What''s a realistic budget for a wedding?

[Treasure43]

My fiance and I are beginning planning and trying to decide if it''s fesiable for us to afford a wedding next summer or the summer after. My parents aren''t helping out much (basically my mom''s paying for the dress) and I know his parents are going to help out. However we need to sit down with them and talk about what exactly they can help with and what we will need to pay for. We''re trying to keep it around 100 guests and we may get the reception site for free and then just have to pay for food. Any idea what a realistic budget would be? We''re in the Richmond area.

 

[ficklefaye]

treasure, in our case, venue rental which includes the ceremony site, food, drinks made up the majority of the cost, then there''s the photographer, videographer, cake, dress, dj... oh the costs just keep adding up

you really need to just sit down and discuss what type of wedding you want, make a list and shop around for prices, and it also depends on how much you are willing to spend in the first place, weddings can really range in budget depending on how you want it

sorry if this wasn''t any help, just my 2 cents

 

[Luckyeshe]

I think a realistic budget is what you make it to be. For ours we''re looking at around 10K for everything, not including the honeymoon. To help cut cost, we''re having a lunch buffet reception with no DJ. We''re going to go the Ipod route. We''re also not getting flower arrangements for the tables and we''re getting our invites from this one website that''s very cost effctive. The biggest expense is going to be reception and photographer but I think we''ll be able to make it budgetwise. We hope anyways....Good luck!!

 

[Londongirl1]

Date: 7/24/2009 9:12:44 PM
Author:Treasure43
My fiance and I are beginning planning and trying to decide if it''s fesiable for us to afford a wedding next summer or the summer after. My parents aren''t helping out much (basically my mom''s paying for the dress) and I know his parents are going to help out. However we need to sit down with them and talk about what exactly they can help with and what we will need to pay for. We''re trying to keep it around 100 guests and we may get the reception site for free and then just have to pay for food. Any idea what a realistic budget would be? We''re in the Richmond area.

A realistic budget is exactly that - a budget that you can realistically afford to spend. A couple can spend $5,000 on a wedding for 100 guests or spend $50,000 on a wedding for the same number of guests. It just depends on the budget you''ve set yourselves and working within that boundary e.g. have a buffet instead of a sit down meal, a day time wedding instead of evening, don''t have a bridal party that includes everyone and his dog........

Good luck with the planning

 

[merrymunky]

It really depends on the type of wedding you are having.

We are having a "proper" wedding with a ceremony then wedding breakfast and evening reception. However, in comparison to most weddings, ours is faily low buget. At the VERY most, it will be costing us no more than £3000.

My mother is a dab hand at planning weddings it seems and so far the single most expensive item has been my dress!!

 

[honey22]

For me, I found that a realistic budget was twice the anticipated budget

But seriously, you can have a wedding on any budget, you just have to work within your financial means. If youu want a big wedding with all the trimmings, then you may have to save longer. If you are happy to have say a cocktail party, and sacrifice in some areas, ie. no favours, DIY invites, flowers etc, you could probably pull it off quicker. You can still have a beautiful elegant wedding on a budget, you just need to be more flexible. Good luck!

 

[iheartscience]

Date: 7/25/2009 6:32:34 AM
Author: honey22
For me, I found that a realistic budget was twice the anticipated budget

But seriously, you can have a wedding on any budget, you just have to work within your financial means. If youu want a big wedding with all the trimmings, then you may have to save longer. If you are happy to have say a cocktail party, and sacrifice in some areas, ie. no favours, DIY invites, flowers etc, you could probably pull it off quicker. You can still have a beautiful elegant wedding on a budget, you just need to be more flexible. Good luck!

Ha, ditto, sadly! When I added everything up I was like

. But the one slightly good thing about weddings is you can spread the costs out a bit throughout the planning. I would just figure out what you can afford ahead of time and really try to stick to that.

 

[Gypsy]

You really need to start gauging prices in your actual location.

Then see if the wedding you want is feasible. If it''s not, you need to decide what feasible is, and work from there.

I would also start by making a list of priorities. List your HAVE TO HAVE''s FIRST.

For example:

1. Large enough venue to hold close friends and family and allow dancing. Total # of invitees 45. Must be GORGEOUS too.
2. Photographer must be excellent
3. Dress.
4. Food needs to be great.
5. Alcohol, BYOB, or inexpensive alternatives.


Weddings are about making decisions. You have 10K budget. Where are you going to put the money? What''s important to you?

If say, the dress and the photographer and having your parents there is the ONLY thing at matters. You might opt to elope with a 5K dress. But if having a huge wedding with a lot of people invited-- you might get your gown at a sample sale for 500, and skimp everywhere else just to be able to entertain those people.

 

[Amanda.Rx]

If you''re crafty & non-traditional, you can spend very little. If you want a very formal wedding, I''d say $30,000. Budgeting for a wedding is VERY difficult. It just depends on how much and what quality you want. Example- you can spend $300 on in-season wholesale flowers and DIY, or you can pay a florist $3000 to arrange non-seasonal flowers. Another example, you can DIY invitations for 100 people at Michaels for about $100, or you can order upscale ones from a boutique for $1300 for 100.

Also, depending on what type of food you get, whether you serve alcohol, band vs. DJ, cake, etc. etc.

We''ve got a budget of $20,000 for about 150 guests in SC. Our venue is not cheap on a Saturday night, so that''s a fairly big chunck of the budget. Our wedding isn''t necessarily formal, but it''s going to be very classy & traditional- decent flowers, open bar with beer/wine, catered food, DJ, nice invitations, etc. & I''m really having to work hard to stay under budget, excluding our honeymoon (that''s a separate budget). I feel that I can do it, but I''m certainly having to sacrifice my absolute favorite things for my 2nd or 3rd choice, which is fine- that''s what budgeting is all about!

Hope that helps, a bit.

 

[taovandel]

I''m in Virginia Beach....

I don''t know what our final bill was exactly....I''m thinking it was around $6,000 to $7,000 for 100 people.

That was with cutting a lot of our original plans and getting a free reception site...where we worked at so we also got some perks there also (Didn''t have to pay for florists--we only paid for the cost of the flowers, The F&B Director cut out about 15 meals at $30.00 per person).

I made my own invitations and place cards.

 

[Dannielle]

Date: 7/25/2009 6:32:34 AM
Author: honey22
For me, I found that a realistic budget was twice the anticipated budget

But seriously, you can have a wedding on any budget, you just have to work within your financial means. If youu want a big wedding with all the trimmings, then you may have to save longer. If you are happy to have say a cocktail party, and sacrifice in some areas, ie. no favours, DIY invites, flowers etc, you could probably pull it off quicker. You can still have a beautiful elegant wedding on a budget, you just need to be more flexible. Good luck!

Agreed!!!