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Please help... Looks like the total cost of our wedding in New York City will be between $18-20k. I really didn't want to be one of those brides who spent so much money on basically one fancy party, but the place we love will host our ceremony, reception and sit-down lunch. Add in the extras like dress, suite, flowers, and others and you have $20k, $10k more than I had in mind.
Please let me know if anyone thinks this is way too much for a wedding or am I just overthinking it.
Thanks so much.
Seriously, I'm the cheapest person ever and I'm having an incredibly hard time pulling off a 10-15K wedding in OHIO. If you manage a wedding in NYC for 20K, please write a post with your budget to help other brides!
@corgi I'm with you I'm majorly failing at planning a 12k wedding in southern illinois. 20k in nyc, you go girl!
Agree with PP's, 20k in NYC is AMAZING! I decided to have my weddnig in Philly because my already too expensive day would have been double. Where are you having it? That sounds like a great deal!
I don't know anything about the NYC market, but I would guess, from what I've heard, that 20K in NYC is a great deal!
My friend from college spent 24K on just the food, drinks, and reception site fee at her NYC wedding last year. 20K for the whole thing is AMAZING, go for it!!!
I live in the midwest where things are generally less expensive and my wedding is 25K. I didn't think that a 20K NYC wedding was possible!
We're spending a total of about $30K. & especially in NYC I think that's a great price! Go for it girl! It happens ONLY once in your entire life...make it worth it!!!
I agree with everyone else, sounds like a bargain! How many people are you having? We're spending about 20K too, in southern Maine.
I agree with everyone else, sounds like a bargain! How many people are you having? We're spending about 20K too, in southern Maine.
That's a huge bargain in nyc! I'm spending 20K just on food and drinks and reception hall rental for my 150 guests!
That sounds fabulous! I'm spending about that much just for the food/drinks/etc. at the venue in NYC.
I think the important part is that you are comfortable spending the amount of money you commit to. It sounds like you have the money and that you should go ahead with your plans because you are excited about them. You are not even close to the first person to be surprised by how much a wedding costs ;).
It's only too much if you can't afford it. If you can spend this money without breaking the bank (or ideally, going into bed), then do it. If you can't afford it, then even $1,000 is too much.
In NYC that sounds great to me. Especially since that number includes all the extras you mentioned!
I can feel your pain on the sticker shock, i was pretty realistic and don't have crazy expectations and I still have a hard time wrapping my head around our $25-30K for one day...and we initially thought of eloping...so to me...it's a LOT of dough!
@Gabrielle: I just noticed you are getting married in Portland, ME. Our photographer is from Portland and we are getting married in NH. I don't see much activity on the boards from up that way!
You guys are great! This is so helpful. We're having this at a beautiful restaurant with about 80 people. They're including reception with snacks and cocktails and lunch with amazing food, drinks and dessert. The space is lovely enough that we can have the ceremony there and folks who can't sit still can go into the back parlor or front porches. About $5K of the budget will be tax and gratuity on the place, flowers, dress, suite and favors.
Hope these details help. I really wanted to be able to do everything in one place. Do you guys still think this is ok?
that is an unbelievable deal. don't get me wrong, 20K is still a lot of money but i'm planning a nyc wedding too and i've way exceeded that unfortunately. i think you found a great deal!!!
I'm living the 20K NYC wedding as we speak. Initially, my budget was 15K, but has gone up to 20K mainly because it is very difficult to stay frugal in this city. I am having the basic of basics for my wedding, and still am going to reach the 20K mark. Tip is to bargain, bargain, bargain-as many vendors will work with you if you try to negotiate.
To give you a breakdown of what our budget looks like read below:
Venue-$2800 rental
Catering-$6300 including gratuity and staffing.
Photog:$2155-she threw in two extra family albums and 100 thank you cards, and has an easy payment plan.
Officiant: $450
DJ-$850-he threw in a light show and giveaways for free
Wedding Planner-$1800-well worth the money because she has tons of ideas on how to cut costs, and her references love her, and as a result give us really cool deals.
Cake-$550 120 cupcakes, small top layer cake for pictures and cupcake tier. A bargain compared to a lot of the other bakers we contacted that started at $1200.
Stationary-$70 for the save the dates, $150 for invitations. We are DIY'ing the invitations. The $150 includes a $75 design fee that our wedding planner's graphics person is charging us. We are printing the invitations ourselves.
Wedding attire-$1000 for both my partner and my dress. (yes we are two chicks)
Favors-we are donating to a charity
Flowers-$987 a bargain for what we are getting. She threw in a lot of free things, i.e. corsages, bouts., etc.
Rentals-TBD, but I am sure that will put us at the 20K mark.
So you see, it adds up very quickly, but it's about securing the right vendors for the right prices. Don't be afraid to shop around, until you find a price point you are comfortable with. Hope this helps. Good luck!
wow..i think 20K is awesome for having a nyc..good job;)
@2010bride2bee: I know, we need more representation from northern New England!! We’re getting married out on Peaks Island, but we’re from Portland :)
Oh yeah, in NYC that's definitely about the best you can do. I love NY but it's definitely not a place for the frugal.
We live in NYC and are getting married nearby--I feel your pain. I started with a $10,000 budget, realized it was completely impossible and bumped it up to $20,000 and am still coming up against stuff!
I have the exact same feeling! Isn't it way too much money?! Especially when my parents are giving $10,000 and they said to me, "Well, we were hoping you could use the left over money for a downpayment on a house." I almost choked when my mom said that--I couldn't let her know how much more we are chipping in!
Thanks again everyone. We're still looking, but this is our first choice since we can do evertying here, PUBLIC restaurant.
thats awesome! I would go for it! I'm spending close to 20G on food alone!!!
To your original question, $20K is steal in NYC if you can afford it. But more importantly I wanted to say definitely choose PUBLIC! I had my wedding there a little over a year ago and I was absolutely thrilled with the way everything turned out. The staff was wonderful, the restaurant was so accomodating, the food is amazing and Marion is just a pleasure to work with. We went on to use PUBLIC and their sister restaurant Double Crown to celebrate birthdays, Valentine's Day, New Year's Eve, and even our anniversary. I cannot emphasize how delightful everyone there is and how amazing they are at making sure your day goes without a single hitch. If you have any questions about the venue feel free to PM me.
For NYC that doesn't sound bad at ALL! I live in Austin, and 20K is the average cost of a wedding here. If you can afford it, there's no such thing as too much.
Wow, 20K in NYC? We're going to have a hard time with 30k in Lexington, KY! Course we're kinda doing things a little bit fancy! But still, that's an awesome price!
I live in NYC but am getting married in Pittsburgh (where we're both from) and I can't even get a wedding THERE under $20,000!!
That's incredible!!!! Seriously, we tried as best we could, we went with the least expensive venue that we found & liked and our Venue ALONE is a little over $20k... WOW - good for you!!
20k is a steal girlie!!! Take it and RUN!!
In fact, that would have been a great deal in Ohio when I was planning my wedding! NYC - amazing!
That's about what we're planning to spend on in the City as well, and we're doing an afternoon wedding in the winter! Enjoy :)
I know the feeling, we originally thought we would spend around 13k, but it's at 17k, and most likely will end up at 20k by the end of it all with everything accounted for. You begin with one number in your head of what is reasonable to spend, but once you start looking and realize how expensive things are and how quickly they add up, it begins to make sense. We're realized we were way off on some of our estimates, and even though we are still looking to save wherever we can, there are some things where it's too hard to compromise on, i.e., pictures, that was our first price shock, but after seeing poor quality pics, we decided it was worth it.
I am in NYC and I am spending $27K on just the venue/food/drinks/cake! So yeah, $20K is an amazing deal if you can make it happen!
From a fellower NYCer, that's bargain if that includes absolutely everything. $20k covers our reception and venue w/o alcohol; but it was tough to find anything less for what we needed to have, so I still feel like we did well. And I've kept everything as tight as I can.
You're very smart to use a restaurant--- I think in NYC, that's the only way to go with a more restrained budget.
If 20k is more than you can afford, you may want to look at venues in the boroughs or outside the city. Here's how one lady did a wedding for $5k in Brooklyn.
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