For those of you who are married or are planning a wedding, how much was/is your wedding budget? How much did you pay for things like table/chair/tent rentals and catering? Everywhere I look seems way overpriced. We are only having 100 guests.

9/2/2007 10:38:48 PM

i feel that way, too. we're looking at 150 guests. it's because as soon as you say the word "wedding" the cost of everything increases. it's really insane...and stressful

9/2/2007 10:40:54 PM

We had 175 guests, spent about 10k all together I think. We got the place for the wedding, reception and food, in a package for 5k-ish.

Cake was around 600.

Invitations I have no idea what those cost.

Her dress/My Tux were around 1k I think.

Flowers were 500ish.

I'm forgetting some things.

9/2/2007 10:42:40 PM

my sister spent 40k, but she got married at 35(he was 35 also), both have had very successful careers so they could afford that. It was on News Years Day and the New Year Eve party rocked. The next wedding in the family was over a year later, and she let them borrow her table decorations. What was kinda neat was that they had disposable cameras all over the place for the guest to take pictures, so it was interesting when they were developed.

9/2/2007 10:43:56 PM

I know who can photograph a wedding for $200-$450.

9/3/2007 12:07:46 AM

theres a pretty big room at the IMAX downtown that we have wedding receptions at i think its a pretty reasonably priced place

9/3/2007 3:08:48 AM

Your freedom.

9/3/2007 3:24:31 AM

You can find cheaper ways to pull off a nice affair.

My suggestions include:

Use the Knot to set up a budget, they can make suggestions of things you need to spend and where.

When you get a proposal, make sure all fees and taxes are included. Don't put down a deposit until you are sure, even if the vendor is almost full.

Afternoon wedding, food and beverage costs will be lower. You can relax the formality and skip the tuxes/long dresses. By relaxing the formality, you can spend less on decorating and details. Just keep in mind that less is often more at a wedding.

Invitations: use Reaves Engraving (google it). I have been very pleased with my invitations. I recommend calligraphy because you seriously do not want to address and stuff the envelopes yourself. Costco does invitations as well. I would recommend cutting out the response cards and just having "The favour of reply is requested" on the reception card.

Flowers: Shop around and consider simple arrangements and berries. Costco has a great selection if you are interested in roses and know someone that could bind the bouquets together.

Bridal gowns, stores do have sales. I am wearing my grandmothers, but it was perfect and what I wanted.

Purchase your own booze, find a place that allows this.

Linens: My florist is in dunn, north carolina and brags about all the Raleigh brides that rent from him. My linens are $6 a piece. My chairs are $1.25 each and the table is like $8. The tent is $275. We are also renting ferns for the porch of the reception venue.

DJ: We are getting married in the afternoon and did not get a dj or a dance floor. Dancing was not important to me and it may be to you.

Get a good photographer: In this area, you get what you pay for. However, if you like the photos that were shot and the equipment is good, the person might just under charge

Skip the favors or go with a candy bar.

[Edited on September 3, 2007 at 9:45 AM. Reason : k]

9/3/2007 9:43:59 AM

it's disturbing to see how much a wedding costs nowadays, even when you try to stay on a strict budget.

9/3/2007 10:21:10 AM

We spent just under $20k. Had it at the beach, reception in Wilmington. 115 people or so. Reception place/food/drinks were probably $12k of it.

We did not have a cake. Just got some tarts from a local person. My wife made a lot of the flowers and table settings (she likes doing that sort of stuff). You can definitely cut corners on things that aren't important to you (ie cake) and save money.

9/3/2007 10:21:22 AM

We spent about 10K including all clothing (bridesmaids dresses too), flowers, rehearsal for 50, wedding for 80. 4 PM wedding at a historical house, with the ceremony outside and small tables set up throughout. I did the table arrangements and my bouquet with flowers from whole foods, no favors, no personalized napkins. Pig pickin' for the rehearsal and a buffet dinner at the wedding (and we ate leftovers for about six months, TONS of food). We bought the alcohol and the caterer provided a bartender. We had a professional photographer but my aunt did the video. Hired a slightly cheesy singing DJ that everyone loved.

If you are getting married around here, I highly recommend Brenda Avent Catering in Clayton. Food isn't fancy, but she brings plenty, it is artfully displayed, and her staff is top-notch. She did our cakes too - again, not fancy, but reasonably priced and very good. Her prices overall (and this was over six years ago so she might have increased them) were at least 40% less than anyone in Raleigh.

9/3/2007 11:38:18 AM

One client of mine actually made her own bouquet, boutonniers, etc. She's all about the fall colors and couldn't find what she wanted, so she saved a lot of money by just making her own. I thought it was nifty.

9/3/2007 11:43:37 AM

we are planning a wedding in June for about 200-225. The brides budget is 25K or so, and once you add in the rehearsal dinner and things like that, it will add another 10-15K. We are also having a reception back in her hometown in Oio after the honeymoon, but i got no clue about the price for that. We are already having a hard time staying in budget.

9/3/2007 12:08:20 PM

10k

planned for 100 guests

went over budget a little

9/3/2007 12:14:03 PM

wedding mania

9/3/2007 12:28:08 PM

My sister's wedding was around $22,000 ...

9/3/2007 12:47:44 PM

We had ~100 guests. Here's what we spent:

Photographer - ~$2,000
Wedding Dress (and all that comes with it) - ~$500
Tux rental - ~$70/person (Men's Warehouse)
Catering (Heavy Snacks, not a meal) - ~$1,200
Cake - ~$700
Invitations/Programs - ~$250
Favors - ~$100 (Bells)
Decorations/Flowers - ~$1,000
Church Fees ~$250

I'm sure I am forgetting somethings, but it is possible to have a nice wedding for under $10k. Avoid meals/DJ's and spend money for a good Photographer, it is definitely worth it. The pictures last forever, the food lasts a couple of hours.

9/3/2007 6:37:44 PM

We had a strict budget of $6k for 65 guests and pulled it off with banquet hall rental and excellent catered food:

the hall was the one that the Raleigh Association of Realtors runs*. It ran about $2500 total.
We spent another $1500-$2k with http://www.catering-by-design.com/ I cannot recommend this guy highly enough - the food was fantastic.
We hired a photographer for about $50/hr plus prints, spent about $500 total.
Another $800 or so went to small things
Also bought her bouqet and her dress was a gift, and I rented a tux
We ran the music off a laptop, ourselves.* (and fit the laptop in the budget)
We did our own centerpieces, flowers, cupcakes, invitations, I built an arch, etc.

basically we looked at every expense and asked "how can we do this ourselves", "What are the fancy things that we can do 90% as well for a fraction of the cost" - the prime example is engraving: NO ONE is going to remember (or be impressed by) the embossing on the invitation.

sunday's our anniversary, we'll see if that cupcake kept


* There was a problem with the speakers in the hall on the day of - half the room wouldn't cut on below a certain volume, so dinner music (and the mic) didnt play on that side. I would stress that if you are using the hall's sound system that you do a full on test of their equipment at least a week in advance (to give them time to fix problems.) Don't assume they know how to run it, or that they use it often enough to have noticed a problem.

9/3/2007 10:02:43 PM

OK, we are planning on having it at the Burke Manor in Gibsonville, NC. It's a beautiful historic bed and breakfast. We are having the ceremony down the street at an old gothic church. The fee for using this is $1150, then the fee for using the Pavilion at the Burke Manor is $2950 which included: 4 hours, set up and tear down, chairs, tables, lighting, dance floor and clean up. Then they require that you use their catering, which is ~$25 a person for buffet-style dinner food. You have to use their alcohol if you want it, so that would be extra. Their catering included use of their table linens, centerpieces, servers, china, and candles.

The total after tax and 20% gratuity was ~$7600
Basically, they plan and set up everything for you. All that would be left over would be our "attire", flowers, rehearsal dinner, photographer, invitations, things like that.

It seems like so much freaking money, but maybe I am just not realizing how much weddings cost. Our budget is 10K and I can't believe it is really going to cost that much.

9/3/2007 10:05:31 PM

Wedding in the Rose Garden - $300
Reception at the Faculty Club - $1700 (catered meal for about 50 people, some alcohol, tables, chairs, etc)
Azul Photography - $3400 (As mentioned before, this is probably the one area you do not want to skimp)
Chair and dance floor rental - Couple hundred bucks; not much
Cake from Sweet Memories - ~$600
DJ - Another couple hundred bucks

The easy way to save money is to do things yourselves and keep it simple...invitations, don't go overboard with the flowers, homemade centerpieces, etc.

Remember that it's YOUR wedding; don't feel compelled to do things because you're "supposed to" or because of a made-up "tradition".

9/3/2007 10:19:58 PM

$7600 for everything sounds like a pretty good deal. Are you set on having the ceremony in that church? $1150 is quite high. I know some denominations frown on outdoor weddings, but you could save a big chunk of change by having the ceremony outside the B&B.

9/3/2007 11:06:16 PM

The use of their gardens and chairs and stuff for that cost the same as the church, and I liked the church better so thats why I used that instead.

9/4/2007 10:52:55 AM

Quote :

"Your freedom."

lollerz

9/4/2007 11:17:24 AM

I think you will have budget issues. Do you have any leeway to go over?

Is your dress included in your budget?

I think I am spending $750 on flowers and table arrangements and it will be very bare. The church flowers are 1/3 of that for 3 arrangements.

9/4/2007 11:28:26 AM

if you only have 2500 left over for everything else you will either have to skimp on everything or run over in my opinion

9/4/2007 11:51:26 AM

^true.

9/4/2007 12:29:05 PM

Mine was $4k, but I called in a ton of favors. We had about 120 guests

Cake-$250 from a family friend
Venue-$200. There wasn't much to it, but I wanted an outdoor wedding and it had a beautiful yard surrounded by trees, enough room inside to dance/eat, and bathrooms. That's all I really needed. Plus, this place came with all of the tables and chairs that we needed.
Food-$9 a head for the most amazing BBQ ever. I worked out a deal with the caterer.
DJ-$500
Live music for walking down the aisle-$FREE, because I have been in band since I was in 6th grade, so I have a lot of talented friends.
Flowers-$200, family friend did my flowers at cost and they turned out BEAUTIFUL (Costco ftw)
Photography - $250, by a girl I have known since I was 2
Alcohol - ~$500 for 2 kegs and a lot of wine
Favors-$150 (champagne glass-shaped bubbles)
Dress-$500
Misc. Decor- ~$200 (tablecloths, etc.)

That's about it. I wasn't looking to impress anyone with how fancy I could make my wedding. My main goal was to have everyone that was close to me attend, and for all of them to leave thinking about what a kick-ass party they just attended.

9/4/2007 1:07:54 PM

Quote :

"It seems like so much freaking money, but maybe I am just not realizing how much weddings cost. Our budget is 10K and I can't believe it is really going to cost that much."

The prices they are quoting seem very reasonable. We paid $1300 for The Stone Chapel in Wake Forest and about $1100 for the Cotton Exchange. Our catering included tables, chairs, and linens and was a plated sit-down (we used Catering Works). That came to about $68 per person. We bought our own wine and beer and the caterer served it for us. Our total wedding ran about $26,000 I think and we had 100 guests. I couldn't believe it but it really adds up (we weren't really all that lavish either).

9/4/2007 10:29:04 PM

said and done ours was in the 30K range... that was a rehearsal dinner for about 80 and reception for about 175-200, with full open bars at both. That's also including the honeymoon and all related items.

9/4/2007 10:50:32 PM

150 guests
did it on a 6,000 budget
used the Velvet Cloak Inn --- great deal, good place

Quote :

"One client of mine actually made her own bouquet, boutonniers, etc. She's all about the fall colors and couldn't find what she wanted, so she saved a lot of money by just making her own. I thought it was nifty."

I did this too...way easy, WAY impressive, WAY CHEAP. I got 200 roses from Sam's Club...only about 10 roses were damaged...GREAT way to save money

[Edited on September 4, 2007 at 10:57 PM. Reason : added]

9/4/2007 10:55:49 PM

weddings cost too much.

option #2, elope.

9/5/2007 10:29:12 AM

ask my fiance


I think our wedding is going to run around $12,000 for around 75 guests, we are having a host bar and a catered dinner


thats also not including the honeymoon, which looks like it will be at Sandals in St. Lucia

[Edited on September 5, 2007 at 10:58 AM. Reason : asd]

9/5/2007 10:57:59 AM

Quote :

"said and done ours was in the 30K range... that was a rehearsal dinner for about 80 and reception for about 175-200, with full open bars at both. That's also including the honeymoon and all related items."

that's about exactly where mine was, including headcount.

the bar tab alone was $4k. The wedding coordinator at the sheraton downtown advised budgeting no more than $2k for beer and wine (@ 3.50 per beer 4.50 per wine), which "no one had ever gone over" with our size wedding.

So clearly, we both come from drinking families.

9/5/2007 11:18:15 AM

when all was said and done, i bet it was topped $35k

our food, venue, and band came out to almost $20k alone.

then we bought over $3k in alcohol (wine, beer, liquor). thank god we were able to supply our own alcohol or it would have been more then double that.

flowers were about $3k, photographer $1k, and then another couple grand in varous other things. we (she) made our own invitations, center pieces, and programs.

my parents took care of the rehearsal dinner, which im estimating at $5k, but i have no idea since i wasnt involved in planning it, but it could have been more since we rented out deck at a popular seafood place, had crabs, completely open bar (even top shelf), and a jazz trio.

then the honeymoon cost about $3k, which im not including in the totals.

we had probably had almost 100 people at the rehearsal dinner and 150 at the wedding.

i never did a final talley to figure out exactly how much it cost, because i really don't want to see the actual number. it was pretty expensive, but well worth it. it was by far the best weekend of my life.

[Edited on September 5, 2007 at 11:47 AM. Reason : gh]

9/5/2007 11:47:07 AM

Ours is gonna be somewhere in the 5k range.

9/5/2007 12:51:43 PM

instead of dropping 30-40K on a wedding, wouldn't it make more sense to use that money to buy a house, or invest it?

9/5/2007 1:27:52 PM

you won't ever find financial justification for a wedding of any cost, so don't try to.

9/5/2007 1:43:30 PM

Quote :

"instead of dropping 30-40K on a wedding, wouldn't it make more sense to use that money to buy a house, or invest it?"

we already own a house and our investments are fine. had we been tight on money, i would agree, but we've both worked hard and have good jobs, so we were ok with spending money on a one time event.

i am usually very frugal on things, and i do very few things for myself, so this was one time in my life where I wanted to splurge. i have a family that is spread out all over the world, so I don't get to see them very often, let alone all of them at the same time, so i wanted something nice....it was just as much of a family reunion as it was a wedding.

could i have had just as good of a time by renting a shelter in a park and buying a couple kegs? sure. but i wanted to do something different for such a special occasion. this was our day to do whatever we wanted....and we did.

i guess i should point out that we didnt finance our whole wedding....we had help from her family and mine. but we did contribute a good bit, with no regrets whatsover. also, we live in maryland, so things are a little more expensive up here.

9/5/2007 1:45:55 PM

I think that all told ours ran about 40 grand.

I was not given the option of keeping the money, her dad loves a good party and he was buying.

It was the best day of my life.

9/5/2007 2:03:09 PM

Quote :

"So clearly, we both come from drinking families. "

yes I do.... we bought all th booze for the reception on our own over the period of a few months, and had family friends bartend the event, saved some serious jingle there.

Quote :

"her dad loves a good party and he was buying."

exactly the situation we were in, it's hard to convince most women that have dreamed of a storybook wedding for their whole lives to give it up for money. We were offered 30K to go away and get it done and over with, I said, sure we're out... she said no. she won.

Quote :

"It was the best day of my life."

yeah i can't disagree with that either. The amount of family and friends that we brought together was AMAZING, even over a holiday weekend we had ~1/4 of the Embassy Suites booked!

That and people are still talking about that day 5 years later, every wedding I go to with my group of friends still says... remember you guy's wedding, god that was awesome... shit the DJ that did ours DJ'd for my best friend at his wedding, and even came up to us and said what a fun time they had, remembered us by name, AND played our first dance song during my buddy's reception, and dedicated it to us (we were both in the wedding), now it might have been set up but I really don't think it was... that's what a blast the party was!

Now if for some reason I ever have to do it again... it'll be on the beach of a caribbean island with just close family/friends.... but the first time you have to go all out!

[Edited on September 5, 2007 at 3:58 PM. Reason : ]

9/5/2007 3:55:26 PM

More than $100, less than $500.
We're going to Europe. Eff this wedding nonsense.

9/5/2007 11:54:38 PM

How do you plan to get two people to Europe for less than $500?

9/6/2007 12:09:47 AM

yea you aint getting to vegas on that much $$

9/6/2007 12:11:15 AM

This is just another reason not to get married.

9/6/2007 1:26:35 AM

box of shotgun shells: $5

Justice of the Peace: $10

the look on grandma's face: priceless.

9/6/2007 3:38:50 AM

~200 people, under $4500 total. Cake was made for free by a family friend, as were many items that were served ... larger items were catered...

9/6/2007 5:16:24 AM

my sister's wedding was about 45k i think. but her and her now husband were in their 30s and have houses and all that stuff so didnt have to worry about cost.

granted my parents still got stuck with a little more than half the cost.

9/6/2007 9:04:52 AM

Quote :

"the first time you have to go all out!"

Good to know that's how you were thinking of it before you even got married.

9/6/2007 9:18:20 AM

being married is great.
getting married sucks.

9/6/2007 9:55:18 AM

I feel like 10K is way too much money, I can't believe that some weddings cost over 40K. That is nuts.

9/6/2007 2:54:17 PM