Weddingbee boards

Many of you girls asked me how I did this and that in regards to our wedding. I used a budget calculator on another website throughout my wedding planning, and I just organized it a bit and added in the last payments (i got married in October). i designed my own invites, and made my own centerpieces. Bought napkins and tablecloths for a GREAT price and sold them afterwards. i made all the decorations including the fingerprint guestbook, and the card box was a piece of luggage we already owned.

Warwick, NY  -  95 adults, 4 children - Saturday 11-6pm in Ocotober
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Wedding: $10,755

Gratuities: $775

Mini-Moon (Maryland for a week) - $1,175

Total: $12,705

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Things NOT in the budget:

DJ: we Djed the wedding ourselves using itunes, DH's receiver, speakers we had, an amp and microphone we had, and a WHOLE lot of time!! That was a labor of love. I would not want to do that again. (but it saved us $1-2k or whatever a DJ costs nowadays)
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Dress: My mother bought my dress for me, and paid for alterations! (it's listed, but not included in the total)
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Rings: We used our own personal money for those. But in case youa re wondering mine was custom (white gold and diamond) and was $540, and his was also custom metal (sterling, copper) and was $220.
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Alcohol: My husband decided that he wanted to contribute from his own personal funds. So he bought the 7 cases of beer, 5 cases of wine from his own money. Our Caterer supplied the soda and mixers. we paid for the bartender though.
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We had our friend as our Photographer, and her father (also a photographer) as the videographer. She's still a student so we got a great rate and gave a good tip! she's AWESOME. her rates may have increaed since she has a few more weddings under her belt now
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Our flowers were dried from a seller on etsy FamilyDriedFlowers. she does amazing things! i ordered an extra bouquet and i pulled it apart to make my own boutinerres!  :)  The bout pins were $1 at the store.

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Complete Wedding Breakdown

Flowers

Floral Tape- $1.00
Flowers- bouquets & Centerpieces  $247.50

Flowers Total  $248.50
 
 
Food, Cake, Catering
Food and Service & Cake - $3,500.00
 Gratuity - $525.00
 Staff -7 waiters, 1 bartender  -$1,600.00
 Tax  - $290.00
 Alcohol - Purchased by Groom  $0.00
 
 Catering Total  - $5,915.00
 
Church
Church Decor  $16.00
Fee  $300 -paid by MIL  $0.00
Music  $350.00
 Church Total  -$366.00
 
Dress and Attire
Bride's Dress - $250 Paid by Mom   $0.00
Alterations-  $520 paid by Mom $0.00
Bride's shoes  $40.00
veiling materials  $10.00
Dress and Attire Total  $50.00
 
Favors and Gifts
BM Gifts  $153.00
 BM makeup  $50.00
 Jam & Honey Favors  $87.90
 little spoons  $58.00
 makeup artist tip   $50.00
 Favors and Gifts Total $398.90
 
 Centerpieces
 Doilies  $10.00
Jars, Books $20.00
 votives & tealights  $8.00
Centerpieces Total   $38.00
 
Invitations & STD - Designed myself (printed at vistaprint)
Envelopes  $31.00
Extra Envelopes  $11.00
Invitations and Reply Cards  $96.00
 Purple Twine   $10.00
 Save the Dates $38.00
Stamps  $50.00
 Invitations Total  $236.00
 
 Linens- Purchased at $11 a piece and sold afterwards
175 Napkins -  paid $70, sold for$60 ($70 - $60=)  $10.00
Napkins -150- sold for $50 ($70 - $50=)  $20.00
 20 Tablecovers -sold for $115 ($230- $115=)  $115.00
  Linens Total   $145.00
 
Photography
Photographer Fee   $300.00
photographer tip  $200.00
  Photography Total  $500.00
 
Videography
Videographer - 2nd Shooter- free  $0.00
Videography Total  $0.00
 

Rentals
100 Dessert Plates  $40.00
12 Large Ivory Bowls  $36.00
120  salad plates  $48.00
120 Dinner Forks  $42.00
120 Dinner Plates  $60.00
120 Knives $42.00
120 Spoons  $42.00
 2  chafing dishes  $28.00
 2 96" round tablecloths  $20.00
 200  Dessert Forks  $126.00
 300 Wine Glasses  $120.00
 5 Silver Handle Trays  $25.00
 85 Coffee Cups & Saucer  $42.50
 DAMAGE WAIVER  $51.28
 DELIVERY FEE  $50.00
 Tax  $60.00
 Rentals Total  $832.78

Transportation
Limo  -2.5 hrs  $300.00
 Transportation Total  $300.00
 
Reception
Reception Site Fee  $2,500.00
Reception Total  $2,500.00
 
WEDDING Grand Totals (with tip)   $11,530.18

Mini-Moon (1 week in Maryland)
Cleaning Fee  $100.00
Lake house rental- 3BD, 1 BTH   $1,075.00
security deposit $200- got back!  $0.00
 Mini-Moon Total   $1,175.00
 

Grand Totals PLUS Mini-Moon    $12,705.18

@sunsetchristy:  we forced it to flow. we are pretty easy going. it would've been harder if we were more dance party people! we had some oldies before dinner to dance to, includng some 80s songs i love! then we had some chill folk/ classic songs during dinner, and then we just switched to the "after dinner dance music" when we saw people were just about done eating. We figured out our timeline before hand. we had playlists for everything. First dance, father-daughter, groom- Mother, then we had a cake cutting playlist that flowed into some more chill music for dessert. then we just simply leaned over to the computer and clicked to start the new playlist when we flet like it. we added like and extra hour to each playlist. at one point everyone was having fun dancing and the next song was supposed to be slow to DH ran over and just shifted some up. we cut and mixed songs beforehand to make sure they went seamless, but overall it went well. it kept us on time if anything. we knew our cake/dinner/dance playlists by ear so when one started we'd think "OH ready for cake?" like a friendly reminder. :)

@Kimy:  thank you!!  :)

Jars were from DH's mother, flowers were dried!  Favors were tiny jars of honey and jam with tiny spoons. i covered them with plaid fabric i already had.

You can see our music/DJ  set up on the right behind the MOH.  We had the microphone and amplifier already, and that was DH's computer and receiver. we had it on a little table covered with a matching tablecover!

I made the CARDS sign with paper i had, the sticks are from our  backyard. The jars were from DH's mom. the camera and tiny objects were DH's, and i made the signs and leaves from paper i already had from a coworker! The wreaths were from the dollar store, and i added the paper flowers and yarn! the frames were also dollar store  :)

 I drew the guestbook tree and got stamp pads for $1 each!  and the frames were ours already, and i printed out photos of us. DH had the hand wipes already.  :)  The lamp was already at the venue. haha

@sienna76:  thank you!  :) its nice to finally get it all in one place. i've been asked about pieces from photos and conversations!  :) Here it is!

@lealorali:  Orange County NY (warwick!)... If we had a "wedding photographer" and a DJ and tp shelf liquor AND i bought my own dress, then it would've easily been $20k!