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Small Budgets

posted 2 years ago in Money
  • poll: Where does your "small" budget fall?
    < $1,000 : (0 votes)
    $1,000 - $5,000 : (14 votes)
    39 %
    $5,000 - $10,000 : (17 votes)
    47 %
    $10,000 - $15,000 : (5 votes)
    14 %
  •  
    1.
    Member
    2,361 posts
    Buzzing bee
    Minutiae    May 2011  

    Like several other bees have mentioned, I was wondering how the budget brides (relatively speaking) polled under 15K.

    Were there any budget busters, or items you spent way less on than expected?

     
    2.
    Member
    9,872 posts
    Bee Keeper
    CorgiTales    February 1, 2011  

    I voted 5-10K but I don't know if that is totally accurate. Our budget is 10K for the wedding, but that does not include wedding bands, rehearsal dinner, or honeymoon. I am holding out hope my FI's parents might offer to do the rehearsal dinner! heh. 

    We are going to try really hard to come in under 10K for the actual wedding to offset the costs of rings and honeymoon. (I don't know why I don't include them... I just feel like they don't have that much to do with the wedding. The rings aren't a prop... they are something we'll wear forever like an e-ring which ppl don't include in the budget). 

     
    3.
    Member
    1,313 posts
    Bumble bee
    Vitsippa    October 10, 2010  

    We don't have a set budget but I'd like to have it less than $4000. We're pretty simple and don't have much family. We intend to spend more on the honeymoon! Anything saved goes towards our home Smile

     
    4.
    Member
    1,313 posts
    Bumble bee
    Vitsippa    October 10, 2010  

    I should add that if you know of any outdoor venue under $1000 please share.

     
    5.
    Hostess
    10,729 posts
    Bee Keeper
    crebre80    November 20, 2010   Baton Rouge, LA

    Hey girlie!! We'll be spending less than 5,000 (do you mean actual amount or amount plus what would be saved if you weren't diy'g it?) I think for another bride it would probably be closer to 15ish, but I'm diy'g a lot and the photographer (friend) will be giving me a great deal. I have no idea how much M (it no longer stands for his name, it is now mum's the word) will spend on the honeymoon or rings or anything like that.

     
    6.
    Member
    1,245 posts
    Bumble bee
    realeastcoaster    July 11, 2009   Canada

    We did a lot of things ourselves, so ended up spending less on things like centerpieces and flowers. We did spend more than I had expected starting out on photography, but I think that's because neither of us expected the price range that is normal for photography.

     
    7.
    Member
    2,361 posts
    Buzzing bee
    Minutiae    May 2011  

    @Vitsippa: Depending on where your ceremony is, you could have a friend or family member who lives nearby that would be willing to donate their backyard! That's what I'm planning on doing.

    @cre: Whatever you're actually spending. :) (Personally, I don't include the honeymoon or e-ring as part of wedding costs.) It would be really interesting to see the cost difference between a DIY wedding and a comparable wedding that was simply paid for. Seeing the $ difference would make all that time and energy spent on projects totally worth it! You're lucky to have a friendor photographer, that's one of the budget things I'm most worried about. Photography is one thing you don't want to skimp on, but it's nearly impossible to find a good photographer for cheap.

    If I manage to get great deals on all aspects of the wedding, I think I'll be able to pull off a quality, memorable wedding/reception on about $6,500 or less. If I don't get great deals on anything and go to the absolute top of my personal limit, maybe $9,000. I'm predicting around 7.5K.

     
    8.
    Member
    2,678 posts
    Sugar bee
    luli29    October 9, 2010   Massachusetts

    I'm hoping our small wedding will be under 5k, including rings (but not honeymoon...if we even have one!) :)

     
    9.
    Member
    1,289 posts
    Bumble bee
    melodicsighs1    May 22, 2010   San Diego

    I voted $10,000-15,000. It shouldn't end up being MUCH more than 10k, but will probably go over.

    Our budget isn't totally concrete because different people are covering different costs instead of just throwing money into the pot. My parents are paying for all the venue costs (location, family lodging, food, rentals, alcohol) and it looks to be coming out to about $7,000-$8,000. Our photographer is $2,000 which I am paying for. FI's parents are giving another $1,000 to cover other costs, and I'm paying for anything else left.

    I would have originally aimed at an under 10k budget, but with gifts from our parents, we have more room to move. I'm okay that it's costing more because it's allowing us to celebrate all weekend long at our venue.

     
    10.
    Hostess
    3,782 posts
    Honey bee
    AnnieAAA    October 25, 2009   Dallas, TX

    We budgeted 8K and spent a little over 7K, yippiee! As far as unexpected costs, that would be the DJ, we were going to do an Ipod wedding and decided at the last min to get a DJ. We also overspent on the photopgrapher (only by $100) the cupcakes (by $70) and didn't initally budget for our BP gifts.

    But we spend less then initially budgeted on food, booze, flowers, & decor. This was thanks to a smaller guest list & alot of DIY & craigslist finds.

    I think what was good for us is although we were "over" budget for a particular item, it was never over more then $100, and that helped.

    I will be completing a real budget soon so everyone can see the breakdown, I'm just so proud of everything I DIYed and am so pleased with how everything turned out.

     
    11.
    Hostess
    10,729 posts
    Bee Keeper
    crebre80    November 20, 2010   Baton Rouge, LA

    @minutiae: i agree about the cost comparison of what we spend for DIY versus what could have been spent if you purchased it...

     
    12.
    Member
    963 posts
    Busy bee
    hcritton    09/06/09   Seattle, WA

    We spent about $4500 on ours.

    Approximate costs:
    Wedding package (site, officiant, limo, photog, bouquet in Vegas) $600
    Dress (w/ alterations) $375
    Reception site $500
    Nonrefundable deposit $100
    DJ $500
    Reception decor (everything) $900
    Rings $750
    Honeymoon to Vegas (flight + hotel) $750

    We chose to do a potluck reception because we really didn't need any gifts and the food would have been the most expensive thing by far. Our guests brought food in lieu of gifts--it worked out great, there was so much food there and it was mostly homemade specialties that people brought in. My mom paid for our cupcakes (maybe $200-$300 or so)--that was really the only outside help we got. Other than that we paid for it ourselves, which is why we wanted to stick to a very tight budget so we didn't rack up credit cards or loans. Lots of DIY inspiration from weddingbee too!

     
    13.
    Member
    1,544 posts
    Bumble bee
    cheerful    September 2009 - eloped  

    AnnieAAA, you spent $7,000 a whole $1,000 under your budget of $,8000? *round of applause*

     
    14.
    Member Icon
    382 posts
    Helper bee
    di5308    January 1, 2000  

    We are to keep it around 2k to 3k for about 90 guests.

    We will be getting a lot of help from family with food, but not expecting much help financially. Family members are making desserts, basic hor'dourves and sides, and we are having the hot food delivered by a restaurant. We are using a gorgeous building at a state park, which is cheap, and we don't need a lot of decor, being in a rustic but elegant building, 50 feet from a lake, with our ceremony beneath a beautiful waterfall.

    Our main costs (about half to 2/3 our budget) will be food and beverages, including bottled beer and hard lemonade. We won a photography package from a fantastic photographer, so that is one area that saved us big time. If we hadn't though; I'd have had my aunt and a friend share in the photography duties to save those thousands of dollars.

    Once we factor in rings, hotel for our mini-moon, and some unexpected costs, I'm sure we'll be go over, since our budget is so meager to start, but I think we'll do pretty well overall.

     

     

     

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