Just started and already overwhelmed- budget/reception questions

The photos you posted seem pretty extravagant and $15,000 probably wouldn't cover that. We're looking at around $7,000 for relatively basic catering and open bar services for 150 people, and that's in a low cost of living area in the midwest. Even with help from your great aunt you will probably end up with costs from catering, for example. All of this is going to depend on where your wedding is and how much typical costs in your area are. Your best bet is to start looking at common venues and vendors in your area and get an idea of what the common pricing is. If you want all of the decor and florals from the photos you added, it may be hard to stay around $15,000.

First thing I'd recommend is a planner, at the very least a planner for 2-4 weeks before and the day of. I can't tell you how much having a planner has saved my sanity. There's so so so many things that have come up that I wouldn't have known how to do (like scheduling when different vendors load in/out of the venue, COIs, etc)

The biggest thing to consider is your guest count. Plan to have your highest number when budgeting. In my experience, catering/bar has been the biggest expense. We live in a major city and have about 175 guests attending and are paying about 28,000 for nice catering (theres certainly cheaper out there, but we wanted good food. we also don't have the best of the best.) So say you have 250 people, the 7k that you're being given for catering is wonderful, but would end up getting you a buffet/food truck in most places. It seems like you want something more elevated than that based on your pictures. Obviously catering varies place to place and venue to venue, but I would plan to add to that catering budget. Plus more for a bar if you're doing an open bar.

It seems like you want lower centerpieces with candles, which is nice because that will be less expensive than tall centerpieces! Just keep in mind that 250 people means there would be roughly 25 tables, which will drive up the decor price.

One surprising thing for us was how expensive signage was. We did some looking around and found that buying all our signs (welcome, unplugged ceremony, table numbers, bar sign, card and gifts sign, seating chart, reserved row signs, etc) would be between 600-2,000, which we werent willing to pay so we are DIYing them for roughly $250.

Often basic linens and tables come with the venue (especially if they do a lot of weddings) and basic plates/glasses/silverware will come with the venue or catering.

One thing people warned us of that we forgot was to include tip in the budget, so try to leave some money aside to handle tipping your vendors.

When making our budget, we ended up touring venues we liked and getting a catering and venue fee quote from them to decide how much we were going to spend. We also looked at other vendor websites and got quotes to see what the average would be for our area. From there we came up with a number that worked for us and then finalized picking our vendors.

All this to say, you can have a beautiful wedding with whatever you decide to spend! Just do some looking around to manage your expectations before settling on a number or an aesthetic.

Best of luck, and congrats!!

I know you listed a lot of financial help, and 7k towards catering is amazing. However, My husband and I are going to end up spending about 17k on about 80 guests, in the off season, not including rehearsal dinner or honeymoon. This includes my mom paying for my dress and us using cheap stationary, no florals, and hardly any table decorations, and me doing my own makeup. We're based in Des Moines, IA which is fairly inexpensive. If you want a further cost breakdown I can surely share it, but based on the photos of your vision your table settings alone will probably run you half your budget.

It's honestly those smaller things that are making us go over budget. Bathroom baskets were like, $50, a card box was $50, a microphone for our officiant to use added 150 to our ceremony musician fee... so many small things that are 50-200 each! But it does add up.

other things to decide if they go in the budget or out of pocket would be things like hair and makeup (and trial), shoes, bridesmaids/groomsmen gifts, jewelry, catering breakfast/lunch for while you're getting ready...

Honestly most of it you don't need to think about yet, but its nice to remember these are things that also cost money, so they'll need to be thought about especially if you're worried about staying in a certain budget.

Good day and congrats on your engagement!!

For clarification, are you saying that with some financial assistance your out-of-pocket cost is $15K or your total budget is $15K? If it's the latter, I think it might be unrealistic. The cost of the venue and food/drinks alone are going to dictate how you steer your budget. Also, location can drive up costs as well (small city/town vs large city). Not sure where you reside. What might help is to look at venues that are all-inclusive, so you do not have to worry about renting tables, linens, etc. Regarding candles, you will need to confirm with the venue to see if they allow real candles. Some do not. Here are some other things and costs to consider:

1. Wedding Planner - I would also recommend a wedding planner/coordinator. This person would really be beneficial in assisting with planning.

2. Transporation for Guests

3. DJ

4. Engagement Photo Session

5. Hair and Makeup

Hope this helps.

I know you're not a fan of the hotel idea, but if you can find a good ballroom at a hotel, I'd give it a shot, because two things, it will save you on transportation (no need for transport to venue/to hotel end of night/etc), and they'll likely offer some sort of comp/block rate/maybe a cheaper wedding suite for you. I honestly wish I would have looked at some of them in the city that our guests will fly into. Now they have to find transportation about an hour away so either pay a really expensive uber/lyft or rent a car.

But overall for the vibe you're wanting, you may want to increase your budget. A lot of venues don't allow open flames, so that's a question to ask when touring, if you want candles as the main centerpiece. Around here those glass candle vases are ALWAYS posted in the wedding groups and fb marketplace so you may be able to get good deals on some.

I agree with this. Hotel ballrooms are generally more dressy and fancy, and can be more reasonably priced than purely wedding venues. There are tons of ways to cut costs without sacrificing quality, so I think you might be able to get close. P.S. bathroom baskets are totally not a must have!