Cost of Living

leia1979 · October 2011

So the WR Questions thread has got me wondering... What a lot of people said they would spend with unlimited funds for a wedding was probably about what we spent on ours (with limited funds), and ours was on the low side for our area, so tell me a little about the cost of living where you are.

According to http://www.costofwedding.com/ the average wedding in my area is about $30K.

A 3 bed/2 bath house will cost us between $450k and $500k. Putting $100k down is going to make me cry.

You don't have to say for the same size house...just say what you think you will probably get one day and what you think that will cost.

Hazel_B · October 2011

I can't go into as much detail as you, but the average cost of a wedding in Canada is about $23K with the average dress being about $1800. My friends that have gotten married recently have always spent more than $20K.

The average house in my area sells for $350K.

Leia - I was feeling the same way you were about the funds part.

becunning2 · October 2011

My average wedding cost for my zip code is between 17k and 28k.

The houses can vary a LOT in my neighborhood. Some three bedrooms homes on the east side of town go for 120k. We also have neighborhoods on the west side of town that go for 300k.

The boyfriend and I have a 3 bedroom 2 bath townhome for about 120k.

PaigeMcC · October 2011

I don't know the average cost of a wedding here but I'd guess around $15-20 K

Houses (I'm talkin' single family detached homes) sell from about $150 - 750 K. It really varries depending on where you are in the city. FBD and I have a budget of $225,000 and should be able to get a nice 3-5 bedroom family home, jsut outside the city for that

Swazzle · October 2011

I was wondering the same thing actually Leia.

According to that site the average wedding here costs $31K.

I have absolutely no idea what houses cost but that's because I live in an urban area & just about everyone here lives in an apartment or condo.

We pay $1200 a month for a 1 bedroom apartment & our neighborhood is not the greatest, so that definitely says something about the cost of living here.

Blue & White · October 2011

I have no idea where I'm getting married, so I can't answer the average cost of wedding question. It could range from FL (ranges from super cheap to super expensive), NJ (pretty super expensive, in my experience) and MD/VA (both rather expensive as well)

BUT I'm cheap. I don't want to spend that much! Grrr.

Also, houses here that are in a decent area start at $300k. We're hoping to be in a cheaper COL area before we buy, honestly. The schools here are pretty terrible and I don't want to buy a house where I won't feel comfortable educating my children.

lennonkdc · October 2011

Average cost of wedding is $18k-$30k in the CLE. In the suburb that BF and I want to buy in houses range from $90K (starter homes)- $700k (Century Homes on Lake Erie). That being said we can get a very nice 3-4 bedroom/2 bathroom house for right about $150K, if not less depending on the work we want to put into it.

Clicky to see what This Old House has to say about our chosen city.

Elle1036 · October 2011

I had the same thought. I saw several people say that they wouldn't spend more than 20K, but several venues I looked at in Houston had a minimum 25K for food and beverage.

The cost of living in Houston is relatively affordable, though, compared to other big cities.

Elle1036 · October 2011

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/special-topic-wedding-boards_not-engaged-yet_cost-of-living?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Special%20Topic%20Wedding%20BoardsForum:136Discussion:3b6a6f9a-830d-41f3-a9d2-50630d8fdcb4Post:8815e23f-74cc-4b2c-9e4f-09881638b1b6">Re: Cost of Living</a>:
[QUOTE]In Response to Re: Cost of Living : I had a totally unrealistic budget before I got engaged. (I thought $10K would cover everything for 200 guests. Stop laughing at me please.) Luckily FI actually understands money and how much things cost, and wasn't as shocked as I was with our estimated costs. It's ridiculous how quickly things add up though. We aren't planning on slurging on ANYTHING (like no designer dress for me, no chocolate fondue fountain, probably no Venetian hour if the venue includes a cake, etc.), and I feel like I'm constantly trying to think of ways to keep costs down.
Posted by yaga13[/QUOTE]

<div>My mom was the same way. She had all these grand plans and thought it could all be accomplished with 10K. Not that it's not possible to have a nice wedding on that amount, but she was envisioning a downtown art gallery with huge florals and a live band. Ha.</div><div>
</div><div>Doesn't it suck to be contantly thinking of ways to make it cheaper? I really wish I could splurge... even on just one thing.</div>

Hazel_B · October 2011

Yaga - I'm with you. I thought we could do a nice wedding for 200 people with the things my family thinks are important (good food and open bar) for well under $20K. Yeah, not so much. I didn't realize all the stupid little wedding related things that I hadn't considered.

sparkles88 · October 2011

It says the average wedding in my zip code costs about $21,000 to $35,000.

The cost of houses and apartments vary a lot. We have a 2 bed/1 bath for $705/month, but we also live in an older part of town that isn't very nice. If we were to go to any of the nicer areas it would be closer to $1,500/month for a very small apartment. It would be $2,000+ for an apartment that actually has room for furniture.

The same applies to houses. I saw a very spacious and well maintained house about 40 minutes south that was $97,000. There was also a really nice house 30 minutes south with a pool and spa in a gated country club community for $310,000. If you want anything nice close to central Austin or the west side, be prepared to spend $400K or much more.

Elle1036 · October 2011

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/special-topic-wedding-boards_not-engaged-yet_cost-of-living?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Special%20Topic%20Wedding%20BoardsForum:136Discussion:3b6a6f9a-830d-41f3-a9d2-50630d8fdcb4Post:36f41d46-58de-4b85-88ed-d3252c8c6d37">Re: Cost of Living</a>:
[QUOTE]In Response to Re: Cost of Living : I guess our guestlist is our splurge. My family is HUGE (23 first cousins alone, mostly all adults and many in relationships or married), and FI's mom won't let us leave out her and FFIL's cousins and their adult children. (My family invites only go out as far as my aunts and uncles and first cousins.) Apparently it doesn't matter that she nor her exH are contributing and my parents are. *Sigh*
Posted by yaga13[/QUOTE]

<div>Haha our guest list is steadily climbing as FI continues to make friends in school. Is it too much to ask for him just to be antisocial for one year?</div><div>
</div><div>I think we're going to spring for colored uplighting. We can bundle it with our DJ and only spend an extra hundred dollars or so. I think that's worth it. Especially since we'll be using boring ivory linens.</div>

leia1979 · October 2011

Yeah, I totally thought we could do something reasonable for $10k. After learning what some of my friends paid, it required a bit of a shift in budget. One friend had about 50 more guests than us and spent twice as much. I think we did really well for what we got and came in under budget, but it still cost as much as my car.

A lot of the venues were either way out of range or really crappy. One place was a contender until they told us about the $13k food and beverage minimum for a room that wasn't that nice and a ceremony lawn on the approach to the San Jose Airport!

I can see how people can easily spend $30k around here, especially if they have more guests. I just wouldn't want to spend that much on a wedding.

[Deleted User] · October 2011

It says weddings average $20K-$33K in my area. I said I wouldn't want to go over $20K in my post...but I realize i'm a completely inexperienced NEY-er. I may be way under reality here, but BF's brother just had a very nice wedding with about 200 people for about $15K.

tafft1 · October 2011

"On average, couples that live in Dublin, CA spend between $23,987 and $39,979 total for Market Summary

The totals above are based on the average number of guests estimated between 179 and 193. A single guest could add between $155 and $189 to the overall cost of your wedding."

When we were originally looking at a guest list of about 100 people , it was close to the 20k range , so this isn't far off.

As for homes in the areas we are looking at - they will be close to 300 -450K for a decent area and 3bed 2ba house. Cost of living in California overall is crazy.

leia1979 · October 2011

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/special-topic-wedding-boards_not-engaged-yet_cost-of-living?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Special%20Topic%20Wedding%20BoardsForum:136Discussion:3b6a6f9a-830d-41f3-a9d2-50630d8fdcb4Post:e21660df-99e0-49c9-995c-229d6d916e05">Re: Cost of Living</a>:
[QUOTE]It says weddings average $20K-$33K in my area. I said I wouldn't want to go over $20K in my post...but I realize i'm a completely inexperienced NEY-er. I may be way under reality here, but BF's brother just had a very nice wedding with about 200 people for about $15K.
Posted by allusive007[/QUOTE]

There's nothing wrong with being under the average!

I just felt like after the WR Questions post that I had spent an extravagant amount of money, even though we spent half of what my friends did.

karlee4ever · October 2011

This has been a depressing thread. My avg for my hometown (eastern wisconsin) where i hope to get married is 18-30k. I was hoping for less than 10k and i know my boyfriend is too. For housing we live in west texas (oil field is booming). I have a brand new 1 br apt (700'sq ft) And pay 955 a month, He bought a house for 175k. Completely redone and i think its btw 1700-1800 sq ft. Not a good time to buy here with the oil field boom.

mookow86 · October 2011

It says the average cost of a wedding where I'm getting married is $19-31k. We're hoping to stay under $13k. We've booked pretty much all of our vendors at this point and so we know most of our costs, and it's looking like we can do it. We're keeping costs down by limiting the guest list to 130 and by using a nontraditional venue, an art gallery, which has a SUPER reasonable rental fee and lets us bring in our own vendors and alcohol.

As far as renting/housing, we currently pay $1150/mo for a 2-bedroom in a really nice part of town. I have no idea where we'll end up buying a house, but it won't be here since I'll be graduating in 2 years!

polkadot111 · October 2011

The site tells me that the average is 17,000-29,000. But, our wedding is extremely budget since, well, we're a bit poor right now. So, ours will only be 10,000. So, if I could have a 20,000 dollar wedding, that would be a dream.

FI rents an apartment in Minneapolis for 1,000/month. It's a CRAPPY one bedroom. Where I live in Wisconsin (smallish town), 400/month for a one bedroom (nice) is average I'd say.

lunarsongbird · October 2011

The Average cost of a wedding in Colorado Springs, CO is between $18K-29K. And in Santa Cruz where we have looked at getting married- it's $22K to $37K.

And Andrew and I just bought a 4 bedroom, 3 bath, 2400 sq. ft. house for $209,000.

pockysquirrel · October 2011

On average, couples that live in Albany, NY spend between $21,251 and $35,418 total for Market Summary

The totals above are based on the average number of guests estimated between 114 and 128. A single guest could add between $211 and $258 to the overall cost of your wedding.

Jesus H. Christ, where are these people getting married?! Even the most expensive places we've looked were about $130 per person, and we're going with WAY less than that... *_*

[Deleted User] · October 2011

The average in NM is $23K, but for 150 guests we are paying $7K for everything! YUP! $7K!! It is totally possible to do a wedding under the average wedding price in your area.

For houses, they go around the 200K range for NICE houses.

Los Angeles is a totally different story. I'm scared about the thought of buying a house here.

TheMutleys · October 2011

Leia, I hear ya. Haha. I would have happily spent the money elsewhere, but... I did try to cut down the cost whenever possible. However, my MIL kept upgrading all sorts of stuff (and in a small town where she knows everyone and I knew noone, she was able to get away with it.) Our wedding was still less than half of my SIL's, so MIL thought we were being 'cheap.' I kept trying to explain to her that SIL got married in Napa and we were not going that route. She has a big thing about being equal.

Average house for a 3/2 in a decent neighborhood is around $200K where we live right now. However, we don't plan on staying here more than 4 years. Next time we buy, the area is more around $300-400K for a fixer 3/2. We might be spending over $600K for a 4/2 to get into the exact neighborhood that we want. (Also, our current area and the new one are only 13ish miles apart. The new area has better schools and better everything. We would end up spending more than our new mortgage each month to send all of our kids to private schools.)

ETA: While I wish our wedding would have cost less, I don't feel like it was overly expensive or that we 'splurged.' (In fact, our main expense was food and I think that is well worth it for the guests. We got a couple of comments from family friends around our recent anniversary in regards to how much they loved the food at our wedding, so I'm guessing it was memorable.) Mainly, we didn't go into debt to have it. I also think that in some ways it is somewhat different because we were 27 and 30 when we got married and not in our early/mid-20s. I think that makes a difference. Not only did we have savings to contribute, but the difference in a couple years made a difference in how much our parents contributed.

thejucheidea · October 2011

Apparently weddings in Nashville are between $18,812 and $31,353. Haha wut.

Our house was $129,900. It's three bedrooms and two baths, and all together is around 1800 square feet. We live about five miles from downtown, so it's a nice place to live.

Peaseblossom55 · October 2011

Very interesting post and interest to hear about the averages from all of you guys. I figure one day bf and I will spend about 20-25k on our wedding. Where I live now, and BF said he loves the town I now live in so we'll probably some day move and stay in my town, great schools too. A small 4bd/2.5 bath runs about $350,000, more of a average decent size will run 400-500 though. Yea the state I live in sucks, it's so expensive.

zipis1 · October 2011

Weddings in my area run between $19, 857 to $33,095. I'm probably going to have to make mine work for $5k.

If I were to buy in this same area I could get a 3 bed 2 bath house for about $300k. But I don't want to buy in this area, and the type of places I do want to buy in are like $120k for the same thing, but probably nicer. It's good sometimes to have different tastes in what constitutes "good" weather :P

[Deleted User] · October 2011

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/special-topic-wedding-boards_not-engaged-yet_cost-of-living?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Special%20Topic%20Wedding%20BoardsForum:136Discussion:3b6a6f9a-830d-41f3-a9d2-50630d8fdcb4Post:63edb198-ec1f-46c4-87ed-76e475e372bd">Re: Cost of Living</a>:
[QUOTE]In Response to Re: Cost of Living : Tell me how!
Posted by yaga13[/QUOTE]

DIY, DIY, and DIY. We found a venue where we can have the ceremony for no extra cost, we have the place for 7 hours so it's totally doable. My mom did her own wedding bouquets and she'll help make mine, we are doing mainly carnations (my fav, though they are considered the cheap flower) with some roses and maybe orchid bouts for the guys. We'll be DIYing the simple centerpieces as well.I'm making all the stationary, we aren't doing save the dates. We aren't do favors either. We are only having an open bar for an hour, I want to prevent wasted pukey people the best I can. I can't stand chair covers or colored linens, so that saves a ton. With all that, we should come in under budget a bit.

I'm making my own veil, garters, and ring pillow. My cousin is making the bridesmaid gifts, and maybe my headpiece. I will be wearing the first necklace that FI gave me (pearl). I found some super cute flats to wear that are $15!

The $7K doesn't include rings or honeymoon. We won't be having some extravagant honeymoon though.

ETA:The catering price will go down because at least 20 people on my guest list won't be coming. They are family that won't be able to afford to travel but still adamantly want an invite. I included them in the catering costs, just in case.

[Deleted User] · October 2011

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/special-topic-wedding-boards_not-engaged-yet_cost-of-living?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Special%20Topic%20Wedding%20BoardsForum:136Discussion:3b6a6f9a-830d-41f3-a9d2-50630d8fdcb4Post:639b0789-a2eb-404f-ad1c-d8ff3054c8f6">Re: Cost of Living</a>:
[QUOTE]I wasn't even able to find catering in that budget, unless it's BBQ served on paper plates. But even then, the cost to bring in tables, chairs, linens, etc. just didn't make it that much more affordable (plus the cost of a tent, which is not cheap). *Sigh* I do plan on DIYing most things - bouquet, centerpieces, stationary. I have my wedding jewelry too (anniversary present from FI). I'm going to use NikNik's fabric flower tutorial! I'm really excited to work on them, and will probably start around Christmas.
Posted by yaga13[/QUOTE]

Oh man, catering must be expensive where you are! For 150 peeps it's $3K. It's a southwestern buffet, with two different types of enchiladas (red/green), two types of fajitas (chicken/beef), fancy mexican beans, spanish rice, seasonal veggies, fresh fruit drizzled in melon liquer, calabacitas, and an italian salad (totally random but totally delicious!).

You should just totally have your wedding in NM.

[Deleted User] · October 2011

DO IT! The catering includes linens, china, and other dinner ware.

I'll totally let you have your wedding in the same place as me! The balloon museum

http://www.flickr.com/photos/abqballoonmuseum/3869738290/in/photostream/ <--link to some wedding pics taken there.

What more could out of town guests want than the balloon museum and New Mexican food to get their SW fix? In case you didn't know, ABQ hosts the biggest balloon fiesta in the world. People pay TONS of money to get their hot air balloons shipped to NM from all around the world in order to participate!

ETA: Sorry for being a total thread-jacker

[Deleted User] · October 2011

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/special-topic-wedding-boards_not-engaged-yet_cost-of-living?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Special%20Topic%20Wedding%20BoardsForum:136Discussion:3b6a6f9a-830d-41f3-a9d2-50630d8fdcb4Post:ec926278-00c5-41b0-ab82-7c3c771e6478">Re: Cost of Living</a>:
[QUOTE]In Response to Re: Cost of Living : That's so cool! It looks like a really cute place to have a wedding.
Posted by yaga13[/QUOTE]

NM in general has a ton of cute places, especially outdoorsy places. I'm glad that TK isn't yelling at me anymore for having a bajillion over-due to-dos! Who knew there was so much to take care of so soon!

Elle1036 · October 2011

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/special-topic-wedding-boards_not-engaged-yet_cost-of-living?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Special%20Topic%20Wedding%20BoardsForum:136Discussion:3b6a6f9a-830d-41f3-a9d2-50630d8fdcb4Post:11bb4802-2db2-48f8-89f1-8ba2bcd4d31f">Re: Cost of Living</a>:
[QUOTE]DO IT! The catering includes linens, china, and other dinner ware. I'll totally let you have your wedding in the same place as me! The balloon museum :) <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/abqballoonmuseum/3869738290/in/photostream/" rel="nofollow">http://www.flickr.com/photos/abqballoonmuseum/3869738290/in/photostream/</a> <--link to some wedding pics taken there. What more could out of town guests want than the balloon museum and New Mexican food to get their SW fix? <strong> In case you didn't know, ABQ hosts the biggest balloon fiesta in the world.</strong> People pay TONS of money to get their hot air balloons shipped to NM from all around the world in order to participate! ETA: Sorry for being a total thread-jacker
Posted by amsybot[/QUOTE]<div>
</div><div>I've been there! We went mountain biking in Angel Fire in 2009 and timed our trip so that we drove through Albuquerque during the balloon festival. The mass ascension was one of the coolest things I've ever seen.</div><div>
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</div><div>
</div><div>I'm so jealous of your wedding, Amsy. </div><div>
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