Budget Stress... Pulling out my hair!

CarolinaGirl17 · June 2011

Our budget is set at $15,000-$20,000. I went through wedding websites looking at budget help. What are good amounts to spend on your wedding? We are so stressed because we either go over our budget or we don't but were missing things. Please help.

beautifullyblessed11 · June 2011

Wow, you have a pretty good budget IMO. You can do a lot with that budget. I am fairly new to posting around on the boards so hopefully another member will provide a good breakdown. I believe that on average at least 50% of your budget goes toward reception and food. My next most expensive item is photography, which will be about 20% of my budget. Of course each individual case depends on what a bride (and groom) values the most for her wedding. Flowers can mean a lot to some brides and they splurge on those but some brides rather spend more money on a very nice DJ and lighting. If you are a crafty person and have the time, you can do a lot of own, which can sometimes save you money.

These are my two cents.

aleighk1 · June 2011

You have a very decent budget for a NC wedding. My budget is $6,000 and here's the breakdown.

Dress: $600

Flowers: $300

Photography: $1500

Paper: $180

Ceremony: $350 (venue, officiant, accessories)

Catering: $1000

DJ: $400

Alcohol: $500

Cake: $300

Gifts: $250

And then there's $250 or so for little stuff we've forgotten to add into our budget.

My advice: Find websites that do budget estimators

http://www.costofwedding.com/index.cfm?action=costest.index

That one has a pretty good breakdown I think. Just shop around and see what you can get for the price.

MBS0310 · June 2011

I would say with that you can pretty much do whatever you want. (of course it is possible to go over, way over! And spend way less!) We have of budget of $10000 but are trying to stay well under that so that we have some extra leftover for the honeymoon and IMHO I think its crazy to spend so much on one day even though its my wedding, there are ways to make it nice without spending our life savings. First figure out how many people you are looking to invite. That will make a difference in venues and also depends on how much you can or want to spend on food. Make a list of what you truely want and dont want or need. Use the tools on here to help you, they are very good! Don't worry you can do it! HTH

tarheelbabs · June 2011

Google docs also has a budget function that's fairly easy to use and lays out most of the things that you would think about spending money on. Our biggest ticket item was the reception, but that was driven by the number of people we invited and who accepted--215. Since we had a dinner, that drove the cost up, but we had decided that was important to us, and given several factors in our lives, our guest list necessarily was going to be fairly large or basically just family.

I do think it's tough to keep to your budget--kind of like an addition to your home--so it's smart to build in an allowance for overage. I wouldn't have a budget that goes to the limits of your finances. I think that's a recipe for disaster. In our case, about the only things that came in right at budget were the rehearsal dinner, the wedding planner, and the flowers. Most other things varied in one direction or another.

Beth0882 · June 2011

Similar to what PP says, we started with a budget of $20K but immediately subtracted $2000 to act as an overage category, so we really went and budgeted $18000 for everything else. I am pretty sure we used that $2000, as little things we were not expecting came up (like tips, forgot to add those!) Pick whats most important to you -- do you have anything set already? -- and start from there. We picked the venue and photographer first, then catering, and went from there.

laurenes · June 2011

theknot.com has a good budgeting tool (it's under the "my knot" section). You type in both the amount you want to spend and the number of guests you're having, which is important in figuring out budget. Keep in mind though, that it does not include rehersal dinner or honeymoon, so if you're including that with your budget, you are going to need to subtract out a few thousand dollars.

We used the knot as a guideline, but went under on almost everything but the photographer and the reception hall (our contract included food, service, open bar, space, and tables, and we can RIGHT to the limit). It was good that we went under when contracting everything because as we drew nearer to the wedding some things ended up going up.

Also, make sure you shop around, then shop around more, then shop around more. I remember when I first started looking up photographers, it seemed like there was not one good one to be had under $5000. Finally we were able to find great photographers under that, and I've seen some recommended on here that have taken lovely pictures for around $1000. My budget was a bit over $20,000 and it seemed like a challenge at first to get everything to fit. If you poke around the boards you can find much more reasonably priced vendors then google will pull up. Also, when you look at the knot break down, while some numbers you'll see will seem way to low, others you'll think are way too high. For instance, where we were getting married, we didn't need any transport or parking, so that cut out several hundred. All of our stationary was printed at home, I halfed my knot dress budget, etc, which gave me more wiggle room on things like flower. Don't worry, you have a generous budget, as long as you're not trying to invite 300 people it will all work out.

shigaites · June 2011

We only had a budget of $7000 so I wouldn't sweat it

CarolinaGirl17 · June 2011

Thanks everyone. I think I saw the prices of everything and I kinda freaked. The most important things are venue, dress, and dj. If you have any other advice feel free to leave it. I need all the help i can get!

NcsuPsych · June 2011

Yeah, our budget was 5k and we came in around 4,500. You just have to go through and make a list of 'MUST HAVES' and then if you REALLY want the other stuff and can afford it, go for it.

Psssst. The most important thing is the Marriage

. I know what you mean though. Lol.

We're all here to give advice. Some ladies are still planning and some are married and have already gone through all the ropes. If you have a question, feel free to ask!

busybeeandme · June 2011

MEW-Designs.com works with any budget for flowers. Check her website. I was amazed at what she can do!

Budget Stress... Pulling out my hair!

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