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Other than the obvious which is reception (correct me if I'm wrong) what are you investing your money into most? How are you working with your budget to plan your dream day? Ie what is your budget on venue, flowers, favours, decor, cake, etc
Thanks!
I have the same budget as you but i'll probably be spending it differently. Yes- the LARGE majority of my budget is going to the reception venue/catering and alcohol. Right now that is totaling around 17,000 for me- but I'm inviting 280 people. The room rental was $1800 but they required me to use their catering. Catering and fees are what got me even with me bringing my own alcohol (thank god!). What are you spending for the reception? I feel like I've overspent there a lot
My budget is really different from most, so take a look, but it probably won't match up with the traditions %'s people say to use.
The DJs gonna run me about $2000. For photography i'm spending $2500. Flowers are $1000. I've allocated $750 for the cake. Decor is about $1000. My dress i got a fantasitic deal on because i got it at a charity event- all in, I spent about $600 but i had allocated 1500. The other $4000 (did i do my math right?) is random stuff like hair/makeup, gifts, limos, rings, invitations... but i'm really hoping to pull the budget down to be more like 25,000.
My fiance's family is paying for the rehearsal dinner and the honeymoon, so i'm not involved in that at all.
other than venue(includes catering), the most expensive will definitely be photography
Our biggest expense is the venue and food/alcohol. Following that will be the band.
As far as costs our biggest is the reception venue which covers food, alcohol, and the room. Second largest cost may be the florist.
We had several helpful discounts due to the date of our wedding.
The big ticket items are venue and catering. I think lighting is the next big ticket and as much as I'd like it not to be true the florist is going to be up there too.
After food/drink, Photography is getting some serious money thrown at it. Everything else I am seriously scrimping on.
My biggest is Photography, It means alot to me so i'm splurging (about $2,500) I'm only having family so the reception is only costing about $1,200 for a 3 course meal :)
My wedding will cost just about $30K, not counting rings, honeymoon or other wedding events.
My expenses are in this order:
-reception/ceremony location (food & drink is included in this). This will be about 3/5ths of the budget)
-Photographer (very important to me)
-Dress
-Flowers
-DJ
-Cake
-invitations.
So really my budget is getting eaten up by my reception location. It was more than some other places, but my FI and I really loved it and can make it fit the budget. If I had spend more like 50% of the budget on the reception I would obviously have more room to go crazy everywhere else. My original budget included money for a photobooth, but that has been taken out since.
Also, I wanted to say that when making my budget I used those budget calculators that tell you what to put money on, but I also did a bit of research on my own. While a good number of vendors don't have prices online, enough do that you can get a sense of what things cost. I also looked here on the boards, particularly the local boards to see what people spend. It gave me a better idea of what people spend in my area. For example, the kind of photographer I like, in my area, will not be much less than $3000. My budget allows for it, and it is a priority for me, so I gave a lot of the budget to the photographer and less to other areas.
Besides our venue, which is the majority of our budget, we're going to be spending a lot on the band, since tehy directly impact how enjoyable the wedding is.
The next place we are spending is flowers, not because I necessarily find them most important, but because that is just how the costs are playing out- the photographer costs less than I thought, flowers a little more.
I'm hping to cut these though, our families are insistnet on a band but I almost prefer a DJ, then I know all the songs will sound good! lol. Also am hoping to cut the flowers even more, we have a room that calls for tall centerpieces, but we also have 20 tables. I think we can save money by having 7 tables hvae short centerpieces, but my mom is adamant that it shoudl all be tall. She's paying so I'm not sure why I'm so worried about saving but it just seems silly not to cut where we can. Haven't booked anyhting besides venue & rabbi, so we'll see how this stuff plays out.
Our budget is $35k (and growing every day!)
Biggest cost was reception -- our venue includes catering + alcohol, linens, centerpieces, etc. So it's a huge amount, but now I don't have to worry about spending $$ on other things.
The rest is (most expensive listed first):
We obviously haven't purchased all of these things yet, but this is what I'm projecting, from what I've bought so far and from researching prices.
What am I missing?
Our budget for the wedding alone is about $30k (though I think it's going to be more like $32k). Our venue is full service (they are doing the ceremony, reception, catering) so obviously that's where most of our money is going. That alone is going to cost about 50% of our budget.
Then in order: live band, photographer, flowers, dress, booze (lol), videographer, paper.
I am DIYing almost every aspect of my wedding. My birdcage/candle centerpieces are running me about 30/piece and I'll need 11 of them. My dress was about $1600. I'm doing all my invites/std's/programs/escort cards/seating chart etc. The one thing that is costin me the most is the price of the venue. Our food and alcohol minimum is $16,000!! Which I think is outrageous, but we're having it at the Banff Springs hotel which is kind of like a castle in the mountains and I think it is worth the money for sure. I was aiming to have a $15000 wedding before I saw the cost of anything, now we're at $28,000.
Right now I am at $35K for my budget.
As you can see, the above five are the majority of my budget.
Our photography/cinematography was a good chunk of change, and our catering ended up going WAAAAAAY up because of little extras we put him in charge of because we didn't want to deal with it. Fun.
I am not positive we will hit 30k, but I am pretty sure it's going to happen. Though some of it depends how much we end up charging those who are staying at our venue... our venue is the biggest ticket item, but it includes three nights of lodging for about two dozen people.
Our breakdown is WEIRD. We have a "go big or go home philosophy."
Go big = venue. Seriously, you do not even want to know. It includes 3 nights of lodging for 20+ people, and is well into the five figures.
Go home = music. Reception = ipod + friend. Ceremony = ukelele + friend
Go big = food. I think our estimate came in at 10k. We could probably get this cheaper for approximately 100 people, but we love food and refuse to skip here. We're going beer and wine only (BYOB no corkage) so that shouldn't be too bad though.
Go home = flowers and decor. What flowers? What decor? Seriously, there can be only none.
Go big = photographer. My mom offered to pay because she loves photography and we are flying in the wife and husband who did my best friend's wedding in NYC last year. From Santiago, Chile. idek, but I am SO HAPPY with her, SO HAPPY with her pictures. Yay Mom!"
Go home = officiant. friend + online ordination.
Our budget is 32k (of which 21k is venue/food/alcohol/ceremony site). After that the biggest expenses are my outfit, photography, flowers and DJ/uplighting. The cake was a gift and we're not going crazy with favors.
After catering which includes renting everything - linens, tables/chairs, glassware, etc
The list from highest to lowest:
I think that's all the bigger things.
biggest for us was definitely food/drink, then photography, venue fee, videography (last minute add-on bc we had less people than planned), DJ. We really splurged on our vendors and made it a long weekend for all our guests!
We're hosting a destination wedding, so we are doing a Friday night reception (there is no rehearsal) and a tour Sunday as part of it. We're also helping out some of our guests and attendants.
We wanted to make it worth everyone's while to fly to be with us (which was inevitable for a large group of our guests regardless of where we did it since we're all over the place.) We didn't want people to have a meal that wasn't as nice as they'd have had if they were left to go buy their own. It added up pretty quickly.
Our economies are that we have no rings (engagement or wedding bands) and will sell my dress afterwards.
We don't spend much money on "things" in general. We have rationalized this expense as not being more than many around us spend on cars (my FI drives a truck with 300,000 miles on it), but way more worthwhile when we consider our aging parents and families and the limited chances that we have to gather everyone these days. An upside to being an somewhat older couple is that we can afford more than we could when we were younger, although this is by no means chum change to us. We see this expense as helping to subsidize a group vacation for the people that we love and don't get to see nearly enough.
Friday: $5-6K
Dresses, tuxes, accessories: $5.5K
Ceremony, flowers, photography (it's a package): $5K
Champagne/H'or d'oevres during photos: $2K? (Still not sure)
Dinner and drinks: $10K
DJ, slideshow, reception photos: $1.5K
Sunday tour: $.5K
Hair and Make up: $.5K
Hotel and Travel: $1K
Same here...food/venue is definitely first. Next up is flowers because I wanted them to be ridiculous! Our budget is $45K.
For our 60 person destination wedding at a winery in Temecula, CA, we spent:
$7750 for photography with the incomparable Leigh Miller (which included an engagement session, 8 hours of wedding day coverage and 2nd shooter and a day after session, wedding album - which we still haven't put together, parents albums and engagement album)
$10,000 for venue which included seated meal, beer/wine/champagne/beverages, all set up break down, etc.
$1000 for DJ (cocktail hour/dinner music and dancing)
$2200 for DOC (+ a little help planning beforehand and some paper product decorations)
$5000 for dress and veil (incl alterations)
$1400 for shoes, purse and wedding jewelry
$1000 for wedding accommodations (thurs - sunday)
$3000 for wedding rings
$600 for string duet for ceremony/cocktail hour outside
$1300 for custom boxed letterpress invitations (40 of them) plus design help on programs, menus, etc.)
$3800 for flowers
$2000 for wedding party gifts (socks, ties, travel kits, tote bags, spa treatments, etc.)
$2000 for decorations - balloons, lanterns, parasols, etc.
$600 for my MOH (my daughter) dress and alterations
$500 for wedding cakes (small 2 layer cake + croquembouche)
$400 for accommodations for my friend/hairdresser who did my hair, bridesmaids, and my mom
$1000 toward rehearsal dinner (my DH's parents paid the rest of the bill)
total: $43,550 (ouch - makes me sick to my stomach to think about it! We only had 60 people!!!) Our budget was $20k when we started planning. Alas, I did not find this site and all the wonderful ways to cut costs and still have an amazing wedding until well into our planning process.
But, at the end of the day, we had a great wedding! :)
I always cringe when breaking it down, I know we're reaching the 50k mark w/out rings and honeymoon. Catering eats most of our budget, followed by flowers, photography, Venue, rehearsal dinner, and Misc items.
@Nati-Lyte: I've tried to block the numbers out since the wedding. I feel ya. LOL!
Photography. Hands down the most important thing to me about the day (besides actually getting married, of course).
We're having a destination wedding in the French Riviera so a big chunk is going towards airfare, lodging, and venue.
Aside from the actual reception biggest splurge is the band which is 7k......makes me sick lol
For appx 100 people:
Food/Alcohol (unrestricted open bar), includes venue, linens, dinnerware, gratuity/clean up + extra food to be served later on as people get hungry (sliders, grilled cheese sandwiches, etc): $20K. This obviously was our biggest priority
Photog: $3500 (4 hours)
Flowers: $3000
Coordinator: $2500
MC/DJ: $800 from 700-2am
The rest for officiant, limo, photobooth & other small stuff that adds up :)
wedding bands were about $1000 and wedding party gifts came out to almost $2k because we purchased all of their clothes in addition to gifts (there are 5 each and they have to travel here to Maui so we wanted to take good care of them!)
my band is $8500, but they're incredibly unique and perfect for my wedding. they play on martha stewart's show all the time during her wedding segments.
that's the only number i'm giving out; otherwise i'll probably get a migraine!
bijoubride
catering - food, alcohol, cake and rentals ~ 14,000
venue - 4000
photog 3500
rehearsal dinner 3000
those are the largere expenses.
I like to say my budget is $25k but I know we will go over
So far for about 250 people
Food and drink is obviously our biggest expense about $15-17k
Next photography - $2500
My flower budget is $1200 we have spent $600 for bouquets/bouts and I'm alloting $600 for DIY centerpieces
DOC - $825
DJ - $800
Dress - $560
Apparently I only have about $2000 more to work with... I estimate in the end for the wedding to cost 30-35k
Our reception minimum is $35K. This includes catering, basic linens, and the cake.
Other major wedding related expenses:
Flowers: $5K
Limos: $700
Photography: $5K
Video: $3K
Band: $7K
Dress: $4K
Wedding Planner & DOC: $4K
Invites/STDs, etc.- $3K
Trolley- $2K
Church- $2K
Plus a bunch of miscellaneous items (bridal party gifts, hair/makeup). We are at about $65-70K, before the rehearsal dinner, honeymoon, post wedding brunch and rings.
Wow.. some people's budgets are wild :) We are having 150 people!
Our food/venue- 19,000$
dress - 1200$
Photographer- friend discount 2950$
DJ-friend discount -650$
Centerpieces- DIY approx. 300$
flowers-500$
Tux -fiance and 2 sons -350$
Bridal party gifts- 750$
limo- 500$
hair and makeup- 150$trial run... 200$ wedding day
invitations-150$
candy buffett-350$
favors-100$ awesome deal on truffles :)
rehearsal dinner-750$
and who knows what on misc. stuff!! UUGGHHH!!!
Having a Northern VA wedding. The budget is 40k
-venue includes catering
-photography
-DJ
-booze
-dress
-flowers
-DOC
-misc..
its a ton of money....grrr
Right now we are at $30K without my dress and accessories, the rehearsal dinner, the rings, room for wedding night, etc. (We are not having a honeymoon)
Our biggest expense is our venue/food/drink which is about $15K
Followed by:
Photographer: $5K (The most important)
Videographer: $3K
Aside from the reception the next biggest cost is the photographer at 3000 not including a 1500 album.
Out budget is hopefully 25k but me thinks it will be just shy of 30k when we're done:
Church: 1000 (church 600 + minister 400)
Reception Venue 2800
Food + 3 drinks pp (100x130ish guests= 13,000 or more depending on glist)
Photographer 3000
Dress (wedding dress 900 chinese dress 300)
Boys attire 1000 (at least 5 rentals at 200 each)
Flowers 450
Centerpeices/ decor 500
Gifts 1000
Makeup artist 200
Misc costs 2000? Who knows what I'm missing LOL
Total approx 26k
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