Budget Help!!!

We just started our planning, thinking to spend about 20K. So far we have found our that avg. reception hall for 100 ppl will cost about 10K, a band 5-8K and photo/video $5K... Any suggestions what to keep/eliminate to stay in budget? All other things (dress, flowers, tux, limo, invites) we plan to be frugal on and expect to be about 3-5K. Plus there are also tips, etc. What have you guys sprulged/skimped on?

Re: Budget Help!!!

I splurged on my hall, so I cut back on music (I got a dj instead of a band) and my dress...

I could say that I cut back on my photographer (under $3K) but I didn't...he was exactly what I was looking for.

the more time you have for planning...the more time you will have to save...I never used my credit card for one wedding related item.

Also DH and I used to go out to $150 sushi EVERY week...we cut that down, as well as a lot of going out. There are a lot of ways to cut back in your life...

my parents helped out a lot as well.

Re: Budget Help!!!

If you are really trying to cut corners, you could go with at DJ - I am spending $1700 on mine as compared to $5-$8K on a band....but if you are in love with bands, it might be worth it, you don't want to skimp on something that is really important to you. Also I am getting an incredible package from my photographer that includes video and photography that cost me about $4000...and that was one of the higher packages, so I am not sure if you have to go as high as $5K.

Re: Budget Help!!!

Unless you plan on radically changing the format of your wedding - $20K for 100pp is going to be really tough.

Remember that a hall that charges $100 pp is actually going to charge you $130 person after tax and gratuity. So thats $13K right there.

Even if you get a cheaper photographer, get a DJ, get a cheap dress - the little things like flowers and invites and limos all add up quickly too.

Cutting your guest list will be the quickest way to bring you near budget.

Re: Budget Help!!!

I know what you are feeling.. we have managed to keep the wedding budget to 20k..(not including the honeymoon) Here is what we did to make that happen..
1. Booked with the Swan Club for a Saturday, during the day.. GREAT PRICE!
2. No Band.. DJ... DJ was about $1400, bands are much much more..
3. only photographer.. which was $2200 ( i think)
I am having a friend video everything for me.. that is there gift to us..
4. Invitations.. don't go crazy on them.. you can find simple pretty ones that will work just as well as the ones that are engraved etc...
5. Flowers.. keep them simple.. I went with Flowers by Burton.. there are tons of posts about them.. great work and great price.. my flowers for the wedding are about $1200 and that is for everything..
6. Dress.. my dress is by Mon Cheri.. much more reasonably priced brand, and it is wonderful.. my dress was $1100, and it has a chapel train with lots of beadwork

Just remember, your budget is do-able.. we are doing it, just plan, get at least three price quotes for each thing, and book as early as you can

I am splurging on our honeymoon, and I am making sure I pamper myself and bridesmaids.. but that is what i wanted to do.. some people prefer to splurge on other things.. that is entirely up to you!

Good Luck!!!!

Re: Budget Help!!!

hi- my budget is the same as yours we are having 100 people at the wedding and i booked watermill during the day in march when rates are lower got good price less than 100 pp at a beutiful place

my dj was really cheap- 575-high voltage sounds
highly reccommended

photo- ada studios, got the basic pkg very good price

basically-we might even come under budget not incl honeymoon!!

good luck

Re: Budget Help!!!

I echo a lot of the other girls sentiments. To keep my wedding inexpensive I made the following decisions:

1. Keeping the guest list to 100 people
2. having a 3/15/03 wedding instead of 5/31/03 (the price for making this swithc was less than half the 5/31/price)!!!!
3. Be creative with decorations. I will not be doing centerpieces. Instead I am suing runners on the table with candle lamps and flowers in bud vases. The cost to decorate each table is less tha $20.
4. I am not doing parent albums. We both have two sets of parents and do not want anyone to feel slighted.
5. DJ instead of band.
6. Try to negotiate everything!!!! From the price of your dress to the alterations. I have a friend to who sent incounter offers to all of her weddding vendors detailing what she was willing to pay and a lot of them accepted her offer.

Re: Budget Help!!!

With a band... go through private bands. Not ones owned by companies. The companies cost much more as they get a piece of the price which drives the cost up. You can find a good independent band for a little under $5,000

Re: Budget Help!!!

I am also being very budget conscious. We went with a DJ over a band because of personal taste and I have hiring one for $950. I wasn't interested in having both a dj and MC...can get too cheesy...so I hiring a dj who will also act as the mc.

Got a steal on my dress....designer Demetrious gown that retails for $1800...for $450 off the rack! Good as new!

I am having my wedding at x-mas time (dec 29), so my church will already be decorated with wonderful x-mas trees, candles etc....same with the hall.

We are having a Sunday evening weddinng...easily cut off about $20 a head versus Friday and Sat.

Found my perfect headpeice on ebay for $15.

Research! Research! Research! That is the key! Don't be shy to tell vendors that someone else quoted you another price....chances are they will beat it

Also...look for a reception hall that has one-stop shopping...a place that includes your cake , your table flowers, etc

Re: Budget Help!!!

We had a similar budget and had close about 185 on the guest list. Here's what we did.

Sat. afternoon in April at Leonard's of Great Neck - about $65 pp. (in 2001 - it's probably up a bit now) Cake was included and it was delicious.

DJ - Spin-Around-Sound - included music for the cocktail hour. Great!

Photographer - Fine Photos by Eric - good packages at a good price and we loved the photos. (see the Newlyweds page - I just posted 4 of them.)(www.ericsphotos.com) No video, although we kind of regret this now. Especially wish we had the ceremony.

Flowers - Murphy & Co. in Bayside - very pretty flowers at a good price - under 2000 for 18 tables, bouquets, pew bows, etc. We only had 3 GM and 3 BM so that helped keep prices down. Keep your bridal party small and you'll save on flowers and gifts. Hubby wanted 3 dandelions in a beer bottle for the tables!!!

Invites - Wedding Traditions via catalog - very happy with them - fast, accurate and a good price.

Dress - Mon Cheri - under $1000

A few things I did to add special touches a-la Martha Stewart, but still kept the price down....

Made my own menus (printed on cream colored cover stock on a color ink-jet) and my own programs - same cream paper (ligher weight) folded and tied with ribbon. Seating cards were standard which I decorated by hot-gluing small flowers into the corner - picked those up at A.C. Moore craft store. Everything I printed, from the save the date letter, to the menus, and programs, used the same color paper and same floral clip art to carry through the theme. Spent about a dollar each on some small glass votives and candles and had these used put on tables at the cocktail hour, instead of spending $12 apiece for floating daisys.

Favors - found some pretty boxes on line (www.romanticflowers.com ???) and filled them with some special chocolates that Mom got wholesale. Tied with pretty ribbons - about $2.00 each.

A great resource for ribbons, bags, wrappings, etc. is www.papermart.com. Got the goodie bags there, and also cellophane 'food' bags. Bought lots of bulk stuff at Costco and made our own packs for goodie bags - put Chocolate covered raisins, goldfish crackers, cashews, etc. into individual bags tied with ribbon. Added cookies, Arizona iced tea, etc. and it worked great. Also got our table cameras from Costco - a great bargain.

I hope this helps - be creative and you can still have a special wedding without overspending your budget.

Re: Budget Help!!!

Thank you very much for your advice... I spoke w/my FI and both parents last night.... We basically decided that band, photo/video and hall were pretty much a must.... We plan to increase the budget to allow for these expenses (we're fortunate to have set a low budget initially), and we'll be looking for the cheaper things for the rest of the wedding planning (Limo only one way, most likely no favors, esp. since they're not valued at russian weddings, simple centerpieces, etc).

Alina

Re: Budget Help!!!

Wow!!! I'm planning a Jan 2004 wedding and am hoping to keep the budget around 12,000. The reception will be around 6,000 for 115 people and then I'm going to try to negiotiate some deals as I am having an off-season wedding. Am I being unrealistic. Maybe we should just hop a flight to Vegas! (My FH and I are paying for the wedding ourselves)

Re: Budget Help!!!

All I can add is that it really starts to add up. The key is to keep the guest list down. Off season is CRUCIAL. January and February and March are MUCH more affordable than the typical wedding months. For reception halls through florists.

But the guest list is really the place to save. You can save a few hundred here and there, but the real place to shave is the list! Good luck!

Re: Budget Help!!!

I think in Jan of 2004 you could do it on your budget. My FH & I are probably making our own centerpieces and possibly favors (not sure yet). Which will hopefully cut back costs. I'm not into flowers that much so I hope we won't have a big bill there. We have some connections with a florist anyway. So like everyone says just spend on things that are most important to you.

Re: Budget Help!!!

My FI has a large 'extended' family that 'must' be invited. After talking to his parents, we've negotiated DOWN their family invitees to 60 ppl. Many of the extended family weddings in the past that my FI attended topped 200ppl.
And we're inviting about 50 or so from my family plus close friends (I have a really small family). Then we'll probably have the extended family and friends B-List. We're assuming a 75% response rate, lower for those far away. We have run into an issue w/ a lot of NJ halls (which is where we're having the wedding), that the minimum # of ppl required is at least 100 for an afternoon reception, some even 125-150 non-negotiable... We havent't set a place yet, but based on phone price quotes, we are looking at $70-80 pp, plus gratuity and taxes, total would be around 10K.

Re: Budget Help!!!

I also think 20k is do-able. Not easy, but do-able. Our first place to save money was our hall. We switched from a Sat. night to a Fri, and it saved us about $10/head. We also found a place that included centerpieces, and that saved us as well.

We went with Flowers by Burton, and got a ton of stuff for under 1k.

Our photographer was in the 2k range, getting a lot of things that we wanted and comes highly recommended.

We are using a DJ, and spending about $1,400 for 5 hours.

If you desperately want a limo, see about getting a larger one and putting everyone in the bridal party in the same one.

Go with solid wedding bands, and then upgrade for an anniversary.

I went a little overboard for invites, but they were very important to me. You really don't have to.

I got an Alfred Angelo gown for under $600 (before tax, alterations, full slip and bustle)

Good luck with it! If you shop around, you can get what you want/need.

Re: Budget Help!!!

Wow you're getting a lto of responses.
The only place I was able to save was with the music. I am spnding $1500 for a jazz band and DJ combo.

The jazz band is the Dennis Bram Cortette from the Carltun. One guy will play the piano in the lobby while people arrive. Then they will do my ceremony. They will play jazz during the cocktail hour. Then for the reception the DJ will kick in but the jazz band compliments the DJ by jumping in with the sax and bongos for some songs.

This was referred to me by a new friend who used them for her wedding (she was in the catering business for 10 years so I trust her judgement).
I hope it is as nice as it sounds.....HUGE savings

I'm spending $1600 for flowers (which includes ceremony decorations. Using Flower Michele...highly recommend!

Re: Budget Help!!!

Have you thought about holding your reception at a location other than a catering hall? It's a lot more plannning but can potentially save you thousands. We're getting married at the Queens County Farm Museum and they only charge $900.00 to rent the barn and property. We found a caterer who is $60 pp and that includes full cocktail hour, 10 course buffet, cake, pastries/cookies, and full bar.
We also are saving by using a photographer who will give us proofs and the negatives, DJ for $800.00, my flowers are being done for $390.00 by a woman I know who is a florist on the side, etc.
Our entire wedding, which is 10/12/02-a Saturday night, will cost us a total of $16K in the end.
If you want more info, please let me know!

Re: Budget Help!!!

Alot has already been suggested I also got my headpiece on ebay and plan to see if i can get a veil too.

I got my dress online after trying it on retail which saved me another 200 off the already 400 dress.

Try to bargain with the halls too, if you are off season and during the day the prices should be much lower, and there are alot of halls that arent as pricey like Stewart Manor or Weeping willow I think, never been there but i heard that they are like 65pp.

Good luck and share any money saving ideas with all of us too

Re: Budget Help!!!

get a DJ instead of a band
there are a lot of really good ones out there
some even sing!! we got our DJ for I think under 2,000