Brides with guest lists of 175 - 200 - what's your budget?

Katrina,

You can do this. FH and my guest list is approximately 100 (our minimum, and we had the exact opposite of most people we had to scrounge for guest to meet that minimum) and that is my budget but I am also splurging on a few things..

Things we cut:

1. guest list... be brutal here because people will pop out of the woodwork

2. Bridal party... consider only having a MOH and BM. You save on flowers and gifts.

3. No limos, everything is there.

4. No video.

5. No send off brunch the next day for OOT guests. I don't think I'll do giftbags, depends upon how many show up. That alone can be a few hundred bucks.

Things we are splurging on:

1. Flowers... in hindsight I could have spent less but I am gettting a good price for my centerpieces ($50 each) for ten tables. I wanted blue hydrangea and as you know from previous posts they can be but I am using Trina and she is great. If I was getting married at night, I'd just do candle centerpieces. But total my flowers are less than $700. The centerpieces are fishbowls.

2. Photography... my photogrpaher came highly recommended from a co-worker and at least 6 of my brother's friends used her. I like her because I've been told women tend to capture the details and her package was a la carte ( we are not doing parent albums, neither wants one just a few framed pics). Well, since my co-workers booked her her prices have almost doubled. I've had second thoughts and wished I knew about Duet sooner.

3. Honeymoon... we are hoping to have a honeymoon baby or soon there after. We are not Caribbean/beach people. Being 100% Irish I'd fry like bacon so we are off to London and the surrounding countryside. I splurged on this because I haven't been able to travel taking care of my Dad for so long and again, we are hoping for a bambino (I'll be 35 and he will be 37) so now is the time to have a fabulous trip. Europe is more expensive than the Caribbean.

4. Rings- he wants a real simple white gold band... seriously, maybe $100 but I'd like diamonds on mine. Nothing huge, actually kinda average or less than for most NY women.

5. My hair and makeup- my hairstylist who has been doing my hair for over 12 years. She won't be cheap but at least I know I'll look good.

OH, because we are not having a bridal party I'm not getting the groom's tux at a discount.

Bargains:

1. DJ- High Voltage. Vinny is doing my ceremony, cocktail hour and reception for WAY less than most dj companies do just the reception

2. Dress ordered from Burtons. Alterations are capped and luckily I shouldn't need a lot due to my proportions. Total for my dress will be less than $800. and I have a $100 credit from Burton's for the headpiece.

Well, that's how we are at 100 people and budget of $25K. My entire reception... flowers, dj and catering is under $10K. That's your biggest expense.

Hope that helps.

Katrina its really hard to keep within budget, when we first started we said 14k was the budget, we are now at 26k but thats with HM and Rings, our guest list is 160-170

We are doing a lot of things our selves such as programs, the favors ( Cds with love songs)
but we did splurge on the DJ and Photos (Duet)Because we def want the memories, MY dress I got at RK for 610 and my shoes are from my glass slipper for 54 dollars, just keep checking online for bargains you can def stay within 30k if you are carefull with the guestlist that is the biggest expense.

Hope that helps

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Posted by nferrandi

Are you really stuck on having a NY wedding? If so, than by all means, plan the wedding of your dreams. But if you're on the fence, than I totally think you should do a Mexico wedding. and if you do that, there's no reason to wait until 2006, you can do it this year. Our friends got married in Jamaica and it was awesome! About 50-60 of us went and we had the best time!

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We planned for Mexico for 2/19/06 at the Royal Hideaway. I took FI there for his birthday and I had been with a girlfriend a year or two earlier. We saw weddings in progress and it was all gorgeous - on the beach.

We wanted to give family time to save up the cash to come with - hence the 2/19/06 date.

I attended a wedding in Jamaica in 2002 at Beaches and it was nice. The only thing that was odd is that guests not staying at the same hotel had to pay $75 for a guest pass for the night. We were able to have dinner (buffet) at the resort and we hung out at the pool after changing. It was fun but my girlfriend and I did not want to stay at the same hotel and run into the couple.

Mexico is off because of the expense for family and some of them don't fly (my uncle for one).

We could do something small in NY but my mom keeps saying we should do it in VA. yeah, for $70 pp with no alcohol at the nicer places I checked. It's just not worth it when I can find a LI place for that price that is very elegant with open bar.

I checked the Cavalier Hotel (an old & famous hotel in VA Beach) and they want some ridiculous price w/o alcohol and they have a consumption bar with $70 or so for a bottle of vodka (absolute but still that is overpriced) and even more for other liquors and cordials. They have a cash bar option but not for weddings - which we would never do anyway.

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Posted by David'sbride

Katrina,

You can do this. FH and my guest list is approximately 100 (our minimum, and we had the exact opposite of most people we had to scrounge for guest to meet that minimum) and that is my budget but I am also splurging on a few things..

Things we cut:

1. guest list... be brutal here because people will pop out of the woodwork

2. Bridal party... consider only having a MOH and BM. You save on flowers and gifts.

3. No limos, everything is there.

4. No video.

5. No send off brunch the next day for OOT guests. I don't think I'll do giftbags, depends upon how many show up. That alone can be a few hundred bucks.

Things we are splurging on:

1. Flowers... in hindsight I could have spent less but I am gettting a good price for my centerpieces ($50 each) for ten tables. I wanted blue hydrangea and as you know from previous posts they can be but I am using Trina and she is great. If I was getting married at night, I'd just do candle centerpieces. But total my flowers are less than $700. The centerpieces are fishbowls.

2. Photography... my photogrpaher came highly recommended from a co-worker and at least 6 of my brother's friends used her. I like her because I've been told women tend to capture the details and her package was a la carte ( we are not doing parent albums, neither wants one just a few framed pics). Well, since my co-workers booked her her prices have almost doubled. I've had second thoughts and wished I knew about Duet sooner.

3. Honeymoon... we are hoping to have a honeymoon baby or soon there after. We are not Caribbean/beach people. Being 100% Irish I'd fry like bacon so we are off to London and the surrounding countryside. I splurged on this because I haven't been able to travel taking care of my Dad for so long and again, we are hoping for a bambino (I'll be 35 and he will be 37) so now is the time to have a fabulous trip. Europe is more expensive than the Caribbean.

4. Rings- he wants a real simple white gold band... seriously, maybe $100 but I'd like diamonds on mine. Nothing huge, actually kinda average or less than for most NY women.

5. My hair and makeup- my hairstylist who has been doing my hair for over 12 years. She won't be cheap but at least I know I'll look good.

OH, because we are not having a bridal party I'm not getting the groom's tux at a discount.

Bargains:

1. DJ- High Voltage. Vinny is doing my ceremony, cocktail hour and reception for WAY less than most dj companies do just the reception

2. Dress ordered from Burtons. Alterations are capped and luckily I shouldn't need a lot due to my proportions. Total for my dress will be less than $800. and I have a $100 credit from Burton's for the headpiece.

Well, that's how we are at 100 people and budget of $25K. My entire reception... flowers, dj and catering is under $10K. That's your biggest expense.

Hope that helps.

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I'm so impressed!!!! A reception for 100 for under $10K is great.

We are having 150 and have a 25k budget

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Posted by kdrainey

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Posted by May05Bride

with everything, it is turning out to be a bit over $50K.

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Ouch!!!

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my centiments exactly!

ouch again.
Ours is 50k about 62k total if we included the honeymoon
I can't look back, I hope it's everything I dreamed it will be..

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Posted by helen05

ouch again.
Ours is 50k about 62k total if we included the honeymoon
I can't look back, I hope it's everything I dreamed it will be..

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I don't want to include the honeymoon!
Too painful!


And mine is already not like I wanted it...

Our guest lists is 200. Our budget is $35K. So far we're on $32K

scary, isn't it? We just added it up and we're at abotu 50K before wedding rings or hm.
Really? Where the hell does all that $$ go? Seems unbelievable when you start adding it all up.

Our budget is 25k

we will be having 125 to 150 people at the wedding.

So far we have

church (600)
photo/video (under 5000)
My dress (1000)
reception (102.66pp incl tax and grat)

and we are under 20k.. Im hoping by me and my mom doing all the bouquets, me making the centerpeices (I will just need to buy candelabras/candles), and the wine favors we want, we wont go over the budget. All thats really left is from the big ticket stuff is

Limos
invites
dj

At least big ticket things.

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Posted by Jen2999

Our budget is 25k

we will be having 125 to 150 people at the wedding.

So far we have

church (600)
photo/video (under 5000)
My dress (1000)
reception (102.66pp incl tax and grat)

and we are under 20k.. Im hoping by me and my mom doing all the bouquets, me making the centerpeices (I will just need to buy candelabras/candles), and the wine favors we want, we wont go over the budget. All thats really left is from the big ticket stuff is

Limos
invites
dj

At least big ticket things.

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That's really good. I'm impressed with your budgeting.

I am definitely cutting the list. I just got back to NY and know we have to do it here. VA will just be too expensive since we'd have to have about 300 people.

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Posted by kdrainey

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Posted by Jen2999

Our budget is 25k

we will be having 125 to 150 people at the wedding.

So far we have

church (600)
photo/video (under 5000)
My dress (1000)
reception (102.66pp incl tax and grat)

and we are under 20k.. Im hoping by me and my mom doing all the bouquets, me making the centerpeices (I will just need to buy candelabras/candles), and the wine favors we want, we wont go over the budget. All thats really left is from the big ticket stuff is

Limos
invites
dj

At least big ticket things.

---

That's really good. I'm impressed with your budgeting.

I am definitely cutting the list. I just got back to NY and know we have to do it here. VA will just be too expensive since we'd have to have about 300 people.

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Thanks.. Im hoping to keep limos at 1000 and invites less than that. I should be able to do the centerpeices for under 20 per table and Im doing wine favors .. approx 300 for that.

We probably ended up being about 45K for 165 people attending. It was everything I dreamed of and I wouldn't change anything. Two thirds of the money was just on dinner.
Cost saving measures:
Only two BM
I bought my dress on ebay.
We didn't have a videograper.
We got married on a Friday night in the fall.
We had a DJ ($1500) instead of a band (great choice)
I could have gone for cheaper flowers but I got obsessed with high high centerpiece candelabra and wouldn't change my mind.

Good luck.

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Posted by chicagogal

I could have gone for cheaper flowers but I got obsessed with high high centerpiece candelabra and wouldn't change my mind.

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This will be our downfall. FI loves this high candelabra centerpiece with about 3 dozen roses and lillies in it that we saw at Russos on the Bay. And get this - it had roses and lillies at the base of the candelabra too.