Colorado-Denver

Real Cost of Wedding? Anyone willing to share what they paid for theirs?

I've read all the averages and tried to check prices at several venues but still don't feel like I have a grasp on what an actual wedding costs. Is anyone willing to share what the final total for their wedding was? Please include the number of guests. I know it varies depending on many factors, I just really want to know what a normal persons wedding costs rather than what they show in all the bridal magazines.
Thank You!!

Re: Real Cost of Wedding? Anyone willing to share what they paid for theirs?

  • We paid about $9k for 170 people.  I have to throw in the caveat though that I did a lot of DIY and we did not have a lot of fancy stuff.  Don't get me wrong, we had fun, had more than enough food and drink, but we didn't do a lot of extras.  

    I happen to think most of the "extras" are a racket and unnecessary.  Still holding to that even after the wedding. Laughing
  • We're budgeting about $15K for 100 guests.
    Anniversary
  • Our budget is < $12,000 for around 120 people. Our venue is the Golden Hotel. We will be serving appetizers and dinner and cocktails. 
  • Our budget is/was $10K for about 150 people.  But actually it looks like it will be about $11,500.  This includes dinner with no appetizers, and does not include church or photography.  And no silly extras like chair covers.
  • 10K for 100 people in Vegas.  Venue, penthouse reception, dj, open bar for 5 hours, dinner, cocktail hour, cake, dress, tux, flights, hotel, all day photography, videographer 

    I DIY'd a ton of things (invites were pocketfolds, all the flowers for WP, reception centerpieces, favors, programs, jumping broom, birdcage veil, gifts for BM's) to save money and it turned out great!!!

    $700 for photography is a really good price and fairly cheap compared to what you could be paying.

    You definitely don't have to break the bank to have a beautiful wedding day!!
  • I'm so thankful for all the feedback I've gotten, I was really ready to just not have a wedding because I was feeling so discouraged. My main concern right now is finding a venue and I'm hoping it will be easier to move forward from there.
  • I am on a tight budget as well!  Our venue is going to be Mt Vernon Event Center in Golden and its really beautiful there.  It is nice because alot of stuff just comes with the rental.  They have really nice centerpieces you can use and just put candles in or somthing like that.  There price per head is 17.50 or they have an even cheaper menu for 14.50 or even 9 dollars depending on what you wana feed people.  We are going with a sunday wedding in November which we found to be alot cheaper also!  I am now trying to work on flowers.  What do you guys think about wedding favors??  Is it a necessity??  I haven't been to that many weddings and the ones I have I don't even remember there favors/
  • In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/local-wedding-boards_colorado-denver_real-cost-of-wedding-anyone-willing-share-paid-theirs?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Local Wedding BoardsForum:59Discussion:c878a8ea-05d8-4197-a8e7-905b06d02b04Post:5ccfb5e5-5179-47f1-8ae7-35d5a5c05596">Re: Real Cost of Wedding? Anyone willing to share what they paid for theirs?</a>:
    [QUOTE]I am on a tight budget as well!  Our venue is going to be Mt Vernon Event Center in Golden and its really beautiful there.  It is nice because alot of stuff just comes with the rental.  They have really nice centerpieces you can use and just put candles in or somthing like that.  There price per head is 17.50 or they have an even cheaper menu for 14.50 or even 9 dollars depending on what you wana feed people.  We are going with a sunday wedding in November which we found to be alot cheaper also!  I am now trying to work on flowers.  <strong>What do you guys think about wedding favors??  Is it a necessity??  I haven't been to that many weddings and the ones I have I don't even remember there favors</strong>/
    Posted by msrocketz[/QUOTE]

    If you can afford them do them but only if you want to.  Not a big deal if you don't and many get left behind or just thrown away anyway.  I would skip the, but that's JMO.
  • I'm also trying to figure out a cheap way to do this, but so far venue plus alchol, labour, and food seems to be around $16,000+. How did you do it so cheaply? Help! I just finished school and things are REALLY tight, but I'd still like a celebration, feed people, and have a good time.
  • EmbarassedI started out wanting to spend about $15K thinking we would have 100 people and really elegant setting and food/drink.  I allowed myself to get sucked into thinking that I just "had to have" this or that.  We are older and, though this is second time around for both of use, neither of us had a formal wedding (just courthouse marriage ceremony) the first time.  I fell into this "it's just another $300 " mindset and it's been damaging tot he wallet.  I am now up to about $23K for that 100 guests including a dance performance at the wedding reception - culturally significant to my Indian future husband ($1400), live musician at the pre-reception ($150), special lighting in the reception space ($450), soup course ($350 extra) added to dinner, late night snack that was the FH idea ($680), two extra small cakes (to deal with allergies and food problems with a bunch of guests - $120),  a day of coordinator because I am losing my mind over all the details ($800 - probably not worth it), future husband's crazy expensive wedding suit for him and BM ($950 - way more than my gently used dress at $200) plus a bunch of DIY decor projects that cost a ton of money that I should not have spent.  Yeah, I blew the budget.  If I had it to do over, I might just go to the courthouse again! Embarassed
  • We are paying 50$ per guest at the restaurant (40 people), so it will be 2000$ ! Plus the cake ($150) and we can bring our own alcohol. We don't have to pay for a space rental, just for the food, and for the live band. It's all included.
    For 50$ per person we get 10 cold appetizers, 4 hot appetizers and 2 dinner entrees.

    For the whole wedding *without the engagement ring* and honeymoon we are paying about $7000, which I personally think is great. If the guests will give us presents as money to cover the reception plus alcohol the whole wedding will cost us about $4500.
  • sweetjadedtears could you pass among the name of your photographer and baker? We have been trying to find some worth reasonable prices but the cheapest cupcakes I've found are 4 per person and photographers more then 1600. Any suggestions would be great. Thanks
    Wedding Countdown Ticker
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