Budget busters

cnf2013

I got sucked into a post on another board about budgets. A few of the girls were talking about how one of the first things you do when  you start planning is set a budget, but how a lot of people have no idea how much things actually cost. This was very true for us. Anyone else not realise how expensive some things were going to be?

The price difference between vendors too was astounding to me. We went with an expensive DJ- it'll run us about $1000 for the ceremony, cocktail hour, reception and uplighting. There was another DJ we considered who was only $400. We knew a great DJ was important to both of us though. We saved on a photographer by going with an up and coming girl. She was about a grand under the averge in my area, which is about $2500 and up. It's just craziness. We also "saved" on our venue. And by that I mean we went with the cheapest in price out of the three we considered, but it is by no means inexpensive. The total bill should come in somewhere between $12-15k depending on how many extras we decide to toss in. 

Where did you ladies splurge and where are you saving to compensate? 

anastassiiat

We are saving on our venue, we live in MA about half an hour north of Boston, but we went to NH because things are cheaper there. We are also doing a Sunday wedding since the catering minimum on Sundays is 2K cheaper compared to Saturday. We will be doing non-flower centerpieces, and we will be using budget friendly STDs and invitations (I'm thinking of using vistaprint for both). I splurged on my dress a bit, it is a designer gown, but that was one of the things that is really important to me. We are also using a more expensive DJ and a pianist, since that is something FI wanted to be inolved in. Overall we are looking at around 20K for the whole wedding (and probably around 5 K for the honeymoon - we really want to go to Hawaii), which considering our area is not too bad.  

sssdee

HA! I found it impossible to make a budget right after getting engaged because I had NO clue how much things cost.
Now when I'm slowly getting pricing I laugh at how apparently unrealistic my budget is for my area and what we want.

My budget is a work in process. Once I get to knowing what various costs are and then what I want to spend I go from there. It's a ridiculous amount regardless though.

What I am doing those is some DIY stuff to save some money which will be a big plus. I don't mind putting in some hard labour to reap the savings and be able to spend elsewhere

NikishaMcFall

Budget was a huge thing for us.  It's one of the main reasons why we're going with my dad's backyard.

That being said, we didn't realize that even using his place was going to get expensive with rentals and such (tent, chairs, tables, etc.).  I'm doing a lot of DIY to help offset costs (I decided yesterday to make my own table runners, napkins, and isle runner) and I'm trying really hard to get good deals (like the $27 sheers and all those lanterns I got for sale).  I also got a designer dress, but it was a sample sale, so I saved a ton of money there. 

I guess in the end, we haven't set a strict budget, but we want to get the best deals.  We want to stay around 4K for everything.  We have about 2.5K left, and we only need the photographer, officient, caterer, and centerpeices.  I'm thinking we'll probably go a little over

bar10521

I tried to make a budget when we got engaged but it turns out I have no idea what things actually cost around here. I had originally thought I could do it for 5k and boy was I wrong. I'm spending a ton on the food (7.5k). Otherwise things weren't too bad we got our DJ really cheap, our venue was the cheapest we looked at, and our officiant didn't update his prices online so we're being grandfathered in and he's not charging us the rate increase. Otherwise we're DIYing the save the dates and invites (unless I win the contest on FB then I get $500 in invitations free!) & centerpieces and not providing any alcohol at the wedding. I know that's frowned upon but it's something we'd rahter cut out to make room for other things. I'd love to stay under 20k total. 

lodonnell616

We fell in love with an expensive venue, so basically that really dictated how we ended up budgetwise.  We both have good jobs, no debt (seriously none no credit card, no car payments, no mortgage).

Since we were asking so many to travel from out of the country (we'd have to do this no matter what because we do not live in a country either one of us is from), we wanted to make it special.  But we also didn't want to be responsible for the logistics of the OOT guests (i.e. if we had it in germany we'd have to help more with language/bookings, if we had it on cape cod where i really wanted to we'd have felt obligated to get them out there).

I've kept some costs down: almost 1000 under budget for my dress, only having a maid of honor, pared down ceremony decor, and cupcakes instead of wedding cake.

And to answer your question, I didn't expect to ever spend this much before...but after 6 months of being engaged and getting into planning--I've come to terms with it.

ashlidie

Oh the budget...

Well for the most part we are not too too far off.  I am staying under budget for the dress and venue, but the lump sum catering (rentals, food, gratuity, everything) is slightly higher than I wanted (by like $1000, not a HUGE deal but will definitely feel it).  The thing that really broke the budget is our photography.  I majorly splurged on that.  I originally wanted to spend 1k on photography, BUT my taste is apparently more expensive.  I was finding ones in that range but I was just unhappy with them.  Slowly I looked more and more and started realizing I wanted $2500 quality.  SO I am paying about that for my photog lol.

ktwed1

I was able to cut my florist budget down because my venue includes floral centerpieces and they use fresh flowers. My venue has saved us alot. They charge per plate with no actual rental fee. It includes all tables, chairs, linens, and table ware. We can BYOB and that will save us on costs for alcohol. I'm splurging on photography and cake was more than I planned on spending. My FI decided he wanted a grooms cake. We'll probably be about 2 grand over what we originally planned.

blferguson1s

I'm the treasurer of my fraternity but hate wedding budgets. Go figure. We really haven't set anything concrete, but I'm trying not to be too ridiculous. We're for sure saving on photography because it's free. Our DJ gave us a $150 discount because we bowl with him so I think that's around $5-600, though I honestly can't remember. I'm pretty sure we're going to do flowers ourselves which should help.

My biggest cost is going to be our venue package. This is going to sound crazy, but we don't know how much it's going to cost. The events coordinator is new to the venue and was working on getting new packages put together that should be done this week. However, we're sure it won't be too outrageous since my mom's stepsister owns the place.

emilyb213

Ugh, our venue is definitely our biggest splurge. My fiance decided he really wanted to get married outdoors, and when we went to visit the venue we ended up choosing, we both fell in love with it. The rentals are wrapped into the total price, and it's just ridiculous (over 5K, I think). However, the venue's caterer is affordable, the venue is BYOB, and we're saving in other ways, like going with a less expensive DJ and photographer and DIY-ing some stuff, so we'll be saving there. I keep telling myself that it will make up for the fact that we spent an extra $1000 or so on the venue.

cnf2013

Ferg, we also don't have a concrete budget. We're looking into the price range of the various aspects then picking out things on the less expensive end. It seemed more difficult to set a rigid number than hope to find everything to fit under that price umbrella. Especially since we had no idea whta to expect as far as prices go. All said and done I expect we'll spend somewhere in the 17-20k range. 

sopraffina

The only thing we really did cheaply are my shoes, invitations, and possibly my dress. I'm going dress shopping at a bridal shop on 9/1 and David's Bridal on 9/2. Our photographer is only $1200, which I thought was a good price considering her quality. We chose the cheapest options from the cheapest caterer our venue allows, but I think the quality is there.

I've decided against the chiavari chairs and overlays and given up the dream of having a band and a trolley, though I'm still contemplating buying lottery tickets.  I'm still splurging on the peonies!

Anordo

Before we were engaged I thought I could pull off a 10k wedding of my dreams. Haha! We are far far beyond that. Some things are a little less expensive while others are way more expensive than I assumed. We are paying for it ourselves and don't have a set budget, but it still makes me sick spending this much. It's the honeymoon I'm worried about. My FI is fine spending for the wedding but the honeymoon is going to be expensive too. Are you supposed to figure the honeymoon into the wedding budget? Sigh. Maybe I should start honeymoon shopping now!

belle7fl

I originally thought my budget was going to be a lot less then it seems it has to be. I quickly found out that weddings are much more expensive then I thought. For instance, my number one choice venue starts at 50k! That's five times what I wanted to pay for everything. Our venue is still over my original budget but it includes pretty much everything and I'm sure I will be adding things. I got lucky and my mother offered to buy my dress and all the stationary and my grandfathers girlfriend is paying for the cake. I might DIY my flowers depending on what quotes I get. We actually got decent deals for our DJ and photographer considering what we get for the price compared to what others in the area charge. I will probably splurge on the little things like accessories since its the little things that make it special to me.

andrealmay

Oh the budget!!!

Wow, I had no idea what weddings really cost and how they manage to add up so quickly! Well we wanted to spend around 15K - 17K. However it looks like we are closer to the 20k - 25k mark. Our venue was really important so we spent more there but tried to keep the menu as simple as possible to cut on costs. Our DJ, Photographer, Videograpther is by far the biggest splurge. Its a total cost of 6K! I know thats a lot (eeekkk!) However, that is the memory we are going to have the most of and they are the ones that will capture it for us so it can last a lifetime. Everything else we are cutting costs, our cake we are doing a small cake to display & cut and having sheet cake in the back Flowers we are trying to keep mainly silk flowers to cut costs and centerpeices we are only using silk petals & candles. All the glasses for the centerpeices I was able to find at a discount so thats great too!

But wow this is all really expensive, it will be totally worth it in the end tho!

AllieS421

We splurged a little on our photographer in that they were more than we wanted to spend but are still affordable for what they include: 2 photographers, all-day coverage, engagement session, all images of engagement session/wedding on dvds with print releases, 100 "guest prints" to be handed out at reception, and a 600 print credit all for $1800. We are saving on our venue since we are getting married in Central Illinois where FI grew up instead of the Chicago-area where I am from and where everything is 3X the price! My dress was right in my budget luckily too. I'm also DIY-ing a lot as far as centerpieces and church decorations. Hopefully, the rest of this planning process goes as smoothly as it has been!

ariddle22

I'm so stressed about the budget! Like most of you, I really had no idea what all of these vendors would cost before I was engaged, but now I'm seeing it much more clearly.  I also am finding it difficult to enlighten my mom and FMIL on these costs...

I worry that I'll be so stressed about the cost (e.g. knowing how much I'm spending on photography, so worrying on the day of that the photographer isn't doing a damn good job) that it'll overshadow being happy.  I'm generally a neurotic person, so I'll probably just have to grow into accepting that I can't change anything come 6/22/13.

ashbeth06

We have an amount we'd like to be under originally. We based this on my cousin's wedding just a couple months ago. Now I know it may be difficult to stay under. We priced rings today and the one the fiance picked was over $1000!  We splurged on photography and venue,which are most important to us. We were able to score a deal with the DJ. They went down half from their original asking price.

I think you just have to be happy with what you are spend at the end of the day. I plan to do some DIY and my MOH is doing all our paper items for the wedding, which is helping her build her design portfolio.

FutureMrsPrice2013

Maybe I'm missing something but I don't see the point in spending 10K on one day. We are keeping the guest list between 60-70 but really we only need 50 people for the buffet dinner we are having. Our big splurge is my bouquet and our cake

amontano13

My FI and I are trying to stay around 15k. So far so good Our venue was $800 cheaper then we thought & photography was $400 cheaper! Hopefully I can stay within floral budget