Budget

becky1106 · April 2010

What are peoples average budget or total spent on their weddings. Im looking to create mine and wonder what is normal! THANKS!

corinne2010 · April 2010

Knowing what people's budget is not necessarily going to help you with yours. You should create a budget based on what YOU can afford, not what others have budgeted. Some people are getting help financially from family members. Our budget is $30K. That may seem high to you, but we have family members helping out. Try using the budget checklist on The Knot. I am using that and it's really helped.

emily1004 · April 2010

They say the average wedding is around $27K. I think it has gone down a little since the economy took a hit. Last I saw it was around $22K. Some brides spend a lot less and still have a beautiful wedding. Others splurge and spend $75K and up. It all depends on what you want, but don't over extend yourself. Do only what you can afford. I wouldn't want to start my marriage off in debt because of my wedding. There are tons of ways to save by picking the right vendors and negotiating a little. The girls on this board are a wealth of knowledge. Good Luck.

Plus.... Please tell us a little about yourself!

*Rebecca and Chris* · April 2010

We went a good $5,000 over budget, which was awesome.

But your budget has to be based on whatever you can afford, everyone's will be different. To figure out ours, we looked at how much money we have left every month after mortgage and bills. From there, we just took about 75% of it or whatever we were comfortable with, then multiplied it by how long we were engaged. We got lucky and my parents offered up a certain $$ amount, which was great because we didn't want to ask any parents for money, so that was a good surprise. We wanted to make sure we could afford it ourselves in case they had to back out for financial reasons. Don't have a budget that will put you into debt, it isn't worth it for one day.

boogerbearoriginal · April 2010

Our budget is $500,000,001,000,020.10.

Ok seriously not our budget, but what we can afford has no bearing on what you spend. I think this is where people go wrong - they start off saying I am going to budget $25K because that's the average but they don't have $25K.

Start with what you/FI can afford to spend. IF parents offer to contribute - its a bonus. Otherwise, your budget is what you/FI can pony up yourselves.

mybestfriendsfuturemrs · April 2010

WOW! Erin, Can I come to your wedding??? I'd love to see how you spent all of your money!

Umm, but yea, our budget was 18K but we've knocked it down by about $5K. We're paying for it all ourselves (sigh), Even if we had financial help I would still see us spending the same. It's all determining what is most important to you. The most of our money is being spent on the reception (obviously) and then photographer.

Gwenwhyfare · April 2010

Ditto PP. Your budget will depend on what you can afford. Our budget is around 5K and FI's parents are contributing around 6-7K.

ETA: Our total budget (put together) is around 11-12K.

Sue-n-Kevin · April 2010

Also ditto prior posters.

YOUR budget is what YOU guys can afford, spending it on what's important for you, plus any money family members can provide in assistance. Don't expect them to input anything if they can't, or make them feel guilty if they can't.

I peeked at your bio, and your wedding is scheduled for 9/2011. You have a lot of time to save if you can.

What I am doing (getting married 8/2011) is buying up things I know I want over time, when I can find a ridiculous deal based on what I know things traditionally cost. I peruse the normal stores (Michael's, Joann's) and websites. I stop when I see a "going out of business" sign, like I did for a local Michael's and florist.

I also opened a separate savings account with my state refund and a bonus from work. That's for the mega things like caterer, DJ, photographer, so if I need to give them a deposit, I am not strapping my finances to do so. As I can transfer a small amount from my checking or primary savings account into the "wedding account", I do so.

We expect the total budget to be around $5K for 100 people. The costs will probably be more or less, but not by a lot.

Hope that helps.

caitm730 · April 2010

We budgeted $25,000 and we are currently at about $32,000 (about 180 guests). The average for our area (Rochester) is like $40,000. Our parents are paying for everything except the rings and the honeymoon, so they can afford a lot more than FI and I could if we were paying for everything ourselves.

thecatsfancy · April 2010

We didn't have a budget. Seriously.

Instead, we put each aspect of the wedding in a spreadsheet (DJ, flowers, cake, photographer, favors, etc) and decided what we wanted to spend on each. If we ended up spending more on something than we wanted to, we just decreased the $$ of something else.

It worked for us...we don't have a single cent of wedding debt. *shrug*

boogerbearoriginal · April 2010

Taryn, I would consider that a budget. Its not like you just went out spending money all crazy-like without planning.

thecatsfancy · April 2010

Hmmm...I suppose. I guess I should have said, we didn't have an overall budgetary amount. I honestly have no clue how much everything cost. I could add it up if I wanted to, but I don't really want to.

boogerbearoriginal · April 2010

Don't add it up Taryn, it'll just make you depressed. Just bask in the debt-free glow of ignorance.

thecatsfancy · April 2010

Exactly. That is what I plan to do.

becky1106 · April 2010

Thanks for all the help/advice! Im new to this message board idea so I have no clue what I'm doing!!

micheaux · April 2010

Budget.. What's that ? No really, I hate budgets and estimates because they are just that estimates.. It throws me off ! Because regardless of what you want to spend on something, if that price doesn't really exist than what's the point. I suggest that you start calling vendors and finding out how much things costs, once you have an idea of that you should be able to figure out what you are willing and able to spend on what. After I received a reality check on how much weddings actually costs I talked to my Dad and said we can afford 1/3, my mom and FI's mom can pitch in, can you take care of the Venue (since that's the most $$) I had my budget

. Initially it started off as 30k, its grown to about 38k

. Which is due to an increase in the guests since initially we had only an estimated number of guests..

GL

LindsayTiz · April 2010

We tried to start with a budget, but I sort of did what Taryn did. We are figuring out what we REALLY want to spend money on, and making that a priority first. Things that aren't that important to us are getting the cheap-o way out of things. I think with 300 guests, we'll end up spending around $25,000. ARGH!!!!

You know what really makes me crazy about that? My sister jusbought a $35,000 house! Just think for $10k more, you could have a home!

Budget

Re: Budget

Choose Another Board

Search Boards