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What is your budget???

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I don''t really have a set budget but I''m hoping to keep it reasonable! Luckily I''m not that into wedding stuff so I don''t feel the need to go all out with flowers, decorations, favors, etc. (And there is nothing wrong with being into wedding stuff-I''m just glad I''m not for the sake of my budget!)

So far it''s looking like my dress (oops!), the food and the photographer are going to be the big money expenses. Both sets of parents are contributing, but I''m sure we''ll put in some of our money too. It''ll probably end up being a third my parents, a third his parents and a third us, which seems fair.
 
My wedding is in January 2011, I know far off, but by planning now we lock in 2009''s prices. Even with that the budget is outrageous. We don''t have one set per say. My FI''s parents have given a set amount and my mom will pay the rest. I felt bad at first since I think it will end up being close to 80k, but she has made it clear (in a nice way) that this is also her party and if she wants to spend that money she can, so I am ok with it. I am hoping my dad will offer some help, but I don''t intend on increasing the budget with what he offers, but rather make my mom spend less. My dress was the really big splurge. Also because we are having a strict kosher caterer our venue upcharges each head by 20% so it kind of gets expensive there really quick. The venue itself was also a major splurge, but it was the only one FI got very smiley when we looked at so I am ok with it. We also plan on paying for various misc things like hair/makeup for bridal party, maybe the booze, gifts and other small expenses.
 
Our wedding will be about £15k sterling and the honeymoon is going to be about £6k so all in about £21k. It seems a lot more scary written down!

Only seven weeks to go! Yippee!
 
No budget yet - no idea who much anything is going to cost but I would realistically say somewhere in and around the 30k mark
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No budget for us! My parents are paying and I was told whatever I want, I can have
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It is so funny that you go into the process thinking you can definitely make your dreams come true for $x and then it keeps increasing with all the extas you "must have". We started with a budget of $30k and now it is just over $46k. My parents are footing the entire bill except for the bridal bouquet and groomsmen and parent flowers. We will have approx 140 people at a formal wedding at a country club in Seattle. We are not even having a truly open bar- just a modified open bar, just a modified one with "old, new, borrowed, blue" drinks - scotch, champagne cocktails, wine, beer, blue martini

Here is something of what we have spent
Dress- 2K
Shoes, veil, jewelry- 1K
Band- 4k
Flowers- 5k
Stationary- 2K
Cake- 1K
Reception- 20K
Photgraphy- 3.5K
Rentals (pipe and drape, tent for ceremony with liner, lighting, linens, ceremony and centerpiece stuff for flowers, chivari chairs, etc) - $5k
Transportation for family, bridal party, etc. - 1k
Other misc. stuff (oot gift bags, etc.) - 1k


Crazy.... The things I found REALLY added up were rentals- stuff like upgraded linens, chairs, and the decor stuff as well as our splurges on the flowers, band, and photog.
 
I don't mind sharing our budget. I'm always curious about other's budgets too.

Our budget has been modified a few times until we figured out what was reasonable. First, my parents gave us $10k and we wanted to keep it at that. Then we realized that in NY/CT that would virtually impossible, so we went up to $15k. We realized that still wasn't cutting it, so it went up to $20k. We pretty much sat down with a spreadsheet every time we learned how much something else would cost and added it in. We weren't keeping to a strict budget, we were just trying to keep everything as cheap as we felt was reasonable, then make sure we could still afford it.

The minimum at our venue is 65 (which is one of the reasons we chose it) and we'll try to stay close to that number (maybe 75-80 max). We're paying $85 a head I think, for a Friday night. We'll actually add $5-10 more per person to get better food and alcohol, but we haven't picked out menu yet so I don't know exactly how much more FI will let me spend on food
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He absolutely wants the beers to be good, so he'll think that's a worthwhile expense.

Our photographer is a little over $3k, my dress is $1600 before alterations (way more than we had hoped to spend, but it's worth it! I did try hard to find something under $1k but I just didn't have any luck), DJ is about $1k, string quartet around $1400 (expensive, but something I absolutely wanted). Some basic centerpieces are included, so we just need bouquets (the venue has its own florist, so hopefully these can stay cheap). Cake is also included, so we just have to meet with the baker and make sure she can do what we want for the amount of money our venue budgeted (otherwise we may have to pay the extra), our STDs and invites will be less than $200. Pretty much the only things we have left are an officiant and a bus from the hotels to the venue. Hopefully they don't end up being more than we budgeted for in our spreadsheet. We're also paying about $800 for our rehearsal dinner, but FI's mom may help out with that. For now we're planning to cover it though. Rings are also included in our budget.

Unfortunately, things are expensive and after $21k ($11k of which we're providing) we still have to pay for our honeymoon, so the honeymoon is kind of getting whatever money we have left over.

It's really hard to budget and stick to it when you don't know how much things will cost. I've often been told I could kept the costs down mnore by skimping somewhere, but other than my $1600 and a quartet (we'd have to provide some music, so it's not an expense we could completely cut), where did I splurge?? I don't really see how things could cost any less (at least in the part of the country I live in).

So I feel your pain. You never know what things will cost until you start getting into it. That's the point your initial optimistic budget goes out the window.
 
Original budget was 14K... 110 people. I''m not too far off!

Reception 7500
ceremony site 450
Officiant 300
Harpist 350
dress 1000
photographer 1000
DJ 500
Rings 600
Invites $350
Other stationary 100
Favors 150
Videographer -Free (MOH''s bro, part of her gift to us)

So, we''re at 12300
Still to get:
Flowers (mom works at a florist, so I''m expecting a nice hook-up!)
His tux, and my accessories - shoes, headpiece, some jewelry
Hotel room for me & BM''s the night before
Attendant gifts

Oh, yeah, and the honeymoon. My aunt is giving us her timeshare. We can use it anywhere. We''re thinking Hawaii, and we''re postponing it a little b/c FI''s taking a few classes this semester. So we''ll have to pay for airfair, and food & all.

So I think we''re looking at about 2K-3K over budget, or about 20% over budget.
 
Uh, budget. I read every anti-wedding industrial complex book out there to make sure that I didn''t end up going crazy on the budget. The thing is, like all of us seem to be saying, no matter how you slice it, weddings become expensive.

Ours is going to come in at about $25K. For this we are taking 7 people (including us) to Ecuador for 8 days--but FI and I are staying 2 weeks--and having a garden celebration when we return for about 200 people. The celebration is going to cost about $7K and the rest goes toward the vacation. We had an unlimited budget, but it is very important to me not to take advantage of it. I know that we are getting a lot out of our money, but I still feel like I am spending far more than I need and want to be. I honestly thought we could keep it around $15K. We are calling in A LOT of favors, too. Since we are just having a celebration, we are making it very clear to not get us gifts. Many of our wonderful friends are offering their services to help, which has landed us catering at food cost, free invitations, insane wine and beer deals, etc. Even with this, we can''t keep it down.

Like modernsparkler, I cannot believe how fast the rentals add up. Yes, we are saving a ton of money by FI''s parents having a huge and beautiful home where we can have our celebration. But, even adding standard chairs, tables, linens, etc. the rental bill added up FAST! I can''t even imagine what it costs when you add chair covers, china for 7 courses, etc.
 
Date: 2/11/2009 6:19:07 PM
Author: Honey228

Date: 2/11/2009 4:09:35 PM
Author: NewEnglandLady
We also had a September 2007 wedding and our budget was $25k--essentially we decided we didn''t want to take anything out of savings and $25k was what we could save over the course of our engagement. The wedding itself cost us about $12 or $13K--I have the exact amount on a flash drive, but can''t find it.
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Whoa! You only spent half your budget! You''re now my budgeting role model.
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The original plan was to rent a house in Hawaii for a week, have immediate family come and stay with us and have a simple ceremony on the beach--when all was said and done it woud have been close to the original budget. When we realized how difficult it was going to be to get everbody out there and plan (even something simple) from so far away, we nixed the plan and essentially had the same wedding (rent big house on beach, have family come and stay) in New England. That in and of itself cut the budget in half, haha.

We didn''t get stuck on any one vendor, negotiated everything and just had fun with the planning. Our only rules were: 1. Refused to go over budget, which obviously wasn''t a problem and 2. Refused to let either set of parents pay for a dime, which was just a personal decision for us. We stuck to the rules and were happy to be able to take a great honeymoon and still stay under the original wedding budget.
 
Parents said $25k, and FI's parents gave us $10k with an open end if we "need" more. FI and I agreed that we will ask for no more than what they have already given us. We would rather have any other money for a house.

Church- 900
Reception- 24,500 (250 ppl)
Dress/Alter- 600
Photog- 5000
DJ- 850
STD's- 550
Invites- ??? Maybe $750
Flowers- 3500

Still need hair/makeup, BM gifts, shoes, RD dress, and tons of other I just can't remember right now.

Hopefully, we are only going to end up about $5k over. Which I am trying very hard not to think about. Our budget does not include Honeymoon or Rings. FMIL is paying for the RD, and has already given an $8k deposit to rent out the restuarant on a Friday night.

I try not to think to much about the money, it will just make me obsessed and upset.
 
We started out at 28K for 200 people in the suburbs of Chicago, out of our own pockets. We will be coming in around 26K, I think after everything is said and done. I am hoping to add a few things if there is extra room, but I''d like to come in under budget on something else to keep a balance. I put 5k aside for our honeymoon even before we set a wedding budget, because I knew we would be tempted to dip into it to expand the wedding it also doesn''t include rings. It also excludes our cake (400-500) and Mariachi (1200+) as FI''s family is paying for these items. I am actually kind of proud to be paying for our wedding ourselves, because both of us have cousins that are getting married this year as well and their families are picking up the tabs completely.
 
We''re having a wedding with 50-60 people at an upscale restaurant in Providence RI. Our budget was $10k for the ceremony and reception (including flowers and photog). The dress, tux, and rings have run us another $2500 or so. My parents each contributed $3500 for a total of $7000 and FI and I are paying for the rest. Our honeymoon is going to cost around $5000. So I guess total our wedding is going to cost $17,500. Holy $hit! Good thing 1/2 of this shindig has been paid for already!
 
We had about $10k that we were comfortable spending, but spent maybe $7k if I remember correctly. We had a lovely wedding- it was lunch and only for 30ish people but it was at a gorgeous restaurant in San Francisco that overlooked the golden gate bridge. We spent most of our budget on food, but it was delish and worth every penny.
 
FI and I are paying for everything ourselves. So we started at $25k MAX BUDGET.
We are realistically paying about $16K each.
This includes everything, down to rings, honeymoon, etc etc.
 
I just got married 2 weeks ago. This is generally what I think was spent. My parents paid for:

Open Bar- $2000.00
Dinner- around $2500.00 (45 people)
Flowers- $150.00 (centerpieces, bouqets, boutiners)
Hotel rooms for some guests- $1000.00
judge- $200

I paid for:
dress- $200.00
shoes- $65.00
hair- $40.00
Invitations- $30.00 plus postage maybe $50.00 total
his ring- $100.00 (it's WG and he told me he'll never wear it, so why go crazy?)
Photography- should have been $200.00 for 3 hours, but she ended up doing it for free (friend)
My cousin did the music (he's a former DJ in his other life), but we didn't have dancing. it was background music etc.

He bought:
a suit $400.00
my ring..$$???
The wedding was an Sat. evening wedding. Cocktails before ceremony, ceremony, then dinner then stay as long as you want. Dinner included cheescake. We are in the largest city in our state (in the upper midwest). It was at an historic art deco hotel close to downtown.

We paid for our own honeymoon (leaving tomorrow for Anguilla) which will be for air and apartment about $1800.00 without buying food or spending money down there.

I mean no disrespect but I personally could not spend more than that on my wedding. It's just not my personality or my husband's personality type to do so. To me personally it is a waste. But if that is what other people want to do and spend I think you should do and have what you want and what you can afford to have. We could have had a much larger and more expensive wedding, but I prefer to have a remodeled kitchen instead. The details that I read about on this board hold no interest to me to plan and organize. I only had a bouquet so I'd have something to hold in my hands during the ceremony!
 
Our budget evolved as the type of wedding we were having evolved. I wanted a destination wedding, and had budgeted about 15k, but for various reasons including challenges with getting DH's grandparents there, that did not work out. So, in the end, we had budgeted about 50k for a 150 person wedding in Newport, RI. We ended up spending about 75k not including wedding bands and the honeymoon. 30k of that came from my parents and grandparents. DH's parents paid for the RD which was about another 5k. We paid for the rest. It was far too easy going over budget.

Just a quick breakdown, the venue was a packaged deal for the site rental, food and drink. That was the greatest expense and came out to about 55k. The food and drink really were the most important aspect of the wedding for DH and I. The lighting, floral, photography, music and invitations/place cards/thank you notes, etc. were another 15k or so. The rest was my dress, hair, makeup, attendant and parent gifts, DH's clothing and other incidentals.
 
Date: 2/11/2009 3:06:27 PM
Author: tlh
my parents say you will go 30% over budget... no matter how frugal you try to be. It is just the vision, gets ahead of itself... So whatever your budget is... you will end up going over 30%... because of the other incidentals.
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I aimed for 10% below budget knowing that there would be unexpected costs at the end, and we ended up being about 5-7% over.
 
For a 150 guest wedding: My parents have offered 10K for the reception, flowers, and favors, and anything else. We''re hoping for a honeymoon to Ireland somewhere in the 5k range (FI''s paying for the honeymoon himself). FI and I are combining for 3k - 5k for everything else (wedding bands, live band, photo, ceremony, gown, tux, presents for wedding party & ceremony music ministry). FIL''s are providing the rehearsal dinner. We''re banking on cutting costs in the following ways:

Total Budget- $18,000
* Cutting out completely things out like: limo, videographer, and STD cards
* Getting help from family/friends who are skilled in different areas:
- my cousin = make-up, co-worker prof. photographer, FFIL''s band, close friends Church music, co-worker designs programs, friends making centerpieces, friend baker = cake.

* We''re considering things like electronic STD''s and Invitations for the web-savvy
* Looking at deals for EVERYTHING
* Honeymoon Registry - travel miles, gas cards, hotel savings, etc.
* Flowers are to a MINIMUM, each bridesmaid will receive a single white rose that they''ll leave at the altar as a prayer. They will receive candles before leaving the Church, symbolizing the light of new life for us.
 
most of you guys seem like you are good budgeters!
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we are having 2 weddings (receptions & ceremonies) with approx 400 ppl at one and 300-350 at the other. we have not set a hard $ amount on anything but we are hoping to spend less than 150K on both. a lot of my friends have easily spent 100K on one wedding with far less people so i am realistic about going over budget. i thought wedding planning would be fun, but its a bit stressful.
 
I don''t know
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My parents want to pay for it but I don''t know what they are planning to contribute. His parents also want to help, but again, I don''t know how much.

For me, it''s figuring out how I am going to spend so much money on one day. That''s the hardest part for me.
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This is scary but mine could be $130,000 for 120 people. The SF Bay Area is beyond crazy expensive!!!
 
Date: 2/12/2009 2:56:09 PM
Author: tessari
This is scary but mine could be $130,000 for 120 people. The SF Bay Area is beyond crazy expensive!!!
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Um, yes. That is BEYOND CRAZY EXPENSIVE. I got married in malibu, and I don''t think I could have spent that much if I TRIED!!!
 
Date: 2/12/2009 2:58:39 PM
Author: musey

Date: 2/12/2009 2:56:09 PM
Author: tessari
This is scary but mine could be $130,000 for 120 people. The SF Bay Area is beyond crazy expensive!!!
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Um, yes. That is BEYOND CRAZY EXPENSIVE. I got married in malibu, and I don''t think I could have spent that much if I TRIED!!!
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Yikes!

A friend of mine got married at Oheka Castle in Long Island. The wedding only had 100 or so people, but the cost ended up being approximately 250k. FOR ONE DAY!!!!!!!!!!

No way jose. Even if I had all that money, I''m too cheap.
 
Date: 2/12/2009 3:06:20 PM
Author: Bia
Date: 2/12/2009 2:58:39 PM

Author: musey


Date: 2/12/2009 2:56:09 PM

Author: tessari

This is scary but mine could be $130,000 for 120 people. The SF Bay Area is beyond crazy expensive!!!
Click to expand...

Um, yes. That is BEYOND CRAZY EXPENSIVE. I got married in malibu, and I don''t think I could have spent that much if I TRIED!!!
Click to expand...
Yikes!


A friend of mine got married at Oheka Castle in Long Island. The wedding only had 100 or so people, but the cost ended up being approximately 250k. FOR ONE DAY!!!!!!!!!!


No way jose. Even if I had all that money, I''m too cheap.
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I''m jealous! Not of the money spent! lol But the pics of Oheka are GORGEOUS. If I had an unlimited budget, I would totally want to get married there. Alas....
 
Date: 2/12/2009 2:56:09 PM
Author: tessari
This is scary but mine could be $130,000 for 120 people. The SF Bay Area is beyond crazy expensive!!!
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Yeah like I said in your other thread, shop around. I got married in Carmel which is pretty exclusive for a sea-side town (and malibu is really nice too, musey!) and even if I''d have my wedding at a fancy hotel there it wouldn''t have been 130k. No way!
 
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I am ashamed to say it, but enthralled with this thread!!!! Imagine spending all that money!!!
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I am so going to show this thread to DF to make him see that I am an angel when it comes to spending money on a wedding
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Date: 2/12/2009 12:04:15 PM
Author: wellinsm
I mean no disrespect but I personally could not spend more than that on my wedding. It's just not my personality or my husband's personality type to do so. To me personally it is a waste. But if that is what other people want to do and spend I think you should do and have what you want and what you can afford to have. We could have had a much larger and more expensive wedding, but I prefer to have a remodeled kitchen instead. The details that I read about on this board hold no interest to me to plan and organize. I only had a bouquet so I'd have something to hold in my hands during the ceremony!
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Since no one else is, I'll bite.

If you have to put a disclaimer before a judgmental statement, you probably shouldn't be making that statement in the first place. Your priorities are your priorities, and that's fine, but making judgmental statements about other people's wedding budgets (which is a sensitive topic in the first place), is just plain rude. I don't care that there was an added statement about how we can do what makes us happy, it was clearly making judgments on the posters who posted before you.

For some people they are taking on second jobs, and cutting down on other non-essentials so they can afford the wedding of their dreams, and it is not your job to make people feel bad about the money they are spending on their wedding. I know of many brides who are postponing their honeymoons so that they aren't paying such a large chunk of change all at one time. Some brides are getting engaged and then putting off their weddings for a couple years so they can save up to have the wedding that they want. And those weddings are not necessarily these extravagant monstrosities that your post made them out to be.

It's great that you decided to put renovating a kitchen in front of your wedding. But a lot of women have been dreaming of this day since they were little, it is my sincere wish that for everyone here, that it will be one of the best days of their lives, and it is uncalled for your post to make them feel bad about how much they are spending. The economy sucks right now, and EVERYONE is conscious of the dismal financial climate, but they certainly don't need it rubbed in their faces, which is what your post did to ME, and I'm sure other ladies here.

Not to even get into that the section of your post I quoted has nothing to do with the questions of the original post.

Not cool.
 
Date: 2/12/2009 2:58:39 PM
Author: musey

Date: 2/12/2009 2:56:09 PM
Author: tessari
This is scary but mine could be $130,000 for 120 people. The SF Bay Area is beyond crazy expensive!!!
Click to expand...
Um, yes. That is BEYOND CRAZY EXPENSIVE. I got married in malibu, and I don''t think I could have spent that much if I TRIED!!!
Click to expand...
Oh I could spend it. But it would include some amazing wedding bands, and a honeymoon to end all honeymoons.

But seriously:
7K for dress
350/head for food and alcohol per guest = 42,000
10K for flowers
15K for the site rental (Ralston Hall, Villa Mont... something) fee
3K for bridal acessories (shoes, hair peice, viel, all designer)
1K for tux
Lots of attendants, and pricey attendant''s gifts
5-10K for a band or Quartet
1K for officiant, or if your are getting married at a Cathedral, some charge up to 2.5K
2K for a cake
10-15K for photography
2.5K on paper (easy to spend $10 each on invites)

And before you know it your in 6 digits.

But Violet is right... shop around. Feel free to ask us for wedding vendor advice and recommendations, we both did some extremely in depth research, had great vendors, and beautiful weddings with raves. And we negotiated well.
 
We didn''t have a budget. We just took the expenses as they came. We figured what was the going rate for a service and what were we willing to pay.

Ceremony: $ 1000
Photography:$ 6000
Videograpy: $ 6000
florist: $ 2000 (way more than what we anticipated, we used a friendor who messed up... )
Reception: $20000
Alcohol: $ 2500
Stationary: $ 1000
Attire: $ 2000 (my Gown, BM dresses, GM&DH''s tux rental, shoes)
Gifts: $ 1000


I can''t remember the other cost, but it was about $50k.
 
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