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Well, I don't think there is only one reasonable amount or a set amount that is Too Much. Budgets take so many things into account: the couples/family's finances, style of wedding, other savings goals (i.e. small wedding and down payment on a home), even the couple's ages seem to play into it.
Our wedding in the Midwest was about $7500. It was a daytime wedding, we only had 65 guests, and we served heavy appetizers instead of a meal. We also did a lot of DIY and my dress came from David's. My friends who are getting married in our area in the fall will probably have a much higher budget, as they are having a formal Saturday evening wedding with a full dinner.
My point is, there is no one size fits all as far as a budget goes.
our wedding in hawaii is going to be just under $4K
our SoCal wedding next year is right around $80K
I agree that it depends. I'm also having a Midwest wedding, but ours is evening with a plated dinner, and we're coming in right about $13k. That was a shocking amount to me, as I had orignally set our budget closer to chrissie's - $8k-9k.
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I'm having mine in NYC with 300+ guests and that comes out to over $60K. It really does depend on location, number of guests, formality, etc. I'm cutting costs as much as I can, but that's the best I can do.
Our wedding in Nassau, Bahamas is going to be about $7K and our reception back home (Small town, Ontario, Canada) will be about $5K. That isn't including attire (we are paying for everyone), rings, or photography since they are shared. Also, not including travel expenses
Our budget for everything everything (including honeymoon at Disney)is $20K.
Our wedding is also in NYC for about 130 guests and it's pushing $60k. We're having half the number of guests as ipak but similar budget, so like she said, its dependent on a whole bunch of factors (location, guests, extras like linens, lighting design). Also some people include wedding dress, wedding rings, honeymoon in their budget and some people don't.
I think your budget should be dependent on what kind of wedding you want to have and how much you can afford, given some savings to start your life together. I would think most people would not want to go into debt to throw a lavish wedding.
ipak -- how are you keeping a wedding of 300 in NYC under 60k? I have 125 guests in NYC and am struggling mightily to keep the budget under $45k, and that's with buying a sample dress, NO flowers at the ceremony, bargaining hard with vendors and bringing in an OOT photog. What's your secret??!
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My budget from my parents' and my funds (not what FI is paying for honeymoon or his parents for rehearsal etc) is about $28,000. That's for about 150 guests in Texas outside of Houston. Of course there's no overall "too much" but I think too much for me and the dreams I have would be anything over $40,000. I could definitely come up with ways to spend up to that point, but beyond that, I would just be wasting. It'll still take a little creativity to stay under $30,000, but I'm not really DIY anything.
they say the average is 26-28 but im not sure if that includes EVERYTHING!
Im having a NYC wedding on a saturday night in september for ~100 people. Its a 1/2 ceremony and 4 hour supper buffet reception (little fancier then a regular buffet). From my dress to the flowers to the night of suite (but not including rings or honeymoon) we should come in around $57k. Fingers crossed! And I really havent held back on too much.
Also - this site will give you the average cost of a wedding in your zipcode. No idea how accurate it is, but its interesting! http://www.costofwedding.com/
that website HAS to shoot high! haha! if not, im doing very well for my area!
We're having a small destination wedding in Mexico with about 12 guests. We're already at about $22,000 but that does include travel & hotel for my fiance and me.
That website is high.... according to my location I still need to spend another 15K to be average and I already think my budget is a bit wasteful in the grand scheme of the world!
my wedding in nyc this fall for 160 on a saturday afternoon will cost about $65k. it really does depend on a variety of factors and what your priorities are. we splurged on some areas and was able to save in others.
lol...well, i'll be the brave one and kick it off for the small budget brides.
i'm in the Southeast, and am doing my best to keep our wedding well under 10k. Right now, its looking like everything (excluding mini moon and rings. my dress will be a gift) is going to be about $5500. We are working off of a guest list of 130.
shocked? amazed? lol........
For us, $10,000+ was too much. Though i think i could have had everything i "wanted" for about 10K.
Ours will be in central VA, just under 50 people, daytime wedding. The total including dress (but not rings), with be under 5K. We've got the money to do more, but opted to save it for a down payment on a house. A wedding is just a big party for one day! 
our wedding will be in Michigan, for about 175 guests and our budget is 20K (honeymoon & wedding band budget is separate). Right now we're under budget by about 4K... which I'm sure we'll find a way to spend! It totally depends on where your wedding is taking place. Sometimes being from the midwest does have its perks!
Funny. I just had this convo with my FI this morning. we are having an nyc wedding for ~100ppl, on a sat night in july for ~$35K. give or take a couple thousand. Why oh why did we decide not to let our parents help us with paying?!
I didn't have an overall budget, but I had itemized budgets in my mind such as I wouldn't pay more than $xxxx for photography, more than $xx/person for a meal, etc. I don't know what my total costs will be but I am certain it will be much less than average bride in the same area -- because I will be married at a community center where I can find my own caterer and buy my own alcohol to serve.
I am in SoCal, and my budget is around $35,000. Personally that is much more than I want to spend (in an ideal world, my wedding would cost only $20K), but I can't get it to budge downward! This is despite the fact that I have gotten some really great deals on my dress, flowers, and alcohol. I feel like I am doing something wrong...
If we were paying ourselves, it would be a pretty small event, and we had tentatively set a budget of $5000. My parents weren't happy with the scale of our plans, and so are paying for almost everything. I certainly didn't expect that, but they did pay for most of my sister's wedding, and they can afford it easily, so we just thanked them profusely and accepted the offer. We are now up to about $15,000. That includes hosted bar, a very nice buffet dinner, and a band, with our local country club as the venue. We are in (eastern) Washington state.
I also think the website is crazy high. If I had $30,000, you better believe I would pay down my mortgage and put a down payment on a new car, not throw a big party. But those are my priorities - I am older than a lot of bees; my FI has two kids heading off to college next year, and for us being married is the important part, not the actual wedding.
our original budget was 15k and now it looks like we may be at 23k. FI is not happy about it but there's so much I can wittle down the costs. I already made our invitations even the pocketfolds by scratch to save $100 and hopefully we can shave down our floral quote as well by substituting some flowers for less expensive ones. all in all, it is just one huge celebration for one day so we want it to be nice and still not be overkill for us since we are the ones footing the bill. be sure not take out a loan for a wedding bc that will not be a good start for a happy marriage to be in debt. good luck!
Our budget is 35K in Downtown Chicago. I do have a feeling that we are going to exceed it to 40k. We are doing a lot of DIY things to keep it within range. My FI looked at me funny when I told him that," if we wanted to have the wedding of our dreams... it would set us back at minimum 65k in DT Chicago"
I have a planner who is keeping our budget for about 150 people in downtown Chattanooga, TN at $15,000...which is more than we can afford but we are sinking $10,000 into location (wedding and reception at same site), food/service, dance floor, sound equipment and a lot of alcohol for $10,000. My dress is a loan from a friend of the family...a friend of the family is making our cakes, and friends are taking pics/video...So we are cutting corners but splurging on some things (mentioned above, and flowers...they will be expensive).
But its up to each person, what you want, how much you are getting from family or already have, and how much debt you are willing to go into...
We are in the Pacific Northwest (Seattle) and I have manged to keep our budget at 10k and that includes the honeymoon. We will be spending 9 days in Maui. Basically we spent 5k on the wedding (144 people) and 5k on the honeymoon. We have been planning since dec 06, so i could bargin hunt and get the best deals.
We are having a destination wedding in the carribean and our budget is 100-150k. We are flying in a lot of our talent (band, djs, planner and photog) and we have also subsidized many of our guests travel expenses. I know this seems wild but we were actually turned away from a few event designers/wedding planners in NYC when I approached them with our budget--they thought it was too small!! I guess it's all relative...
aside from our wedding budget that i mentioned some comments ago, we are trying to keep our mini-moon expenses to about $800. we have no clue where we are going to go so if there are any Southeast bees, or anyone familiar with the southeast who has suggestions, feel free to PM me!
Our budget is $15,000 - but to get everything we wanted (including bigger guest list) without bargain hunting I think I'd need about $35,000, I guess. But bargain hunting/ DIYing is half the fun.
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Last night I was chatting with a friend about wedding budgets. She is aware of my budget and was shocked when I told her I am having a tough time sticking to it and am not counting a lot of things such as my dress & invitations in that main number. I think my budget is pretty average for my state and in my immediate area I know a lot of brides spend over twice the amount.... so this made me wonder...
What do you consider to be a "reasonable" budget and what is the amount that you begin to say is "Too Much"? I would be curious to know where your from as well, because I am sure that makes quite a difference...