Holy Moly! Anyone else surprised at how much weddings cost?

Yes, weddings are expensive.

I live right next to NYC, was one of the last of my friends to get married, and I still wanted to throttle some vendors for their prices.

DH and I got aggressively simplistic for an NYC wedding... and our budget was still mind-boggling to many couples on here.

Yesss! Our budget went up, up, up from where we first started lol 😂

I knew more about wedding costs than my FH did when we started planning lol. My FBIL actually shared his wedding spreadsheet with us, and that gave us a good look at what we wanted and didn't want to spend! We're projected to spend less than 20K for ours (goal is 15K).

I think what's helped us the most, is researching vendors, and booking them early. The vendors we've booked already, have raised their prices for the **** wedding seasons, so we got them at a great price! It also doesn't hurt to ask them if they offer off peak season prices! That's how we got a 1K discount on our venue!

While yes, things are only as expensive as you make them, to some degree, I think it’s better to come up with a budget after having an idea of what things costs in your area if you already know you don’t want a super simple, no frills, all DIY event. Things cost $$$$. I found it helpful to get quotes and stop paying attention to all these articles we find online which never match up with reality. An average is only an average and what something costs depends on so many things. There’s def no shortage of things to spend money and no matter what your budget is, you’ll probably feel like “I wish I had more to spend on X”. I’ve accepted that the kind of wedding I want and my non negotiables will come at a certain price tag and have tried to stop comparing myself to others who choose to spend way less or way more. There’s no 1 way to do it; just do what you’re comfortable with. And once you set an informed budget, try to stick to it. It’s hard when there’s wiggle room and you know the extra money is there so what is working for me is making a plan for all the money I’m saving but not spending on a wedding. I have different buckets (travel, new car, moving, etc.).

View Quoted Comment That’s my budget also.. I plan to do a lot of DIY and I found a beautiful hall for the reception and they say I can use the garden for ceremony and catering including ... it’s going to be elegant 🤗

Omg yea. Before we did anything with planning the wedding we set a budget. It was for 5k before covid with 120 guests. As soon as we started looking at venues and catering we had to up it to 10k. But now with covid and my state only allow 50 people I think we are below 5k.

Weddings are really expensive... BUT you don't have to spend so much money. My fiancé and I are spending about 5K on EVERYTHING, we are receiving some help from some family. We did A LOT of research because although it is a super special day for both of us, it is just one day and we don't want to spend a lot of money on it and then not have enough for a honeymoon etc.

We were blessed to find a beautiful venue with a COVID special and we got a package of 3K. Also if you need help finding a cheap dress, I recommend going to try on dresses to see what type of dress looks good on you and then there's this store "Wedboom" the stores are in Europe but they sell through Esty as well, and the dresses are beautiful and an amazing prize! that is where I'm getting mine from for $359!

Girl I thought I was prepared for all the cost but little did I think about unexpected costs tv at just kind of pop up 😂😂

Yes!!! It is so overwhelming and feels like such a first world problem. Even with trying to make it a minimalist type wedding, it still is so damn expensive for things!

Yes!! It depends on what state you are in cause it differs. We had to redo our budget 3 times!!

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I would just think outside the box and look for venues that are different from the traditional kind! Our venue was a restaurant with an outside ceremony space, and we got lucky cause they also offered half-day weddings (3pm-10pm) which was way cheaper than their full day and it was all we needed! I also looked for decor items on Facebook marketplace, sales from Hobby Lobby and Michael's, and I DIY'd my invitations, centerpieces, etc... which saved us some money too. Also, some vendors might be offering discounts or specials! Just gotta really do your research and compare prices.

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That's wonderful!! Our venue was similar with pretty gardens for the ceremony too, and it was a restaurant so they had yummy foods already!

Yes!!!! I was telling myself “you’re very creative, you can be a DIY bride and cut costs!” Still very much over budget haha I almost cried

Yessss!!!! I quickly became exhausted looking at venues that cost more than my entire wedding budget.

In the end, we chose a B&B Elopement Venue that provides the venue, photographer, officiant, flowers, cake, champagne and a one night stay in the bridal suite for less than $2,000. Its just a few weeks away and I was scared that it wouldn't feel special or that the vendors included would be garbage but, so far, everything has been shockingly easy and fun and the vendors have been crazy professional and kind. Fingers crossed it still feels that way after our day but Ill take a $2k wedding and almost no stress any day!

View Quoted Comment That’s super helpful, thanks! I’ll definitely try that

When we first started planning our wedding, my FH wanted to spend no more than $10K. Naturally, I laughed. We're DIYing a lot of our wedding and still spending about $20K.

The word wedding changes the prices on some things by double (or more!). Mind boggling!

I’m very shocked we aren’t even sure if we are going to keep our wedding date we just don’t have the money dresses are over priced. I’m so stressed out

Our original budget was $5,000 well that went out of the window we have since decided 10,000 is the limit . Unless it is necessary like catering cause we have guest with dietary issues.