Sticking to a Budget....Yeah Right

ya know I don't think it is possible to stick to a budget seriously you cant
help me I am going insane already and I just started

It is, it is, just relax!!! I did it and I'm on an extremely tight budget considering the number of guests I have. Let us help!

Your first thing is a reception hall. If you don't mind, share your budget, number of people and your vision for around where and when you want to have it with us and we'll make it happen.

We'll figure it out, I promise!

ok so we booked westbury manor minimum guarantee 110 people but now my aunt is like how come my cousins who are 12 cant come but my cousins who are 18 can???
ugh well it's $53 per person plus 18% gratuity and 8.75% tax but I think we are gonna either be way over or under..... stressful ( i thought the invites would be the easy part) well we wanted to stay at 15000
is that posible???

Definitely!!! I'm more than double your number of invites with less then double your budget and my reception hall is more money per person. TOTALLY POSSIBLE!!

If you want to make a no kids rule, go for it. Tough on those who don't like it. Tell them it's for adults 18 and over. You just have to be firm.

Ok, next up is music, photo and video. Vinny at High Voltage (DJ) is somewhere around the $1K mark and the brides on here have raved about him. Check him out - he's a vendor here.

Photography can be cut down if you want to do your albums later. Also, remember, with photography, about 1/3 of the payment isn't due until after the wedding. So, if the budget gets a little out of control, that's one thing you can always, if you need to, use the wedding money for. Duet is supposed to be wonderful and they have a great photo/video package for less than $4K. And, if you want to hold off on the albums or save money by doing them yourself you can user a photographer such as 12th night - the packages don't include albums so they're way less.

So the reception is going to run you $7,400. That leaves you with $7600 (more than half) to spend on the rest. You can DIY a lot of things, including invitations, to save money as well.

Obviously I'm not telling you what vendors to choose - I just wanted to give you concrete examples of people within your actual budget. Also, check out nsgraham's budget page - it's got a TON of inexpensive vendors who have gotten great reviews.