Wedding Budget!

sambo155

I just don't understand the whole *expensive wedding* thing. Seems to me that the wedding money could be better spent on a down payment for a house, put into retirement or kid's college fund, or just save it. Why go into debt for a wedding? Or, if you're not going into debt, that's still ALOT of money that I think could be put towards something more practical.

-Signed Debbie Downer :indifferent:

OKmac3

We are getting married on March 31 (three years from the day we met) and it is looking to cost us about $900....we are wearing what we normally wear and have a wedding planner that is covering almost every thing and she is charging us $400...the rest is on food, cake, pastor, license, tip for limo driver

DawnOf1969

My daughter is getting married in May. We are paying for her wedding and it looks like it will come in around $10-12K. Ways we saved money:
-Wedding is on a Friday night
-Cake, Caterer, DJ were all found on Craigslist. We did tastings with the cake and caterer to ensure quality of product. These small businesses really want to get your business so they are willing to compete for it. DJ was required to provide a set list and a pre-ceremony meeting to ensure knowledge of services.
-Photographer is a family friend (who is a professional photographer by trade)
-Florist is a family friend of the groom (who is a florist by trade)
-purchased many recycled items off Ebay (decorations, etc) as well as www.recycledbride.com/
-hair and make up being done by family friend (who is a beautician by trade)
-save the date cards and invitations designed by groom (graphic artist by trade) and printed by vistaprint who was offering the first "X" number for free to new clients

infamousmk

I'm getting married in four months!! Our guest list is approximately 60ppl, and the total budget is just under $4,000.

We're hosting the entire ceremony and reception in our gorgeous back yard (so, zero site fees!)
we've hired a student photographer (I'm not photo-obsessed .. if you love having good photos, splurge here)
I've hired a friend's daughter who is trying to break in to the catering business at a much lower cost than an established caterer
I will have no cut flowers as centerpieces or otherwise (we're doing clear glass candle holders and ivory candles instead)...
we're not giving out favors, and we don't have a huge wedding party that we would have to foot the bill on some things for (such as bridal party gifts).
Instead of a large wedding cake, we're going to serve different flavored round layer cakes, that I am buying at Target (their bakery cakes are freaking good!)
I've spent the last year and a half scouring coupon ads and the thrift store for items such as candle holders, cloth napkins (got those at Big Lots!), cake stands, fabric to decorate the ceremony arch and canopy ... so that I don't have to pay the rental markup on these things.
I'm serving homebrew and the best value wine I know of, and we're not doing any signature drinks or standard open bar. Most of our guests are beer drinkers, and won't care that there isn't hard alcohol.

Most of the budget is being spent on the food and decor (oh, and my dress) -- those are the two things that are most important .. I want the food to be delicious, and I want the photos we do get to show a beautiful setting. Plus, you only get to wear a wedding dress once, so I decided to buy a really fabulous one and go all-out. (and honestly, it still isn't expensive).

MrsCon40

I had a church wedding with four attendants a piece and a sit-down 5 course meal for 98 people in San Francisco (IN SF, not in the 'burbs); and 11 days in Honduras where we both got our scuba certifications - for $13,000. That includes my dress, tuxedos, and airfare and rooms for 3 neices and nephews who are in college and wouldn't have been able to come otherwise.

We saved money by having a VERY talented pair of friends take pictures (for $1,250 for two days plus post production). My aunt made our amazing wedding cake. Our church offers the chapel for free to members (but we still donated $250). We had conservatory students who are members of our church play music (string quartet playing The Beatles FTW!!) for $250. Our friend who is a cab driver and owns a very cool old Thunderbird was our chaffeur ($0). My mom made my veil for about $5 and I spent $65 on accessories for me and my 'maids (thank you SoGood!) And we didn't get caught up in all the crap that no one remebers (matchbooks, napkins, sparkly hearts on the tables, etc.)

We picked the 3 things that were most important to us and that's all we cared about (excellent meal, church, kick *kitten* honeymoon). Seven of our gests acutally wrote us thank you cards - thanking us for inviting them and telling us that it was the best wedding they'd ever been to

ETA: when only a few things are important to you it also makes planning and execution A LOT easier. The reception venue took care of EVERYTHING at the reception so we didn't need a planner and I probably only spent 40 hours planning the whole thing.

We got married July 2nd, 2011.

christibear

dont skimp on photography. The photos are what you will have years to come, not the cake and the venue!

I agree with this. I'd say don't skimp on photography, dress (I did & regret it), entertainment or food. All of the other things (invites, location, centerpieces, etc) can be skimped on. You will have the photos for years, this is the only time you will wear a beautiful, ultraformal gown and be the center of attention and you want your guests to have fun and eat well.

I think you can get an amazing dress without skimping or getting something of lesser quality, but you also don't need to spend $3000 dollars, you an save a lot on a dress by checking around and not being afraid of tailoring.

infamousmk

I just don't understand the whole *expensive wedding* thing. Seems to me that the wedding money could be better spent on a down payment for a house, put into retirement or kid's college fund, or just save it. Why go into debt for a wedding? Or, if you're not going into debt, that's still ALOT of money that I think could be put towards something more practical.

-Signed Debbie Downer :indifferent:

I love throwing parties!!!!! A wedding is just one big 'ultimate' party in my world. (and I'm still not spending a lot or going broke)

anberlingasm

I just don't understand the whole *expensive wedding* thing. Seems to me that the wedding money could be better spent on a down payment for a house, put into retirement or kid's college fund, or just save it. Why go into debt for a wedding? Or, if you're not going into debt, that's still ALOT of money that I think could be put towards something more practical.

-Signed Debbie Downer :indifferent:

This is what I thought, too; we had an amazing home-made wedding that didn't cost the earth and left us in no debt so we'll be able to pay for IVF so we can have a baby this year.

_SusieQ_

dont skimp on photography. The photos are what you will have years to come, not the cake and the venue!

I spent less than $100 on photos. It doesn't need to be "professional," just someone who can take good pictures.

I had my aunt take ours. She is a great photographer, but not a professional. Because of that the pictures she did take were great, but we missed so many opportunities b/c I was too busy to think of them, and she wasn't a professional so neither did she. We have tons of our families, but literally 2 of just the two of us, the bride and groom.

If you don't opt for a professional at least make a list before hand of all the photo settings you want. Personally I wish I had splurged on this one.

JenSmith1104

We spent almost nothing. We got married at the county courthouse in dress clothes we already owned. We had a pitch-in for a reception at our apartment's clubhouse. We had a professional photographer that was a friend take the pics. We got a cake from a local bakery for about $40. I do agree that some of the wedding/reception is for the people getting married...but most of it is for others and to me, feels like you are showing off for them. We didn't want to start our marriage in a huge debt.

clydethecat

our budget was just over $10k.. but we got married on an aircraft carrier, so most of the budget was renting out the hanger deck.. the wedding was awesome .. we had an open bar which my parents paid for and the cake and center pieces were done by my mother and aunt in law. we saved a lot of money by doing a candy bar as the favor (everyone got to fill a little bag with what ever candy they wanted) .. i got a beautiful dress on line, only cost $200, and it was very pretty - we had tours, got to take pics on the air planes.. we got married on the fan tail as the sun went down over the bay and golden gate bridges.. great views of san francisco.. man that was a great time

we had about 125 guests.

kaetmarie

I just don't understand the whole *expensive wedding* thing. Seems to me that the wedding money could be better spent on a down payment for a house, put into retirement or kid's college fund, or just save it. Why go into debt for a wedding? Or, if you're not going into debt, that's still ALOT of money that I think could be put towards something more practical.

-Signed Debbie Downer :indifferent:

I agree with you, there are much more practical uses for the outlandish costs of a wedding...but will add, ours was awesome ... It was one hell of a party with all the people that my husband and I love the most. Could we have saved more money? Absolutely ... but I'm so glad we did it the way we did :drinker:

NoExcuseTina

dont skimp on photography. The photos are what you will have years to come, not the cake and the venue!

Completely agree...love my photos...I got them all digitally, that saved tons too! Only got an album...all the other pics we print at home!

I did my invitations, my thank you cards...my cousin made the centerpieces (vase and artificial flowers, hard to tell in the dim lighting)...used the same centerpieces for the shower too.

A friend of mine got married on a Sunday afternoon to save money...others have done Friday evenings...some people do appetizers instead of dinner.

One more way we saved...we had the wedding and reception at the same place...only draw back for some might be that we did our pics before the wedding (not superstitious)!

Good luck!

anzabeth

Spent around $10,000. My aunt did the photography and we decorated ourselves. Probably spent a couple hundred dollars on that. Biggest expense was catering and bar. About $6,000 combined. Had a live band $1200. Invitations $600-700. My dress was around $1000. Only about 100 people.

newmrswood

spent $3,000 and it was BEAUTIFUL! We rented out a bed and breakfast, they had in house renting (tables, chairs, and linens) and I did all my own decorating with Hoby Lobby! ALSO centerpiecesare real easy if you can find vases on craigslist then fill it with clear colored rocks and candles! Easy and beautiful!

slbeutler

My husband and I got married 10 years ago, but we spent around $6000 for 150 guests and everything else. We saved money by getting my dress at David's Bridal during one of the $99 dress sales. I did not do center pieces or gifts for guests. Most people throw that stuff away anyhow. The place where we got married put candles on the tables since I did not have any center pieces. The minister we had did not have a fee, he just took whatever people wanted to pay him. If I could go back, I would not have picked out bridesmaid's dresses, I would have just let them wear whatever they wanted in some kind of color range. We also bought the champagne and wine at costco and then paid a small bar tender fee. We also got a keg and then when it was gone, it was gone.

THe place we got married was a bed and breakfast and their package included the dinner, cake, flowers and all of the rooms for the night of the wedding as well as breakfast for all guests who stayed the next morning. That was about $5500.

For photo's my husband is a photographer, so all of his friends that he works with brought their cameras and took pictures throughout the evening and gave us disks. Photographers way over charge for weddings, so if I were you I would find an amatuer, pay them a flat rate and get a disk.

lilRicki

trying to keep mine under 10 grand. but that's with 7 flights...I'm having a destination wedding in Mexico.

njean888

LOL, when I started my budget for my wedding the moment I reached $20,000 I said forget this. We went on a 10 day trip instead, we went to Vegas for 3 days, then Arizona for 4 days (we got married there) then we went to San Francisco for 3 days. When we got back home we had a brunch at a restaurant we liked for our closest friends and family about 40 people.

Its been almost 10 years and I love the fact we just eloped and did it by ourselves.

MaximalLife

trying to keep mine under 10 grand. but that's with 7 flights...I'm having a destination wedding in Mexico.

That sounds fabulous!

jrodx2

we spent just under $20k in 2010. we brought 17 people with us to Aruba and then had a reception back home for about 80 people. some things i had to pay for twice (hair and makeup both back home and in aruba) but it was still worth it

cost cutting: we made our own centerpieces, i made all the save the dates and invites myself (i'm a graphic designer though so i wouldn't let anyone else anyway lol), the hall also included the cake and we kept the guest list to the people that we are close with (no extended, extended, extended family or recent boyfriend of someone).

as for how we saved the money? we started paying about a year and a half out and used christmas bonuses, tax returns and money from bartending on the side to cover costs.

MrsCon40

I just don't understand the whole *expensive wedding* thing. Seems to me that the wedding money could be better spent on a down payment for a house, put into retirement or kid's college fund, or just save it. Why go into debt for a wedding? Or, if you're not going into debt, that's still ALOT of money that I think could be put towards something more practical.

-Signed Debbie Downer :indifferent:

I love throwing parties!!!!! A wedding is just one big 'ultimate' party in my world. (and I'm still not spending a lot or going broke)

Yes - it should be the biggest celebratory party of your life. I married into an Italian family - and try to tell them you're just going to get married at the Justice of the Peace! :laugh:

princessputz

Mine is $8,000

Background 125 original invites approx 100 guests attending 4 attendents on each side.


DIY:
Invites: $105
Flowers (Bouquets + Centerpieces +Decor): $295
Centerpieces (Rest of them): $350.00
Aisle Decor: $186.00
Misc Decor(Candles, Sparkles,etc): $65.00
Card box: $15.00
Photo Mat for Signing: $45.00
Tulle: $450.00 (Can resell as it won't be cut)
Favors:$112.00
Gifts: $400.00

Ebay:
Dress(From China - which is gorgeous): $260.00
Veil(3M Mantilla): $85.00

Hall:
All Weekend: $500.00
DJ: $900.00
Photographer:$1000.00
Caterer:$2200.00
Booze: $1500.00

Random:
Tux: $100
Hair/Makeup:$150

=$8718

Honestly, I'm not engaged yet but we've planned and I've been previously married so I know how it works and after spending $25,000+ I was something small and beautiful Obviously I'm a little over my $8,000 budget lol but I'll make it work in the end...whether I cut some flowers or something it will work!


What has helped me save some money planning is save-on-crafts.com

kaetmarie

LOL, when I started my budget for my wedding the moment I reached $20,000 I said forget this. We went on a 10 day trip instead, we went to Vegas for 3 days, then Arizona for 4 days (we got married there) then we went to San Francisco for 3 days. When we got back home we had a brunch at a restaurant we liked for our closest friends and family about 40 people.

Its been almost 10 years and I love the fact we just eloped and did it by ourselves.

This was my first choice! My husband has a huge, Italian family though...so he wanted them all there :grumble: When we went on our honeymoon, the first words out of his mouth was "Wow, wouldn't it have been nice if we just got married here ...."

That being said though, it is so much fun being the center of attention for a day..or week :laugh:

dalgirly

I just don't understand the whole *expensive wedding* thing. Seems to me that the wedding money could be better spent on a down payment for a house, put into retirement or kid's college fund, or just save it. Why go into debt for a wedding? Or, if you're not going into debt, that's still ALOT of money that I think could be put towards something more practical.

-Signed Debbie Downer :indifferent:

I get an expensive wedding FAR more than an expensive engagement ring. At least you get a great experience out of it.

For me, I would like to keep it cheaper if I ever get married (not sure I want to, or maybe just want to go to the court house).

But I feel like my parents will want a big wedding (as I am the only girl). So I guess I will see! Gotta figure out if my bf wants to take the plunge at this point anyways!

Okieace

We spent around $8K on our wedding. We saved a LOT of money doing it at my church. They provided facilities for the wedding and reception, tables, chairs, decorations (at least what they had that fit our theme), lighting and sound people, minister... All for a few hundred bucks. We also hired a very frugal wedding planner. She knew all the right places we could save money by DIYing it or where the best deals where to be found.

In hindsight I kind of wish we hadn't spent so much.

roadtripper8

We are getting married on a Cruise Ship and the sailing away to the Bahamas!

Carnival does packages and I think we spent $6000 on the ceremony and the cabins. (i have 2 kids that my mom will room with that we also paid for).

No linens, I'll have to pay for flowers. No caterers, no anything. I'll let you know how it turns out, if you'd like. We do the deed March 25th!!

We did the same thing at a Sandals resort in Jamaica (minus the kids). The wedding was free when you booked at least 6 nights (we did 7). Flight and all inclusive lodging cost us $4000. Dress was $500. Tux rental $60. Photography/Video package was $2000 but worth every penny. No fuss, no worries; in fact, I was snorkeling the morning of our wedding day. Highly recommend it! There was no way we were going to be able to afford a honeymoon AND a traditional ceremony, so we picked what was most important to us.

jrodx2

trying to keep mine under 10 grand. but that's with 7 flights...I'm having a destination wedding in Mexico.

i don't know your situation but we had a destination wedding in aruba and our guests had no problems with paying for their own flights and hotel. we covered the costs of the ceremony, cake and dinner reception for about $4k. paying for 7 flights is tough on the budget but is absolutely possible if you find the right resort that will work with you on pricing (we found that most were willing to negotiate in aruba). good luck!

amysj303

Mine was two years ago, it was $15,000. I tried to do things affordably but ours was dinner and dancing. Our wedding site had both the ceremony and reception, so we saved transportation costs there. We did buffet style dinner and got to stock our own bar, which was helpful in saving money. I got my dress on ebay, ordered flowers online-50flowers.com, I think, it saved a lot of money doing my own arrangements. I had 10 bridemaids so I gave them bouquets that they put in the vases on the tables for the centerpieces, but I honestly never noticed wedding centerpieces before, I don't think a table without a centerpiece looks weird at all! we did cupcakes but I don't think it was much cheaper, although it might have been if they had charged a cake cutting fee, but our caterer didn't.
If you mean, how did we save to pay for it, we were lucky to get a first time home-buyer tax credit, so that helped a lot, a tax refund. We rented a bit longer.

kymarai

My wedding was a second one for both of us so we didnt need or want a whole big formal thing. We spent right around $3000. Our wedding was held at my father-in-law's house on a lake. We rented a huge tent, with chairs and tables (table cloths included), borrowed christmas lights and strung them inside the tent and on a few trees. We hired a caterer to do BBQ on site (delicious) and had apple pie and a cupcake tree. I dont really like wedding cake so we didnt bother with that. Liquor was kept to beer and wine and then we had lots of soft drinks. I made my own table decorations with candles in wine glasses and wrapped red, white, and blue wooden daisies around the stems and put them in hurricane globes (we were married on the 4th of July). We had a arbor covered in toole, vines and daisies and had our ceremony there with the lake as a backdrop. It was simple and sweet. And then we spent a small fortune on our fabulous honeymoon. For us, it was perfect.

Basically what I'm saying is that you dont have to go the traditional route if you cant afford it or if you'd rather spend the money on your honeymoon. Be creative.

This was more like mine! Second for me, first for him and 15 years coming for us! Back yard (we live in country), Only difference was we had a cake (of which I got none!) and I had gladiolas lining the aisles and tent (really cheap!!!!) Total with tux, dress, flowers, food, tent, tables etc we spent just under $5000 two years ago. I wanted the party and it turned out perfect!

vim_n_vigor

$400, paid for a dress and a hotel on the beach for a few days and a justice of the peace ceremony.