How much is your wedding costing you?

Rainbow17 · December 2010

I always heard that the average wedding costs $30,000. My wedding is far exeeding that number... and the funny part of that is I'm not even having a ceremony, only reception with cocktail hour. This is the breakdown of my costs so far:

-Getting married in Miami, FL
-250 Guests (which is relatively small for an Indian wedding)
-Getting food outside catered to have Indian food

$30,000 for forkage (use of ballroom space) plus 5 hour open bar
$8,000 for Indian food outside catered

Don't know how much anything else costs... I'm scared to even think about it considering that I'm already at almost $40,000. I'm saving $ by having a private ceremony. I'm not having a bridal party, so no bouquets. In fact, the only flowers I think I'll need is for the centerpieces. If I can get away with nice cheap flowerless centerpieces I'll take it! I assume all I will need for decor are table centerpieces, candles, and uplighting. Do I need flowers for decor for anything else?

I haven't even thought about the wedding dress and jewelry/accessories/hair/makeup. Where else can I cut corners? I know I still need to find a photographer/videographer, DJ,stationary/invites, and cake. As much as I would love to have a planner, I am trying to find a way to cut costs.

How much is your wedding costing you and what is the breakdown of the costs (make sure to specify how many guests and where you are having it)? Thanks!

Moonstar713 · December 2010

Really what you need to do is prioritize, what are the things that are an absolute necessity for you and what are things that really, you can do without. I am having about 100 and my total costs is about $10,000. But I am not having a video and I won my photography. I am also using the same space for the ceremony and reception, I'll have the chairs lined up in the middle for the ceremony and then moved to the tables that will be on the sides (some may think its a little tacky, but I am saving hundreds in doing it this way). I am doing the wedding outside during the day so I don't need lighting and my dj is an old friend that basically is playing music off of a laptop, songs I will be picking out from my laptop and other recs from him or family. My caterer is about $4000, which includes the food, utensils, equipment, service, setup, cleanup, bar and bar equipment. I am also having my aunt do the cake so thats another few hundreds I am saving. My dress I bought from a knottie for a REALLY good deal. I am also cutting costs in like all the trinkets that are used in the wedding like toasting glasses, cake serving set, sign in book And for CP's I am doing small ones and I also have a very small wedding party so no need for a lot their either. I am basically spending about $1000 on it. As for you maybe an arrangement at the welcome table might be nice. HTH

Krysta6 · December 2010

I am honestly no where near knowing my final budget but what I want to spend is 35,000 for 100 people.

But I'm not sure I'm going to reach that since it looks like I'll be paying approx:

$25000 for the venue + food and drink

$5000 is how much the photographer I love charges

I have to get a tent, flooring, possibly tables, flowers, uplight, video, photobooth, and anything else that comes up along the way.

So I'm assuming it will be closer to 40,000 not even including my dress.

Ugh budgets make me feel sick

twinkle82576 · December 2010

My budget is under $10k, for 50 guests. We're having our ceremony, cocktail hour, and reception at the same location.

The location, including all the food and drinks, tables, chairs, basic linens, services, etc. was a little over $4k.

My photog. is an old friend who owns a photography business, and she gave me an amazing package for an unbeatable price... which I won't share.

My cake is a gift from a co - worker of mine who has a bakery business on the side.

My dress was a gift from mom, as well as the toasting flutes.

I'm not having video, and I'm almost 97% sure I'll be doing my won flowers.

I know for sure that once all is said and done, it will be under $10k.

RU3234 · December 2010

Mine was under 13k for 95 people. I had a photo booth and videographer which were my extras. I went short on flowers and only did bouquets for the girls. I used floating rose petals for my centerpieces. A lot of things were included with my venue. I found my dress on a clearance rack at Alfred Angelo. For our RD, we did a BBQ in a park which was a cost cutting measure.
You need to prioritize what is important to you. What may be important to others may not be to you.

Carmene2016 · December 2010

Mine is 15k for 175 guest That includes photographer, video, venue, cake, 5 hours open bar, food, flowers everything...

Oh and the church cost me 1600.

Ladies when ya''ll big day come make sure u hold' on to your man...

Rainbow17 · December 2010

What venue are all of you hosting your wedding?

ellone400 · December 2010

10,000 for 150 people so far under budget

[Deleted User] · December 2010

i have 120-125people for 15k but i am super under.. like 13k right now. My photographer was under 2k, flowers are right at 1k, venue included food, bar, and cake was right around 10k. Church and cermony music is 600. Dj is a friend who is a real dj, but im babysitting for free for him and paying him 500.

lyndopo · December 2010

I started out at $10k and now I'm at $20k with roughly 60-75 people.

rosel80 · December 2010

We are having 50 people are spending @ 18000 for everything (food, bar, cake, phot, flowers, rentals, rings). We do not have a Videographer though

cookdt5312014 · July 2014

Bet 30-40,000 for 50 people

DoveLove1020 · August 2014

Our wedding cost about $35K and we had over 300 people using the FIU Graham Center ballrooms (all 3). I planned the entire wedding and dealt with all vendors. It wasn't overwhelming because I am a very organized and systematic person. Everything was purchased out of pocket by us from the silverware to the uplighting, waitstaff, photobooth, etc. You just have to know how to negotiate somethings if you can. It turned out beautifully! If you have any questions on any aspects of my wedding PM me! HTH!

DoveLove1020 · August 2014

Oh btw and we had the ceremony in one of the ballrooms and an open bar all night. They allow you to bring your own drinks and use and outside caterer so the dad's sponsored all the alcohol, juices, water , etc. so we didn't pay for the drinks but we did pay for the insurance to allow us to bring our own liquor and food catered by Jamaica Kitchen. We used eventhelper.com to get our liability insurance.

mstabbytab · August 2014

For 125 guests, we are at $9k. I am a event planner myself and a big DIY-selfer. My venue is the absolute most perfect modern vintage venue in the Fort Lauderdale area and we have full run of the entire 20k square footage venue and for the type of venue they are, the pricing per person is quite reasonable.

No open bar though. Since there is very small percentage of our families who actually drink, it wouldn't be cost effective for us to pay a fee of $20 per person when not everyone will drink.

How much is your wedding costing you?

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