Total Cost of an LI Wedding?

Hi, all. I realize this is sort of an in-depth question, but, living outside of LI (we`re in DC) and being super-pressed for time (working full time and doing my MBA), I am trying to get some quick answers so I figured I`d try a post to the message boards. If there is anyone willing to share with me a complete cost breakdown (i.e., reception, invites, flowers, photog, video, limo, favors, etc, etc) of your wedding, I`d be extremely appreciative. We`re trying to come up with a budget and have little frame of reference for Long Island. If you don`t feel comfortable posting to the entire board, please feel free to email me directly at [email protected]. Thanks!!!

Total Cost of an LI Wedding? - Depends

It seems as though Long Island has a notation of being very costly in terms of planning weddings. I do agree on that, however, if you look and plan carefully, you can have a great wedding for half the cost as someone who books the most expensive vendors. Keep in mind, high cost doesn't always mean better. I am still in the planning stages, so I can't offer complete details, but I can give you our estimates on what we have booked so far. Hope this helps, and good luck. Church - we have a fee to the music department for an organist and cantor, $200. PreCana in-house program cost us $60. I know we will be tipping the priest, in addition to inviting him to the rehearsal dinner and reception. I am still unsure if there are other fees involved here. Reception Hall - the Sans Souci of Sea Cliff. We have to guarantee 100 people, and we get a full 5-hour reception, including cocktail hour and 4-course sit-down dinner, for $90 plus tax per person. There is an 18% gratuity charge for their service vendors. All open bar, top-shelf liquor. However, we chose a Saturday afternoon reception over a night and it definitely saved us at least 10% off the total cost. Fridays and Sunday are usually cheaper too, keep that in mind. Band - we booked the Time Square Orchestra, an 8-piece band, including all horns (trumpet, sax, trombone, etc) for $4000, which includes the cocktail hour. We got a reduced rate due to an afternoon reception. DJ's are probably 1/3 less, so that's a cost saving option. Photographer - we booked Glenmar Studios in Roslyn. We are having a photographer and an assistant. No video, no photojournalist. Our photographer will do both color and B&W. Prices here were more than reasonable and we love their work. Whole package cost is $2495, unlimited time frame and unlimited film. Plus, additional prints were at a fantastic rate. Obviously, there are many other vendors we will be dealing with, but I'll just list the basics. What also saved us big time was the reception hall providing floral table centerpieces, so all we had to get a florist to provide was bouquets, bouts, and corsages. A local florist is doing this all for $630 (I have 10 people in the wedding party - another place to cut back if your money conscious.) You can e-mail me at [email protected] if you need anything more about the specifics included in our estimates. I'd be happy to help. We are paying for the wedding ourselves and hope to keep the entire, total for everything, cost to less than $25,000. This includes the honeymoon and wedding rings and invites and dresses, etc. Oh, and BTW, I got my gown from Bridal Reflections in Carle Place and couldn't have been happier so far with their service and such!!

Total Cost of an LI Wedding?

My wedding is in Brooklyn but I think the costs are comprable Reception for 85 people (5 hours, sit down meal, open bar)- $10,000 Band - $4750 Photographer - $4900 I think these are the big expense items but you have to remember that there are other, smaller items that add up to a lot when all totalled: invitations, favors, limos, gifts for the BM, alterations, tuxedos, etc.. The knot.com has a tool that allocates the money when you enter a total budget. If you use it, I think a good rule of thumb is to double every estimate. Hope that helps.

Total Cost of an LI Wedding?

We did our entire wedding(including the honeymoon) for under $25,000. We had a friday night wedding in July at Fox Hollow for about 150 people. Fox Hollow -$76/person DJ-Big Hits - $1,300 Flowers-Jack & Rose-$1,500 Photos-Proline- $2,100(no video) Favors-Candy bars and small wine bottles(with personalized labels)-$300 My dress-$500 Limo-All Star-$300 Honeymoon-7 day Carnival cruise-$2,400

Total Cost of an LI Wedding? JennZ

Hi, I really like the small wine bottle idea for favors, can you give me details on where you got yours, etc? thanks!

Total Cost of an LI Wedding? JennZ

Reception: Jericho Terrace-125 a person Photographer: Visual Concepts 5,400 Videographer: Candelite Video 1,800 DJ: Body Rock: 2,500 Favors: Champagne Bottles (Labels are free) 1.50

Total Cost of an LI Wedding?

With about 2 weeks to go, have also been teetering on $25,000.00! But I don't think we'll go much over, maybe a thousand or two. I can't believe I tried to do it for 15k, I guess our purse strings weren't as tight as we thought.

Total Cost of an LI Wedding?

I agree with all the responses. It can get costly if you let it - which my FH always goes over the budget with me everytime I want something else - but we are sacrificing and saving pretty much all we can right now for our wedding. We have a lot of guests (approx. 225-250), so that's where a lot of costs are coming from. Reception - almost $30,000 (but that's because we have a lot of guests plus we are adding to the cocktail hour) It's in June and a Sunday afternoon. Flowers - approximately $3000 Band - 9 piece $5000 Photo - approximately $4000 Favors - $500 Invites - I don't know but am going to TRY not to go over $500 - $600. :-) Officiant - $300 My dress, video and 1/2 the reception - my parents are paying for - so we are getting some help. Attendent Gifts - approximately $1000 ($100 per attendant) Misc - $500 So, can you see why he doesn't want me to get the doves! :-) But all kidding aside, you can do an LI wedding much cheaper - you don't need all the extras to have a beautiful wedding. Good luck and any questions, please email me at [email protected]

Total Cost of an LI Wedding?

Wow, thanks, everyone for the great responses. This info is REALLY helpful!!

Way Too Much! I try not to think about it! :) *NM*

Total Cost of an LI Wedding?

I tried to speak with a lot of people about prices they paid and then tried to stacy in the average range- I guess that's relative though. place- Swan Club Saturday night, Reasonably priced, beautiful grounds. But upgrades get costly (filet mignon, ice sculptures, etc.). With tax I think it came out to $103 a head before upgrades. Band- Renegade $6,800 (music was most important to me) Limos- Designer 1 specialty car for us $475 3 limos: 2 limos for bridal party (14 plus 2 kids who will ride with parents), 1 limo for parents $350 each. Plus 20% tip. About 1,700 when all is said and done. Flowers- didn't get them yet but thinking around $3,000 Honeymoon- Hawaii $600 night at 5 star hotels. Sometimes you get a night free if you stay a few nights. We're thinking 12 days: $10,000 which will include some spending money Birds- $200 If you check this website out you'll find the best deals. This site is great, and people are so honest.

Total Cost of an LI Wedding?

Compared to most people my wedding is fairly cheap, about ~$10,000 not including the honeymoon. Reception and ceremony:Watermill in Smithtown for 50 guests at 61pp +tax and 18% gratuity. This is all inclusive cocktail hour & 4 hour sit down dinner reception and open bar. Photographer: Patken Photography running ~$1900. This is the smallest package ~30 pictures in the album and some 8x10`s and 11x14`s. No parent albums. But does include both B&W and color. For me I wanted some pictures but not too many, because both my FI and I know that it will end up just sitting on a shelf collecting dust. No videographer. I have a family member that is going to video tape the wedding and he has the editing equipment. So this cuts some of the expense. I will probably watch this once. Florist. I have another family member that is a professional florist that is based out of NYC. She has done numerous weddings and see is doing mine for the cost of the Flowers ~$200. DJ: This was not a big prority for us. Not that many people are going to be dancing so we decided on a pretty cheap DJ. ceremony and reception ~ $800. My dress is from Macy`s Flowerama ~$1200. Head piece and vail ~$100. It also depends on time of year, day of the week, and time of day. For October, November and January tend to be cheaper. Also afternoon weddings are cheaper than evening weddings. Once you set a budget you can stay w/in by deciding what is more important to you and try to cut things out that you don`t feel you need.

What we spent

We spent around $12,000 including everything(wedding costs too) except the honeymoon. We had 75 guests and everyone had a blast. You do not need to spend a fortune to have a wonderful day. Decide what is most important to you and that is where you should spend the most. For me besides the catering hall the most important thing was the flowers. That is where we spent a lot and I would do it again. We had a Sunday afternoon wedding which was less expensive and many of our guests thanked us, because they had time to get ready in the morning and they didn't have to rush home at night. There are many inexpensive vendors out there who will work within your budget.Happy planning.

Aggh!

I'm spending too much, but at least not as much as Cira ;) reception (175 @ $115) and ceremony $25,000 - Land's End flowers $1500 (owner is family friend) photographer $2000 (both parents didn't want books :) video $1300 DJ $1500 (would have liked to get a band - maybe - but had to cut somewhere) ceremony and cocktail music string trio - $750 dress and veil $1200 limos $0!! (ceremony and reception same place and FH and I just bought a brand new SAAB viggen convertable - so we'll still drive out in style!) Then there are invites ($300 - friend of family), favors $1000, gifts $1500, and so many little things. It will come to almost $40K I think and thats without honeymoon :( My parents are paying for almost half and his mom may help us with the honeymoon. Hope this helps - I feel horribly guilty right now, but refuse to change anything (heehee)

I forgot the steel drums - another $500! Thanks Yabbobay!

I don't regret it either - it's only once in a lifetime. And I've heard of so many girls who lost their FI's in the WTC tragedy - one colleague of mine too. Instead of weddings, these girls are having memorials. :-( I stare at Rob everyday and thank God that I can spend $50K on a wedding to marry him. Money is money but Life, life is precious.

Question for Wendy

Hi Wendy, I read that your reponse and my wedding is very similar in type to yours. I mean that there are approx. 75 people coming to our wedding and it is on a Sunday afternoon too. I was worried of how people might feel about a Sunday 'day' wedding but I'm a little relieved now! I am in the process of finding vendors and wanted to know who was your photographer and florists? Also, what were the price ranges?

sorry Cira - just needed to know someone was as bad as me ;) *NM*

Thara

Our photographers were Koala Studios. 2 women Kathy and Alice own the studio and you get both of them for your whole day. We got on compliments from our guests about their professionalism and we hardly knew they were there all day. We got our proofs back already and they are marvelous. I am going to have tough time choosing. They are in Medford (they will come no matter where you are) and very reasonably priced. Our whole package including tax was less than $1800 and we are getting a lot. They have many different packages. I don't have their number with me now, but if you are interested I will post it. For florist I used Jen from Petals and Ink. She is listed in the vendors section. All I can say is she is fantastic. Her work made my whole day. We wanted a fall themed wedding and she made it so perfect. We were married at the Beach Club outdoors in the gazebo and she decorated it with flowers and corn stalks and bows. Fall flowers and colors were everywhere both inside and out. And since we used live flowers at the end of the day everyone took them home and will have them forever. My bouquet was so beautiful it made me cry. She did all the outside decorations as well as 9 centerpieces, my flowers, maid of honor bouquet, flower girl basket, inside hall decorations and 4 boutonnieres with tax for around $1500. She can tailor the flowers to your budget. I would absolutely recommend her to anyone.

That's okay Yabbobay! Anything to make you feel better! :-) *NM*