How'd you do on your budget?

natyasa

to the Knotties who got married - how did you do on your budget?

Dead On?
Went Over?
Under Budget?

Do some of you feel brave enough to share details on the budget breakdown?
It would really help some of us in planning to know what to realistically expect (at least for me!).

ErikaandChris32009

We were a little over budget. I have a breakdown in my bio.. We had a budget of 10,000 and when it was over, we spent right over 11,000. We don't regret spending a penny!

fallbride1109

I don't know that we went over exactly--it's just that the budget that we initially started with wasn't realistic for our type and size of wedding (hotel ballroom/140 ppl) so we quickly adjusted it.  None of us had any idea what things cost but it didn't take long to find out.

Venue and food will be the biggest costs.  The Knot has a good checklist to start with. 

Mine was
Venue/food 40% (this included our rental fees for the ceremony and all catering, bar, linens, etc.)
Flowers 8% (most budget calculators say plan on around 10%)
Photographer 15% (we had a high end photographer)
DJ 5%
Invitations 2%

That leaves around 30% for everything else:  attire, cake, decor items, favors, accessories, etc.