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Reasonable budget? Planners worth it?

rickypotashrickypotash
in Georgia-Atlanta
Hi, all this wedding stuff is getting overwhelming.  It's hard to know how much it's all going to cost.  Some venues offer some amenities we want/don't want and we'll have to fill in the gaps with outside vendors, venue permitting.  But once we sign with a vendor, we're sorta locked in and will have to hope we can fill in the gaps within our budget.  In lieu, I would like to ask a 2 general questions that might ease my worries or point me in the right direction:

a) We're getting married in January and we expect 250 guests.  The venue must be entirely indoors.  We need a mix of American and Korean food catered.  Is a budget of $25k reasonable?  If not, where might we cut costs without sacrificing

b) Professional wedding planners are rumored to possibly save you money overall run through their vendor discounts.  Is this reasonable or an exaggerated sales pitch? Could hiring a planner save me a headache without breaking my budget?  How much wedding "fanciness" might I have to sacrifice if the planner costs cut too much into the budget?
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Re: Reasonable budget? Planners worth it?

  • annetastic071710annetastic071710 member
    100 Comments
    edited December 2011
    $25K is defintely a reasonable budget for what you want as long as you don't want to do an expensive inside the city venue. You're right, everything hinges on what you pick for your venue. In our experience we picked a really expensive venue and then we had to kind of skimp on other stuff because the venue was the most important thing for us.

    I don't know about general wedding planners. No one I've know on TK uses them. A bunch of girls are using "day of" planners. Meaning, they might call all the vendors the last week to confirm and then they are they on the day of the wedding making sure everything goes as scheduled.

    I didn't want a planner because I care about every detail, from what the salad looks like to how the centerpeices block/aid converstation. Now if you don't care about all that stuff, just have someone do it for you. At this point I am dealing with so many vendors, I feel like having a planner would just make it more chaotic!
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  • cutypie953cutypie953 member
    Fourth Anniversary 500 Comments
    edited December 2011
    I agree a lot with what annetastic said....

    1. As far as the budget goes, $25K is definitely a nice budget to get you what you need.  I felt overwhelmed also and I can tell you some things I learned:
    -90% of the time brides go over budget, sometimes by a little, sometimes by a lot.  There are always these extra things you never budget for so factor in an amount for random things you didn't budget for originally.
    -make a list of all the big expenses-dress, venue, caterer, paper products, florist, photographer, etc. and decide what is most important to you.  Ever bride is different, some care about having a dynamite photographer while others can do with a small photography package and want to go all out with lighting and decor.  What is important to you?  Budget it that way.  We were like pp, I was all about the venue, so, we spent a huge chunk of change on that but got a smaller photography package, a little cheaper dress, etc.  A few things to help here-the more you make, the more you save.  I was quoted a price of $10 an invite and learned to make the exact same thing for only $4 an invite and people raved about them.
    2. As far as the planner goes, I was just like pp, I wanted to be in control of ever detail.  I am a detail-oriented person and although it was more work, I knew exactly how everything was going to be.  My venue had a planner included in the cost (which a lot of venues do) and she was a HUGE help!  Anything I needed, she was there, so, I wouldn't hire a planner until you see what your venue has to offer.  If the planner seems to know a lot of vendors and, like mine, said "get the flowers wholesale and I'll just set up the centerpieces!", then you may not need one.  I can tell you I never missed having one for a minute.
     
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