Budgeting

The bulk of your cost is going to be the Venue and Food and Beverage, followed by your wedding dress.

$100 per person / 250 people is about $25K, so definitely decide what your headcount is going to be and where you want your wedding.

When you have an estimate, don't forget to add in the 22% service fee plus the local and state sales tax. Always remembering these extra fees will keep budgeting down.

Plated dinner vs. Buffet is about $15 - $30 pp difference in cost

My first suggestion is to determine what are the most important items to you. That will help you determine what you really want to spend most of your money on. As for specifics as to what are good prices, well that's hard to say because location is definitely going to determine what you will pay for each thing. For example, California is a rather expensive area so a venue is going to be expensive there then a venue in Kansas that isn't as populated. When it comes to flowers, it is totally a personal choice as to whether you want real or fake. I personally love flowers and wanted all real flowers. If you want fake flowers that look real you could actually end up spending more, but if you are okay with fake flowers from like Hobby Lobby, Michael's or The Dollar Tree then yes it would be cheaper. My husband actually created our budget in Excel. He had a cell for each line item. He put what our budget for each item was that way we both knew how much we could spend on that item. So for example, we allocated $2,000 to our DJ, but we actually spent $1,900 so that left us with $100 which we then allocated to something else. The way he set up the budget in Excel we could see how much of our total budget we had left over every time we entered what we spent per item. This helped us stay on track. I believe WeddingWire has budgeting tools as well. What may help is Googling average cost of X vendor in your area so you can get an idea of what most people spend on that specific vendor where you are getting married.

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Thanks so much! I'm going to do all that you suggested!

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Thanks so much!

I agree with PP here that there are a lot of variables to consider. I went into wedding planning having no clue about what things cost. So, my first task was to research all of that. I started with venue, and looked into several places in the area where we wanted to get married. Some were eliminated right away because they were just too expensive. Once I had it narrowed down to about 3 venues, we made appointments to visit them. At each venue visit, we asked for and got a basic price breakdown. The venue we chose was the least expensive in terms of price per head, but it actually included the most in the contract. Next, we prioritized what was important to us, so we knew where we wanted to spend our money. A good example of this is that the music is really important to us. We love dancing, and wanted a party atmosphere, so we found a DJ who could give us that. But decor? Neither of us really cared all that much about it. Of course I want the ceremony area and the reception room to look nice, but who remembers decor? Real flowers are WAY too expensive, so I started researching the cost of doing artificial flowers. Most of the centerpiece and decor flowers are from Hobby Lobby, and look really nice paired with candles, and I watched out for sales and got those really cheap! For my bouquet, I wanted something a little nicer, so I found sellers on Etsy who do those "real touch" artificial flowers. They look and feel real, and even though they are more expensive than flowers from Hobby Lobby, the bouquet is still costing less than a real flower bouquet, and it will last forever!

The smartest way to keep costs down is to research. It takes time, but it makes a huge difference in your bottom line. Good luck, and happy planning!!!

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You're welcome I also found a wedding planner that has a Youtube channel where she gives all sorts of free wedding advice. I have linked her channel below. She also has a program that you can purchase if you want that she designed to help you plan your wedding, but you totally don't have to do that unless you want to. My mom also purchased a wedding planning book for me which I also linked below. It helped me keep everything organized. It includes checklists and questions to ask vendors. It was a lifesaver.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdAcY6YGgF-RgGYXTsOENbA

https://www.amazon.com/Ultimate-Wedding-Planner-Organizer-binder/dp/0770433367/ref=asc_df_0770433367/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=312132076760&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=13419708777403752304&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9007834&hvtargid=pla-434335069873&psc=1

Well first of all watch Jamie Wolfer on YouTube - game changer!! She saved my frickin life.


Faux flowers for everyone, yourself included for sure. Do mobile STDs and invitations using a template from Etsy. That’ll save you several hundred dollars on stamps, envelopes and cardstock. Dollar tree has beautiful glass vases and cute gold or silver chargers which could match your elegant vibe. And picking a Friday or Sunday as your wedding date will be cheaper than Saturday weddings. Also doing family style or buffet is cheaper than plated dinner
Let me know if any of this was confusing lol

Sit down with your fiance and list your top 5 must haves and skip the rest. Focus of the guest experience (having fun, not paying anything out of pocket) and the memories with photos.


Think outside the box. Avoid the word wedding. Have a favorite restaurant cater. Browse vendors on Thumbtack.com. Get flowers cheaper at fiftyflowers.com. Inexpensive venues are at your local parks dept or Peerspace.com.
Take advantage of Etsy. Time is money. Renting decorations is cheaper in the long run than buying them.

I find that when you get several quotes, you'll be able to tell what the average amount is for each budget category.

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Thank you so much!

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Thanks so much! Every little bit is so helpful!

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Thanks! I like the idea of renting decorations! Never thought of that one!

View Quoted Comment Renting decorations is super common. Ask your florist and caterer. Whatever they and your venue don't offer you can rent from a local party rental place. They do all the work so you don't have to press linens, make sure the store has enough matching vases, and they collect everything at the end so you don't have to deal with trying to clean and resell items.

1. Costs vary GREATLY depending on where you live. Use the cost generator under "Planning Tools" to see what the average cost of things in your area. We spend $30k on a simple wedding, which sounds extravagant, until you realize we had our wedding on Chelsea Piers in NYC.

2. Simplify, simplify, simplify. What do you remember about your favorite weddings you've attended? That's the stuff that matters to you, focus on that.

3. Sample sale dress! I got mine for 90% off!

4. Fake flowers or DIY (though that costs time). I used Budget Bride.

5. If you really want something, but find it's out of your price range, see if there are students in that field willing to try their hand for less money. (Our videographer was an up-and-coming filmmaker coworker of mine. She did it for $1k, which is a fraction of the cost in our area, because she wanted to try it out.)

6. Keep your guest list smaller.

7. Skip things like favors, signage, and so on. They seem like little things, but add up super quick.

8. Remember the something old, something blue rhyme? ...I wore my grandmother's pearls, and borrowed my stepmother's pearl earrings, so I never spent a dime on jewelry. If you have that, use it!

9. Find your shoes on sale!

10. Find a venue that is it's own decoration. Our venue, as I said, was on Chelsea Piers, so our view was of the Hudson River at sunset. *Gorgeous*.

And so on! There are always ways to save. Remember that the only things *required* for a wedding are:

1. A couple

2. A license

3. Food for any guests

That's it.

View Quoted Comment Thank you! Very helpful!