the contracts are already signed, that stuff is already in place. It can’t be changed, and we don’t want to change it. The location we’re having the wedding at is perfect and very reasonably priced, and they don’t let you bring in your own food (except for the cake).
I asked a simple question about the legality of raffles; I wasn’t really asking for people to judge me or my decisions about my wedding. I actually don’t remember starting this thread–judging by the timestamp it was long after I’d taken my sleeping Rx. One of the side effects is that I don’t remember anything I do after I take it, allowing about a 30 minute window for it to take effect. Another thing is it doesn’t always make me fall asleep, and so sometimes I’m still up for hours doing god-knows-what with god-knows-what kind of impaired judgment. If I hadn’t been on my sleeping meds I wouldn’t have started the thread, because I know how these things turn out.
I’ve gotten the answers I was curious about, and to those who offered them, thank you very much! I’d appreciate it if we could consider the conversation done at this point.
We thought about our budget a lot before we set it, taking into account a lot of things. The contracts we’ve signed are within the budget we set. That doesn’t mean we’re not going to still try to find more ways to pay for things in ways that don’t involve paying interest if we can. If we have to pay interest on it we have to pay interest on it. We can do that, and we’re willing to, because this is important to us.
Consider it done.
Closed. samclem Moderator, General Questions