Lets Talk Money

Ok Ladies. Now that our reception is booked I am looking closely at our original budget & I am pretty darn sure we will be going over budget. I know money is an iffy topic so I set up a poll if you want to be anonymous. I was originally looking at 30K, and that is way out the window because that is almost the cost of just the venue (if we don't go much over our minimum). So now I am thinking $40K, and I think we still may be a little over that. My goal is to go home tonight & work on some more numbers. So I am looking for an average point on what other people are spending.

If you don't mind sharing can you include if you are soley playing yourselves or receiving any help?

Also where are you guys cutting back?
And where are you splurging?

The whole money issue $uck$!

Lets Talk Money

I should answer my own question.

We splurged on the reception & I love all the little extras and attention to detail stuff so that will probably add up as the time goes on.

We are cutting back on video (not doing cinematic), not upgrading our cake, and hopefully on flowers. Id like to add more candles to offset the cost of flowers.

edited- I'd say we are paying for the wedding ourselves, but we are getting a little help from FFIL & my parents. I haven't be told if FMIL & FH's stepfather are helping at all but I am not holding my breath because I feel like if they had intentions they would have mentioned it. However my parents have to throw me a shower & are paying for my dress so they aren't contributing much to the wedding to my knowledge.

Lets Talk Money

FH and I also set a budget for $30,000 and have about $4,000 left. We booked all major vendors but still haven't purchased gown, tuxes, invitations, favors and hair/makeup. That is NOT including all of the other odds and ends we have purchased such as gifts for the party, OOT supplies, and so on. We are probably going to be over but that is ok. We received $10,000 from FH's father which has helped but quickly came and went. My parents have not contributed and I am not sure if they are going to. (My parents are divorced and my dad is drama & my mom and stepdad aren't in a financial position too) We figured we would have to pick up the bulk of it and it is ok.

We are willing to splurge because we want to have our dream wedding as getting married to one another and being able to celebrate with our friends and family is one of the most momentous, special times of our lives and it is worth the money.

The money of it is definitely stressful and FH and I at first were reallllllly stressed about it but it is what it is. Reality set in and we said you know what this is what we want and we are still young so whatever debt we accumulate we will pay off. It will be ok!

Lets Talk Money

I initially told FH I could do a wedding for 15k. Which... I COULD do if I REALLY wanted. The real budget is between 18k-22k.

We're cutting back on the flowers, videographer (not having one) and a lot of my centerpiece ideas can be bought at the dollar store. We're also probably going to end up printing our own invitations with the kits from michaels. Same goes for the STDs unless we can get a good deal on them. We also won't need too much for the limos.. just a pick up drop off for the guys and then for pick up drop off for FH and I after the reception.

We're really splurging on the food and the photographer. We're also going to splurge on the bridal party gifts. I plan on paying for the girls hair/make up (maybe one or the other, but I know people in the industry so hopefully I can get some sort of deal) and I also plan on getting them their DOJ.

My mom is covering the DJ/photobooth package. FH's family basically said 'We can give you money towards a party or we can give you money towards a down payment on a house'. Obviously we chose the house.

Right now we're at around 17k with the hall and the photographer (thats IF ALL 160 people come. FH is really good with everything because basically his rule of thumb is 'Whatever you want' and we have a good plan for savings.


Hopefully we won't go over 25k.

Lets Talk Money

Oh god, we thought our budget was going to be $30,000. We booked before actually making a budget which I totally regret. After adding everything up as to what we actually already spent, we realized we'd be spending at least 50,000 :(
My parents are giving us 20,000, his parents are helping with what they can. It's terrifying to think about all of these payments and how fast they've been coming.
We splurged on video and photo, and will be cutting back on flowers.
I haven't been stressed about this until recently for some reason. It felt like I had a better hold on my finances a few months ago. Aghh!!

Lets Talk Money

It is stressful but try not to! You are going to marry the man of your dreams and have a beautiful day!! Almost everyone starts out their newlywed life with debt it isn't abnormal and there is always money to be made! We are all so young still. FH and I have no problem staying in our apartment a little longer before buying a house if that means we get to have everything we want on our wedding day.

Lets Talk Money

We should be right at 20k (not including honeymoon) when it's all said and done. If we go over it shouldn't be by much since all of our major vendors are booked already. We're paying for everything ourselves so I've been very budget conscious the whole time. We're getting married off-season, a fact I've used to negotiate with all vendors, and we're not going overboard or getting crazy with any extras. My only splurge was my dress but I didn't go too over budget and it was worth it to me because I only get one day to wear it and I want to look beautiful!

Lets Talk Money

We are DEFINITELY going over budget ($30K), but luckily as of now, it looks like it's not going to be by too much. My parents are contributing a set amount and his parents are also helping for certain things, but we still have a lot of money to save!

We saved a TON by having our wedding on a Thursday night. This allowed us to splurge a little and get a band and spend a little more than I was originally planning on photo/video. I'm going cheap as possible on the flowers (no floral centerpieces), so that will save some, and I have a tight budget on my dress too. Plus all the other 'little' things. Uggghhhhhh, money is so painful to think about these days!

Lets Talk Money

I'm cheap. Like REALLY Cheap, I extreme coupon b/c I hate paying for toiletries. I'm only cheap when it comes to myself. I always wanted a beach wedding with a huge fun bash that night. The night I got engaged, everything changed (well not really!) But I told FH that I would be fine getting married at the courthouse and doing a dinner with our families. He said 'NO.' Now I'm currently (mostly) unemployed. I have a few side jobs going but nothing of substance, so I can't contribute much to the wedding fund. We went to see our venue and I secretly FELL IN LOVE, but I didn't want to say anything. Back in the car FH asked me what I thought, I said 'it's expensive, I refuse to get excited over that' he said 'get excited, call them and tell them to save our date!' I was floored. I started crying. With that said he won't make a budget with me so I have NO idea what our budget is or if we have one. We are getting no outside help, so basically it's on him. He's not careless with his money and does has a lot of investments so I'm not really worried about our future. I figure I'll sooner or later financially be back on my feet and we already own a house so we don't have to stress about down payments.

With all this said I WILL be saving us money. I HATE flowers so I know my florist cost will be on the lower side. I don't want all the bells and whistles that come with DJ's...I don't even want an MC, I know my friends will dance and I LOATHE someone yelling 'AND SOME-BO-DY SCREAM!!!' every few minutes! I also probably will not be spending a ton of money on my dress and am having my sister (most likely) do my makeup!

Re: Lets Talk Money

Our budget started at $35k, then crept up to $43k, now we're at $50k. And thats with me still trying to figure out what we can cut back on.
I'm splurging on the venue and the photographer. Everything else I'm trying to negotiate. As for all the paper goods, I'm making them myself. I'm a huge DIY person. For instance I ordered sample invites from weddingpaperdivas.com and I'm basically just going to knock them off and print them on vista. I can't stand paying more than I have to for something someone is just going to toss in the trash.

It's crazy how expensive weddings are. I read some where that Long Island is the 3rd most expensive place in the US to have a wedding. When I watch Four Weddings and they're all like 'Jills extravigant budget is $20,000 for 250 guests', and girlfriend has an insane wedding - I'm like ***?! Why couldn't I live in Ohio!

My parents are actually paying for half the wedding, but it's still hard to save $24000 in under a year!

Lets Talk Money

Ok, so FH and i are paying ourselves with no help from either of our families (both have informed us that we should just go to the justice of peace). We have a budget of 9K, for our 150 guest list. No real splurging here.


We didnt go for our dream wedding loctaion but rather a location that would be easy for our family and friends could get to and wouldnt blow our meager budget.

I wanted custom invites but after looking at the cost i decided i rather buy the diy box kits (125 invites for $100).One cost people forget to calculate is postage which is why i second thought on getting cusom invites, the postage ate up the money i put towards custom invites. Postage for invite (extra for the weight so assume the cost to be $.90-$1.20), response card, save the dates and thank you cards.

I have been shopping on craigslist for different odds and ends, found frames for my table numbers and to display our engagement pictures. Found my wedding and reception dress for half the price of the wedding dress from the store. ALong with jars for our dessert table.

Re: Lets Talk Money

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Posted by LadyReeRee

It's crazy how expensive weddings are. I read some where that Long Island is the 3rd most expensive place in the US to have a wedding. When I watch Four Weddings and they're all like 'Jills extravigant budget is $20,000 for 250 guests', and girlfriend has an insane wedding - I'm like ***?! Why couldn't I live in Ohio!

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I say the SAME THING!! I don't understand how they have amazing weddings for almost half of what my wedding is going to cost!! And our venue is actually the cheapest we went to! Insane

Lets Talk Money

I'm so glad you asked this, I cried to FH on Sunday about the cost. Originally we planned on spending $30,000 of our own money (ok FHs money) and $10,000 from my parents but it looks like we're closer to $50,000 total, maybe not including our honeymoon. When I cried about it I thought of ways to cut our budget so we won't be spending as much on flowers, invites, limo, dress, really any of the accessories.

It really makes me happy to know that some of you guys are in the same situation as us. Believe it or not, even though we're getting married in Sept on a Saturday night (prime time), our venue was the cheapest we looked at. We definitely splurged on our photographer and are looking to cut costs by booking a cheaper videographer, a vendor we decided to add last minute.

Lets Talk Money

Ok so our budget is between $20-22K. FH and I are paying for exactly $13,500 of the wedding, my parents will be paying the rest! and as for FH's parents, well I'll be lucky if they even remember what day our wedding is!!!

Our hall is costing the bulk of our budget. We are paying for the hall, with the exception of the 20% admin fee and our viennese hour (that was my dads extra! lol). My parents are paying for centerpieces, music (most of it), my dress (not included in that budget because well that cost is about 7500-10K for that alone including my veil and alterations). My parents are also covering my bouquet and invites

so we saving on a videographer, i wanted one but I just don't think this will happen.

Church is free since i work for the school. Limos we just need to do the tipping since our friend owns a company and my parents will be paying those. As for make up / hair my parents have that too as well as the tips that need to be given for the day.

We are also doing a hotel block and my parents are picking up the tab for brunch the next day too.

all in all, we are only laying out a small amount for the wedding and are focused on saving for a down payment for a condo! we are hoping to get an FHA mortgage so we only have to put 3.5% down. After the wedding we are going on our honey moon 6 months later (my work schedule is much better for a summer trip!) so some of our gift money will pay for that!


i've always appreciated my parents all they have done but after writing this post I am 10X more thankful for all they do!

Lets Talk Money

FH and I are paying for everything ourselves (and right now it's mostly him paying for it until we move in together in a few months).

Our budget is $25k and so far all of the vendors we have booked have kept us in budget. I'm pretty determined not to go over so we can have money set aside for a downpayment on a house soon after the wedding.

Lets Talk Money

When I had no idea how much things cost, I said we would stay at $20k. Then I started visiting reception halls and the first quote we got was for over $20k...So that was out the window.We are now at about $35k when absolutely everything is included, even the honeymoon. My parents are paying for the reception hall which, at the place we went with is just under half. FH's dad is picking up the rehearsal dinner and FH's mom is giving us 2k. My grandma is buying my dress and the rest is on us!

Lets Talk Money

We decided 25k shortly after we got engaged...that quickly increased after we started getting estimates from vendors. We're hoping to get married late may early june of next year but are flexible on day and time. Would consider Thursday if needed, lol. I only plan to splurge on the venue and photos...everything else doesn't really matter. I'll update this when we visit venus and book 2/18, lol

Lets Talk Money

Our budget was originally $20,000 but then as we began looking at everything it quickly jumped up to 30,000. The reception hall is most of the budget and so is the DJ/Band. We think it is important to have good music. We saved some money on the reception by having it on a Sunday. We are saving on the invitations which we plan to make ourselves and I saved money on my dress. I would like to incorporate more DIY things to save money as well. My parents are helping our and his parents will take care of the flowers and favors. I sometimes get nervous that we won't be able to pay it all!!

Lets Talk Money

I posted and I don't know where my post went!!
Our budget is 25,000
My parents are giving us 10,000 that's basically for the venue. His parents haven't mentioned anything and there's still a slight chance they will give us something but we don't think so .
So far we are just under 15,000 and we have our venue, dj, and photo booked. We splurged on photo but we don't want video and we still have flowers and limo but we aren't flower people so that will be minimal.
I'm hoping there will be room in budget for a photo booth and a DOC bc I have my heart set on it!

Re: Lets Talk Money

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Posted by Simonenarissa

I posted and I don't know where my post went!!
Our budget is 25,000
My parents are giving us 10,000 that's basically for the venue. His parents haven't mentioned anything and there's still a slight chance they will give us something but we don't think so .
So far we are just under 15,000 and we have our venue, dj, and photo booked. We splurged on photo but we don't want video and we still have flowers and limo but we aren't flower people so that will be minimal.
I'm hoping there will be room in budget for a photo booth and a DOC bc I have my heart set on it!

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For the photobooth definitely try nydigitalmemories! They have a BUNCH of different packages and are super affordable! We were going to book through them, but decided to book it through our DJ, AfterHours!

We're justifying the photobooth by saying its our favor! (Which it will be!)