wedding budget - The PASH Wedding Forums and Message Boards

nasvaj01 · #1 06-19-2006, 12:26 AM

Hello everyone. I just got engaged about 2 months ago. My fiance and I've tentatively have set a date for August 11, 2007. I've found my dress and the bridesmaid dresses. We have all the wedding party narrowed down to who we want to stand up for us. Our big issue right now is how much of a budget should we aim or shoot for? We have a ceremony guest list of at least 170 and a reception list of at least 250. We both come from big families so there was no way we were going to get away from having a small wedding. I know we've already cut some of the cost by making our own invites, but we're still unsure what we should budget for. HELP PLEASE!!! We've been having spats about it lately and he's just ready to go to the court house and just sign the license and say screw the whole ceremony. But we know he'll never be able to get away with that either.

ljeagle · #2 06-19-2006, 12:39 AM

Welcome to PASH!

Just a few question!!
Is your parents helping out or is this all on you and your FH?
What kind of food do u plan to serve?

Marge129 · #3 06-19-2006, 12:40 AM

Hi! Welcome to Pash!

Your budget should reflect what you can afford, not how big the wedding is. You can do wonderous things on a small budget... even for a large wedding.

I personally had a formal wedding with about 175 people and it cost $12,000.

Heather · #4 06-19-2006, 12:41 AM

Welcome to Pash and congratulations on your engagement!

It's really hard for any of us to tell you what you should budget for. It varies by location. My wedding from beginning (rings) to end (honeymoon) was between 25 & 30 thousand (We had 170 guests.) Others on here have pulled off beautiful weddings for 5K, 10K, etc. It can be done.

My first advice is to sit down with your finace and make a list of "must-haves". For my husband and I, we didn't want a cake so that cut down on expenses. So for those kind of things, talk about what you really want, and then figure out a way to maybe do them yourself, or enlist the help of family friends. You could make your own centerpieces, programs, save the dates, bouquets, etc. Instead of hiring a DJ you could load up an iPod, etc.

The # of attendees you're talking about is a big wedding, so you might want to consider doing cocktails & hor'deurves, or cake & punch for your reception as opposed to a sit-down dinner.

There are a lot of ideas posted in various areas of the board, so definitely grab yourself a drink and plop down to start reading through some of the other threads. The girls on here constanly amaze me with their ability to save money and end up with very beautiful things.

Good Luck!

breezy · #5 06-19-2006, 01:06 AM

Definitely check out the budget threads on this site... there are ALOT of great ideas.

How much do you want to spend? How much does FI (fiancé) want to spend?
How much (if any) are the parents pitching in? What are the important aspects (must haves) for you and FI? How much can you realistically afford to spend??

We live in Ca were the typical wedding budget is over $50,000. Our goal was under $10,000 and it looks like we will fall at about 7-8,000. We aren't taking our honeymoon until 2008 when FI graduates, so we will have time to save for that!!!!

Welcome to Pash!!!
On the left side of your screen there is a budgeting link and also a checklist link. You can download both. I know theknot.com and weddingchannel.com have budget tools to help you out.

Things to consider:
Ceremony site
Ceremony decor
Officiant
Reception site
Reception decor
Centerpieces
Dress
Tux
accessories
Hair and Make-up
Shoes
Jewelry
Gifts for each other
Gifts for parents
Gifts for attendants
Cake
Caterer
Photographer
Guest Book
Card Box
Table ware---plates, silverware, cups
Drinks
Flowers
Invites
RSVP's
Programs
Announcements
Favors
Rehearsal Dinner

There is more, but that is what I can think of off the top of my head

nasvaj01 · #6 06-19-2006, 01:27 AM

We're paying for it ourselves. We know that his father may want to help us out too, but he's already done so much for us it's hard to ask or accept even more money from him. We were were thinking maybe 15,000. And that's stretching it. We did find a photographer that we really love and that alone was alread 2700. That fee include the photographer for the day, our album, parent albums, and our proofs. I've been searching the internet for ceremony locations also. I've found a few that I like. We just have to set up appointments and find out what prices are and if they have a payment plan.

We've talked about a buffet style dinner. I've tossed him the idea that if all else fails, my family can do the cooking. There's more than enough hands there to help out. His family has already requested that my family egg rolls be there

Other than that...we really have no idea. Some of the reception halls I've been looking at have on-site catering so I'd have to see what they have to offer.

The invites and favors and small decor stuff I'll probably do on my own. I like doing that kind of stuff. And I'll probably get the supplies for them at a cheaper price through all my teacher catalogs than I would from the stores.

maroki13 · #7 06-19-2006, 02:08 AM

Welcome to Pash!!!

$15,000 sounds definitely do-able for that amount of people. Especially if you plan to DIY, at least for centerpieces and decorations. The photographer can be one of the most expensive things (after reception site and food), so don't base the rest of the wedding off that price tag. Many people believe the photographer is the most important vendor of the wedding, and will pay more than any 'suggested' budget you may find will recommend for a photographer.

SuzyBride · #8 06-19-2006, 02:20 AM

Welcome to Pash!

sansmom · #9 06-19-2006, 03:28 PM

Flowers, Decorations and Stationery take up lots of space in any wedding budget. If you could round up friends who could lend a hand with the floral decorations, that might help. You can also save money on your dress by hunting for it properly. But these expenses are not much when compared to the reception. That is where the major expense lies. But I think that by going in for a Buffet, you will be able to manage things very well under 15k.

A great idea will be to look for money saving ideas on wedding sites like brides, theknot, weddingchannel, knotforlife etc.

AngelRoseFyre · #10 06-25-2006, 10:39 PM

Welcome to Pash!!!

We are doing a lot of renting instead of buying. We are renting decorations and flowers as as the grooms and groomsmens tuxes (and possibly my dress and bridesmaid dresses). Use silk flowers, if you REALLY want real ones, mixing fake ones in, hear and there may help cut edges. Contact your caterer or cake designer, sometimes they have conacts to get flowers at whole sale price, this isn't so helpfull for the boquets (unless you know how to arrange your bouquets), but for decoration perposes it can save you a bundle. We are thinking about getting a small wedding teir cake and offering other deserts such as cheese cake and chocolate mouse as well (this is saving us several hundred as well as giving a variety of deserts to our guests). Instead of hiring live music, a DJ is often a cheaper choice, and they will sometimes give discounts if you book them for both the reception and ceramony. Possibly doing a rehersal dinner BBQ at your house (or a willing family member or friend) could be fun, and less expensive than paying for that many table meals at a resteraunt. Last thing I can think of is maybe find a venue that includes catoring in the sights price, It may look priceyer at first glance( and in fact it may be), but do your math and see if you can save a little that way.

Since I don't know exactly what you are looking for, thsi may or may not be usefull, I willl try to think of somemore ideas, I know I have them, but they are not coming to mind right now.[/size]

bacikinvitations · #11 06-27-2006, 09:46 PM

You know, you could be onto something with the whole, "screw the ceremony". My wife and I didn't have a reception, just an intimate luncheon and we wouldn't have it any other way. Surpisingly most of our guests preferred that way as well. Not everyone loves to go to all day wedding events.

brock
______________________________
www.bacikinvitations.com

mommy03bride · #12 06-27-2006, 10:17 PM

welcome to pash my advice is talk to people ask them where they have been for a reception and get ideas from that. i tried the inter-net and was limited to places and after talking to friends, co-workers i got alot of ideas. at first when we were planning our wedding reception we were looking at 9k but after looking i found another really nice place that doesnt charge for the room rental and were going to pay bout 7k so not bad at all. just do lots of reseach on prices on everything and you should save money that way.