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Hi Larissa! The cost of your wedding will be greatly affected by 2 things: your location, and the number of people you want to feed. Think about when you and your fiancé go out to a nice dinner. I imagine it is anywhere from $50-$150 for the two of you to have an entree and a drink. Now take that number and multiply it by the number of guests you are having. Add 20% for wedding markup. Now that is the price for catering alone. Your venue will charge a fee, and that can be anywhere from free (backyard wedding or public place) to $10,000. I don't say this to scare you! It just depends on a lot of factors. I think I read that the average cost of a wedding in the US is around $27,000. You obviously don't have to pay that much, but you will likely have to cut a lot of corners from what you see on things like Style Me Pretty and Instagram to do so.

Hope this helps a bit!

We are on a low budget as I am going to school and he is our only income, to support us and our 2 children.
Our ceremony alone will be around $2,500. But that includes the dress, the rings (engagement ring, and wedding bands) all the flowers, an arch, attire...everything wedding related.) And this will be for 20 people, including ourselves. It includes a dinner for all of us..but we are having an actual reception later this year that will have around 175 guests. Fingers crossed our family helps financially on that part. (The ceremony is a surprise to everyone, which is why we are paying for it ourselves.)

If you have any questions, feel free to ask!

View Quoted Comment It will be a wedding of about 50 people in the Syracuse, NY area (Central NY). So I can’t imagine too expensive. We will be getting married in the winter so I know that helps lower the cost as well. I wish more venues would post their pricing on their websites...

First of all congrats! Such an exciting and overwhelming time for sure. My fiancé and I made sure we budgeted at a conservative amount. Many of our friends got married before us so we asked about overrated costs. Here are some things that play huge factors in price
1) time of year, date, and season of wedding. I live in Chicago so our down season is Jan-March. Literally 25% of the price at some sites. Also fridays are cheaper then weekend. And mid day weddings as well.
2) venue! Be sure to negotiate at your venue to include things in your package or they’ll jip you. For example, include chavari chairs, beverages, outside catering ok if so do they have to be licensed, etc
3) photography and videography. Do as much research as you can in who you like and quality. Don’t go for the famous most popular person everyone is.
4) alcohol!!!! Our wedding is a dry wedding cause we don’t drink. Pp at most venues are 50-65 bucks with alcohol packages.

There other factors too but depends on the kind of wedding the couple wants. My fiancé and I don’t care for brands so our wedding outfits are not expensive..

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Yes, I think it would be around or below average in that case! Honestly, the best thing you can do is just to start reaching out to venues and vendors. Start an excel sheet with their websites, location, and write a draft email that you can edit for each one. Once I emailed venues and vendors, they sent me pricing information right away and I was able to see what the range was.

I thought about messaging about prices but I felt like I was wasting their time since the wedding is 2 years out...

There are soooo many great ways to have a all out cost effective wedding. First pick what is the most important aspect of your wedding? Then budget around that. For me it was two things, location. I knew WHERE we wanted to get married (a historic observatory) that is very sentimental. Luckily because they aren’t a traditional wedding venue, it wasn’t expensive or overpriced. Minimal decorations because the space itself is amazing and adding too much would have drawn focus away from it. So thinking outside the box can be both more memorable and also less expensive. Brunch weddings are so popular and for great reason, limits the alcohol (think mimosas and bloody mary’s), plus who doesn’t freaking love BRUNCH?!! 🥞🥂

Depends on if you get a venue or go with a Church wedding.
Some churches don't charge if you are a member.

We are older....paying ourselves...have a budget of $10,000. Which in wedding land is cheap. To us, not cheap

Our venue with 50 guests including Minister, DJ, tables, chairs, linens, etc and food is $4900.
A great deal...but, not cheap.

We still have alot to book.
We have used half of our budget.

Poshmark has wedding attire for sale( think Craigslist)

When my niece got married her mother did her food, afternoon wedding so just pick ups not a meal, a family friend was the photographer, I did the flowers at cost and the Church was used for the ceremony and reception(300&dollarfor church and Minister.

They had 100 people spent a total of $3,000. Which included her dress. It can be done. She said would have easily been $8,000 at cost.

Look for friends that can help you with DIY items to save money.
Also "elopement" package weddings are cheaper.

You can get a destination wedding bundle for the two of you with your honeymoon wedding flowers everything included for around $2,000 but then , you don't have friends and family.


Good luck! If I find some deals , I'll pass them on to you.

Oh, my other thing was my dress. But you literally can get a beautiful dress in the $200-500 range.

We are in North Carolina and also having a small wedding of 50 people. We have a budget of $20k and I’m crossing my fingers that we do not go over that! One of things that helped us is to be willing to let go of traditions that are not meaningful to us and be open. For us that means, no wedding party, small guest list, we let the venue dictate our wedding date but chose an off day (Friday night) and an off month (August) to save money, no garter, no bouquet toss, wedding favors, etc. For us photography and venue/catering were the most important things so that’s where we prioritized our dollars. I hope this is helpful to you. Congratulations on your engagement and remember that the wedding is about you and your fiancé...many family members and friends may chime in and cause some stres, but just stay focused on the fact that the day is about you and your fiancé. Happy planning!!

View Quoted Comment We are looking at getting married in December, so I’m hoping we can find some discounts. If it was up to me and my fiancé we would elope to Maine and have a wedding of 10 people... So I definitely don’t need much. I would like to do a cash bar if possible as I know people will want to drink but I know I will only have 2 drinks all night. The budgeting has really been making my head spin as I feel like I’m just paying for a party for everyone but us.

View Quoted Comment December weddings are perfect. December bride here too! Everything is already decorated!!! There are so many great things you can do. Cabin wedding, it’s intimate and will help keep the numbers small. Your photos will be beautiful. To keep the alcohol budget small, consider having a hot chocolate bar with some Bailey Irish Cream for the adults or spiced eggnog.

View Quoted Comment I guess the most important things to me are having nice pictures and a nice venue. I plan on having it somewhere that is already aesthetically pleasing as I don’t really want to do a lot of decorations. A Christmas tree and some garland would be nice for a winter wedding. I’m very untraditional so I’m open to any ways to save money...

View Quoted Comment Oh my word! Yes! That’s exactly my vision! The first time I met my fiancé was in December and we ended up having hot chocolate with Baileys, so I thought it would be cute to incorporate into the wedding.

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I've been there! I told my fiance we should just elope as well. it happens to all of us. worry not tho! everyone on wedding wire is here to help. Planning is certainly overwhelming and depressing seeing your bank account plummet. I think a cash bar is a great idea. Don't lose sight of having the wedding you and your fiance want. Pay attention to the details that make you smile- like your favorite flowers (in my case fake flowers). Find ways in which you can bring your story to life in the wedding to represent you both- my fiance and I met at a coffee shop so coffee is playing a hold part in our wedding. Order the food you want to eat and remember. Something my friends always tell me too- Don't lose sight of the end vision and goal; marrying person of your dreams.

Certainly create a spreadsheet with a overall budget. Afterwards allocate how much you would be wanting to spend towards each category: Venue, Food, photography + videography, outfits etc. You can most definitely stay within budget. Research as much as you can, make phone calls with vendors, schedule meetings with vendors to negotiate pricing/add in some extra goods-its possible, and never rush into a decision. We rushed into booking some vendors and wish we took our time.

Girl, yes!!!! It will be so perfect!

View Quoted Comment I wish there was a wedding whisperer lol. I’m just having a hard time finding where to start how much to start putting away. I’m so glad I chose to have 2 years of planning, otherwise I would lose it! Did you go to any bridal shows? If so did they help?

View Quoted Comment Checked out the pictures you posted of your wedding (promise not creepy lol) was your dress a Stella York? It looks very similar to one of the dresses I’m looking at.

View Quoted Comment Yes, Stella York! The material is the softest silk, one of the reasons I fell in love with it as soon as I put it on. It has button detailing all the way down the back. The cap sleeves are removable to make it strapless. After I said Yes to the dress she showed me it has pockets. POCKETS!!!

Definitely keep the guest list as little as possible. Also consider getting a dress on sale or simply wearing a dress that isn’t labeled “wedding.” Try to find a venue that is owned by a public sector, such as local city park municipal buildings. I’m having a microwedding (20 guests) in an art museum’s gallery room. Then we’ll walk to brunch 700 feet at a restaurant. The venue, dress, accessories, restaurant bill, officiant, my one boquet, cellist and photography will total less than $2,000.