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And when I say big wedding, I mean at least 200 people are attending.
I'm looking to TRY to have a 250 person wedding for under 15K and every time I look at what I've budgeted, it just looks like it won't happen.
For those of you who are having big weddings, how are you doing this?
Hey, I fit right into this category. We are having a guest list of 268 and EVERYTHING added up is under $15,000 I have the numbers broken down if you would like to know what I spent on what and it could maybe help you stick to that budget? It's VERY doable!
Good luck! I would say we are spending on the higher side (buffet dinner, flower centerpieces from a florist, etc) and we are having 180 guests. Our budget was $15, when we finally agreed it was $20, and as we proceed, it looks like it might be $25.
I'm most concerned about catering, if I could get catering to be no more than $4k, it would definitely help.
@AshCo - yes, please send me a breakdown. I would love to see it!
Our biggest lifesafer, I think was finding a cheaper venue, keeping food costs to under $15 a plate where you could bring in your own alcohol and they had complimentary cake cutting!
Our venue was $950 with food costing us 14.99 for buffet, salad, rolls, entree coffee and punch. So if you play it right and know what to look for that is the biggest expense!
I'm trying to do about $10k for 200ish people. I'm having the reception at a rec club-that's going to cost $2500 or around there. We're bartering some things and trying to do things cheaper ourselves or having family help.
wow - just to pipe in here. I wonder if I'm getting ripped off or if the prices sound lower because you are American. I'm having a hard time keeping my 100 person wedding under $15,000. I'd love to see the breakdown that you have for your 268 person wedding for under $15,000 AshCo. I can't believe you were able to do that!! Amazing.
Go for it! Just let go of everything that the Wedding Industrial Complex tells you you need and choose the top three things that you REALLY want.
I'm having a wedding for 180 people for 12K in June in DC (eekk!) We chose to have our ceremony reception on Sunday with lunch (this was actually due to the venue being booked otherwise). The Sunday and the buffet lunch helped cut costs. I'm getting my dress made on Etsy for me for under $200 and we're DIYing hair and makeup. Instead of renting plates/flatware, we're going to buy it and then resell it afterwards (bless Craigslist!). We haven't figure out all the details yet but it will be really fun and totally US!
@ASHco, I'd love to see your budget if you wouldn't mind sharing.
There were a few more like postage but this is a rough estimate giving you voila, 12,600 roughly. :-)
God, you guys are so good....here I am with 80-90 people and 25K and I think it won't be enough ;( We did splurge on our venue but I think it was a good deal because it includes food, open bar, chivari chairs, pin tuck linens and a fondant cake....comes up for about 12,500.00 (5 Hours) ....the rest is on Photographer, DJ, Flowers, Church fees (2,000.00! wow), Limo....blah blah blah....never ending
I wonder if you paid taxes on the venue like I did? 29% Goodness! that's why it seems so high.
Have a Chattanooga destination wedding! :) Getting away from big city prices would help a lot too. But really, the boards here can be a big help. I'm sure there are tons of Atlanta brides who have shared some good ideas. And like the other girls have said, finding a cheap venue with flexible rules on caterers and bringing in your own drinks is a good place to start.
We are also having around 250 guests for under $15K...
We just kept a strict budget and figured out how to make things work with what we have!! We're big into DIY projects, so that helped out a lot. I just played around with different ideas until we came up with a good compromise that fit into our budget. You'd be surprised how many things you can make for a heck of a lot cheaper than you can buy them for!!!
You can do it!!! Good luck!!!
Oh and my hair and make up for them to come to my home from the cities was $300. That's all :-)
Good Luck @YSQueen it's VERY doable if you do your homework!
You guys all rock! Lots of smartie brides over here!
We're inviting 240 and trying to keep it under 18K, I want closer to 16K personally. We are buying our flowers at cost, found a photog of of craigs' list, cake by a family friend, DIY stationary (everything), candy buffet w/ penny-store type candy, buffet dinner, and a DJ from another area w/ lower pricing. Those are our biggest savings.
Our reception venue rental, appetizers, dinner, linens, & bar should end up being about 8-9K depending on how many people show. We shopped around for the best deal for the hall, since we knew that was going to be such a big expense w/ all our families.
Its def. doable. we're having a 200 - 250 guest list for under 10k. not counting rings (weve had our rings for a long time)
& were not taking a honeymoon.
Oh crap i forgot rings, well that puts us over the 15k and honeymoon was a gift from the parents since we are paying for our wedding ourselves.
Hmm..
Well, we're having 200 or so guests for a $10k wedding not including honeymoon or rings.
Our venue is $1000 plus $200 cleanup fee, and we can have the ceremony there if we wish.
Catering - we got a great deal because our caterer is actually head of a culinary program, so he lets the students gain experience! It's going to be about $3k. We're having a cocktail reception, mostly because that's what you do in the south for some reason. I think plated would have come out about the same when we calculated though.
Flowers - I second the whole "go out of town"thing. We are going 20 minutes out of town to a tiny florist, and she's doing them for like nothing! Seriously, I think the quote was $900 for EVERYTHING, including centerpieces and 4 BM bouquets and all the other little things (bouts, corsages, throwing bouquet, etc)
Decor - DIY it when you can, and when you can't... google google google! It's crazy how many deals you can find, or just learning things like those inexpensive satin chair sashes are long enough to be used as table runners for 60" tables, and IKEA has some beautiful candles and candleholders for practically a steal
Dress/outfit - getting my dress from Aria. My first dress that I decided wasn't for the style of wedding I wanted was only $350 plus tax from a closing bridal shop... yay for samples! And I just wanted flats, so I'm currently looking for some $12 flats from target that I'm going to do something to so they look awesome :)
Invites - I really think people underestimate their own power in making invites, or the power of those around them. I know a ton of people who are just completely awesome at photoshopping something up, and I think if you scout around, you could too! Envelopes are cheap on amazon if you buy the 250 pack (I saw them for around $12 a box... um amazing!) and just have postcards printed for save the dates, if you even decide to have them! Vistaprint has awesome postcard sales, 100 for just shipping plus the cost of an uploaded image! Just sign up for their emails.
Cake - we found a cake baker that works out of her house. In fact, she made my parents' wedding cake! She does good work without the overhead. Other options are having someone make the cakes for you then learning how to stack cakes; learning how to make the cake; dessert bar or cupcakes. Really, though, I'd do a craigslist posting of cake bakers or ask around. You might be surprised!
Photography - craigslist! Local colleges! Seriously, best two resources.
Honestly, there are just some things that you can do that aren't going to cost much at all. Personalization always makes things feel more pulled together, more upscale and more fab, so try making an awesome wedding website, using a monogram throughout your paper goods, or handmaking favors.
And that's how I can afford my wedding! Lol.
We are doing about 500 guests for under 10K. The ceremony & cake & punch reception are for everyone & the dinner that night is for around 120 (very intimate)! We just cant afford amymore than that!
WOW @Italiana , I dont think I know that many people!!
But that is a GREAT idea, I had never thought of that option!
i definitely think it can be done (especially in the south). there are quite a few off the beaten path venues in Atlanta that you can choose from which may even allow you to bring in your own catering and that sort of thing...
YSQueen, I'm definitely in this category! We're planning on between 200-250 and with a budget between 15 and 20k. Catering is definitely the biggest place to save. You might look around to see about catering services offered through culinary schools, technical colleges, etc- around here, Renton Technical College is by far the least expensive catering option for really good food!
Also, I'm doing a three day destination wedding at a ranch outside of Seattle, and there is no site fee on top of the lodging- so if you take this approach, you can save on a site fee if your guests don't mind paying a per diem lodging. We feel bad asking them to foot the entire bill, so we're subsidizing part of the lodging for guests staying on site.
We are also doing lots of DIY- farmers market flowers rather than a florist, doing our own decorations, not hiring a wedding planner, and putting together our own invitations. I found a great designer on Etsy who will do your invite design for $25, then I'll probably have them printed some place like VistaPrint.
I'd love to hear others' cost saving tips, also- thanks for posting!
- M
It most definitely can be done. Our guest numbers are about the same and our budget is well under yours.
I'm not sure of our finalized guest list, as our parents have had a lot of the say in pushing up our numbers - they basically doubled them! But that's okay, because both sets of parents have offered to help pay for portions of the wedding. Our tentative number right now is around 180, but that's probably going to go up.
We're basically budgeting how any other bride would - prioritizing and DIY-ing as much as possible. I do have expensive taste, but because of that I'm willing to go the used route with both my dress and shoes.
We're really cutting back on the things we wouldn't have to with smaller guest lists - I'd love to get designer invites, but with so many invitations going out, that's just not possible. So I'm doing a lot of research to find more of an up and coming designer who will work with us for less. I'm also planning on DIY-ing the STDs, just because they're a little more casual and I feel I won't screw them up that much.
I'm baking a moderately sized wedding cake and multiple layer cakes myself. That's a huge expense knocked down, because realistically in our city a cake the size we needed would have been almost $1,000 - and that's just a basic cake. I can do it myself for literally just the cost of ingredients because I already have the tools I need.
The venue was something we really didn't want to skimp on, so we searched high and low. It was sad to see a lot of my favorites go, but our leading choice right now is an artifact and furniture retail shop that has a gorgeous loft/warehouse-esque space.
We're doing our ceremony and reception in the same place, so that there's no fee for ceremony location and guests don't have to worry about getting from place to place. We're cutting out the videographer because high quality photography was more important to us.
Hmm... I know there's more, but can't think of it. The numbers add up fast with a big wedding!
Thank you everyone for the replies...I definitely have some research to do. Keep the tips coming...
WOW, reading this thread makes me want to keep looking for venues! We live outside of Philadelphia and things add up fast! At the places we have been looking they keep telling us since we ONLY have around 120 people that we need to spend at LEAST $20,000! This doesn't include the flowers a dj, or a photographer! These are the most expensive things!
I hate that places are making us feel bad that we are having a smaller wedding! I don't know 200-300 people to even invite! Part of the reason the venues charge so much is because we want to have it on a Sat night. But still..ugh
Is anyone else having a problem with venues telling you that you need to spend a certain amount of money to have your wedding there?
@miss bella... minimums suck! We're going a non-traditional route with a brand new neighborhood clubhouse. Since they don't do events that often, we had our choice of dates, can bring in anyone we want and it's fairly cheap!
I'm not quite a "big" wedding, but we are having 150 people for $8,000. We are doing a bunch of stuff ourselves and looking for good deals on everything. Take your time and shop around to find the best price.
@Miss Bella - that's so ridiculous! Have you looked at any non-traditional venues? One of my favorites here in Chicago is a flower shop's extra little store front. It's basically the exact place I would pick for my dream wedding, only our parents were really set on a bigger wedding. They are geared towards weddings of 50-125 people, as are a lot of the art galleries, intimate restaurants, etc.
Ooh, yeah, I forgot to throw in there... I emailed every.single.gallery in my area about having weddings there. Three said yes, and all could accomodate 100 guests max, but that might be an option if you find a slightly bigger gallery!
I'm shooting for between $4K and $5K for ~175.
Virtually everything is DIY from the iPod music to the food. I hope I can do this.
It is a little intimidating sometimes... Although I have tons and tons of help that I appreciate so dearly (we both have huge supportive families).
I am so thankful I have found Weddingbee and so many great ideas! It has been tremendous.
I must admit, it is probably easier for me than most people to spend this amount, as we live in a semi-rural area of Illinois. I could never get away with this in the city!
Good luck to all, and read this post from A Practical Wedding. It put things in perspective for me and truly inspired me! I've reread it many times
AWAY WITH THE STDs! (LOL). I am only sending them to guests that will have to make major travel plans.
Check out a local grocery if you think you might be able to DIY your flowers. I've heard they are super-cheap. (P.S. It's really not that hard to do flowers, I promise! Enlist some help)
This might be weird if you're having a formal wedding (we're doing a down-home BBQ), but hey, someone might read this that it would work for. We are ordering Kraft paper rolls to cover the tables and having crayons in little jars on the table. I almost fainted when I saw how much linens were to rent!
If you can bring your own alcohol, I've heard good things about Target's $17.99 wine cubes.
Online RSVP to cut on postage.
Donation in lieu of favors. You could do $1 or $5 per person, depending on your budget. One more thing you don't have to worry about, too!
We had a 150 guest wedding for about 5k. It'd definitely do-able! Just cut all possible corners - lots of DIY. Feel free to PM me if you have any specific questions. :)
We are having 210 people on a budget of 8K...and lower if we can do it. We decided instead of having our wedding in our current city that we would have it in my hometown which is an hour from the nearest city. We found alot of great deals from the ceremony site 200 reception site 600 and we actually get 100 of that back, the florist is reasonable too and the only thing we are paying alot for is the photographer because I want nice pictures...and a wedding planner because I am disorganized and I do not want to do anything the day of. We are also doing the catering ourselves because we were unable to find a caterer that was in our price and gave us exactly what we wanted...we are having a southern bbq with a bbq pig.
We inviting aournd 450-500 people. The budget is supposed to be small...We're trying to keep the reception under $40,000.
I don't know how so many brides are working with half of that.
I admire you all!
We're in a small area. We don't totally have a budget down but I'm kind of going off of a close family who had 450 guests and stayed right @ about $10,000. It's definatly doable to have a large wedding on a small budget. We're expecting between 300-350 people. Locations is definatly a factor. Our Venue is $500 plus we have to get the linens through them about $200. Our food is $9 per plate. (buffet style with 2 meats & 3 sides & rolls) Alcohol also has to be done through the venue and it's charged per bottle. ($2.50 per bottle or you can purchase kegs) We're trying to guestimate about $2500 - $3000 for alcohol. my dress was about $500. We found a local photographer who is just starting out business. She has a bridal package for about $900 we would add some ala carte photos end up being around $950. We will hire a DJ. That's the only thing I'm not sure of the price on. We're hoping to get someone who does it on the side. We have a couple prospects but I'm not 100% sure on the budget. I'll guess $300-$500 for now. Church and organist will be around $250.
That sets us right @ $8500 for the wedding itself. We are also looking into a chocolate fountain. But it's not something we HAVE to have if it breaks our budget. FI really wants it. My parents have offered to pay for the wedding & FI dad has offered $2500 towards the wedding. We are very gracious of everything They've offered us and are doing for us. We are very lucky.
We are paying for the rings ourselves and the honeymoon as well. We are going somewhere in the mountains to stay in a cabin for a couple days. We are not going to do anything too extravegant for the honeymoon. We're going to wait a few years and take a long hunting trip together. We are also planning on saving what we can and offering my parents some back to cover the wedding costs.
Hope this helps a little!
We are having 165 for $8,000. I think that is a pretty large wedding on a small budget. There are times we want to scrap it all and elope because the budget is tight! But it's all working out. I just wish we could do more open bar but 2 hours will have to do.
@gocubbies I love the idea of Kraft paper! This bride got some cheap paper and then spray painted through lace so that it looks all pretty. Such a great idea to keep costs down!!
we are having 350-400 on a $30K budget. I know it doesn't seem like a 30K budget is a small budget but when you do the math it becomes less than $100 for every person attending.
One big thing that I am doing is staying away from florals all together (I have 9! bridesmaids - so just for the wedding party alone the florals are crazy expensive!).
I also am starting early!
One of my latest projects has been to do my own invites - simple but chic - I am using a basic flat card out of a invite kit and embossing our custom logo on it with the 60 embosser I got. and backing it with a nice card stock. I am doing the same for our response cards. I also am doing wax seals on the outside of the envelope. And I am lining the envelopes with wrapping paper that I got on sale for 1.50. - Total cost for invites - about $300 with me doing them. A similar one that I found online almost 1000!
I am not doing favors.
We are doing an open hosted bar. And we are providing all of the liquor. Since FI and I have had a long engagement we have almost every week bought a couple of bottles of alcohol and just stored them. By the time the wedding is here we should not have to buy too much more. And all that we are buying ahead of time is not coming out of the wedding budget but our personal living budget.
I am doing the STDs with my xyron and they should cost about $40 for custom magnets and a card that explains everything. But STDs are SO not necessary.
I am also doing the programs.
Our centerpieces are vases and candles so we have been regularly looking at thrift stores for vases and I refuse to buy a vase for more than a dollar.
We are having around 180 people for around 7K. I've had to DIY a lot, but we have found a lot of great vendors online and were able to connect with local people and friends that are very talented! We will end up with a really personalized, classy and fun wedding without spending too awful much :)
Check out VistaPrint.com, free save the dates/postcards among many other things! See who you know - my fiance DJ's, so his boss is DJing our wedding free of charge, one of my girlfriends loves to do flowers so the two of us have done everything ourselves. My centerpieces (clear apothocaries filled with candies in our wedding colors) are doubling as favors with boxes at each place setting. My mom and I have made everything we can from pomanders to garters and ringbearers pillows. We recieved our Cake set free from Macy's for registering - just look around and you will find so many great deals!!
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