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I don't know about common... because our wedding is going to be less than common, monetarily speaking. We are pulling off our wedding for under 4k. That includes 130 guests and a dessert reception. But we have also had to go out of our way to find deals. With the honeymoon and our rings (minus my engagement ring) the total is right at 7500.
It all depends on what you are doing, where you are doing it, how many people you are inviting, and what your priorities are. You can pull off a wedding for next to nothing, so I'm quite sure $20k will work out well for you.
i think it depends on where you are, how many people, etc. but that number does seem pretty common.
we tried to make it 12,000. But right now it's at about 20K - 25K. I think that is pretty common.
I think your budget seems to be about average. Our total for everything was about $4500 but I could easily see how we could have doubled or even tripled that amount with very little effort. If you wanted, you could google the average budget of a wedding in your area to compare to other local brides. It could be a downpayment on a house, but if you are okay with your budget and getting what you want out of it, then I think it seems fine.
Like the pps pointed out, it really does depend on where you're getting married. We were pretty careful with money but splashed out on things that were important to one or both of us (open bar, making our own rings, etc.) and we came in at a little under $10,000 (we live in Eastern Canada).
I think it depends on what you factor in. Our out of pocket cost was $18,500 for 120 guests, not including honeymoon since it was a gift from my parents ($4,000) or all the rings.
We EASILY could have done it for FAR less if we'd wanted to. So no, you don't have to spend 20K or 30K to have a nice wedding.
If you want to go the traditional route with the wedding at a hall, full dinner, wedding gown etc. it looks like $20-30k is about right. If you're willing to compromise in other areas you can definitely work into a lower budget! We're having a backyard wedding and our budget is $15000 CDN. We could do it for a lot less if we didn't have to do all the rentals (tent, tables, etc). So far we've only gone over budget on food and my dress, pretty much everything else has been under budget.
Do lots of research, make a hard budget and stick to it! If you're flexible you can save money in different ways.
ETA: Our wedding is going to be in Toronto which is one of the most expensive places to have a wedding in Canada.
I think it really depends on where you are. You could easily get away with spending less in the midwest, but if you get married in NYC I would think it'd be tough!
We wanted to do a small destination wedding because it would be cheaper -- so we thought -- than throwing even a modest reception at home with, say, 150 people. (With catering, venue or tent. I live in an insanely expensive area!) we originally budgeted $10,000. It's now officially twice that. A large chunk of the increase is because no one -- as in NO ONE -- was coming to the wedding, and I was super-bummed, so I just went hog-wild and rented a whole bunch of cottages for guests; that added about $6000 to the total. Another increase in the budget was due to me having second thoughts about my dress, and buying a backup dress; I'm hoping I can sell one or both, post-wedding. Anyway, now we have 23 adults and 7 kids coming, from Canada, Sweden, and the US all the way to the Caribbean -- to me, kind of a huge number to drag all that way -- and I'm much happier. I don't regret it at all. (Tho next year, when I'm looking at my credit card debt, I might be smacking myself in the forehead. Only time will tell.) Because I'm not exactly a young bride, I'm paying for most of it myself, personally.
sorry!! I didn't see this post earlier when I basically posted the same exact thing about 20 minutes ago. It looks as if we will be spending around $50K for our wedding. I had no idea it would be that much, but since my parents are helping out ALOT and want certain things at the wedding, its hard to aviod that number. This is what's making it so pricey:
Its in philadelphia, 220 people, sit down dinner, cocktail hour, full top-shelf open bar, large band for 5 hours, transportation from hotel to ceremony/reception for all guests (4 coach buses), limo(s) for bridal party, rental of all chairs and tables, photog, videographer, special lighting, flowers....I think that's about it. But wow does it add up quick. I'm looking into alot of DIY centerpieces, flowers, and general decorations to at least cut costs there.
I admire everyone who sticks to their guns and keeps a strict budget - god knows its not easy! :)
Ours will be around 8k. We did/are doing our own invitations, menus, reception extras, flowers, food and cake. We even got the photography all on barter through his restaurant. Hey - we have people with all of the right connections. Otherwise, we'd be looking at around 15k, I would think.
A word of advice on keeping it low with DIY - start early. Working very early on all of these things and slowly accomplishing them has definitely paid off. I have only small details to worry about now. You can cut costs - get creative and learn to bargain. Good luck!
Ours will be about $13,000 and then add on a honeymoon to that.
We are hoping to keep it under $4,000. The more I think about it, I think we should elope.
We budgeted 12K and I think were someone closer to 13-14K
We had 80 geusts.
It also depends on how many guests you want to have!
We are wedding with all the basics but our small guest list (60ppl) is helping us keep the costs down and we are doing it for 12500 CAN
Our grand total is just under $10,000.00 and that includes the honeymoon (9-day Mexican Riviera Cruise) and the rings. Mine is a beautiful diamond set that was inherited (freeeeee!) and FH doesn't give a crap about his ring, so we're getting him a titanium one from Overstock.Com for about $60.00
We kept cost waaaay down by keeping the guest list small- 50 people *max* if every single person I invited actually shows, including me and FH. We are also not serving ANY alcohol *at all*. Not even a champagne toast.
Photography is being done by a co-worker at a steal. She runs a side business as a photographer, so we know her work is good after seeing her year after year at the company craft fairs and photography contests. We're also not buying photos from her direct as I've done professional photo editing and I don't mind saving a bundle by touching up our own wedding photos.
The DJ is being done by a friend's brother who does it for a living... but for me it's only $300.00 - always look around! Everyone knows *someone* involved in the wedding industry.
I also saved a ton by going with an all-in-one venue. For $5,287.00 (if everyone shows, again) I'm getting the cake, cocktail hour food and service, dinner food and service, a wedding planner, set-up, clean-up, all the decorations (including tablecloths, fancy chairs, lighting, and centerpieces). No renting tables, chairs, tent, etc. because it's all included.
And lastly, a lot of the wedding is DIY. FH's mother is a phenominal seamstress and she is making my dress and FH's outfit. Invites, programs, menus, seating chart, and flowers are all being made. I got all my flowers for the wedding at a clearance sale at Joann's for $50.00.
So what I'm trying to say is: if you're careful, plan ahead, and take a good hard look at what you're spending your money on, you don't have to have Cookie Cutter McWedding that costs $40k. You can have a personal wedding and money left over to put a down payment on a house. It's a very special day, but in the end it's only one day.
Our budget is going to be around $10,000 and we are going to stick to it...just have to be creative and think out of the box...we found a great venue for up to 120 people, that includes tables, chairs, linens, glassware, setup etc and it was half price for a Sunday wedding...$450. Plus we get 10% off of the catering. Its a greenhouse so there is really no need for flower centerpieces...im doing mason jars of various sizes with candles (no open flames) and some other little decor. We will only need 2 bouquets (no bouts because as my fiance said "what are we going to the prom?" LOL) I was determined not to spend more than $500 on my dress...DIY Save the dates, invites etc. My biggest inspiration to do so much DIY was that I did not like anything I saw anywhere! Our setting is rustic and laid back, which definitely is beneficial to a tight budget. We are casual people so we knew we wouldnt have an oppulent black tie wedding. While I may not have the most lavish details, you really have to consider...do you remember any of that crap from weddings you've been to? Usually not, you remember how happy the couple looked, the good food and good times with friends/family. The wedding industry leads you to believe you NEED all that stuff...but in the end...not so much...think anyone will care about favors or lack there of? The one thing we agreed not to skimp on was photography...that is going to be close to half the budget!
We spent 5K for the wedding, simple reception and a pig roast the next day. We had around 100 guests.
We spent around 3500.00 on ours, it was really hard at times to let certain things go, but I am so thankful we didn't go way into debt. The entire thing was paid for in cash, which is a relief now that it is over.
This was my first wedding and his second, so parents didn't help us at all, his mom and dad gave us money as our wedding gift and neither of my parents gave us anything, not even a card, weird huh?
We were able to find a county park that is incredibly beautiful for the ceremony and reception, the total for the pavilion and the garden was 500.00.
Since it was a pavilion for the reception we had to get a little creative, I created drapes that we hung on both sides, and lots and lots of candles.
We diy'd the invitations, the linens, napkins, ceremony decor, flowers, jewelry, candy buffet, all of that stuff.
The only real wedding vendor we had was our photographer who I found off of Offbeat Bride.
We had a friend volunteer to do the music, we ended up going the ipod/laptop route and it was perfect.
Another friend did our cake, which was incredible, his wife did the appetizers and yet another friend prepared all of the food and set it up for us.
Our flowers we got for free, my husband is a graphic designer and designed the florist a new sign in exchange for our wedding flowers. We picked up the flowers on Friday and my Dad and I did all of the centerpieces, the florist made my bouquet and the bouttinieres, the bridesmaids bouquets I made out of felt and buttons.
I purchased my dress at Running of the Brides for 250.00, the alterations were more then we expected, but I still came in at around 500.00. We purchased his suit at Kohls when they had one of their 50% off sales. Our children were the majority of the bridal party, we put the boys in khaki pants and white dress shirts and ties. My youngest daughter I purchased her dress off ebay, it was from David'd bridal in our color and had only been worn once, my oldest daughter we found her dress at Macy's for less then 30.00.
We couldn't have done our wedding without the help of our incredible friends.....When people ask what they can do for you...accept the help, it means so much more when you know they are investing their time for you. We tried to discourage those who helped us from bringing us gifts but they did anyway.We both feel incredibly blessed.
The one thing I really really wanted that just wasn't feasible.....Real china and silverware, not disposable,. We went with the prettiest we could find, but I love the look of real stuff.....Oh well, I don't think anyone noticed, and I spent how many months stressing over that small detail??? LOL, wow, didn't mean to write a book!
Ours will come in around $70,000 when all is said and done. We are expecting about 200 guests. FI and I are paying for a very low-key second reception in his hometown for his extended family, which will come out of our own pockets and we have estimated that this will cost about $5,000.
My parents have been extremely generous and, while they didn't have money stashed away in some wedding fund, I think they were always prepared to host their daughters' weddings. So I was fortunate to have a pretty high budget wedding.
Were trying to go with a 20grand wedding ..Although this is not an easy task and were pretty sure were goin to end up goin over...
our budget is higher than most, but our priorities were having everyone we know and love there. to make us feel better about spending that money on "one day" we are having a weekend long party. :) i think that as long as you prioritize, you can meet your budget. look around, don't say yes to the first thing you see.
It completely depends on where you are. I am in the DC area and 20-30K is normal around here - and that's not for an extravagant affair. You can save some money by cutting some of the unneccessaries and using some of the DIY tips on this site!
Like other brides, I think it depends on where you are, and what you want. Our budget is about $20k, I'm really trying not to go over that. 90% of our guests will be coming from the west coast and most have never been to the east coast, so having a venue on the ocean was a must for us, as this is a big vacation for many of our family. We are also huge foodies, so the food (cocktail hour and plated multi-course dinner) was also hugely important. We found an amazing, top of the line caterer - but that's where the majority of our budget will be.
I'm getting my centerpiece flowers for free (yay parents will gardening skills and tons of hydrangea trees!), and DIY on invitations and as much as I can, but our total will likely come in closer to $20k, rather than the $15k I hoped for. That doesn't include honeymoon either.
I know this wedding is what we want, but its hard to save up $20k, then see it all go just like that! We already own a home and cars though, so it's ok I guess, just wish we could have what we wanted for less...ha! don't we all! :-)
we are paying for it ourselves so ... it wont be aywhere near tht, but i hear it is pretty normal
I don't know if 20-30K is common, but it's average. You can have a beautiful wedding for less, though; same as you can have an obnoxious wedding for more. ;)
Our budget is a little under $20,000, including honeymoon and rings. We're having a church wedding and dinner/open bar reception for about 130 people. We saved money by booking a Friday wedding. Our venue is great too, they are allowing us to buy our own alcohol for bartenders to serve, which is a HUGE savings.
It's amazing how a small budget can double in size once the planning really gets underway... I thought I'd get married in a simple $200 dress with awesome shoes... but now I have my dream shoes and a dream Maggie gown! Oh and don't even get me started on linen rentals... if 3 months ago you told me I was going to spend $700 on chair covers and table linens I would have laughed.
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we are trying to see how we can plan this without it going into the ridiculous sums of moeny category.. any which way, it seems $20,000 - $30, 000 is inevitable.. thats like a downpayment on a house!! :( are we getting carried away, or is that "really" a common amount??