Wedding Budget!

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cneale91
cneale91 Posts: 91 Member
in Chit-Chat
Im getting married (yay for me!) and i was wondering from people who are already married or planning weddings. both men and women how much was your budget and how did you save money?
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  • runnercheryl
    runnercheryl Posts: 1,314 Member
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    Ours is looking to be about £9000 (ugh).

    We're putting a set amount in each month from our salaries, and we're going to be about £2000 short at the rate we're going, but we can make the rest up by putting some of our treat/spending money in there each month as well, which we're starting doing in June with a year to go before the big day.

    So far, we've put down the deposit on the venue, the first payment for our photographer, and paid off half the wedding dress.

    We've gone for quite an expensive photographer, but we're not getting an album. It's the pictures that are important, and it was expensive photographer and no album vs. slightly cheaper photographer and album. My wedding dress is expensive but my three bridesmaid's dresses should be coming from China and being a maximum of £180 for the lot.

    Invites are being made by my very talented future sister-in-law who recently set up her own business, and my future mother-in-law's friend is making our cake.
  • christibear
    christibear Posts: 93 Member
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    My in laws paid for our wedding for the most part but I think doing a rough estimate, it was only about 7000.

    We saved money by doing our own invitations, by we I mean me, but they were very beautiful and sweet and very us so the invitations maybe cost us 120.

    We made our own party favors, chocolate and vanilla suckers with a charm, and a bottle of bubbles. Around $100 dollars.

    Cupcakes instead of a wedding cake, we had a small cake topper as a center piece and then around 200 cupcakes. We saved hundreds of dollars this way, the cupcakes and smaller cake cost us less than $200 dollars.

    And the best and most amazing savings, our venue, was part of the Milwaukee park system, it was a huge building that could seat I think around 250, right on lake Michigan, only cost a couple hundred.

    I also saved on my wedding dress, which I bought on ebay, brand new, with tags, all silk, originally 1250, I paid 200 with an extra maybe 200 for tailoring.
  • carolann_22
    carolann_22 Posts: 364 Member
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    Mine was $9K for 200 people. I DIY for as much as I could. Table decorations, decor, flowers, save the dates, invitations, favors flowers (some, some I paid for). Bought my gown at a liquidation sale for 70% off (and they threw in the veil). Our biggest reception savings was having it late on a Friday (8pm wedding, 9pm reception) and having a dessert only reception. We were able to get a buffet of indiviual sized gourmet desserts, a chocolate fountain, and a coffee bar, plus two hot apps and cheese/veggies/fruit for diabetics, for a quarter of the cost of a full meal, and our guests LOVED it.

    What I wish I had splurged on - a better photographer. The one I wanted was $8K. I went with one that was $1,795.00
    Wish I'd spent the extra.
  • Bentley2718
    Bentley2718 Posts: 1,690 Member
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    I think we spent about $500 total.
    - I got married mostly in clothes I already owned, what we did buy was relatively inexpensive.
    - My husband wore his dress blues (this wasn't to save money, he looks HAWT in them).
    - We got married in a nontraditional location, that happened to be owned by a good friend of ours, I paid for her employees to work, but nothing else.
    - We had a simple, but delicious cake.
    - We had very light food, which I made.
    - A friend performed the ceremony.
    - We had a total of 12 guests.
  • loriamcq
    loriamcq Posts: 64
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    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.
  • Chubbyhulagirl
    Chubbyhulagirl Posts: 374 Member
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    Planning my wedding right now and my budget is $18,000-$20,000. I live on Oahu in Hawaii so we are wedding destination capital of the world and everything is really expensive.
    My parents volunteered $10,000 and we are paying for the rest.
  • engineman312
    engineman312 Posts: 3,450 Member
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    a friend of mine rented big candlesticks for each table, as opposed to getting big flower arrangements. saved a fortune, and honestly, out of all the weddings i've been to, because of the candlesticks, i remember her's the most.
  • nicolemarie045
    nicolemarie045 Posts: 131 Member
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    We got married in Iowa in May 2010 and with all said and done we spent about $18,000 including honeymoon, rings, reception, food, drinks, wedding, and decorations. I did a LOT myself, which was awesome, but just thinking about that number makes me cringe!
  • Charli666
    Charli666 Posts: 407
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    Ours including my dress was about £3000, we just did most things ourself, and shopped around. - Also apart from my bouquet we avoided flowers and had balloons instead :)
  • mrsgoodwine
    mrsgoodwine Posts: 468 Member
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    Planning a wedding too and trying to keep it under $8,000.00 for 65 people. Our venue cost nothing because we are having the wedding and reception at my MIL house. Catering is the most at $3,500.00 - there will be appetizers for cocktail hour and then an upscale bbq (top sirloin steak and chicken) with plenty of sides. D.J. is $1,125.00. Cupcakes with top round cake is around 200.00 (free delivery). Our officiant is about $200.00. Photographer is through wedding bug and is around 900.00 (we are not getting a videographer). I am doing all the decorations myself - hoping to keep it under $300.00. I don't plan on spending more than $200.00 for a dress because this is not my first marriage. It's a backyard wedding so no need for flowers as my MIL has a lovely garden. So maybe just for the wedding party. We have a friend who is a florist so hoping to get a good discount. I anticipate spending about $500.00 on the table, chair and linen rentals. My "save the dates" were $70.00 dollars. Haven't picked out the invitations yet but hoping to spend less than $150.00 We are paying for the wedding with money saved, work bonuses received and credit cards. MIL is paying for our honeymoon in hawaii as a wedding gift.
  • lmbame905
    lmbame905 Posts: 84 Member
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    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!!
  • channa007
    channa007 Posts: 419 Member
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    We got married in Vegas. The whole wedding including a limo was around $200 lol. It included a photographer who took about 40 great digital images that we received on CD so we could make our own sizes at Walgreens, a wedding video, a nice gazebo wedding, the pastor, and a tricked out limo to and from. It was actually very nice and traditional. Our hotel at Wynn and the rest of our visit cost 10x haha.
  • HauteP1nk
    HauteP1nk Posts: 2,139 Member
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    My budget is just over $10k... I am having a low budget wedding with close friends/family only in Vegas...

    I have cut back on shopping online, buying coffee in the morning, and buying lunches through the week.
    It helps that I receive a bonus from work each year before Christmas so this past December I put away a couple of thousand from that...
  • _SusieQ_
    _SusieQ_ Posts: 2,964 Member
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    It's been so long I don't remember. I will say my advice to anyone is if you are going to splurge on anything, splurge on the photographer. The day is so crazy that you will be in a haze. Great photos will capture those moments that you may be too busy to take in!
  • kaetmarie
    kaetmarie Posts: 668 Member
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    we paid for our wedding ourselves and it was ~$20,000

    --we got married on a friday night so we got a discount on the photographer, reception venue, tuxes, dj, and florist
    --my dress was a discontinued style, so it was cheaper
    --we had an appetizer/drinks reception, instead of a sit down dinner
    --i used in-season flowers
    --candles and flower petals decorations (simple but really, really pretty)
    --invitations from staples, my mom printed them
  • Maridelsol82
    Maridelsol82 Posts: 90
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    Im hoping to stay under $1500 but we havent really started anything yet just planning. My brother in law will most likely be catering for us so that should really help and my aunts making my cake as her gift to us for free. Thank you for posting this becuase I really want to stay under my budget and would love any hints

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  • AmyLRed
    AmyLRed Posts: 894 Member
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    dont skimp on photography. The photos are what you will have years to come, not the cake and the venue!
  • NKF92879
    NKF92879 Posts: 601 Member
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    It was split about three ways (us, my parents, his parents. We spent about $12,000 total. "Our" contribution came mainly from my savings (drained it :sad: ) as my hubby had just bought a house. Ways we saved money... fake flowers (hubby's sis did the arranging, and they'll never die), no guest book (hubby's other sister cut fabric squares for people to write on & she made them into a quilt for us, no "professional photographer (friend/groomsman did it)...
  • purseus
    purseus Posts: 54
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    think my wife and i spent about 20 grand for our wedding
  • jennhase
    jennhase Posts: 15 Member
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    Have a nice simple wedding and don't go all out because you will stress yourself out and no one will remember half of what you thought was so great....and the money that you save have a great honeymoon with the new hubby and enjoy your money for yourselves and not for everyone else to have a good time...

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