Massachusetts-Boston

What does your budget look like?

Hey Ladies!

I realize that we're all working with very different starting budgets, but I was wondering if anyone was willing to share either their overall budget, or some specific budgets. 

If you're not comfortable with your overall budget, how about any of the following:
Music?
Officiant?
Cake?
Flowers?
Photog?
Video?
Food?
Booze?

thanks!

Re: What does your budget look like?

  • edited December 2011
    All in all our wedding will cost around $22,000. We originally planned on a $10k wedding (HA!) but that didn't work out so basicalyl what we did was estimate the max we could save each month times the number of months we could save and worked around that. It seems to be working well so far.
  • edited December 2011
    Our total wedding budget (including my dress, which my grandmother bought me) was $10,000 and we've managed to keep it right around there. I think we let ourselves go over just a little bit because we included the other things people payed for, such as the DJ and my dress, so we splurged on a few important things.
  • edited December 2011
    We don't have a "budget" it's more of a let's see what the prices are, pick something in the middle range, but still nice plan.
    I've tried getting a budget to work with, but no one really has one. Not in an unlimited kind of way, but my grandparents just want to make sure we do get what we want within reason.
    EDIT:
    We have a few things so far:
    DJ-950
    Dress-1600 (mom paid not my grandparents)
    Venue- Looks like it's going to be 17k with food
    Photographer- We're only paying for the acutal photos. (A family members friend is doing the shooting for free)

    Also, the wedding is in western MA which (I think) makes it a bit cheaper.
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  • Shazzie116Shazzie116 member
    First Comment
    edited December 2011
    Music? Gifted from friends
    Officiant? Friend - made $250 donation to church
    Flowers? $1450
    Photog? $2000
    Video? $300 - had a college film student
    DJ - $800
    Reception? Included food, champagne toast, cake, linens, tax and gratuity ~$12K
    Booze? in-laws covered, not sure of the total, I think ~$5k
    My dress - $400
    Accessories, underthings, shoes, veil - ~$300

    We were lucky that both sets of parents offered to help us out, so in total the wedding & honeymoon came to about $25,000

  • edited December 2011
    Haha budget! We tried to stick to one. It's prob. going to make me sick if I total this up but here it goes...
    Music? DJ..$3,000
    Officiant? by the time our church is said and done (donation, music, etc.) close to $2,000
    Cake? included with venue
    Flowers? $3000-$3500
    Photog? about $1,500 without album. Album is around $1000
    Video? We got a great deal on this $1,400
    Food? With gratuity and everything I'm guessing close to $24,000 (depending on number of people)
    Booze? Our package includes one hour open and bar and wine service with dinner. Haven't decided if we are doing anything beyond that.
  • edited December 2011
    Ceremony & Cocktail hr music: $250
    DJ: $700
    Photog: $2400 (includes engagement session)
    Video: $700
    Flowers: $2000
    Cake: $500
    Photobooth: $2000
    Lighting: $ $1100
    Venue: $23k (includes extra time, ceremony fees, food and liquor, and other incidentals)
    Dress: $1200 plus alterations (Aunt paid for this)
    Officiant: $0... my aunt is a JP and is doing the ceremony for us

    Our total budget is about 40k (not including honeymoon)
    We are very fortunate that my mother is covering the Majority of that.
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  • noodle_oonoodle_oo member
    First Comment
    edited December 2011
    Music?  $900 for 4 hrs (DJ, Curtis Knight Entertainment)
    Officiant?  $150 (JP)
    Cake?  Included in package, Konditor Meister
    Flowers?  About $1200, including delivery (My Personal Florist, Reading)
    Photog?  About $4000 including an album (Leah Haydock, we LOVE her and I think we got a really good price)
    Video? $1300 (2 camera fully day, raw footage only)
    Food?  About $14K for the package
    Booze?  Planning $2K for consumption bar, beer and wine only, for about 80 guests
    Dress:  $800 + $200 for alterations, maybe another $300 for accessories (they add up!)

    We were hoping to keep our budget around $20K, but we definitely are going over.  It just all adds up!

    Oh and if you want a budget, try the knot budgeter.  You can put in what you want to spend total and it divides it up to give you an idea of how much is typical to spend on each category.  Then you can put in your own estimates as well.
  • edited December 2011
    Dress: $800 plus alterations
    Venue: going to be around $15k (inlcudes ceremony fee, cake, DJ, food, hour of open bar, linens, etc)
    Photog: $1200
    Ceremony/Cocktail hour musician: $400
    Traveling Hair Stylist: $325 for entire bridal party
    Flowers: $1500

    In the end it is probably going to be about $20K...
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  • cdlnmfcdlnmf member
    First Comment
    edited December 2011
    Music? We're having a friend do this and although he said it would be free of charge we are still giving him around 200-300 for a "tip"
    Officiant? 300. Ridiculous. I mean, now I feel like we spent way too much for what we are getting; but we already signed the contract so, whatever.
    Cake? included with the package.
    Flowers? the centerpieces are included in package, but for my bouquet, 4 BM bouquets, and the guys little things it came up to 300.
    Photog? around 1500
    Video? not doing it.
    Food? well, the venue with food, the included items, and the linens and everythng else with the tax was about 8,000
    Booze? we're just doing wine which is included ^

  • edited December 2011
    Here are the rough numbers from our wedding:

    Music - $1600
    Officiant - $25 license fee (our friend officiated)
    Cake- $350
    Flowers - $1500
    Photog - $2000
    Video - $1000
    Food - This was wrapped in with our venue costs which probably totaled like $7000
    Booze - $1000 (only cocktail hour was open bar)
    Dress (+ alterations + veil) - $1700

    We probably totaled something like $17000 in the end, our initial budget being $10000.
  • edited December 2011

    In total, our wedding will cost around 30k and that is with honeymoon and rings. Our reception will be about 20k. Within that 20k, open bar included, cake included, food is included- for around 180 people.

    Flowers will be around 2500
    Limo is around 800
    DJ is 800
    Acoustic guitar group for ceremony- 550
    Officiant is free- wedding at a synagogue

    Photog is a friend of mine and she is charging us 1k for everything. Her services, on the market, would prob be around 3k
    Videog is free

    All the other costs go towards my attire (makeup/hair), wp gifts, rings, honeymoon, etc.

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  • edited December 2011
    Music? DJ $1,500
    Officiant? $200.00 donation to church
    Cake? $630.00
    Flowers?$3,500
    Photog?$5,000
    Video?$2,100
    Food? reception venue about $21k includes, food and top shelf open bar liquor
    letterpress invites: $600
    Dress: $1,600
    Transport: about $1,100 for Trolley and Rolls Royce
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  • edited December 2011

    Ok here goes!  Def ended up way over what we originally had estimated, but hopefully it will all be worth it in the end! It is a work in process, but here's what I have for estimates as of now...

    Music - DJ, 1100
    Officiant - 250
    Cake - included in venue package but I think it's around 800
    Flowers - 2300
    Photog - 2900
    Video - 1200
    Venue- 25000 (rough estimate based on price per plate * estimated # of guests).
    Booze - Future in laws are paying - I'm guessing around $7K or so
    Cigar Roller - 500-700
    Lighting - 950
    Favors - 600
    Dress - 1100


    I think once all is said and done we'll be around 20% above what we had originallly estimated.  Good Luck!

  • edited December 2011
    Rockstar - who is your travelling hair stylist?
  • edited December 2011
    Ugh I am actually disgusted to even post our budget. We WANTED to spend no more than 15K... but we also wanted things a certain way.. so we are WAY over that... . here we go.

    Music? $1275
    Officiant? $350
    Cake? included by venue from Montillios but they told us if we'd been paying it would have been around $850 for 4 tiers with fondant.
    Flowers? $2300 (this went WAY over budget but long story shore our venue includes short centerpieces from two vendors. One was cheap and a total b*tch. One was awesome and pricey. we went with him and upgraded half the free shorts to talls)
    Photog?$4300 including all day coverage, album and guest book.
    Video? around 1800- I cant remember off the top of my head
    Food? we are paying $108 a head but that included all hor 'devours, centerpieces, chivari chairs, hotel room, limo, cake, open bar for an hour and a half and a few other things. We are having about 170 guests....
    Booze? see above.
    Dress? 1200
    Jewelry/shoes/flower? 300
    Day of Beauty? 300 with trial

    plus theres still gifts, favors, hotel bags, decorations etc etc etc
    We are lucky that about 1/3 was given to us by our parents.. which really made all this possible.

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  • edited December 2011
    I have been married to long to really remember exactly what we paid, but here are price ballparks from an October '08 wedding on the Vineyard...

    Music? $600.00 ceremony music, $1000 DJ
    Officiant? $2500.00 to the church
    Cake? $800.00, plus $6 per person cake cutting fee
    Flowers? $8k, includes set up, table styling, moving fees and gratuity
    Photog? $3500, plus $500 for the rights, $500 for the cd
    Video? nope
    Food? approx $30k once you factor in fees and upgrades (well not including $5k site fee)
    Booze? $3k, we got to bring in all our own since it was a dry town

    Other things not covered here that we paid for include limos, guest transport, rental of the room for our family and WP at the inn, hair, bridesmaids/gm gifts, wedding bands, hm, shoes/accessories, linens, table and chair rental, tent rental, decor besides florals, gratuities etc...
  • edited December 2011
    Ours, when all is said and done will be around $15000. 
    Our venue package included our invites, limo, champagne toast, centerpieces, dj, linens,  2 bottles of wine at each table for dinner, cake and wedding coordinator for $41/pp, and then add on the cost for the meal of $33/pp.  We nixed the limo since we have access to 2 bridal suites to get ready day of and got a $250 credit.

    Onsite ceremony fee - $500
    Officiant $575
    Bouquets $700 -$1000
    Cocktail hour room $150
    1 hr open bar for cockail hour - $1200
    photographer $2500
    video $1300
    rehearsal dinner/cookout $500




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  • edited December 2011
    We paid around 15k for everything, including honeymoon.  I can't remember the specifics but here goes my try:
    Music?  $600
    Officiant?  free -- pastor is also a family friend
    Cake?  $300
    Flowers?  $600
    Photog?  $1500
    Video?  nope
    Food?  for everything at the venue it was about $8k, including food and drinks.
    Booze?  Included in above
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  • edited December 2011

    Our budget was about 15K (w/out honeymoon, RD, rings or gifts) and ended up right around 22K.  Our parents helped us out a bit, about 1/4, which we are very thankful for.  Oh and we're having about 200 people.

    Here is an estimate of how we're spending everything.  I gave you the names of who we used in case you're looking for some budget-friendly vendors :)

    Music? DJ $2,500 (my big splurge - Nu Image)

    Officiant? $100 (family friend who is a JP)

    Cake? $350 (caterer gave us a sweet deal, no pun intended!)

    Flowers?$1,000 (for 20 centerpeices/9 bouquets/13 bouts/2 corsages/arbor flowers for ceremony was $950. - Lyndsey Loring Design.  Doing cocktail pieces myself with local flowers)

    Photog?$1,100 (8 hour coverage/all proofs touched up in Hi-Res on a CD, plus Rearsal Dinner shooting) Julie Surette Photography - she rocks

    Video?$750 for edited DVD, Dave from Waves, got him during a sale

    Food? Reception total (including chairs since we had to rent those) for apps/dinner/sit fee/rentals/bartenders, etc, is coming in right around $12,000 for the Stevens Estate and A Day to Remember Catering

    Dress: $650, Maggie Sottero that I fell in love with was a steal!

    Booze: $1,500 - For cocktail hour, consumption based.  We wanted to do beer and wine all night, but just bought a house and some unexpected expenses came up.  So cocktail hour only and possibly a wine pour w/dinner.

    Transport: N/A We're staying at the mansion the night before/getting ready there the day of.

    Day of Beauty/Shoes/Alterations: $500

    Invites:  $200 Did these myself and bought all the cardstock/pocketfolds during cards and pockets sidwalk sale.

    JEESH.  Weddings are so expensive!

  • jkeprosjkepros member
    First Anniversary First Comment
    edited December 2011
    Music? We hired an acoustic guitarist to play at the chapel before the ceremony & during (processional & recessional), and to play during our cocktail hour at the reception venue.  So for 2 hours of playing, it was $400.

    Officiant? We hired a lawyer who's a JP.  His fee was $150

    Cake? We did not have a wedding cake.  Instead our reception venue menu included 3 desserts: 2 cakes and flan!  So it didn't cost us anything extra.

    Flowers? We got a bridal bouquet, 5 corsages, 5 bouts, 1 large arrangement for the bar, and 8 small arrangements for the church/pew ends.  Our flowers were: peonies, orchids, calla lilies, pin cushions and other tropical foliage.  I think we spent about $950

    Photog? $1900 for our main photographer for the day; $150 for the 2nd photographer to take photobooth pics for the night, and $150 for the 3rd photographer who took pics at brunch the next day.  All included CDs with hi-res copies of the photos.

    Video? did not do

    Food? We rented out a restaurant and had an all-inclusive package.  It was a Spanish tapas restaurant and our package included a 15 tapas menu (including cocktail hour & dessert choices), open bar for the entire event, and set-up of the tables, etc.  I don't want to give the EXACT price here, but I'll say it was in the $15-20k range (including gratuity, tax, & fees).

    Booze? included with our reception package--no additional fee

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  • edited December 2011
    StaceyC828 - I'm using Grace Mahoney. Her company, Blushing Brides, has a facebook with all the info. She also does makeup.
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  • edited December 2011
    HAHAHAH Budget thats a good one... We started by saying oh were only going to spend around $20,000.00... Well months later were already over $30,000. 00 and still not done spending

    Music? $ $1200.00
    Officiant? $ 300 then a $150 gift/ Organist $175.00 then $50 tip/Alter boys(xs 2) $30
    Cake? $350. to add things on to the cake included in package
    Flowers? $3500.00
    Photographer? $2299.00
    Video?$1900.00
    Food? over $21000.00
    Booze? haven't decided which way to go yet
    Chairs? $1500
    Dresses (x2)? $2000.00 +
    Hair/make-up day of and trial?  1st trial $200 second trial/ day of $240
    transportation? limo & bus around $1000.00
    invites? included in package
    Honeymoon? around $ 2500.00
    Gifts for girls (x6) & FGs (x2)? $ 1000.00
    Guys gifts & Fathers? $600


    And the list goes on and on
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  • edited December 2011
    Music- $450 ceremony, about $2500 band
    Officiant-$400
    Cake-included with food
    Flowers-$2000
    Photog-$2800
    Video-$500
    Food-$15,00
    Venue fee-$8000
    Booze-$4,500 (but by consumption, this is the estimate the venue gave)
    Dress-$1400
    DOC- $500

    UGG, we are spending so much it just makes me sick!
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  • edited December 2011
    Music:  $2,100 (DJ for ceremony, cocktail hour, & reception)
    Officiant: $25 (having FI's cousin officiate, this is just the fee to the Governor's office for the one-day marriage designation)
    Cake: $700
    Flowers: $3,300
    Photog: $2,700 (+$1,600 for photobooth)
    Video: n/a
    Food: about $12K
    Booze: about $3K (bringing it all in ourselves)
    Venue Fee (includes renting out the whole B&B for both Fri & Sat nights (inc RD on Fri), brunch on Sunday, all table/chair/tent rentals, and owner to act as DOC): $8500Dress & Accessories: around $1K
    I think that's the big stuff...ughhh it really is sickening when you see it all in print! Sigh.
  • ebigelowebigelow member
    First Comment
    edited December 2011
    Ceremony Music - String Trio - $475
    Reception Music - Jazz Trio for cocktail hr and 8-piece band for reception - $6750
    Officiant - $150
    Cake - $675 for 4 tier cake
    Flowers - $3000 for my bouquet, 6 bridsmaids bouquets, 2 mothers' bouquets, 1 grandmother corsage, 11 bouts, 2 altar arrangements, aisle petals, 6 tall, 6 short, 6 "other" centerpieces, cake flowers, 9 cocktail tables
    Photog - $4500 for 7 hrs coverage, 2 photographers, engagement session, CD with full rights to high-res images, album
    Video - $1250 for 6 hrs
    Food - $12k for 160 people
    Venue - $8k rental fee
    Booze - $5k includes open bar for 4.5 hrs including champagne toast and tableside wine service at dinner
    Transportation - $700 for 7 hrs of 55-person motorcoach
    Paper Products $1300 for STDs, invitations, programs, menus, placecards, table numbers, stamps
    Gown - $1500 including alterations & veil
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