Small Budget, Overwhelmed

Re: Small Budget, Overwhelmed

• CMGragain member

  

  May 2016

  First, $26,000 is not a small budget.  Lots of brides would envy you.
  
  There are many ways to control the budget for your wedding.  Are you set on an evening ceremony and reception?  That is the most expensive kind of wedding.  A morning ceremony with a brunch reception can be much more affordable. 
  

  

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• madamerwin member

  

  May 2016

  Oh man, $26K is about 2.5x what we spent! When I clicked on your post I was expecting something in the $5K range.
  
  First of all, are you open to somewhere outside of NYC? I imagine that alone will save you a chunk of change. 
  
  Other suggestions:
  - Cut the guest list. This is the #1 way to save money.
  - Have a reception at a non-mealtime. Have the ceremony at 1pm, reception from 2-5pm. Serve cake, punch, coffee/tea, and finger sandwiches.
  - Cut alcohol altogether, or serve only beer and wine (whatever you do, you must host fully; no cash bar.)
  - Cut decorations, flowers, and favors. These are not important in the grand scheme of things.
  - Get a sheet cake from your local grocery store instead of a traditional wedding cake.
  
  Also, you may want to post to the local NYC board for venue suggestions, as NYC brides may have more specific advice.

  

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• OurWildKingdom member

  

  May 2016 edited May 2016

  Ha, I wish I had a $26,000 budget. 
  
  Good tips from @madamerwin and @CMGragain. We're having a dry afternoon wedding with a light lunch and renting a pavilion through the city. 
  
  Definitely go to the NYC board for more advice. 

  

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• Tyvm member

  

  May 2016

  This is an average-sized budget... But for NYC, it's rough. Either post on the local boards (this is an international discussion board) or start looking at destination weddings, or a 3 hour radius outside of the city. 

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  k thnx bye

  

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• MesmrEwe member

  

  May 2016

  A lot can depend on the type of ceremony you're having - for example, if you're having a Church wedding, you're going to be greatly restricted compared to a JOP or ordained friend.  Your budget isn't tiny, remember that there are only three things you NEED to get married - 1) Someone to marry you, 2) A license, and 3) Someone to witness/officiate the nuptials...  After that it's window dressing and gravy, but the moment you invite a guest, they MUST be hosted properly (i.e. shouldn't be expected to open their wallet during the ceremony/reception).  The best way to keep the costs down for the wedding is to distinguish between a "Need" vs. a "Want" ...  You WANT tall floral centerpieces towering over your guests, you NEED a table/chair for them to sit.  You WANT a dress from Kleinfeld's, you NEED a dress you can afford regardless of were you purchase it.  You WANT a work of art cake by Margaret Braun, you NEED a cake in your budget (Highly recommend Collette's Cakes in Chelsea Square!)...  You WANT to spend $26,000.  You NEED to remember you don't need to go broke planning a wedding and it's o.k. to not meet/exceed your budget.  Imagine dropping your budget down by $6000 because unexpected expenses happen, this gives you a little buffer zone.  It's better to go under budget than it is to go over budget!

  Next, write out the real-world guest list.  Often people say "100 guests" but have forgotten to actually DO the step of "Bill & Betty Bob", BillyJo & Bobby Sue - and their kids Stewy, Lucy, and Bessy, Mom & Dad, Mom & Dad, Sister and Guest, us!, then add those numbers up.  You never know, you could be sitting at 60 guests or you could be sitting at 200, remember to allow for add-ons from your parents if they're helping pay for the wedding.  Never forget "Ye who pays gets a say, if it's not physically in your bank account, it does NOT exist!" It happens frequently enough that people have unexpected expenses come up and can't help the BG out as planned, one bride on another board just had her (aunt) venue cancel out on her relatively close to the wedding.  Stuff like that happens, as Frankie would say "BE PREPARED!"... 

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• aquietseason member

  

  May 2016 edited May 2016

  While I 100% agree that $26k is much closer to "above average" than "budget" in most of the U.S., NYC (like other major cities) is quite tough to have all the bells and whistles. We budgeted $15k but spend a bit under $20k for 80 guests. Our wedding was fantastic though and I highly recommend our venue (it's in Astoria in Queens - dont know where in NYC you're at) - http://www.renaissanceeventhall.com/ 
  
  

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• thisismynickname2 member

  

  May 2016

  Your budget is roughly what we spent for a downtown Chicago wedding. While NYC is obviously more expensive than Chicago, my area is still a place where it's very easy to go 6 figures, so allow me to offer some suggestions. 
  
  First and foremost, spend money on what's important to guests: food/beverage, music, overall comfort. 
  For me, this meant spending roughly $300 on a dress and having only fake flower bouquets, no additional bouts or corsages. Invitations were hand-made by my mom (STDs through Vistaprint). 
  We also did no centerpieces. Our venue offered bud vases and basic linens at no additional charge, so we deemed that perfectly sufficient. The venue we chose didn't need decoration as a beautiful room stands on its own. We did the ceremony at the venue, so no transportation costs were needed. We chose a hotel next door to the venue, again cutting out transportation costs. I did my own makeup. We chose a DJ and photographer that fit our budget, do enough research and you'll find a very wide range of price points. Our venue also had catering packages which included basic yet still beautiful wedding cake, so, basic cake it was.
  We'd budgeted for about 80 guests, give or take, which allowed us to afford a high price-per-head for good food and top shelf bar. Had we had a bigger guest list, we would have had to go out to the burbs where things are cheaper.
  By cutting your budget on things that don't affect your guests, you can get a city wedding on a small budget. Try not to get taken in by Pinterest or paper/magazine pictures of over the top weddings. Yours will have to be simpler, but if your guests are well fed and comfortable, they'll be happy.
  Good luck!  

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• [Deleted User] member

  

  May 2016

  You may want to post this also on the local boards for suggestions. But I recommend thinking outside of the box of traditional wedding venues. Look into Restaurants that have private rooms available for rent. Also check into  club halls like your local Irish-American, Italian-American or German, etc clubs or Veterans Halls (VFW). Many of them rent out their halls, and some even have caterers that they work with so it would be like a traditional reception venue. Also look into city owned facilities. I know where I live several of the cities and park systems own buildings that are very nice & can be rented out. You just have to either use one of their preferred vendors or find one of your own to bring in.

  Tips to help with budget

  1. Skip Save the Dates or limit to VIPS & out of town guests who need to make travel plans
  2. Keep your invites simple, they can still be beautiful but simple. Avoid the fancy bows & embellishments & inserts. If you keep it to a simple 5x7 type invite, be it a diy kit or you pay someone to do them, along with just the rsvp card, you will save money. Not only are you saving on printing & materials, you can get away with sending the simple 5x7 card & rsvp card/env for just the cost of a forever stamp. The more you send with your invite & the bulkier it is, the more it will cost you to send. And to be honest, beside once your wedding is over, every one will be just throwing them away and won't even remember them
  3. Be open to ideas with your florist. Instead of going in with specific flowers in mind, go in with a look or color scheme and a budget & see what they can come up with. A creative florist can do amazing things if they are given the freedom to pick the flowers they know will give you the look you want within a specific budget
  4. Thank you cards - skip the photo holding the thank you sign. You'll end up spending roughly $1-2 a thank you card with envelope for those. Plus you have to wait for your photographer to get you the photo back. Go to the dollar store where you can get 10 or more thank you cards for $1.00. Again, this is something that people are going throw away right after they read it. They don't care how much you spend on your thank you cards, what they care about is that you sent them a card thanking them for the gift
  5. Keep favors simple with something edible, or you can skip them totally
  6. Guestbook - yes they are nice, but the reality is, you will never look at it again
  7. Stay off Pintrest, it's a great site but you will get so many ideas of things that will end up costing you much money because you want that dream look that in reality, cost them thousands to do
  8. What people will remember from your wedding is if the food was good or not, how you looked, did you have a good DJ. And for you the thing to spend money on is the photographer, because you can't redo those photos.
  9. Check out hotels where you can have the ceremony & reception. You then don't have to worry about renting transportation
  10. Try to buy certain things for your wedding used, like your slip if you need on for your dress. You can probably find one on e-bay for $50. or less. I sold mine for $20. Buy it & then put through the washer on gentle cycle with woolite & then attach to a pant hanger or use close pins and a wire hanger & hang it overnight from your shower curtain rod. Make sure to straighten it out while wet. It will dry perfectly & be good as new
  11. I know typically no girl usually wants to wear her mom's dress. But a friend of mine decided to start a tradition that I thought was cool. She wore her mom's veil for her wedding. She took the veil off the hat & had it attached to a comb to make it more current in style. The plan is to pass the veil down through the generations. A veil is something that can transition through the generations easier. So not only do you save money, but you have your something old at the same time.

  
  

  Good luck!!!

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• Tyvm member

  

  May 2016

  "Thank you cards - skip the photo holding the thank you sign. You'll end up spending roughly $1-2 a thank you card with envelope for those. "

  @Erikan73 This is a good tip, but you could a step further and do postcard Thank Yous and Save the Dates to save on paper and postage (don't forget all the postage!!). Heck, we're doing postcard invitations (along with a Glosite wedding RSVP/website, non-Internet folks are getting more materials). Postcards.com and Vistaprint are all good options for saving on paper goods.
  
  If you absolutely must have flowers, you might want to look at dried flowers on etsy (I like paulajeansgarden), and placing them in small, clear Goodwill vases as centerpieces. Dried flowers can be considered a symbol of the everlasting love of your marriage      ...while also not breaking the bank.
  
  SKIP FAVORS.

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  k thnx bye

  

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• Cheermom84 member

  

  May 2016

  I wish I could have a budget of $26K, maybe this is a depending on the area you are thing but where I am this would be a very lavish wedding. Our budget is $5K which is about average for a dry wedding here, one with alcohol would be a little bit more due to buying alcohol....and I'm hoping to come in way under budget because it is driving me crazy that one day costs so much.
  
  Ways we are cutting
  
  1) we are having a 11am ceremony followed by a lunch reception (originally it was going to be brunch but FI didn't want breakfast foods)
  2) no alcohol
  3) no dj/dancing We will be setting up lawn games and have board games available
   

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