Curious and Very Not Proper Etiquette

ootmother2

no comment but I voted

Borey*sWifey11

5000 for 150 people but we should come in under budget!

genepoolperfect

We're 20 miles out of NYC so everything is relatively expensive for us also, but we've also been planning for about 2 years, so we did a lot of things ourselves.
Reception Hall (including cocktail hour, open bar, 3 course seated meal w/ cake & centerpieces) for 150 people=13k
Vendors (Photography, DJ, Florist & JoP)=4k
Other costs (invites, clothing, rings, favors)=4k
Total for the wedding is approximately 21k

For our Honeymoon we are island hopping in Hawaii and have set aside 6-8k for that.

Total for wedding related events: approximately 27-30k

which is the equivalent of half a down payment on a house around here

nottheonlydreamer44

I'm never on this board but found this poll interesting. FI and I set our budget at $10,000 for no real reason. His parents intervened without us asking and started paying for things. We aren't using credit cards/loans either --- just kind of spending as we're going along. Our things are very set but not sure how much it will all come out to.

I'd say without honeymoon/rings/rehearsal dinner we will be around $8000 for 75 people?? I don't know I should seriously be keeping better track. Outdoor summer wedding in Cincinnati I don't think that's horrible. We will basically spend what we can afford and try hard not to go over the top.

cukimerrydoll

When we were doing the initial planning, we decided to try to stay as close to/under 15K as possible.  We wound up at about $16K. 

Our biggest budget savers: looking for deals, shopping wholesale, and not being too picky.

Favorite places for a great variety of things:
Dollar Tree: http://www.dollartree.com/
Ikea: http://www.ikea.com/

You would be amazed at how many different things you can get here!  Almost all the centerpiece supplies came from Ikea, and a lot of the vases and candle holders were though Dollar Tree.

I agree that photography is hugely important... we wound up going with a former classmate of mine who had just graduated from college, and got a pretty sweet deal.  So, if there is a school you have ties to, look into their photography students!  Chances are really good that at least a few have done weddings before.
And she was AMAZING!  I can't tell you how many compliments we had on how wonderful she was to work with.

Meagan78

We're aiming for $15 but could be closer to $17 when all is said and done.

Noethola

Mine is 3k for 280 invited guests. But we are doing it outdoors and a dessert reception. It is also all about who you know that does what. Our photographer is doing it half price as a family friend. Most desserts are coming from Sam's club and family. Reception is games on the lawn. Do bar, no dj, no sit down dinner. My dress is off the rack from a boutique at 90% off and I did the alterations myself. The cake is being done by a friend. I have done all the flowers and our decorations are mostly antiques and family pieces (very vintage.) My major expense is photographer and outdoor rentals (chairs etc.)

krys810

We're at about 19k for around 85-90people..We originally wanted to be around 15k but that quickly went out the door lol

kpwedkk

Indian weddings have gigantic guest lists, had to cater multiple meals, and decor!

Our wedding was $68k, for 300+ guests, a lunch and a reception. Our wedding was 3 hours long... we had 70% of our guest list from out of town, my wedding outfits totaled $3k... and it was a 4 day event, with multiple ceremonies starting two days before, and a reunion the day after

hallk33

Our target budget was $10,000 but that didn't include rings or the mini-moon we are taking. Overall we will spend about $12,500 including a wedding for +200 people, rings, and mini-moon. 

sabatron

Hmm... how many of you included your rings in the budget? That in and of itself seems to set people back about 5k. Ours were about $100 total with the reception/ceremony heading toward the 15k range and the honeymoon at the 2k range. I was not willing to budge much on photography (1k total) as I see us looking at the albums maybe 5 times. 

i_enander

Our budget is $35,000 but it might end up being more like $40,000 its impossible to keep it budget in NY area!!!

brittanywm

We spent a little less than 2k. We had alot of connections.

iarguello

We're doing a 8k budget for a full buffet dinner for 100. This includes everything like the photographer, flowers, cake, rings, attire, hair and makeup, accessories, decorations, license, the whole shebang except for the honeymoon- which we may not be able to afford.

jessrochford

We have a $6000 budget. It will likely be just under $6000 when all is said and done, but I am from a small town so things aren't as expensive and my parents have opted to pay some of the costs. I am a budget queen, so I won't let it go over $6000!

Scottsgirl1981

How did you stay around 3K with 160 people?

tayylor65

We didn't set a budget and we have just over a year left until the wedding but I think it'll be around 40,000  for 150 guests even with trying to keep the cost down. Baltimore County is really expensive in general though. 

Venue- $5500

Caterer- $13,000

DJ- $2000

Photographer- $2000

Dress- $2900 I got on clearance for $700 !!

Hopefully 40,000 is shooting high but by the time tuxes, flowers, stationary, etc. is thrown in it'll probably end up around there.

soon2bMrsFWed25699

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_etiquette_curious-very-not-proper-etiquette?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding BoardsForum:9Discussion:20b66b0e-bedd-43d6-9044-d0a69f578d61Post:c10a64df-d089-46e3-883e-716fc927c5de">Re: Curious and Very Not Proper Etiquette</a>:
[QUOTE]Wow, do these under $10K budgets include photography, music, rings, hair & make-up, etc?  That's really good. We are right around $20K I think for 75 guests.  Boston is really expensive.  But we did splurge on a few things like our photographer was $3500 (totally worth it) and having a videographer for $1300.  But I thought we did pretty well.
Posted by noodle_oo[/QUOTE]


I agree Boston is ridiculous. We're getting married on the Cape and even there it's as expensive. We're planning on spending around 20k. Our venue with food (no booze yet since it's based on consumption) is already at 10k. But I don't have a written budget (parents are paying...and won't give us one).

Calypso1977

pretzelgrll, we opted to have our reception at a restaurant, in a private function room, rather than a glitzy "venue".  this saved ENORMOUS sums of money, adn we had way bettter food than the usual country club or hotel food.  when you pick a fancy venue, you pay alot for the name and the pretty location rather than good food.

Cleo7

We're having 85 guests and we're in the $5K to $6K range.  FI and I have spent around $3K, our parents are covering the remainder of the costs.

That includes:  caterer, alcohol, officiant, photographer, flowers, decorations, tent, venue, rings, attire and accessories, attendant gifts, mini-moon, marriage license, hair, make-up, music and cake.

FI's grandmother gave us her engagement ring, our officiant and photographer are friends of the family and gave us discounts, I bought my dress used, and we're doing a lot of DIY projects.  Having a casual wedding in a relatively inexpensive part of the country helps, too!  We would have preferred to do something MUCH nicer for fewer people, but realized early in the planning process that wasn't an option.

alehayes

Ours is around 3k (not including the honeymoon).  We're paying for it ourselves.  We're doing a LOT of DIY.

christyhal

We are budgeting (and currently on track, hope it stays that way!) for about 20K for a max of 150 people.  This is our total for everything including HM.  FI and I are paying for the whole wedding ourselves.  Since we're halfway between Philly and NYC, and things have the potential to get *really* expensive in our area, I think we're doing pretty well...we're doing a lot of DIY.  Like PP said...wedding costs are *SO* regional...

M1ssJ

I'm trying to stay at 30K including honeymoon for 300 guests, sigh

Lenore2010

We had a DW, and spent around 12K on 15 people. Crazy, indeed but it was a lot of fun and we did not go into debt for it. Our original plan had been to spend much less, and we are ordinarily very frugal people and good about such plans. In the end, though we decided to go with virtually everything we wanted.

rachpass

Right now we are looking at $35k. It makes my brain hurt sometimes but we are having 200+ guest (we both have very large families and huge group of friends), but thankfully both of our parents are chipping in. I am very grateful for their help because otherwise I have no idea how we would do it. Living in a big city definitely doesn’t help the budget either!!

HKD817

Our budget was set at $20k....but we are looking at $31k

I'm not as good at budgeting as i thought i was

MichelleS1717

For our wedding, with 22 guests... we have a budget of $7,500 CAD




M.

malleys

Our budget was for 10,000..and somehow luckly for me Ihave only spent about 2000..not includeing the venue as well we havnt got there yet, But so far the estamate is at 3500 including the ceremony,food, and everything else. we found an awesome venue that if you spend 1500 on food everything but the ceremony is free, so our ceremony is 800 the rest is food, bar tender, severs all the linins everything we need for free, It was awesome. I'm excited about staying on budget and even under, i really thought we would be way over.  YAY!!!

HCollins7940

Our budget started at about 10K... but now that it is closer, we are looking at about 13k. But at least this includes our rings and the honeymoon!

mstroud23

Our budget is 5k. That's 120 guests, chapel, special permits, dress, rings, tux, invites: pretty much everything. We haven't finished paying (as we still have plnty of time) but, we're starting to run dangerously close to our max.