Spin off : What can you get for where you live - Wedding

britneydel · April 2015

Wedding in Manitoba, Canada.

We're still 5.5 months out, so some costs aren't final yet as it depends on our final guest count.

Guest List: 125 invited

Invitations/STDs: $240
Officiant (Justice of the Peace): $50 + mileage fee
Venue (Outdoor ceremony, indoor reception- includes tables, chairs, linens, rental insurance and bartenders for the night): $1,425
Catering (Catered bbq-style food): $16.50/per person, so roughly $2,000
Cake (cupcake cake + top cutting tier): $300

Photography (Recently graduated photography student- 8 hour coverage + engagement shoot): $2,000
My dress: $620
My shoes: $150
FI Tux: Possibly free. He supposedly won a free tux rental from a wedding show that we went to last year. Going there tonight to see what it's all about.

DJ (7 hours of music + a 3 piece light show): $445 + $50 mileage fee

Most of the other costs I can't think of at the moment, or haven't been planned out yet.

LadyMillil · April 2015

Rural Ontario, Off season wedding, Saturday evening dinner and dancing reception

Budget was $18,000. We ended up spending $17,300

Invited 120 (Attended 74)

Venue: off season, rental fee waived - included everything except decorations, DOC included

Decorator: $1200 (off season discount)

Food and Drink: $120 per person (full open bar, 3 course plated meal, poutine bar for late night snack, tips included)

Cake: homemade, cake cutting fee waived

Officiant: $300

DJ: $800

Photographer: $2000, ended up paying $1300 because she broke the contract

Invitations: gift from BIL (graphic designer), postage <$100

Flowers: $800 (3 bouquets, 2 corsages, 5 bouts, 10 centrepieces)

My outfit: $1100 (dress, veil, accessories, alterations)

DH outfit: $200

Travel to/from Ontario: $1600

MUA (4 women) and hair (3 women): $250 - friends of BM, came to my mom's house so we could avoid the salon prices

WinstonsGirl · April 2015

We got married in Hawaii. A good friend of mine got married in Cuba at an AI for about $6000. That totally pushed us over the edge into having a DW, so it would much cheaper than at home, cos I really don't see the point in spending a lot on 1 day.

Waikiki, 40 people

Venue: Included ceremony, reception, tent, Hawaiian guitarist, flowers, luau show, leis, linens - ~$8700

Food and Drink: $1600 open bar (lots of slushy drinks) and ~$1500 for dinner/dessert/appies

Cake: $300, I think

Officiant: $250

Photographer: $5000, cos we brought them with us

Invitations: ~$400

Flowers: included, my and MOH bouquet, centrepieces (5), 4 parent leis, grooms lei and brides lei

My outfit: $2000 (dress, alterations)

DH outfit: $600 (bought a suit cos there was nothing to rent)

MUA and hair (me and MOH): $300 - friends of BM, came to my mom's house so we could avoid the salon prices

Wedding itself - $19 195

Add in travel there and back, hotel, HM time, WP gifts (we took them and their SO's on a shark dive in Hawaii) and RD for WP/SO's and immediate family, welcome bags and some other things I'm sure I've forgotten, and I'm sure we were about $25 000. So much for a cheap wedding.

classicalandedgy · April 2015

I don't now the exact breakdown at the moment, and as the wedding is not until July, it will probably change but in CT for 65 people in a museum with two entrees, passed apps, wine beer and sparkling wine and dessert $13,000.

thisismynickname2 · April 2015

khugs15 said:
I live in Chicago and had my wedding downtown.
- Guest List: 80

- Invitations/STDs: Designed for free; ordered on Snapfish (STD) and printed at Office Depot (invites) for maybe $40ish a set.

- Officiant: $400

- Venue and Catering Package (includes booze, cake, linens, all services, escort cards, menus, small floral certerpieces)" $12k base plus taxes and gratuity; came out to around $15k

- Photography (8hr coverage, 2 shooters, plus engagement session): $3K

- Florist- used fake flowers and were created by my mom: $30ish?

- Dress: on sale $350, alterations done by mom; jeweled headpiece (no veil) $150, shoes $120

- Professional hair, no professional MUA: $100 a head

- DJ: $1600

-No additional transportation for anyone since we used a hotel next door to the venue; bridesmaid dresses were choose-your-own (one wore something already in her closet)

Edit to add: DH spent a lot of money on his attire because he considered a nice new suit an investment. We bought nice gifts ($100 per person) for our wedding party and didn't have an RD. For Chicago, coming in around $20-$25k range is pretty cheap; we choose to throw all our money into food, booze, and entertainment and scrimp on the rest. We couldn't have afforded any more than $25k, so to have a large guest list or any element more lavish, we would have had to get a venue in the suburbs instead.

pinkcow13 · April 2015

NYC here. I don't have the exact breakdown but I think it is around $40-45K. All inclusive venue, which was great. What really killed us were the flowers. They came out to be around $5K because we could only work with one of 3 vendors. Now the good thing is, they are doing all the decorations for the ceremony, cocktail hour, and reception. Set up and take down. I will be taking care of the personals because I thought the personal bouquets were way too expensive. DJ was the best deal. $2500, and it includes DJ (I think it even be 2 dj's), MC, uplighting, and photobooth. Honestly it sounds like a lot of money (Because it IS), but the average NYC wedding is around $75K, so I think we did well on not going overboard.

KatWAG · April 2015

thisismynickname said:

khugs15 said:
I live in Chicago and had my wedding downtown.
- Guest List: 80

- Invitations/STDs: Designed for free; ordered on Snapfish (STD) and printed at Office Depot (invites) for maybe $40ish a set.

- Officiant: $400

- Venue and Catering Package (includes booze, cake, linens, all services, escort cards, menus, small floral certerpieces)" $12k base plus taxes and gratuity; came out to around $15k

- Photography (8hr coverage, 2 shooters, plus engagement session): $3K

- Florist- used fake flowers and were created by my mom: $30ish?

- Dress: on sale $350, alterations done by mom; jeweled headpiece (no veil) $150, shoes $120

- Professional hair, no professional MUA: $100 a head

- DJ: $1600

-No additional transportation for anyone since we used a hotel next door to the venue; bridesmaid dresses were choose-your-own (one wore something already in her closet)
Edit to add: DH spent a lot of money on his attire because he considered a nice new suit an investment. We bought nice gifts ($100 per person) for our wedding party and didn't have an RD. For Chicago, coming in around $20-$25k range is pretty cheap; we choose to throw all our money into food, booze, and entertainment and scrimp on the rest. We couldn't have afforded any more than $25k, so to have a large guest list or any element more lavish, we would have had to get a venue in the suburbs instead.

I had a wedding on a Saturday night in Downtown Chicago, in 2012. We spent about $130k not including HM and rings.

Guest List - 275 (230 attended)

Venue; $9k just the rent the space.

Officiant - $500

Photographer - $3,500 for two people

Videographer - none

Catering - $52k. 10 passed apps, soup/ salad combo and filet/ sea bass plated dinner. This also included upgraded chairs, plates, wine glasses, etc

Alcohol - $3k, we bought it ourselves and brought it to the venue.

Dress (with alterations, shoes, headpiece) - $4k, alterations were about $500

Hair & Makeup (just me) - $350

Suit, shirt, tie, shoes - $500

Rings - mine 3,500 his: $1,200

Flowers - $7-8k

Invitations and postage - $4k (another $500 for STDs)

Dessert - $2k

Band - $7k

Marriage license - $65

Honeymoon - $12k. Thailand.

Wedding planner: $10k

amelisha · April 2015

KatWAG said:

thisismynickname said:

khugs15 said:
I live in Chicago and had my wedding downtown.
- Guest List: 80

- Invitations/STDs: Designed for free; ordered on Snapfish (STD) and printed at Office Depot (invites) for maybe $40ish a set.

- Officiant: $400

- Venue and Catering Package (includes booze, cake, linens, all services, escort cards, menus, small floral certerpieces)" $12k base plus taxes and gratuity; came out to around $15k

- Photography (8hr coverage, 2 shooters, plus engagement session): $3K

- Florist- used fake flowers and were created by my mom: $30ish?

- Dress: on sale $350, alterations done by mom; jeweled headpiece (no veil) $150, shoes $120

- Professional hair, no professional MUA: $100 a head

- DJ: $1600

-No additional transportation for anyone since we used a hotel next door to the venue; bridesmaid dresses were choose-your-own (one wore something already in her closet)
Edit to add: DH spent a lot of money on his attire because he considered a nice new suit an investment. We bought nice gifts ($100 per person) for our wedding party and didn't have an RD. For Chicago, coming in around $20-$25k range is pretty cheap; we choose to throw all our money into food, booze, and entertainment and scrimp on the rest. We couldn't have afforded any more than $25k, so to have a large guest list or any element more lavish, we would have had to get a venue in the suburbs instead.

I had a wedding on a Saturday night in Downtown Chicago, in 2012. We spent about $130k not including HM and rings.
Guest List - 275 (230 attended)
Venue; $9k just the rent the space.
Officiant - $500
Photographer - $3,500 for two people
Videographer - none
Catering - $52k. 10 passed apps, soup/ salad combo and filet/ sea bass plated dinner. This also included upgraded chairs, plates, wine glasses, etc
Alcohol - $3k, we bought it ourselves and brought it to the venue.
Dress (with alterations, shoes, headpiece) - $4k, alterations were about $500
Hair & Makeup (just me) - $350
Suit, shirt, tie, shoes - $500
Rings - mine 3,500 his: $1,200
Flowers - $7-8k
Invitations and postage - $4k (another $500 for STDs)
Dessert - $2k
Band - $7k
Marriage license - $65
Honeymoon - $12k. Thailand.
Wedding planner: $10k

Thinking about spending that much money makes me want to cry. Can't believe how expensive stuff is in some areas.

ShesSoCold · April 2015

Downtown Chicago:

Guest list - 33 (50 invited)

Venue - well known downtown highrise restaurant - no additional fee other than food & drink

Food & Drink - About $8,000. We had top shelf bar and an expansive cock-tail style spread

Photographer - $200. Friend of the family gave us a great price due to circumstances. I also sent him a $100 gift card and plan to order a lot of prints.

Dress - $700. My mom paid for that.

Hair & makeup - $100 + 100 gift card since it was friends

~100 spent on parking passes for guests

I think that's it. No florist or DJ or transportation.

The same budget in northwestern Montana would have given us:

Guest List - 50 invited

Venue - $2,500. Small bar/restaurant on top of a mountain. Included $1,000 fee to operate the ski lift.

Food & Drink - $3,500 for top shelf open bar and cocktail style reception

Invitations - $75. Etsy template and local printing shop

Photographer: $2,000 - 7 hours

Rental condo for 8 days - $1,800

Again no florist or DJ or transportation. Except the ski lift.

ETA: Forgot to mention my badass Etsy brooch bouquet. $700. Crazy expensive? Yes. Crazy awesome? Yes.

thisismynickname2 · April 2015

KatWAG said:

thisismynickname said:

khugs15 said:
I live in Chicago and had my wedding downtown.
- Guest List: 80

- Invitations/STDs: Designed for free; ordered on Snapfish (STD) and printed at Office Depot (invites) for maybe $40ish a set.

- Officiant: $400

- Venue and Catering Package (includes booze, cake, linens, all services, escort cards, menus, small floral certerpieces)" $12k base plus taxes and gratuity; came out to around $15k

- Photography (8hr coverage, 2 shooters, plus engagement session): $3K

- Florist- used fake flowers and were created by my mom: $30ish?

- Dress: on sale $350, alterations done by mom; jeweled headpiece (no veil) $150, shoes $120

- Professional hair, no professional MUA: $100 a head

- DJ: $1600

-No additional transportation for anyone since we used a hotel next door to the venue; bridesmaid dresses were choose-your-own (one wore something already in her closet)
Edit to add: DH spent a lot of money on his attire because he considered a nice new suit an investment. We bought nice gifts ($100 per person) for our wedding party and didn't have an RD. For Chicago, coming in around $20-$25k range is pretty cheap; we choose to throw all our money into food, booze, and entertainment and scrimp on the rest. We couldn't have afforded any more than $25k, so to have a large guest list or any element more lavish, we would have had to get a venue in the suburbs instead.

I had a wedding on a Saturday night in Downtown Chicago, in 2012. We spent about $130k not including HM and rings.
Guest List - 275 (230 attended)
Venue; $9k just the rent the space.
Officiant - $500
Photographer - $3,500 for two people
Videographer - none
Catering - $52k. 10 passed apps, soup/ salad combo and filet/ sea bass plated dinner. This also included upgraded chairs, plates, wine glasses, etc
Alcohol - $3k, we bought it ourselves and brought it to the venue.
Dress (with alterations, shoes, headpiece) - $4k, alterations were about $500
Hair & Makeup (just me) - $350
Suit, shirt, tie, shoes - $500
Rings - mine 3,500 his: $1,200
Flowers - $7-8k
Invitations and postage - $4k (another $500 for STDs)
Dessert - $2k
Band - $7k
Marriage license - $65
Honeymoon - $12k. Thailand.
Wedding planner: $10k

I feel like we should be Exhibits A and B for how to go all-out and how to be low budget in Chicago. So many options!

KatWAG · April 2015

thisismynickname said:

KatWAG said:

thisismynickname said:

khugs15 said:
I live in Chicago and had my wedding downtown.
- Guest List: 80

- Invitations/STDs: Designed for free; ordered on Snapfish (STD) and printed at Office Depot (invites) for maybe $40ish a set.

- Officiant: $400

- Venue and Catering Package (includes booze, cake, linens, all services, escort cards, menus, small floral certerpieces)" $12k base plus taxes and gratuity; came out to around $15k

- Photography (8hr coverage, 2 shooters, plus engagement session): $3K

- Florist- used fake flowers and were created by my mom: $30ish?

- Dress: on sale $350, alterations done by mom; jeweled headpiece (no veil) $150, shoes $120

- Professional hair, no professional MUA: $100 a head

- DJ: $1600

-No additional transportation for anyone since we used a hotel next door to the venue; bridesmaid dresses were choose-your-own (one wore something already in her closet)
Edit to add: DH spent a lot of money on his attire because he considered a nice new suit an investment. We bought nice gifts ($100 per person) for our wedding party and didn't have an RD. For Chicago, coming in around $20-$25k range is pretty cheap; we choose to throw all our money into food, booze, and entertainment and scrimp on the rest. We couldn't have afforded any more than $25k, so to have a large guest list or any element more lavish, we would have had to get a venue in the suburbs instead.

I had a wedding on a Saturday night in Downtown Chicago, in 2012. We spent about $130k not including HM and rings.
Guest List - 275 (230 attended)
Venue; $9k just the rent the space.
Officiant - $500
Photographer - $3,500 for two people
Videographer - none
Catering - $52k. 10 passed apps, soup/ salad combo and filet/ sea bass plated dinner. This also included upgraded chairs, plates, wine glasses, etc
Alcohol - $3k, we bought it ourselves and brought it to the venue.
Dress (with alterations, shoes, headpiece) - $4k, alterations were about $500
Hair & Makeup (just me) - $350
Suit, shirt, tie, shoes - $500
Rings - mine 3,500 his: $1,200
Flowers - $7-8k
Invitations and postage - $4k (another $500 for STDs)
Dessert - $2k
Band - $7k
Marriage license - $65
Honeymoon - $12k. Thailand.
Wedding planner: $10k
I feel like we should be Exhibits A and B for how to go all-out and how to be low budget in Chicago. So many options!

Sadly, when planning, I thought my wedding was very middle of the road. Given how many vendors I found that were out of my budget.

JaniV123 · April 2015

I am from Puerto Rico and things are expensive here!

Budget: 8K from our pocket

Guests: ~150

Invitations: Mom paid but it was ~$400

- Church: $400

- Venue (restaurant so includes food): $4300 for food (my uncles are paying) and about $3000 for alcohol (we are paying)

- Photography (9hr coverage - no engagement session): $1295

- Florist and decorations (includes set up and set down): $2040

- Dress: $1300 + tax and Grandma bought it for me, Veil I bought $100

- MUA/HS (me+mom): $250

- DJ: $450 for 4 hours

-Linen Rental: $300 split between my mom and us

-Cake: $600

FI's tux: ~$250

theartistformerlyknownas · April 2015

JaniV123 said:
I am from Puerto Rico and things are expensive here!

<snip>

That's not expensive at all!

hellohkb · April 2015

I haven't had my wedding but we booked a lot of our vendors and here's what we're going to spend:

Location: Northern Delaware

Guests: No clue. Between 100/120. We're inviting like 140 but many have already said they'll have to decline because of the distance (I'm originally from Long Island NY and all my family is there). This has become a shit show and I will have to probably ask advice on here soon about this.

Invitations: This is one thing I actually haven't purchased. We're trying to decide between Minted invites which would be about $500 but may honestly go with zazzle for under $100.

Ceremony rental: $600

Officiant: $475 for day of and rehearsal dinner

Venue: This is all inclusive and includes food, drink, passed apps, cake, floral centerpieces, linens, chairs, etc. We must pay a minimum of $13,600. We will most likely pay closer to $14,000k for all that. Which is an amazing deal for everything we are getting.

Photography: $4,965 is the total price for 10 hours, engagement shoot, and an album. This is well above average price for the area.

Decor and flowers: No idea. I plan on staying below $1k. I've spent about $100 (yay Michaels coupons!) on ceremony decor so far.

My bouquet: I spent $124 including shipping on a real touch bouquet on Etsy

Dress: About $2k

princessbuttercup09 · April 2015

@hellohkb I used Zazzle for my Save the Dates and LOVE the way they turned out. We just ordered our invites from them! Our wedding isn't until 2016 but Groupon had an awesome deal for $35 so we ordered them both. $70 for STD and invites!

princessbuttercup09 · April 2015

Our wedding is Oct.1 2016 but we have a lot of things taken care of already.

Our budget is about $10,000.

Location: Northern Ohio

Guests: We're inviting 150 but I can't imagine that we will have more that 130.

Invitations: We spent $75 on STD, invites, and reply cards. Postage will be about another $75

Ceremony rental: $175 for the church plus $250 for the music

Officiant: Included with the church

Venue: $1400 for the day- it's on the water so it's a little pricey. Catering is about $2,500. Our bar will be beer, wine, vodka, and Captain. (We aren't 100% sure on the price yet since it may be a bit better to go across state lines before buying.)

Photography: $1400 including engagement pictures. We were able to get 2014 pricing even though our wedding is in 2016 because we booked with our photographer so early.

Decor and flowers: We're using cakes on each table as centerpieces to cut down on the cake and flower cost. This will be about $300. We have cake stands from my sister's wedding and vases from my sister's wedding so those are free to me! My DOC is doing my ceiling treatment and backdrop for free since I've worked for her. She will be about $800 or so.

My bouquet: I'm not planning on more than $500. We're going to use a few hydrangeas per bouquet and call it a day.

Dress: $700 but my mom paid for it so I didn't include it in our budget.

hellohkb · April 2015

princessbuttercup09 said:
@hellohkb I used Zazzle for my Save the Dates and LOVE the way they turned out. We just ordered our invites from them! Our wedding isn't until 2016 but Groupon had an awesome deal for $35 so we ordered them both. $70 for STD and invites!

Thanks for the tip!!

I ordered a sample and loved the quality. My wedding is also 2016 so I may buy that groupon! Thanks again.

julieanne912 · April 2015

We are just north of Denver metro (wedding will be in Longmont, CO on 9/12/15). I totally thought we could get it done for $10k but it's not looking like that at all LOL. I still have some unknown costs as at this point, we're kinda just getting it done for hopefully as cheap as possible without sacrificing guest experience.

- Guest List: 200 people

- Invitations/STDs: So far all I've paid for is postage for my STD's, that was around $60 I think? I have a very creative MOH who made them, and she's going to make my invites too. I keep offering to at least pay for the supplies, but so far, she keeps saying no. I'll keep trying.

- Officiant: Free, a friend of FI is doing it.

- Venue: $3,900, includes tables and chairs. $3,000 is for the reception building (barn), and $900 is for the ceremony on the same site, in a garden. Separate chairs etc. It's an all day reservation starting at 8am to 11pm. This was way higher than I thought a venue would be but in my research, discovered it was on the low end for a venue that was "self service" and would let us have it all day, and wasn't like, a VFW hall or something.

- Catering: $4500 so far this is where we are at, we're still working on this. It will include plates, utensils, and lemonade and iced tea, and some waitstaff. It's BBQ (2 kinds of meat, 3 sides) and the actual cost per person is only $12.50 but it adds up once you add in the waitstaff. Also have a few apps for the cocktail hour... jalepeno poppers, and homemade chips with fancy dips.

Dessert is at about $425 right now. I'm doing a small 2 tier cutting cake, a large sheet cake, and then a shit load of desserts (still determining quantities once we have the final guest count). Way cheaper than doing a cake large enough to feed 175. Saved some because I picked a bakery (with great reviews) that is close to the venue, so they're not charging a delivery fee.

Beverages will probably end up around $1000. FI's family and friends are huge beer drinkers, and so far we are planning on 5 kegs, so that's $500 right there. Also doing wine, sodas, and bottled water, and of course the lemonade and tea that the caterer includes.

- Videography: none, not having one

- Photography: $1650 for 8 hours and 2 shooters, and a free engagement session (which I need to book still, oops). I was pleased with this price... seemed to help to use a local person instead of someone based out of Denver.

- Florist: Not sure on this yet. My aunt is an awesome florist in San Diego so she is flying in and her services are free as her gift to us. Just need to buy the flowers and recently found a wholesaler I can buy from. So I dunno, $300-400? No idea really.

-Decor: This is where we'll save the most. MOH has 85 mason jars I can use for free for the centerpiece flowers. My mom is sewing bunting flags to hang across the barn, and I'll also buy twinkle lights for that. It's a pretty cool space already so it doesn't need much for decor. I'm buying my tablecloths from Smartyhadaparty so those will be around $200. My runners are *gasp* burlap. I think it'll look nice with the chocolate brown cloths. No lace anywhere except my dress though, so we're safe.

- Dress: $1500 including a belt and veil and taxes. My boss's sister owns a shop and gave me a friends and family discount. Not sure on alterations yet.

- MUA/Hair: Not sure, will be just for me as I only have 1 in my "wedding party". I found a girl to do hair and MU for $120 but she seems to be flaking out. I might just find a salon I can go to near the venue instead of having someone come to me.

- DJ: I've tasked FI with finding this, and he hasn't done it yet. I'm seeing pricing from $750 on up though.

ETA:

Hotel: Free, FI has a bunch of free nights at Marriott hotels.

FI and BM attire: I dunno, a couple hundred? They're likely wearing jeans and cowboy boots, and we'll probably get some new shirts and vests and ties. Definitely no tuxes though.

themuffinman16 · April 2015

Buffalo, NY

Guests 140

Budget: 20,000; Actual amount spent: $23,000 ($20,840 was what we spent after help from step-mom and aunt)

Reception- $10,000 (includes dinner, service charge, appetizers, top shelf liquor for 5 hours... we should have paid for the bar for 6 hours)

DJ- $400 (a family friend)

Officiant- $395

Dress $1395 Step-mother paid for the dress; Veil: $300; Alterations $200

String quartet- $800 (Aunt paid for string quartet)

Limousine for the bride and groom- $400

Photographer- $3,200

Videographer $2,000

Invitations and thank you cards $400

Flowers- $2400

Tux $100

Cake- Free (H's aunt is a fabulous pastry chef)

Favors- $150

Wedding Rings- $2400

Ceremony decor-$300

Hair and makeup- $100

Bridal accessories- $300

Honeymoon- $6,000 France and Italy (H had to work in France, before our honeymoon... work paid for his flight, and my flight was free with airline miles.)

redheadbride15 · April 2015

New Hampshire, Saturday night, May
Guest list: 80
Total budget ~$17k and we're doing a pretty good job keeping to this

Ceremony space rental $400

Reception space rental $2.5k

Officiant free for the price of two guests (family friend & spouse)

Catering $4k

Open bar ~$2k (estimate)

Cake $400

Ceremony music $900

Reception music $300 (for audio equipment rental, will use iPod)

Photography $3.5k (including engagement shots)

Flowers $700

Other rentals & decor $400

Rings $1.9k

Stationery $400

Dress & alterations $1500

Hair $75 (just me, I'll go to a salon the morning of for an up-do. I will DIY my make-up)

His suit and accessories $200

I didn't include our honeymoon in our budget, but it will probably be ~$5k

Spin off : What can you get for where you live - Wedding

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