The Wedding Budget

Posted by on Aug 31, 2010 | 17 comments

Alright my dear friends, here is The Wedding Budget that has been tweaked and scrutinized a few dozen times. I think I finally have the courage to show you all, but of course am a little scared to see what you think since it is a teeeeeny bit more than I had originally planned. I’ll do what Amber did (the former Carrie on the Cheap… check out her new blog!), and first will share with you the raw numbers, let you guys freak out for a little bit, then come back and explain it all in mind-numbing detail. Sound good? :) 

Here goes…

Ta da! Any comments, suggestions or snide remarks are welcome. Stay tuned because tomorrow I will post my Wedding Budget Savings Plan (aka: how exactly J and I will pay for this huge event!), and then Thursday I will go through all the dirty details of each category listed above. 

Have a great Tuesday! :)

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  • meghann

    How many guests are you planning for? $1,700 for food seems a little low! That is great you have already paid for the reception! When do you think you’ll go dress shopping? I’m a little obsessed with dresses since I found mine last month! Hopefully you can find one for $500- I spent more than I wanted to but I’m absolutely in love with my dress!

  • http://girlwithredballoon.blogspot.com Red

    It’s sad that your budget is considered conservative by average wedding budget standards! Not that yours is bad… Just that $10k is a lot of money, but it’s less than half what the average person pays!

    Have you told us how many people are invited yet? Because that could definitely sway the opinions of readers in one way or another. If it’s a wedding for 50, the budget is crazy, but if it’s more like 150-200, that’s totally reasonable. We had 80 guests confirm attendance, so our food was a little under $1,000. My dress was one of the nicer ones I had looked at, and it was $549. And hopefully you find a shop that will do alterations and a bustle for free! :)

    Does it kill anyone else that flowers are so expensive? We got two bouquets and 10 corsages/boutonierres, and it was $400! Oh, p.s. Are you getting corsages/boutonierres for grandparents/parents? I just wonder if that’s lumped in the “bouquets” budget.

    Don’t forget to tell us about your venue! That’s one area I have no expertise because we did it in my parents yard, so it was free.

    It looks like you’re trying to involve your family in many aspects of the wedding, and I think that’s great!

    It’s funny how actually planning a wedding changes your opinion of these things. Two years ago, I would have looked at this and screaming, “MPP! Are you out of your mind!?” Now, I’m like, “Yep, weddings cost that much!” ;) Can’t wait to hear more!
    Red´s last [type] ..Difficult to Donate- Colorful dishes edition

  • http://www.citylifeeats.com Valerie @ City|Life|Eats

    Congrats on already paying over a quarter of your budget :)
    Valerie @ City|Life|Eats´s last [type] ..Semi-Traditional Panzanella

  • Hils

    Congratulations! Now tell us what you registered for! Ha! My husband and I eloped, so when I see someone else’s plans/registry it sort of makes me swoon. When we tried to plan a wedding it gave us anxiety, so we just paid $10 for the marriage certificate at the Aspen City Hall, and went out for sushi! :)

    Sometimes I wish I had dealt with a few panic attacks and had a darn wedding!

    Best of luck, you are an inspiration, MPP.

    Hilary

  • http://www.richlyreasonable.com Lauren

    I think that seems like a pretty reasonable budget. It doesn’t look like you need to much help, but one place I would have cut back on my wedding was the flowers. At the end of the extremely busy day I was saying, “what flowers?”

  • http://www.neverniche.com Clare

    Exciting! What about hair and make-up?
    Clare´s last [type] ..Glamorizing the Other Side of the Fence

  • http://moneymaus.blogspot.com MoneyMaus

    I agree that this looks reasonable depending on the number of people, and that you are WAY under the average cost of a wedding. You are very lucky that your sister can help with pictures! Can’t wait to read more! Ah, the life of a single girl who loves blogs ;)

  • jsaysa

    I think your budget is extremely reasonable. I still can’t fathom spending tens of thousands of dollars on one day. Yes, the day is important, but not as important as the marriage! So much focus and pressure is put on everyone to have this mind blowing extravaganza of a wedding without much thought on the marriage. I got married 4 years ago in Maui and the entire wedding/trip cost $9300. That included everything you can imagine. It’s not the wedding, it’s the person your choosing to spend the rest of your life with! And it’s your day, you can do whatever you like! Great job with the budget.

  • http://payingmyself.wordpress.com Jenn @ Paying Myself

    A pat on the back for you for remembering to budget for stamps! Lol

    Have you thought of getting gifts for the people who are doing services for you for free or lending you things? You might want to do a line item for that.
    Jenn @ Paying Myself´s last [type] ..Monday Money Check-up- August 30th

  • http://alwaystheplanner.blogspot.com asgreen

    How many people are you planning on having? I’ve found it is hard to interpret wedding budgets without knowing the number of people you are planning for.
    asgreen´s last [type] ..Moving Forward

  • http://hereverypenny.wordpress.com Ella

    I think this is quite a reasonable number. Like everyone said, I think it depends on how many guests you have. And wow you have having a violinist at the your wedding, we had a violinist too! :-)

    And have you found your dress yet? Coz I had $500 budgeted for the dress, but went way overboard when I went dress shopping.

    Can’t wait for the details :-)
    Ella´s last [type] ..Minimalism

  • http://myprettypennies.com MPP

    For those of you who asked, we are allowed to have 180 people, but are hoping to have 150, including the wedding party.

  • Shalonda

    As I looked at each individual item I thought, “Oh this is so not unreasonable.” Then I saw the grand total and was like “What?!!! No way that all totaled to that!!” I’m so glad that you are budgeting and planning to not go in debt for your wedding.

    I have to admit though, after seeing what those reasonable costs total up to, I’m thinking of eloping. :*( I can’t believe my idea of a $5000 means much much smaller line items. Guess it’s good I’m only dating right now.

  • http://www.ifiwereawealthygirl.blogspot.com Broke by Choice

    See if you can get a discount on your marriage lisc.

    My friend and her husband to be attended a class and got 50% off.

  • http://payingmyself.wordpress.com Jenn @ Paying Myself

    For 150 people, you might have under budgeted for food/drink. That’s only around $10/meal per person and hardly any liquor. That being said, you might know something we don’t know about the venue/food/liquor plans. I look forward to putting everything in context!
    Jenn @ Paying Myself´s last [type] ..Monday Money Check-up- August 30th

  • http://www.homelesspennies.com Penny

    A friend of mine made her invitations and after 3 nights, it only cost $250 (including the stamps). Not sure what your specific plans for that was, but here is her post about it: http://missimade.blogspot.com/2010/07/wedding-invitations.html

    Also, I’ve been to three weddings where people used iPod’s and their own Speakers, here is what happened at each of them to help you out as well!
    1) Small venue, had a person manning the iPod at all times (there were no gaps in the songs), speaker quality was great; they did an excellent job.
    2) Speaker quality was great; decent song choices but there wasn’t a designated person on the iPod. This led to people running towards the iPod and changing the song or looking for new ones (at some points, we were left with no music or poor “filler” music).
    3) Felt horrible about this one; the speakers at the venue blew a fuse and completely went out. Finally, they were able to bring in new speakers that worked alright for the remainder of the night.

    All-in-all (from my iPod experience at these 3 weddings); test the speakers and make sure they work with the venue and are high quality. Have a person designated to the iPod the entire night (or have friends/family offer to take shifts) and have songs ready for every person and floor event!

    Thanks for sharing and good luck!
    Penny´s last [type] ..Sunshine &amp Thunder vs Cycling &amp Running

  • http://jessiesmoney.blogspot.com/ Jessie

    Our budget is looking like a total of around $13,000 …and we’re sitting at 120 guests or so *eek*

    Fiance just about had a annurism (spelling) looking at the numbers
    Jessie´s last [type] ..August Spend Report