Budget question

sarahthegreat Posted: Feb 02, 2006 05:48 PM

Budget question

so we all know how expensive weddings are.....but when you first got engaged, how much did you really think you'd spend?? no need to go into $ amounts.....

i bring this up b/c fh and i were talking about this last week..when we first got engaged we went to my fh's cousins wedding at east wind. very nice, btw. so a few months go by and we find out that they spend 5k on flowers all roses. and we think, 'wow, that is not too bad, we can do that.' HA!! we say now...what the hell were we thinking!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 5k just on flowers? if that is your bugdet, more power, but that is half of what my hall is costing us....

we became very realistic about this recently, every extra cent goes to the savings. it kind of s ucks, but when its all said and done we know it'll be worth it.

so, thoughts???

JandJ1224 Posted: Feb 02, 2006 06:04 PM

Re: Budget question

When we first talked about having the wedding we set the budget around $20,000. Now its out of control. Looking more like $30,000 at this point. FH saw this new number and almost hit the floor but it is what it is. When we first started planning I said are you sure this is what you want, all this money for one day he said yes so here we go...

thefirstlady Posted: Feb 02, 2006 06:23 PM

Re: Budget question

I had planned on spending about $20,000, and that is on the conservative side for LI. But right now w/out even counting flowers, limo and photog, I'm at about $17,500 ok, I think I'm gonna throw up now!

sarahbelle Posted: Feb 02, 2006 06:28 PM

Re: Budget question

I thought that I would be able to do the whole wedding for $15K. I had no idea what anything would cost. I also never thought a guest list could get out of control quickly.

DCSAAB06 Posted: Feb 02, 2006 06:31 PM

Re: Budget question

We mad a budget and started to put away each month for it. Along the way came more expensive vendors and things we needed, like the apt we set up for.

We arent too far off but we are set back a bit from where our 'budget' is/was.

I think its tough but setting it also takes away from getting overly crazy and certain things for the wedding. We are hoping that we stay within the min required to have to shell out more.

ayadali Posted: Feb 02, 2006 06:46 PM

Re: Budget question

Ideally we budgeted 20k but I thought realistically we could do it for 24k. It's more like 28k now - oh well, it will be the biggest party of my lifetime.

ETA: I am including tax and tip in my numbers above

LovelyChas Posted: Feb 02, 2006 06:48 PM

Re: Budget question

Posted by JandJ1224

When we first talked about having the wedding we set the budget around $20,000. Now its out of control. Looking more like $30,000 at this point. FH saw this new number and almost hit the floor but it is what it is. When we first started planning I said are you sure this is what you want, all this money for one day he said yes so here we go...

Where you listening to our conversation????

The above is exactly what is going on in our lives

Mrs. dleeny Posted: Feb 02, 2006 07:05 PM

Re: Budget question

DH and I ended up spending a few thousand more than we expected. not too bad!

JanuaryBride06 Posted: Feb 02, 2006 07:10 PM

Re: Budget question

We had a general idea of reception costs - but we had no idea how much everything else was. It really, really adds up, especially if you're not careful

gNi1125 Posted: Feb 02, 2006 07:11 PM

Re: Budget question

Posted by JanuaryBride06

We had a general idea of reception costs - but we had no idea how much everything else was. It really, really adds up, especially if you're not careful

same here

cindyandkevin Posted: Feb 02, 2006 07:16 PM

Re: Budget question

I had planned on keeping it to about $20K, but now it's probably closer to $25K. We're going for 'simple but elegant' so we're really not trying to do anything over the top, and now our wallets and making sure of it!!

JCam695 Posted: Feb 02, 2006 07:20 PM

Re: Budget question

I really had no idea what stuff costs and when it's all said and done it'll be double of what I thought a wedding should cost.
That's LI for ya!

judysworld Posted: Mar 17, 2006 05:48 AM

Re: Budget question

I never thought I would have an all out ceremony. I thought when I get married we would go to a judge. The families and FH wanted more. So you know I was like $15K is more than enough. Little did I know that vendors lose it when they hear the word wedding placed in front of anything. I started bargaining with everybody. I was stressed out about us going over, but now I am like whatever. If I can stay at my minimum people, then I will be over by about $3-5K. If more than that, maybe over by $10K at most.

kissy27 Posted: Mar 17, 2006 07:38 AM

Re: Budget question

When we got engaged we knew 'Exactly' what we could spend based on what we would put away each week. There were vendors we cut back on & we stuck to our budget!

With 14 days to go, I can honestly say, we were right on par with what we though! We didn't go over budget & we are so proud of ourselves! One thing I learned in the entire process, don't get caught up in all the 'extras' that you can do. They will cost the most in the end & people don't notice them all!

angnick Posted: Mar 17, 2006 08:53 AM

Re: Budget question

When we first got engaged, we originally wanted a destination wedding. My family was totally into it. It would have saved us a TON of money. However, his grandparents are still alive, and may not have been able to make the trip, so we decided to hvae the wedding at home.

Needless to say i guess, we have very good taste and with three months to go before our wedding we are at least 15k over our budget.

I think it will be worth it, i mean the experience it self is worth it, but i have news for you, i'm NEVER doing this again!!!!!

kittythestray Posted: Mar 17, 2006 09:18 AM

Re: Budget question

We set a budget without having ANY idea what ANYTHING costs. We did have to adjust, but not too bad.

csui25 Posted: Mar 17, 2006 09:49 AM

Re: Budget question

Posted by sarahbelle

I thought that I would be able to do the whole wedding for $15K. I had no idea what anything would cost. I also never thought a guest list could get out of control quickly.

Me too! Then I booked my hall and that amount more than went out the window.

shellnroc Posted: Mar 17, 2006 09:58 AM

Re: Budget question

I was hoping to have a wedding for $25K. But, everything adds up and may I add very quickly.
I think our budget went out the window.
There is so many little things I really didn't account for. It's just crazy!!

JessicaM. Posted: Mar 17, 2006 10:04 AM

Re: Budget question

when we first started talking about this, I honestly thought we could have the wedding we are having now for about $10,000. Obviously I was totally clueless about the cost of EVERYTHING, so here we are, more than DOUBLE later, and I still feel like we are getting a good DEAL! LOL

It was a hard adjustment-facing the reality of what things DO cost, rather than what I thought they SHOULD cost.

Maybride519 Posted: Mar 17, 2006 10:11 AM

Re: Budget question

When we first go engaged, we both thought $20,000 easy. Well, we all know that it is soooo easy to go over that amount, which at this point , we did. I know that it will all be worth it so I am not complaining at all, and just knowing that we will not be in debt over this, puts us at ease.