How much did you spend on...?

[Deleted User] · July 2011

So I am trying to put together a budget from our April 2013 wedding. We are having about 80 guests. Our tentative budget is about $20K but i don't know how realistic this is since I don't have any idea how much things costs. Here are my question marks for costs:

DJ or band

Photographer

Videographer (or was this included with photography?)

Make-up/Hair (for the entire bridal party day of)

Bridal Luncheon

Thanks so much!

NcsuPsych · July 2011

I think that depending on your venue, 20k is MORE than enough. However, that's just my opinion

We had a 5k wedding and had about 60-70 people show up.

DJ - 750 total (with tip) (I believe, I could be a little off here)

Photographer - DH grandfather is a great photographer and he offered to do the pictures.

Videographer - FIL had a a video camera and so one of my BM's FI offered to record the wedding. However had that not happened, we just wouldn't have had a video. It's a nice thing to have, but hiring a videographer wasn't in our budget. We probably would have put that money to a photographer anyways.

Make-up / Hair - For me (make up and hair), my MOH (just hair), little sister (just hair) and mom (just hair) : the cost was around 200? So not too bad at all IMO. Plus I love the salon where I got it done at, which was a bonus

We didn't have a bridal luncheon. We did however go to get our nails done / have a girls night, the Thursday prior to the wedding. That was around 150 I believe. I didn't include that in our wedding budget though because it was a last minute extra fun thing to go do.

pirategal03 · July 2011

DJ or band - about 5% of our budget - we had an organist at the ceremony and a string quartet at the reception

Photographer - about 17% of our budget, photography was a main priority for us and I don't regret that for one second

Videographer (or was this included with photography?) - didn't have one. I hate watching videos of myself (I also don't regret this decision)

Make-up/Hair (for the entire bridal party day of) - I paid $65/person for updos. Everyone did their own makeup.

Bridal Luncheon - didn't have one of these either. It kind of slipped through the cracks.

I think your budget is realistic. I found that the budgeter on wedding wire was much more helpful than the one here. You can put in your number of guests, and attendants and your max budget and it helps you break things down. We ended up adjusting a lot of things (like video $ moving to photog) but it was a good starting point.

jennieweaver1 · July 2011

DJ- 450
Photographer- 1700- Big expense for us, but the photography is super important and high on our priority list!Videographer (or was this included with photography?)- We aren't having a videographer, we don't really have the room for it in our budget and honestly feel like the pictures and the memories will be enough for us. Also like PP I HATE watching videos of myself, haha.Make-up/Hair- My makeup/hair is 100, bridesmaids are 50 for updos.Bridal Luncheon- We aren't doing anything fancy for this. We rented a house for all the girls and myself on the water and are having a great spread of bagels, fruit, cheeses, etc. to just relax and start getting ready.

ChickenOnSunday · July 2011

I used the wedding budget on Martha Stewart's website. I found it very helpful to keep tabs on what I was spending.

Astrid821 · July 2011

It really does depend on a lot of different factors, which I'm sure isn't what you wanted to hear. But if you go into it think that you have $20k but are still looking to get a great deal on things then I think you should be set. We're expecting about 100 people and have a $20k ceiling as well and we're doing just fine on budget.

Astrid821 · July 2011

Also keep in mind that your venue and food will usually be the biggest chunk of your budget.

We will be paying about $10,000 between the venue and the food (not including the bar, for which I totally recommend doing only beer and wine.) Man, just thinking about spending that much money on food and a place to party kinda gives me a panic attack....

Beth0882 · July 2011

We had a wedding for 150 people and spent about $21K so you can definetely do it. We spent approximately:

DJ or band -- $900 (tip included)

Photographer -- $6000 (this was our splurge)

Videographer -- $350 -- ceremony only, last minute decision

Make-up/Hair (for the entire bridal party day of) -- I paid for mine only, $100 for both on site. I think she charged $75/hair, $25/makeup for each person who chose to have theirs done, but I didn't require it.

Bridal Luncheon -- I paid for manis/pedis for each girl (6 bridesmaids) and brought Panera in for lunch during the treatments and spent about $400.

Venue -- $2500, incl tables and chairs

Caterer -- $7500 -- incl linens, dishes, and alcohol -- again, this was for 150 people, so twice as many as you would have.

I added some you didn't ask for, but thought I'd show you where the bulk of the money went! The rest went to dress, decorations, invites, etc. I think final total was $21K, and honeymoon cost is NOT included. Good luck!

YoungDuo · July 2011

We're inviting around 170 (200 including family and bridal party) and expecting 140-160 to show. We've spent about $8000-$8500, $10000 if you include the invites, reply cards and thank you cards (we did DIY from Michael's) and my dress ($1000 with shoes, veil and bustle).

Photographer: $3000
DJ: $650 (he's usually $750/4 hours but I got the family/friends rate)
Hair: I have a friend doing it so it's $25/per person but I'm not requiring it
Reception: $3500 including food (heavy hor'doerves) , alcohol (wine and beer) and the location. We're doing it at the Hilton so nothing has to be catered in which can save a lot of money depending on the type of meal (buffet, sit down or hor'doerves) you want to do.

Videographer: We're not having one but that's just our preference
I'm having a bridal luncheon thrown for me by a family friend but I will do something like manis/pedis for my BM.

Basically as long as you're willing to look around and interview a few different vendors for each area, you should easily be able to keep it within your budget. I've had ample time to talk to 2-4 of each vendor and I'm planning my wedding in 5 1/2 months. Good luck and congrats!

britzer152 · July 2011

You can always ask for a lower rate!!! So ask!! And cut things you dont really need, At our venue, I cut the champagine tost (people just used the drinks intheir hand, the peti fours (spelling??) because we had cake and we only had one option for dinner (but really 2 because we listed chicken and vegetarian on our rsvps). This saved us 18 per person!!!!

Use just wine and beer...that helps a lot too....

DJ or band- $750 including a slide show (we sent him pictures and he put them together)
Photographer- $2500

Videographer (or was this included with photography?) we have a friend who does videography and he did it for free, would have just had someone hold a flip cam at the ceremony if not...and having 2 flip cams the morning getting ready was so great, I had one and my husband had one. Such great memories!!

Make-up/Hair (for the entire bridal party day of) I paid $125 for my hair trial and day of. I didnt pay for, but because I was getting mine done, my BMs got theirs done for $45! each. Makeup was from a friend who does it professionally, but I would totally reccomend getting it done. A lot of the April brides SWEAR by airbrush and say that the expense was totally worth it.

Bridal Luncheon- we did a lunch after nails the day before for moms and girls. I paid for 3 of the girls nails (part of their gift) and everyone else paid their own. Lunch was at olive garden- soup and salad. I think it was like $100 for like 13 people. Limiting it to soup and salad was perfect because it was a nice lunch still and I could predict the cost.

our venue was $7,000

We had 100 people and a $20k budget. I stayed under by like $2,000. I slurged a bit on my hair and nails and I purchased the makeup that the MUA used on me.....

AnnieK1980 · August 2011

Hi!
My wedding is in Raleigh in 2 weeks and we have spent about 25,000, and have 75 people. Our band is 1000-, photog 1300-, and I found a lovely friend of the photog to do our hair at my house for 50/head. My whole philosopy to our small wedding has been quality over quantitiy, and I know you could do wonders with 20k for your wedding. Just shop around, and trust that even vendors that are new to the business, and may not charge as much, will work to please you more!
good Luck,
Anne

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