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M&A
Just Said Yes October 2022

How much did your wedding actually cost all In? (including ceremony, reception, decor, rehearsal dinner, wedding bands, honeymoon, etc?

M&A, on July 21, 2021 at 5:29 PM Posted in Planning 1 24
Hi Everyone,


I am curious how much your wedding cost all in and if you had to increase your budget after starting to get pricing.
I always thought 30k could get you A LOT but I am finding out money goes a lot faster than you think. (We are just in the beginning stages of getting pricing).
I am curious what your initial budget was and what you actually spent for the entire wedding (including dress, tux, hair and makeup, venue, food, alcohol, photographer, videographer, music, stationary, flowers/decor, linens, wedding bands, wedding gift, rehearsal dinner and honeymoon)?
I am finding out 30k is not going nearly as far as I thought it would.

24 Comments

Latest activity by Lisa, on July 23, 2021 at 8:16 PM
  • Makeba
    Devoted September 2022
    Makeba ·
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    We’re in the planning stages and we are finding out the same way. Creating a budget is hard to do when you don’t know how much everything is.
    • Reply
  • C
    Super July 2020
    Cool ·
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    We spent about $30k not including honeymoon (or engagement ring). We delayed our honeymoon due to covid so we’re splurging quite a bit on that… we had a small wedding but lots of flowers, nice accommodations and top shelf food and drinks. It adds up quickly.
    • Reply
  • Viviana
    Dedicated October 2022
    Viviana ·
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    We will be spending about $30-$32K including everything except the honeymoon and wedding bands. Our initial budget was $20 (I laugh about it now thinking we could get away with spending 20K!) and it slowly rose to 30! Everything adds up soo quickly!

    • Reply
  • M&A
    Just Said Yes October 2022
    M&A ·
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    Yes it is so hard!!! And I have seen on The Knot that the average wedding is around 32k so I assumed that would be a good budget but that must not include honeymoon, rehearsal dinner and other items that all add up so quickly!


    I have even been looking into a smaller more intimate wedding and have come to find out that that is even expensive since there are fixed costs no matter how you do it like dress, tux, hair and makeup, photographer, etc.

    • Reply
  • Jm Sunshine
    Jm Sunshine ·
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    I think when people talk "average wedding costs" they are referring to the actual ceremony/reception vendors (not necessarily rings, dress, honeymoon--otherwise these things easily add an extra $10,000).
    • Reply
  • Nisha
    Expert May 2022
    Nisha ·
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    We agreed to a $10k budget in March.


    Our budget is now at least $20,222. That's with our best estimate on cake, alcohol, food, transportation to/from hotel for guests, and attire.
    • Reply
  • Lauren
    Expert July 2021
    Lauren ·
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    We started with a budget of $40k spent $50k not including engagement ring and honeymoon.
    • Reply
  • M
    VIP October 2021
    Monica ·
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    We are at 19k for ours. That’s including almost everything you can think of. Decor, wedding attire, vendors, ceremony + reception. But does not include alcohol. Im thinking about 300-400 there.
    • Reply
  • M
    VIP October 2021
    Monica ·
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    No honeymoon included ^^
    • Reply
  • Day
    Expert July 2021
    Day ·
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    Without the honeymoon, our elopement (for just us two) was roughly $5-6K. My wife literally said this morning that I thought of everything for our wedding at
    I was told that my elopement being about $5K was a steal. I definitely agree because I did months of research before settling on our vendor team.
    • Reply
  • A
    Super December 2020
    Anais ·
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    We were planning on a $35k wedding but with covid we ended up doing a micro wedding and spending $10k without the honeymoon. Because we had the small wedding, we wanted to splurge on a honeymoon to Fiji and budgeted $18k but that got cancelled due to borders being closed. So now we’re going to Greece/Iceland and spending about $11k so total with wedding + honeymoon will be $21k
    • Reply
  • Victoria
    Devoted June 2020
    Victoria ·
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    I did a super low key backyard wedding... My initial pre-covid budget was $7K. After the venue closed and we re-evaluated we chose to not spend more than $2K. At the end my tally was $1.5K. My big expenses were cake and my dress. I’m lucky enough to have a gorgeous yard, chef cousins, photographer friends... people who hooked us up.
    We kind of had this open invite thing going on too, because we have some covid antsy friends. We planned for about 150~ people. Didn’t have that many on that day but have had a lot of little gatherings since then lol
    • Reply
  • AJ
    Super October 2022
    AJ ·
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    I’ll be spending roughly $25k, not including honeymoon cause I don’t know what it’s gonna cost or where we are even going.
    Most numbers are rough
    Venue Rental: $3,500 (included chair, linens, tables)
    Food/drinks (100people) : $10kDress: $1,500Photography: roughly $3kHair and makeup for 4 adults and 3 kids: $1kFlorist: $2kTux: unsureNot having a DJSave the dates: $150 (haven’t ordered invites yet)Lot of stuff I’m unsure of still but I’m thinking it’ll be about 25k
    • Reply
  • Kim
    Dedicated April 2021
    Kim ·
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    Our total was $16,00 for 60 guests honey moon not included.
    • Reply
  • Rebecca
    Master August 2019
    Rebecca ·
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    You're going to get WILDLY different answers, because costs are so very dependent on where you are, what type of wedding you have, and how big it is.

    We spent about $30k. Which seems like a lot for a wedding where only 80 guests came. (Honeymoon not included, and we kept that to about $3k, for Disney!)

    Only we got married in NYC... so, that's actually way under "average".

    Please don't compare your budget to others. You'll get very frustrated, when you may be looking at someone from an entirely different region from you with a much smaller guest list!

    • Reply
  • Jessica
    Dedicated October 2021
    Jessica ·
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    I agree with Rebecca, it’s going to vary widely based on location and number of guests. Our minimony cost about $6,000 for 7 people, including venue, food, dress, photographer, officiant, hair and makeup, etc. Our larger reception is going to cost about $47,000 (budget was initially $40k) for 75 people. That does not include any type of honeymoon, but does include dress, etc. My mom has had a blast planning and keeps adding more things. My parents are paying for the wedding so she can do what she likes haha. If I was paying, we would be spending WAY less because I cannot afford anything close to that.
    • Reply
  • Danielle
    Savvy August 2021
    Danielle ·
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    Im in NYC. Hudson Valley bridge. Food and beverage 16K with after party. dresses which oncludes mine and my two dayghters 3500 photo. Dj lighting photobooth which in nyc was a steal at 5K, hair and makeup another steal 1,500. Gifts 200 thanks to etsy. I didn't floral still working on that. We did forget but need to include lunch for day of, rehearsal dinner and breakfast the following day. I think for Nyc we will be around 30 or 35 which is great when the average nyc wedding is about 50j and up and we are only haveing 60. It all depends on you location.
    • Reply
  • Christine
    Just Said Yes September 2022
    Christine ·
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    We are only trying to do 10K max.. we haven't finished finalizing the vendors but my FH has a friend who is a JP, we happen to have a friend who is a caterer that is going to give us a deal. I plan on doing a lot of DIY for decorations/and fake flowers to save a little money. Anywhere I can save helps. Sept 10th, 2022 date.

    • Reply
  • Kris
    Expert July 2021
    Kris ·
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    Our original budget was $3500. Excluding honeymoon (we won't do anything for at least a year; FH is immunocompromised so CoVID) we are at just about $7200 for 80 guests.

    • Reply
  • Brittany
    Expert September 2020
    Brittany ·
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    Wedding in VA (for context) spent about 35k (100 guests) including rings and honeymoon
    • Reply

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