What's the budget

We are having approx 60 guests. Venue is our home (we live in a mountain area with property)
My costs so far:
DJ $600
Catering $34/personTables/chairs/Linens/dance floor $1,100Photographer (is a friend of friend who is up and coming, so will be very reasonable) $300-$500Flowers $635Cake $350-$400DIY Decor $400-$500Hair/makeup $150ishBartender $250 Booze (from Costco etc) $1,200 No bridal party - that saves a lot of moneyNo showers, bach parties etcHaving a friend marry us, we’ll pay for his Airbnb for the weekend $300ish
So even doing it at home w/ a small group can add up quick. We don’t have rings yet, or grooms attire. Paying on things a little each month helps knock it down though!

I am planning on having the same amount of guest, and was hoping to be around 9,000 but under 11,000. My venue has an all-inclusive package that is a little under 6,000 for food, alcohol,dj, photographer, and cake. So hopefully I can get my ceremony space and dress and other stuff for 4,000-5,00.

View Quoted Comment Exactly hun

View Quoted Comment It really included everything except dj and photography, i got one ofmy cousins planning and catering my wedding. Our parents are helping wit miscellaneous things

View Quoted Comment That’s amazing! Food is so expensive. One of my co workers contacted an art school a photography student did it for free! They used the pictures from the wedding for their portfolio!

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@Emily Oh got it. I love her dresses!

View Quoted Comment I got to meet her too! She asked me if i said yes to the dress! She’s so sweet!

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That is a very blessed moment. My mom said I wasn't allowed to shop in Kleinfelds haha She knows I would have fallen in love with a dress WAAYY out of my budget

My budget is $4k and I’ve got 130 guests, but I’ll admit that (1) I’m super thrifty (my dress that I absolutely LOVED at first sight came off the $99 rack at DB), (2) I live in a small town in the country and my venue is at a county owned park so those fees are super affordable compared to private owned venues, and (3) I have friends and family that are donating flowers, cake, and most of the food and one friend who is going to be MC.

View Quoted Comment Thats what im talking bout hun i luve in a same twn also and things are way cheaper so i think i have a good budget for what we want and can afford.

I think it all depends on the vibes/look you want to achieve and largely depends on where you live. We're in North Florida (Jacksonville/Saint Augustine) and will be having 100-130 guests. Our budget is $28k for everything: venue, food, bar, photo, video, dj, florist, stationer/calligrapher, etc. The average wedding in our hometown costs roughly $40k and my FH brother got married last year, ended up spending over $45k. We cut certain things from the budget in order to be able to do more with what we had, but not compromising our vision.

For Example: We are not having floral centerpieces at the dinner tables, just candles and some other textural elements. This saved us approx. $50-150 per table. I looked into doing fake flowers, but it ended up being more expensive in the long run. We are also not having an open bar, instead we'll have beer wine and champagne. Since our venue has the catering and bar onsite, this saved us $20 per guest. (the upcharge for an open bar) Another way we saved some big bucks was changing from a Springtime Saturday to a Summertime Friday. Originally we wanted to get married on a Saturday in March, but when our venue told us that getting married in the "off peak season" or even just moving to a Friday (or both) could save us some substantial cash... we ended up saving $7k just by moving the date. Our dj is a friend of the family, so he gave us 30% off- a $750 savings! The last *big* way we saved money was booking vendors that are friends with each other. We saved $2500+ by doing a package deal with our photographer and videographer-- I found them at a bridal show and they were running a special that if you booked them both, you got 8 hours 2 photogs 2 videogs and all the extras/goodies for $5000. (a steal in our area!!)

I would ask EVERYONE: venue, florist, photographer, etc. if they have off peak season deals, package deals with friends, or any kind of way to earn a discount.

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We got my Fiancé suit from Amazon for only $75 and it was a three piece good quality suit. I would suggest there (Especially if you fiancé wants a hard to find color like mine did)

View Quoted Comment Thank you! I will definitely check out options there 😊