wedding budget

[Kacie_bride]

Like Karen has said previously, if this offends you please just don't post. I just wanted to see what everyone's wedding budget is in a poll. I was just curious.

I don't have a set budget exactly, but we are shooting to come in around $10,000, maybe $12,000 at the most.

Oh, by the way this is the first time I have done a poll, so it may take me a few minutes or longer to figure out how to do it!

[SerendipityCrafts]

We are going "cheap and chearful". It's a second marriage for both of us, we have 4 kids between us who are either in post secondary schools or heading there soon and we did the big wedding the first time and so for all these reasons and more, we are going to do it for $1000 - $2000. We aren't going into debt to get married.

We are keeping our costs low by making most everything by ourselves.

[MOB Karen]

We are coming in at a little over ten grand. But, as far as I'm concerned, it has been worth every penny because Amber is so happy!! :hug:

[Kacie_bride]

We are going "cheap and chearful". It's a second marriage for both of us, we have 4 kids between us who are either in post secondary schools or heading there soon and we did the big wedding the first time and so for all these reasons and more, we are going to do it for $1000 - $2000. We aren't going into debt to get married.

We are keeping our costs low by making most everything by ourselves.

From everything I have seen your wedding seems to be very beautiful!

[nikkiana]

$5000 is my budget, but I have a feeling when all is said and done, about $6000 will be spent.

[SoontobeMrsClark07]

My budget is hopefully going to come under $18,000 but we're not sure yet... I'm trying to save wherever I can.

[katieandalex]

Ours is in the $1000-$5000 range....closer to the $5000 though.

[LaceyinPgh]

I'm not going to say how much our wedding was total. But I will say that it came in over the $30,000 mark.

[darkangel090260]

we are try to keep it between 2,000-3,000

[AngelinLove]

Ours will probably be just under $20,000....but since it just keeps growing and growing...who knows where it will end up!!!

[cowboysbride]

Our budget was 10,000 but with all the real flowers hanging baskets and plants my FMIL and Mom went and purchased/ordered yesterday it just got upped by a grand...

[PurpleFlower]

We are kinda a low budget we are only going for $1000- $5000 for our wedding!

[LizabethDavis]

About $6,000 ish I would say. I really didn't keep track of it very well, but I would say it is around that.

[Crystal05]

It was around $5000.

[asm198]

We're budgeting 10,000, hoping for around 8,000, but it will probably be around 12,000 when it's all said and done.

[SerendipityCrafts]

We are going "cheap and chearful". It's a second marriage for both of us, we have 4 kids between us who are either in post secondary schools or heading there soon and we did the big wedding the first time and so for all these reasons and more, we are going to do it for $1000 - $2000. We aren't going into debt to get married.

We are keeping our costs low by making most everything by ourselves.

Duh ... I think I need to ammend my first posting. It looks as if all things considered, we might be in the $2000 - $3000 range. I wasn't counting the rings, the dress and the new suit.

[Trish]

I'm going to try my hardest to keep it under 5k.

[WhiskeyGirl]

I have to go with Lacey said, i won't say how much but we were between 25-35 k.

[I'm That Girl]

We wanted it to be about $12,000. It will end up being about $13,000.

[EarlyBird]

we had the original budget of 30k but then after getting some great deals on my dress and venue etc, it will be about 25k for the actual WEDDING plus wedding bands and honeymoon you can up that quite a bit :(

[Jenna5366]

Eh. O voted $1,000 - $5,000 but I didn't count the honeymoon in there. I don't know if I'm taking one anyways, that depends on if we can scrape together enough $$$ for one. For everything else, though, $1,000 - $5,000, but closer to $5,000.

[Katie-ryn]

I said $5000-$10000, but I'm aiming for under $5000. It will probably end up costing closer to $6000. That's including dress, rings, suit, everything except the honeymoon.

[katrina7875]

I voted $1000 - $5000 and that doesn't include honeymoon either. My most expensive thing so far is the catering. I'm quite pleased on how I've been able to do everything I've wanted on my tight budget.

[MBS353]

Well, we don't discuss money - he is paying for the reception and honeymoon - but have no real idea how much.

I'm doing most of the other stuff (decorations, invites, etc) I'm a student and my budget is $100 a month - just getting what I can each month.

[TwoPeasinAPod]

My goal is $5000 for everything. However, it may run up to $6000 depending on number of guests.

[tortoisegirl]

I feel really lucky to have $15,000 given to us by my dad. It'll still be hard to stay under that because we live in an expensive area, plan to do dinner and an open bar, etc. The big costs are food, alcohol, venue, and DJ. Everything else is rather small compare to those (they take up way more than half the budget).

If my dad hadn't offered us money, we would probably be doing something on a couple thousand dollar budget. But, since we have the money available we might as well do something on a larger scale and really memorable for our families since they all have to travel here (every single guest since we live away from everyone). People in my family kinda expect the finer things with weddings, and it would have been looked down upon to do a "picnic" sort of wedding. So far things seem to be a good mix of what we imagine our day will be like, and something our guests will enjoy as well.

The $15,000 came to play when I started budgeting what things cost in our area and I asked my dad if he could contribute, and I had planned it to cost $10-15,000 to do everything we wanted. We're pretty much having our dream wedding without going completely overboard. =)

[mitch]

Was cool to read some of the replies from a couple of Years ago. And how much Brides were paying out then compared to today.

We came in right on budget. It equates to approx $1,000.

[tortoisegirl]

I forgot to say that I didn't include our honeymoon in the budget because we don't know our budget for that yet (will depend on how much we save in the next year and any wedding gifts, as we are going on our 1 year anniversary). Did include rings and such though.

[acidcookie]

Looks like so far is about $6K for everything (not including his ring because I'm buying it for him as a gift separate of the budget), though of course that will sneak up once we consider more details. I'd like it to not be much more than $7K.

[Whitewater]

So far we're just barely over $4000. Actual money spent totals about $500! So we have a lot to spend, still. The original budget was $3200, but, well, we've expanded.

We *must* keep the budget to $4500 or less, though. . . .we simply don't have the resources for anything over that, unless our parents come to the rescue.

This does NOT include our honeymoon -- I don't consider that a wedding cost since we're getting married in June but honeymooning in Sept!

I am saving so much money every month that my wallet is growing cobwebs because I don't open it :) My debit card is desperate for fresh air, LOL! I'm on a very limited budget anyway, but since I got my writing job there's been a teeny weeny bit of leeway, which is nice because I can save more for the wedding!


Whitewater

[sandy03]

My dad offered me a car if I would elope (which isn't happening) so he gave us a budget of $25,000. We made the deal that we get to keep whatever is left, so right now it looks like we're only going to spend maybe $18,000 including the honeymoon and the fact that I'm buying the bridesmaids dresses and the kids outfits and paying for several of the hotel rooms for family members. The rest we'll use to pay off his truck and buy some new furniture!

[MrsDM]

When all is said and done, we will be at the $30,000 mark. Hopefully not a penny over.

[sjk1431]

Ours was just around $10,000

[Ties-necktie]

I really enjoy all the polls you have been posting. This one in particular seemed interesting to me.

I read recently that last year the average wedding in the US cost over $25,000! Either everyone that voted is a little unreasonable about their budget and unaware how much things in fact cost, or the slow economy makes people think twice on how much to spend for their big day.

I think a poll that asks people if they went over budget for their wedding would be an interesting follow up.

Thanks again for posting this.

[acidcookie]

I read recently that last year the average wedding in the US cost over $25,000! Either everyone that voted is a little unreasonable about their budget and unaware how much things in fact cost, or the slow economy makes people think twice on how much to spend for their big day.

I'm not sure what you intended with this, but if you mean that those of us with lower-than-$25K budgets are naive I think you'll find that many many members here have had weddings for well below that amount. I think $25,000 is hardly a minimum required amount and you can certainly do wonderful things with much less (I've seen it many times). Also, the fewer people who have really expensive weddings drive up the "average" as well.

[tortoisegirl]

I think a reason many of us are here on a wedding forum is to get ideas on how to save money! Probably not a representative sample of the population.

[RosieAngel]

Ours was $15,000, and though I wish I had more money to spend on my wedding, it turned out beautifully.

[RosieAngel]

I really enjoy all the polls you have been posting. This one in particular seemed interesting to me.

I read recently that last year the average wedding in the US cost over $25,000! Either everyone that voted is a little unreasonable about their budget and unaware how much things in fact cost, or the slow economy makes people think twice on how much to spend for their big day.

I think a poll that asks people if they went over budget for their wedding would be an interesting follow up.

Thanks again for posting this.

At least in CA, it only costs $60 for the marriage license to get married! I know a lot of people whose wedding amounted to moseying on down to the courthouse in a white coctail dress from Macy's or Nordstrom's, exchanging plain gold bands, then going home for a small reception serving grocery-store cake and finger foods. These cost under $1000, and often were more satisfying experiences for me, as their honored guest, than the fussy $50,000+ weddings that were the norm in my family. When all else is stripped down, it's the feelings that shine.

[f77g4]

My rough budget came in in the $13,000 to $14,000 range, however, I am hoping to manage to keep it under $10,000. My parents have said that they are going to pay for the reception and limo so that will definately help FH and I out. Plus with the good deals I've been finding I'm sure that will help keep us under. Not to mention that I was really clueless when making my budget and really didn't have much idea of what things would cost....so far I've been under on everything, however, I have chosen not to adjust my budget simply because I like being able to say I came x amount under budget...lol...must be the accountant in me...lol

[MayBride599]

Our budget was 12,000 but we are already over that! :(

[SoonToBeMrsBrown]

I think I read somewhere that the average wedding costs about $30,000... whew! No way. We're trying to spend around $5000-$7000, doing a lot ourselves. Although my one splurge that I refuse to budge on is the favors. We're getting the personalized M&Ms in pink and white ($300 for 10lbs... thats more than I'm spending on my dress!). Although we're packaging them ourselves in these little white boxes sealed with pink ribbon and stickers of one of our engagement photos... too cute!

[ChristineLS]

$2,000 MAX... since after that, we don't have any money for it :)

So far, we've spent $400 on the venue, a lodge at a county park that has all the tables and chairs and kitchen and best of all, scenery. My FMIL, FH, and I are making our cake to the tune of probably $60 ingredients (they don't call it the million dollar carrot cake recipe for nothing... it is *amazing* and in cupcake form). FBIL is growing the flowers (he's a great gardener), and he told us he'd cover it. A friend is doing the photography, he's done other weddings and they looked great. The wedding is pretty informal, we're going to get some new dress clothes and yeah. We just need to figure out how to feed people.

[SoonToBeMrsBrown]

I read recently that last year the average wedding in the US cost over $25,000! Either everyone that voted is a little unreasonable about their budget and unaware how much things in fact cost, or the slow economy makes people think twice on how much to spend for their big day.


I agree with acidcookie on this one, you have to keep in mind that even the dozen or so celebrities and billionaires each year who spend tens of millions of dollars on their weddings will drive this average up quite a bit despite the many people who do it for under $10,000. It's basic arithmetic, outliars always skew the "average."

I am not financially naive, but I'm planning on doing my wedding with less than $5000 to spend. It'll be hard because of how much I'll have to do on my own, but is it possible to have my dream wedding on a budget? Absolutely.

[ChristineLS]

I agree with acidcookie on this one, you have to keep in mind that even the dozen or so celebrities and billionaires each year who spend tens of millions of dollars on their weddings will drive this average up quite a bit despite the many people who do it for under $10,000. It's basic arithmetic, outliars always skew the "average."

I am not financially naive, but I'm planning on doing my wedding with less than $5000 to spend. It'll be hard because of how much I'll have to do on my own, but is it possible to have my dream wedding on a budget? Absolutely.

Yes. Exactly. :D

[JJsWifey08]

Our budget is 1500 and thats including the honeymoon, rings and etc in it. I can honestly say we actually did it. With a few Ebay items, budgeting just right, and DIY things we made it

[Piedpiper522]

I couldn't find a way to budget all of my priorities and necessities and get it very much under 15k, so that's what its currently at. We're trying to do it for 10k but...I don't think that's going to happen. My parents talked about contributing, so if they do it would ease the burden off my considerably and I can feel comfortable with the 15k cap. :)

[Mrs.Goff]

We started out wanting to keep it around $3000 because I've been together 7 years and didn't think that we needed an expensive wedding. Well, when it's all said and done it'll be somewhere around $5000. So still not expensive. Just more then we wanted.

[yam102284]

I'm hoping to stay below $15,000 but I'm not sure that's going to happen. With the reception and ceremony venue and the photographer, I'm already looking at $12,000. I'm very fortunate that my parents are helping with a lot of it, so we won't have to use that much out of our pockets. But I also won't let them pay for all of it themselves either, I definitely want to contribute to some.

[Docsgirl]

So far we've been able to get some really great deals and it looks like we'll be able to keep it under the $10,000 mark. If I had to guess, I'd say it'll probably come in around the 6K-7K mark.

As for the comment of not knowing how fast things can add up.....yes, they do add up quick, but you can easily have an amazing wedding for less than half of that 25K budget. When all is said and done, I'm not the type of person that is comfortable spending that much on one day to begin with. Yes, it's my wedding and will only happen once, but that doesn't mean I have to splurge on things I can easily find or make for less.

[rainbow]

Our budget is 5000 for 100-150 people. My Fh is worried about the recession and all so he doesn't want us to spend to much on a wedding and I would think it silly for us to spend anything over 5000 as well since we have been living together and have a 6 person household. He is in college and i will be going back as well, and he works part time, so we couldn't afford anything more. Ill be trying my hand at some DIY although im not crafty and im sure ill be asking for alot of help on the board when i get to that point.

[adrianna918]

our budget is $10,000-$15,000....$7k of that is coming from my fiances mom. that covere ceremony, reception and everything associated with those. my mom is paying for my dress, veil, tiara, favors...

i think we are actually only spending $5000 of our own. We were prepared to pay for it all ourselves but our moms offered to help

[CarolinaBride]

10,000 is what my stepdad told me, but Ima try to stay as cheap as I can

[SkippyNXC]

our original agreement was to try to keep it around 10K... my mother is paying for my dress, veil, n tiara and any guests that she's inviting so that saves us some money... the place where we're having our reception is 87pp before all the taxes n charges so our budget is pretty much shot LOL so everything else is going to have to be as cheap as possible n DIY where available.
the nice thing about the venue is that i could walk in and just have a reception w/o needing much decoration n they'll just put candles on the tables for me... but i'm still going to try n squeeze some money out for centerpieces n favors

[Relaxed6-20-09]

I was originally given a budget by my parents of $5000, however, them my FMIL increased my guest list by 100 people. So, I explained that any additional cost was going to have to come out of her pocket. We are now at a budget of under $10,000.

My mother also has a philosophy that the more money you spend on your wedding the less likely it will be to last, because you will, either be so in debt at the beginning of your marriage or you will allways be concerned about money. I agree with her and would like to have this wedding cost as little as possible for the amount of guests we are having, 200 people.

[Gertie]

My first wedding we got a lot of things as gifts like the wedding cake and groom's cake, plus it was just a punch and cake reception. We pretty much ended up buying the bridesmaid's gowns, the groomsmen's tuxes, and our clothing, plus the flowers we wore or carried, which I and a friend arranged. Our total was under $2500.

My second wedding, we received $20,000 and spent $3000 on the wedding, plus we spent about $1500 of our own money. The rest of the $20,000 went into our house.

For my daughter's wedding which is what brought me here, we are trying to come in under $5000 for buying her gown, renting and decorating the church and the reception hall, and for most of the food. Her dad is paying for the photographer and video. I can't tell you how much I've appreciated all the ideas and how to's we've found because of this forum. I know they will save us thousands! At this point, the wedding date is just over two years away, and we've already got most of the wedding planned out. We're hoping because we know what we want for all the decorations and favors, we can watch for sales and get some nice discounts on the things we have to buy.

[sheisaeval]

We are aiming for around 5,000. But a little bit more or less is ok, but less than 10,000.

[tatts4mom2000]

Hi,try Michaels arts and craft store,they have the m&ms for $ 5.99 a bag,and you can use their 40% off coupons!

[WebLady]

Hi,try Michaels arts and craft store,they have the m&ms for $ 5.99 a bag,and you can use their 40% off coupons!
This doesn't make any sense to the convo; did you mean to post this in another thread maybe?

[grapefruit]

We are in the 10k-15k range... everything adds up!!! We are paying for everything too so we have been broke for the past year.

[petulantfem]

We have a strict budget of $5000 for a guest list of 150. It's difficult, because I want to feed everyone a real meal, so that with the venue rental is going to run us about $3300, so over half of our wedding budget there. We will have a cash bar because we can't afford an open bar, but will have wine on the tables, which will be about another $400. We are trying to cut costs everywhere else - our rings will come in under $250 combined, we are opting out of having a DJ, florist or cakemaker - all of that will be DIY. I am planning on wearing a borrowed dress. We have set a limit of $500 for photography, and I have a couple of photographers who are willing to meet with me and talk about what they can do with that budget. The officant and the marriage license will cost us $360. The invites and stamps altogether are costing about $90. All the decor and centrepeices will be DIY and it will depend on how much money we have left to play with.

We haven't talked to our families yet though - this is based on what we can afford alone without going into debt. I am sure my family will want to help out, I just don't want to rely on it. So any extra help we get will be icing on the cake, so to speak. I refuse to go into any debt for the wedding and we don't have a lot of disposable income.

[dodgercpkl]

$5000 is my budget, but I have a feeling when all is said and done, about $6000 will be spent.

Same here although I'm still looking at venues and I have a couple options that if I like them in person would keep the cost under the 5K

EDIT: I forgot about the honeymoon and rings. My parents gave me a set amount of money that I can use for wedding, honeymoon, and have whatever is left to help us in getting started in life. Wedding rings are going to be paid for by my FH. :)

[Mrs.Johnson111111]

All this budget stuff sort of has my head spinning. We gave ourselves the budget of 29,000 for a wedding of around 125 guests. We are starting to save february of next year and saving 2000 a month between the two of us into our savings. I'm going to go back to work and putting everything i make into paying for the wedding. We should have enough for our dream wedding in a year and a half of saving if we are careful and smart about it plus enough in savings to start planning our big move together.

Since its just the two of us in a small place... we don't have as many expenses and its easier to save. And i feel blessed that FH's new business is allowing us to afford a nice big wedding.

The bulk of our budget is going into renting the venues. Just the rental or the ceremony venue and the reception venue is a third of our budget... and we still have to include our rings and my dress in that budget as well. So we are stil gonna have to do some skimping.

The biggest expense that i think is avoidable is the drinks. I'm still trying to convince the FH that we could save so much by having a dry "cocktail hour" and not having an open bar until after dinner...but he insists his friends will be "pissed" that there are no drinks.

I'm thinking about getting a big limo for the wedding party and just bringing our own beer into the limo so that they can be satisfyed and we could save a nice big chunk in our budget.

And even tho we do have a big budget, I'm doing ALOT od DIY to save even more. I'm doing vistaprint save the dates (80 magnets for 80 dollars! great steal) and i'm setting up online invitations and rsvp.

I'm doing all the favors myself, escort cards myself, and the programs. I also dreamed of a big extravagent cake...but i don't know if it would be worth the money...so we may just get a plain cake and save. Ideally, we may be able to come out way under budget, but its good to know that if i decide to splurge i can.

[janabm81]

I'm saying under $1000 simply because I'm not counting the rings (formal wedding or by judge we'd have the rings anyways) or the Honeymoon (we go on vacation this time of year anyways so it's already in our yearly budget.

It's so inexpensive primarily because we don't have to pay for the Reception Hall, DJ, or Alcohol and most everything else (except dress/tuxes) we're doing DIY or friends are helping with.

[amjhdrummer]

My budget is about 2,000 (not including the honeymoon). I have a feeling that we're definitely on track! We've spent (or at least what we've spent plus what we're in contract for to pay off) is $1300, and that's before the grooms attire, my veil, makeup/hair IF I decide to do it, and the food, and rings. We're both getting plain bands for our rings, (since I have a sparkly engagement ring!) And food-wise we are only paying the main-meal, and we're doing pot-luck for everything else. So I think we're set :) We're both in college and are paying for everything ourselves (except the pot-luck food obviously) for about 125 people. Simple, informal, and very-much us!

[TJW143]

Would like to keep it under $15000...we will see how it turns out..I have entered contests and such to help pay for some of our wedding..

[SkippyNXC]

when all was said and done we spent around 22,000... DH said he was proud at what we spent and I what i got for the $$ :)

[f77g4]

Would like to keep it under $15000...we will see how it turns out..I have entered contests and such to help pay for some of our wedding..

Should be doable depending on your area! Use coupons, shop sales etc.

[foreverblueskies]

For my white wedding it was a total budget wedding about 5k for about 200 guest...

But I had two weddings...
We did the super traditional wedding according to my culture and it ran about 11K. But for the traditional wedding most of the focus was on the groom. Me and my bridesmaid were basically tucked in the corner until it was time to leave! And I had always dreamed about a white wedding and wearing a white wedding dress so we had the white wedding seven months later.