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Oh by the way, our budget is a combination of my parents contributions and our money. Anyone with a good suggestion for places in the Hudson Valley or Northeast PA that are budget friendly with great food and nice atmosphere.... I am all ears!
Our original budget was $20K but it seems to be imposssible when getting married in LA. Our favorite venue site fee was $4K for 75 people and under. If one additional person came, it would go up to $5K — not including on-site manager, trash site clean up, valet rental, etc. None of this included catering or rentals so you can imagine the panicking after some initial numbers were ran.
After a lot of thought with our financial situation, we've decided to have a small destination wedding in Vegas. Our first worry was that it would be too cheesy but ended up finding a private venue that we could have the ceremony at for waaaaay less than the price of the original site fee. And to help lessen the financial strain, we are having our reception at a restaurant (great food was our priority in our wedding anyways) and then save on rentals, dj, dancefloor, etc... If people want to go dancing, there are plenty of clubs or lounges. But we plan on renting a suite and people can come on up and we'll have a little after party planned. We will probably be saving ourselves about $8K or so. *whew*
I just started the planning process as well, I have found that when venues send me their wedding package prices if I reply with that they are unfortunately over our budget and thank them for sending me information they usually email me back willing to work within my budget. Which means that I have to cut out a few things, like no cheese tray/fruit tray etc, but that's not too important to me. Mostly the venues have been willing to cut items I don't want to lower the price, or subsitute items I don't want for extras, like an extra food choice, or an extra hour of open bar.
Our budget is low, not because of the economy, but because we are paying for it ourselves, and also wanted to take our dream honeymoon to Europe.
i don't really know what the avg wedding costs where you live, but I do know that there are ways to cut costs to save a budget. finding a venue that is a good deal (we're getting ours for 1.5k since my parent's live in the association... it includes chairs & tables, dancefloor, day of coordinator, ..). For the reception, we've been talking about having a "cocktail" reception so apps are the only thing being served and we won't have any kids there (besides my son...), i'm DIYing my flowers, invitations, centerpieces. OH and the centerpieces and linens are primarily being split with my FH's sister whose getting married this Spring (i'm getting married 2010). we've budgeted about 6k with a max of 10k... that way, we are shooting low but have a max that we will NOT go over. The avg wedding cost where I live is $38k. Getting married far off gives me time to hunt good deals, which yes, takes time! (I have a 2 year old, go to school full time, and teach a prek class full time, so I know how it is to be busy! lol) BUT when I get a good deal it makes me feel awesome and we're putting the money saved towards a house deposit.
I hope this helps. About the economy, yes, it has definitely affected us. My parents can't give us as much money as they had planned since they've been hit, and my fiance got let go from his good job so now we're both doing everything we can to get by. We are planning on using our tax returns to pay for venue deposits. Let's just hope that the govn't doesn't attack our tax returns, too. (Can I say that!?) Good luck!
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Our budget was originally $30K, it is at about $42K, we were expecting 220 guests but it looks like we are going to have 290 guests and that really increased our costs. My parents are chipping in, but most of the money is coming from my fiance and myself.
Our original budget was $30K, and with about one month from the big day, we are at approximately $28K right now, with most of the vendors paid. We just haven't paid for the rehearsal dinner. There is no way to adjust now since the budget was set a while ago and most vendors were booked by the time the economy took a real downturn. I'm just glad we're still within our original budget.
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I honestly don't even know that I want to have a wedding. We only have so much money to spread around, after all. I'm really enjoying reading sites like
And the like.
While I don't think I could skimp on as many of the things as the 2000 dollar wedding did, all of these types of sites remind me what is REALLY important in a wedding: You and your spouse, and your marriage. Not the linens, not the favors, and not the type of paper the invitations is printed on. If I do the wedding at all (it depends on whether our immediate families want it - we're letting them vote)... it'll be for under 5k.
Like Miss Springroll, our budget is also low..not because of the economy; we're also paying for the wedding ourselves. I'm can be pretty frugal (I'm coupon queen!) so regaurdless of what the economy was like, I'd still be on a pretty low budget. I haven't really haggled any of our vendors, but I have been able to find some pretty awesome vendors at either an affordable price or a price that I'm willing to pay. I've been able to save more on the material things (dress, decor, assesories, etc.)
It isnt really because of the recession, we just didnt see the point in spending so much money for one day, when we could continue saving for a house. We're trying to keep our wedding around or under $6000. We probably wont be taking a honeymoon, but if we do anything we'll just do a weekend getaway and save the big vacay for an anniversary trip.
Our original budget was $45K, but our venue minimum is $23,000 alone, not including chair rentals or upgraded linens. I'm thinking it will be over 50k now.
We're having approx 200 guests and i'm hoping we don't go over too much.
You would think in this economy, more vendors would be able to negotiate, but I haven't found that to be true. MY day of coordinator wouldn't budge. The limo services I contacted so far have been standing firmly at their prices. We're already under contract with the venue, florist, photographer, DJ, and my dress...so none of those things can be adjusted.
poo.
Our budget is almost entirely from my parents; we are looking to spend under $10K in hopes that the extra can be added to our downpayment on a house. We are getting married in a less urban area so I think that cuts down on the cost, though FMIL is apparently inviting anyone she has ever met (a source of constant frustration for me) and has challenged our budget and seating capacity. We are more conscious of our spending, as we do not want to go over our budget; at this point, it appears we will be under. We are finding that people are eager to alter things for you in return for the business, so I guess it's working in our favor!
In general I find it very hard to justify spending a lot of money on just one day of my life, and the current economy just strengthened my resolve to be frugal. That being said, in a lot of ways your hands get tied or your wallet gets emptied. We can't have a small wedding because we care about our large families and the large community of friends we've built over the years. That alone will make our wedding more expensive than most, unless we feed everyone at McDonalds, which for some reason, my fiance won't agree to. I admire the budget weddings and their budget ethic. I share that ethic too, but I do not have 1)parents or friends with a nearby farm where I can have my wedding for free 2) crafting skills so that I can make my own dress, my own wedding stationery, etc or 3) live in a place where I can grow my own flowers and vegetables. It is not impossible to have a budget-friendly wedding, but I think we should recognize that people have different circumstances and different priorities. For a while I felt very guilt that our wedding was going to cost more than $5K, but I'm realizing it's more about how you approach your wedding than the actual costs. Everyone has to find their happy balance.
My fiance and I are paying for the wedding ourselves. We've been fortunate to not be impacted too much by the economy. Right now we are overbudget (not happy about it) but we're finding new ways to reduce cost now. For 200 people, we have budgeted $30k.
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I agree with Chendabride. Being an avid Weddingbee reader over the last year, I have been surprised at how much more I'm spending than the average bee. I thought maybe I was doing something wrong.
We aren't having an extravagant wedding. No humongous flower arrangements, no wedding band, no designer letterpress invitations. Our location isn't even in the downtown.
I just have to chalk it up to the fact that in some locations, things simply cost more.
Our budget is low but I find it to be reasonable-- I love DIY-ing and plan on using my creative side (and desire to be involved in everything!) to save costs on flowers, invitations, and maybe even the cake =) We are really trying to use the budget to take us as far as possible. My FI and I are are extragavant people, and for our wedding we decided to spend the bulk of our budget on a venue that reflects us and really yummy food =)
We've got a pretty low budget (10K for 120 people) but not because of the economy. a) we're paying for it ourselves b) we can't wrap our heads around spending tens of thousands of dollars for a single day.
Some ways that we've saved:
1) Ceremony location in a public park - $150 donation to the park
2) Photography - has been gifted to us by a pro friend of ours
3) Reception site fee - has been gifted to us by a friend that manages a private club
4) Beer/Wine/Specialty cocktail only - most of our friends/family enjoy really good beer and really good wine, so we're doing that.
5) Beer - A friend is brewing beer for our wedding and the club is allowing us to bring it in, WAY lower cost and we get to have craft beer, YAY
6) Invites and Save the Dates - all DIY - thanks GOCCO and laserprinter!
7) IPOD - hiring the equipment and a person to control it
8) Videographer - Another pro friend of ours is gifting to us
9) FMIL is a potter - our ring bowl and toasting glasses will be crafted by her
10) Transportation - my Mom has a 59 TBIRD that we'll be driven in
11) Hair and makeup - I'll do myself
We're incredibly lucky to have people around us that have been so generous with their skills and resources. I think in this wedding planning business the more people you know and network with, the better. And we didn't ask a single friend to help or "work", in fact they would hear nothing of us turning down their generosity.
good peops, lucky couple
seriously, sometimes I wonder if I should have gone to art school or something so that I could find crafty, skillful friends. Would make our wedding much cheaper. Of course, this is ridiculous. Most of our friends are lawyers, which is useful for drawing up contracts. Maybe we could come up with a legal themed wedding? Legal consultation as favors? Just kidding.
One of my favorite things about wedding planning is how much love and support you get from the people who love you. It doesn't necessarily cut our expenses, but it does keep me sane and helps me remember why I'm doing this in the first place.
Even though I am yet to be engaged, a week after my parents met my boyfriend, my father, who is the cheapest man on the planet, told my mother that he would give me $10,000 for my wedding. That was an unprecidented statement. After almost 4 yrs, and keeping my fingers crossed, I am planning on having an almost 100% DIY wedding. I will have a friend shoot our wedding in old school 8mm film and do all the msuic on an iPod. My mother is a baker and we are both artists. I am having a dress made by a family friend. The ceremony will be in my parents backyard in Connecticut. It's completely doable. You just have to do the research and make great friends. I have made many concessions over the years, and finally realized that none of them were actually concessions in the first place. It's more important that I remember the day and not try to prove to anyone that it was the most expensive event of the year.
whats expensive for one bride might be a bargain for another, so it's hard to compare numbers, but what i did was create a budget that worked for me, where i thought i could have (most) everything i wanted and not feel like id spent my life savings on one (very special day), and im really really sticking to it. if it means flowers take a backseat bc i want the dream dress, we'll have carnations instead of peonies, if i want the horse drawn carriage to whisk us away, well then maybe we'll walk to the ceremony! (erm, well, maybe not). the point is - create a budget you feel comfortable with and stick to it!
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Was just wondering what you all have budgeted for your weddings in these tough economic times. Has the economy made you more concerned abotu what you are spending?
We are not trying to spend too much and have budgeted 15k for our wedding but would love to spend lots less. How well are you all doing with negotiating prices with vendors? I haven't really started planning yet as we just recently got enagaged.
Looking forward to what you all have to say...