Wedding Budget!
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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.0 -
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.0 -
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.0 -
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.0 -
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.0 -
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.0 -
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.0
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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!0
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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
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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.0
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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!!0 -
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.0
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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...0 -
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!0
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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 them0 -
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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dont skimp on photography. The photos are what you will have years to come, not the cake and the venue!0
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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)...0
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think my wife and i spent about 20 grand for our wedding0
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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...0
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Ours was about 7K. We cut costs by making our own invites, making our favors, not doing a traditional wedding cake (we did boston cream pies we ordered from Safeway), and found a location for the wedding and the reception where we could get a deal. We spent most of our money on the food (about 4K). Used a friend for photography (he is a professional photographer), he gave us a fantastic deal; 700 for 13 hours and two photographers. See what your friends can help with (like photography, etc), find a venue that you can get a deal on, keep your guest list to a minimum (we still had 200 people), and see what you can make yourself.
You can do it on a budget, you just have to be ingenuitive. Friend me, I would love to help you out!0 -
We spent just over $5K...on everything. Honeymoon included.
Yea, we sort of eloped.
I agree...do not skimp on photography.0 -
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.0 -
I got married in August on a budget of around £4,000. My wife baked our two-tier wedding cake and our dresses (two brides means two dress expenses, unfortunately!) were only around £100 each. We chose a small venue to keep the whole thing small (25 guests) and the owner of the venue did our flowers for £250.
We did most things ourselves (decor of the evening venue was a converted barn so we made bunting, for example) and this keeps your costs down quite a lot. Our theme was a sort of vintage/country feel so it was really easy to either make things ourselves or salvage them from somewhere. A galvanised tin bath from an alleyway only needed some sealant on the inside to become our drinks container for our reception! A salvaged window frame and chicken wire made our table plan and my wife painted some scrap wood to make signposts. We supplied all the drink and food for our evening reception, brides dresses, bridesmaid outfit, all venue costs and registration fees within our budget. It looked amazing, I wouldn't have done anything differently. Other than the venue, I think the photographer was the biggest cost we had (£500) but we didn't have any albums made up, just all the photos on a disc.
I paid for most of it myself (my wife only works part-time) but my dad helped with around a quarter of it. I just paid for it as we went along so it wasn't such a huge expense in one go. That, and no luxuries for a while! And afterwards, selling most of what we wouldn't use again on eBay has helped go towards the honeymoon!
Getting married midweek is a GREAT way to save money if you can do it. Most photographers will drop their prices because they consider it 'off-peak', and venues are usually cheaper. Our wedding was on a Wednesday.0 -
Spent about $3000, invited about 120 people--not including rings & honeymoon. My parents paid about $1000 and my inlaws paid about $400.
We did everything possible DIY. Invitations, silk flowers (which were gorgeous btw), decorations, my veil (which was fantastic: 2 layers, cathedral length, with crystals scattered). Our photog was a friend who's trying to break into the wedding photography business, she charged $200 and we got all the rights to the pictures--which turned out amazing. I only splurged on a couple things--my dress (about $500) and our toasting glasses (about $50). The wedding was at our church, reception in the church hall. Dinner was bbq, catered by a friend of my MIL's.
I planned the whole thing over the course of a year and bought everything bit by bit which made it easier to afford.0 -
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.0 -
We have intentionally had a very long engagement (will have been over 1.5 years once the wedding finally gets here) but that is what we had to do in order to save the amount of $ we need to do what WE want! Neither of our parents are chipping in a dime so right now our budget is $25,000 for 200 people. We opened up a savings account at a new bank and I transfer over money after I pay our bills. We've both made some cutbacks but nothing that has made us miserable lol
So far we've put down a deposit on the reception site ($1500), ceremony site ($500,) photographer ($400) and DJ ($100)
Throughout the past year I've bought little things like the cake topper, cutter, flutes, jersey for people to sign instead of the book, vases and balls (we're doing an elegant baseball theme!.) We are making our own centerpieces and just ordering flowers from a place right next to the ceremony site so that we don't have to pay a delivery fee. His sister is making cupcakes and other treats instead of a cake which is saving tons! the DJ we found from a local bar, he's awesome and way cheaper than a "wedding" DJ! We aren't doing a limo in between the two events but I was thinking about looking into a schoolbus for an hour or two! Anything different and outside the box is awesome to me. We are having our reception at a MLB stadium and so that price is what it is. Lots of little details can't be avoided like price per person for buffet and drinks but she is cutting us deals for little things like linens and stuff. Suck up to the event planner is a tip I have
I found my dress at the mall (Group USA) and it's WAY cheaper than any boutique I went to. they also have "girls nights" every few months so I'm waiting for the one in February so I can buy the dress 30% off! My best friend is a graphic designer and has offered to make our STD magnets and invites. You could check with a local school or friend to help with that. I hear they are easy to do if you know what you're doing!
Good luck!
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I got married at the county clerk $200. Oh and Feb. 18th will be our 8th anniversary 0
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Her folks spent about $11,000, but that was in 1983
My folks spent $3000 or so for the rehearsal dinner, then forked over the costs of the honeymoon.
It was a huge deal.
Total: $17,000 - 1983
Probably close to $50,000 in today's dollars.
I would rather have just eloped and kept all that money.
We have 5 kids - all boys!
NO WEDDINGS TO PAY FOR - ahhhahahahahahaha0 -
I think we spent around $5000, for around 70-ish people, including the week-long Alaskan cruise honeymoon (I never did crunch the final numbers because when I was done, I was DONE!) but I saved as much money as possible:
-DIY decorations - origami cranes, origami lilies placed in FREE wine/liquor bottles spray painted our wedding colors
-DIY food - we did an outdoor BBQ with chicken, burgers, and hotdogs, my dad's cousin loves running the grill and we asked him if he would do it instead of getting us a wedding gift. I bought most of the condiments, chips, etc. with coupons a couple months before for cheap
-DIY desserts - I made cake pops the week before, they were easy and a total hit - also did a dessert spread where I asked close friends and family to bring desserts
-My dress was around $500 at David's Bridal. It was perfect! I recommend maybe looking at David's Bridal to get an idea of what you want, then looking online for a used dress (you'll probably save 50% at least)
-Start shopping NOW! I purchased a lot of my candy buffet candy and everything else when it was on sale and used coupons for everything I could
-Check out and join the wedding forums so you can get stuff for cheap off other brides after their weddings - some brides will even group buy stuff to share
-My cousin was my photographer and did it for FREE! I also asked guests to bring their cameras and we got a lot of fun candid shots from our guests
-My bouquet was origami lilies I made myself (same with bridesmaids flowers) - we didn't have any real flowers
-We got married in an old renovated theater - was only a few hundred dollars and beautiful
-We had an outdoor reception at a state park that was cheap cheap - and included the grill on site so we could BBQ
-DIYed my own invites, Save the Dates, and Programs
Step 1 is to see what's the most important to you and what you won't skimp on, then try to save money on everything else.
I was a super happy bride and look back on my wedding with only happy thoughts. DIYing everything with my family and friends help made us all come together closer and it was fun!0
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