How much did your wedding cost?

[JaneSmith]

Another thread and an upcoming friend's wedding has me thinking about wedding costs. So, how much did yours cost? For the engaged, how much do you think yours will cost? Please also tell us how many guests, and when you were married so we can adjust for inflation.

I was married in 2004. We had less than 30 guests. We paid for everything ourselves. Total cost for ceremony, cocktails and nibbles, open bar, plated dinner, cake, flowers, dress, rings (not e-ring), and photography was around $10,000. We didn't do a dance.
I still wish we had eloped and spent the money on a nice honeymoon trip. Never did get a honeymoon. Went back to work a day later. I do, however, love my wedding photos.

 

[BriBee]

We are planning and budgeting right now and I'm hoping to keep it around 15k for approx 85+/- guests. We are receiving checks from family members (on both sides) so the lower the budget the better because then we'll have money left over for a honeymoon and maybe to put in savings or something. I am adamant that I will NOT exceed the amount we've put in savings towards the wedding and our family contributions, I do not want to go into any debt for this. It's been hard to make cuts to the guest list and certain vendors and things, but I think we can do it.

On a related note....for people that have already been married, do you have any advice for where to cut the budget? For example, I've had multiple people tell me that they would have cut out the videographer because it's expensive $$$$ and they've only watched the video once, maybe twice. We will not be doing a video, and we're trying to cut photographer costs by not doing engagement photos, and hopefully trying to hire someone for a minimal amount of time for the posed couple and family pics, and then have talented friends/family shoot candids during the reception.

What other advice can you give? What could you have done without, and what are you glad you splurged on?

 

[Laila619]

I was married in 2008. The total was around $25,000 I think.

 

[star sparkle]

I was married 2 months ago - we had less than 20 guests and total costs ended up being around $7k for everything minus ering and honeymoon. We paid for it ourselves and wanted to keep it small and affordable so that we could splurge on our dream honeymoon, which cost even more than the wedding. I loved everything about our wedding and our honeymoon and wouldn't change a thing about how we did it!

 

[CurlySue]

We were married in 2010. Had about 110 guests, and I believe we came in around $25K. This was in downtown Chicago.

I can't remember if that includes the cost of the small rehearsal dinner we had and the morning-after brunch, unfortunately. We didn't spend a lot on flowers, had a very small bridal party, and got a good deals on our photographer and the DJ. We did our ceremony and the reception at the same place.

Edited to answer some of Bee Cushion's questions re: advice. My advice would be to figure out what is most important to you and invest there, and cut costs on things that don't mean much to you. I wanted a bouquet that I loved, but beyond that, the centerpieces and other decor items weren't that important to me. So even though I knew my step-mother would have loved to see gorgeous flowers draped all over the place, I didn't worry about it. We love food and wine, so we spent more there. Knew we would never watch a video, so we skipped that altogether, even though many people insisted we'd regret not having one (oh, btw - we don't regret it!). We also didn't want to sacrifice a honeymoon b/c we spent too much on the wedding itself, so that was a factor in how we budgeted. But what was important to us might not be important to you, so discuss with your partner what you want to get out of the day and plan your expenses based on that. Good luck!

 

[liaerfbv]

We are planning and budgeting right now and I'm hoping to keep it around 15k for approx 85+/- guests. We are receiving checks from family members (on both sides) so the lower the budget the better because then we'll have money left over for a honeymoon and maybe to put in savings or something. I am adamant that I will NOT exceed the amount we've put in savings towards the wedding and our family contributions, I do not want to go into any debt for this. It's been hard to make cuts to the guest list and certain vendors and things, but I think we can do it.

On a related note....for people that have already been married, do you have any advice for where to cut the budget? For example, I've had multiple people tell me that they would have cut out the videographer because it's expensive $$$$ and they've only watched the video once, maybe twice. We will not be doing a video, and we're trying to cut photographer costs by not doing engagement photos, and hopefully trying to hire someone for a minimal amount of time for the posed couple and family pics, and then have talented friends/family shoot candids during the reception.

What other advice can you give? What could you have done without, and what are you glad you splurged on?

I got married in 2008 and wedding was approx 35k. However, I've had multiple friends get married in the past few years that have had gorgeous weddings from 5k-15k. I personally would not recommend cutting out photography, because when the wedding is over, all you have are the pictures to look back on. If you really want to cut costs, ditch the flower budget and get creative with your centerpieces. I've seen lanterns from Ikea, decorative mirror arrangements, paper flowers, candles, etc. and they were all beautiful and a fraction of the cost. I don't know where you are located, but here in Florida I would always recommend a wedding cake from Publix (delicious and beautiful and quite inexpensive). Borrow everything you can from friends- don't be afraid to ask to borrow hurricane vases or shoes or a veil from a friend!

 

[SB621]

Got married in 2007 with a budget of 15k. I think we got almost 90% of that back in wedding checks which was nice. We invited about 100 ppl but only 70 came because it was not local for the majority of ppl.

 

[GemFever]

Married 6 months ago, in the $10-15K range. Around 40 people, we did almost everything ourselves, but paid to rent houses for our guests (overseas family, mostly). For cutting costs, I agree with others not to save on the photographer (though I had good friends take the photos (for free), since I knew they were very good amateur photographers and would be able to capture exactly the kind of atmosphere I wanted), but maybe skip the fancy flowers and other such decorations.

 

[star sparkle]

You can definitely cut on flower costs! All I paid for was my (gorgeous) bouquet, corsages for our mothers, and a few boutonnieres. The rest of our centerpieces and altar pieces were DIY and I love how it all looked. Not sure if you have a dress in mind yet, but dress costs can run anywhere from $300 and up up up into the $10,000+ range. There are plenty of gorgeous dresses to fit even a smaller budget, so don't feel like you need to spend thousands on a dress to feel beautiful. We didn't do video, and so far I haven't regretted it.

 

[bunnycat]

We got married last year and since it was being paid for by us (and came mostly out of savings) we had a tight budget and about 100 guests. In my rough guesstimate, I'm recalling it was around 10K including wedding rings but not including my e-ring, and maybe including some of the long-weekend honeymoon trips afterwards (though I could be off on that as he would not tell me what we ended up spending on the HM). We were lucky that I have a family member who is a florist, and they donated flowers for the wedding (bouquets and tables). To keep them from spending too much (because I didn't ask for the flowers to be gifted, I wanted to support local business and family) I just asked for simple and colorful bouquets of flowers in simple jam jars for the tables. The wedding and reception were in an old church that had been moved to the site from elsewhere and converted to a hall. We scheduled the wedding for off-season (summer in Tx is very unpleasant) and so the country garden wedding theme (indoors) worked well. The food and service was catered by a local place that would do as much or as little as you wanted. To further cut costs (and because I despise sit down receptions) we had a buffet of heavy hors d'oeuvres. No alcohol, as it was an afternoon wedding, so I didn't feel too guilty about not serving it, and we would have had to hire a bartender and a security guard if we had due to local laws.

We also did not do the professional photographer thing, and had talented family/friends taking pics when they felt like it. That turned out ok, but in retrospect, I wish we'd been able ot find someone to do some limited photography because dancing was supposed to be a large part of the event, and there are almost no photos of it because none of the family members took pics at that time (they were eating). Oh well.....lesson learned. We still have a lot of nice pics and memories but I'd have done a few things different if I'd known. (Don't EVER plan on doing anything like it again. It was a lot of work.)

Also- my dress was on mega-sale. it was marked down from $1000 down to $200, plus an extra $200 for a lace jacket and pre-paid cleaning and storage.

So- the main places we cut costs were

-alcohol (that would have added thousands on)
-buffet rather than sit down meal
-simple table settings
-of season wedding at a non-evening time

 

[StacylikesSparkles]

I just got married in September 2012. We had an outdoor wedding and reception on my in-laws farm for 200 people plus the bridal party, bringing us to about 216. We rented the tent and chairs but we did pretty much everything else ourselves. We borrowed tables from my Mom's church, made all the wedding food ourselves (that was a HUGE undertaking!) but hired 3 people to man the food and drink stations, bought about 9-10 cases of wine along with renting 2 kegs, hired the photographer, purchased my dress/make-up and did all the decorating for about $7k. I am not including our wedding bands or honeymoon costs in that amount. I ended up being super creative with everything and really loved the overall look and how personal our wedding was

Photographer - While we didn't skimp, her prices were much higher than I wanted to pay so I gave her an amount I was comfortable and she worked with us.
Food - We did everything ourselves. This saved us SO MUCH money! Sure, it was a ton of work, but sooo worth it! Plus, the food was good! We also made about 1,000 cookies for our guests to take with them as their favor.
Cake - I asked my Aunt to make my favorite cake, as only she can make it the way its supposed to taste (red velvet..and she made spice cake as well).
Flowers – We got all of our flowers (except for $40 worth of grocery store flowers for the BM bouquets) from a neighbor who sells flowers to farmers markets. We had the most beautiful colored flowers possible and they were easy to put together…my bouquet was made from the wild flowers and I loved it! The flowers were a wedding gift to us from the family who own the farm and since we cut them ourselves the day before the wedding, we got to choose everything we liked.
Alcohol – I bought everything outright (wine and kegs, no liquor) and when it was done, it was done. I am so glad I did this because if we would have had an open bar, the night would have went on forever. The ceremony started at 4pm and everyone (but a few stragglers) left by 11:30pm....it was a LONG day!
Centerpieces/Decorations – I collected glass jars (mason, salsa and spaghetti sauce jars too, so long as the salsa and spaghetti jars didn’t have writing on them), peeled the labels and painted them in a bunch of colors. I put the wild flowers in the jars along the tables. I cut fabric that I had and some that I found at flea markets for bunting. I decorated place mats with stamps and stickers and wrote the names on them. We also found a bunch of chandeliers and DH painted them and hung them in the tent for the reception.
Dress – Purchased online for just under $200. DH’s dress pants, vest, dress shirt and tie cost more than my dress lmao!
Hair & Make-up - A family member did my hair as a wedding gift to me (I do so love presents I can use!) and a great friend who owns her own salon gave me a free leg waxing and did my make-up and eye-lashes at no charge. Such great gifts to me!!

Phew! It was a lot of work, but so worth it in the end!!

 

[Tanzigrrl]

$35 nine years ago. Cook County Courthouse, downtown Chicago. Justice of the Peace.

We took the gift money we received and bought a car (still running, no longer ours) and a downpayment on a house.

I spend my money on jewels. The "bigfancywedding" never appealed to me and I'm as girly-girl as they get.

 

[diamondringlover]

I got married 29 years ago and I think dress and everything came in around 2000-3000, there were around 200 at the wedding and 300 or so at the reception...it was not an elaborate wedding , but it sure was alot of fun

 

[MissStepcut]

The reception was $2800. Saturday brunch for 50 in downtown Chicago with an open bar. The only flowers were bouquets (mine and my 2 bridesmaids).

 

[LAJennifer]

Another thread and an upcoming friend's wedding has me thinking about wedding costs. So, how much did yours cost? For the engaged, how much do you think yours will cost? Please also tell us how many guests, and when you were married so we can adjust for inflation.

I was married in 2004. We had less than 30 guests. We paid for everything ourselves. Total cost for ceremony, cocktails and nibbles, open bar, plated dinner, cake, flowers, dress, rings (not e-ring), and photography was around $10,000. We didn't do a dance.

My wedding was in 2006 in Hawaii and cost about $10,000 for what is bolded above.

 

[amc80]

Umm, about $5k? 27 people, and that includes both the rehearsal/welcome dinner and wedding reception/brunch. That was for the photographer, steel drum band, bus for guest to get from the hotel to the cruise port, flowers, invitations, cake, etc. Our big splurges were the passport style invitations and the steel drum band.

 

[Ally T]

We were married in 2007 & paid for everything ourselves. We married at a local Stately Home next to our village in a civil ceremony. In total we spent just over £18,000, of which £5k was the food for 100 guests (day & evening) and £5k was our month long road trip honeymoon across the US. So just over £8k for everything else.

We did things as cheaply as we could. My mum made the wedding cakes & bought my dress, which is a tradition in our family, we didn't have a video made, and all of our little nieces & nephews who was bridesmaids & pageboys paid for their own outfits, well, their parents did. This was only decided because I didn't want any attendants due to me not wanting too much fuss or expense, so their parents offered to buy everything they needed. And one of my oldest friends drove me to the ceremony in his very flash car as a return favour for me doing his wedding photography several years before.

 

[Kismet]

We got married in 1998 and spent about 25k for everything, including the honeymoon (2 weeks in Italy). We had about 100 people at our wedding.

 

[SB621]

Sort of on topic but my friends were talking about this today. They all had very elaborate weddings in the 50k plus range but didn't spend more then 3-5k on the ering. Out of my group of friends the largest was a 1ct- all purchased from a mall store. Then there is me that had the smallest and cheapest wedding but will soon be sporting my mega antique cushion. I can't even THINK ABOUT spending 50k on a wedding, but 50K on jewelry- heck yay I could...all day long! They think I'm crazy.

 

[Bella432]

We did the quick and easy way, Vegas! One stop, one package, only thing we needed to worry about was what we were wearing, and our rings. We were picked up in a limo, given my bouquet and his flower, signed the paperwork, they set up, I walked down the isle.. it was just the 2 of us but we chose the option to broadcast online (I sent the link to our family). Service ended in 7 minutes, we took another 10 minutes to go do photos, and were driven by limo back to the hotel. It was awesome! No planning, it was a great deal ($500 or so, plus another $700 for a ton of photos) and NO STRESS. That was the biggest one for me. Saved a ton of $ for my dream ring, and our honeymoon! No regrets.

 

[iheartscience]

Ours was around $25k, including dress and wedding bands. We had about 125 guests and paid for the majority of it ourselves. The biggest cost was food, which was around $8k (including gratuity, rental of dishes, flatware, prettier chairs, etc.), but I thought it was actually super reasonable considering the quality. It was from one of the best restaurants in the area and was all super delicious-much better than the standard wedding caterer fare. Our guests raved about it! Plus they're not a traditional caterer so we were able to buy our own booze, which was only about $1k.

Next was our photographer, which was about $5k and also worth every penny. Mediocre photographers were around $2500-$3500, and I'd rather just pay more for an awesome one. I actually have several talented photographers in my family but wanted them all to enjoy the wedding as guests.

And then my dress which was about $2800 including alterations. Way more than I thought I'd spend, but no regrets-it was gorgeous if I do say so myself!

One of our biggest money savers was our unorthodox venue, which was only about $1400-way cheaper than what most venues charge. Helps that my twin's BFF was the director of events there, but even without that hookup it would have been less money than any other local venues. Oh and my cousin is a landscape designer and she did our flowers for free as a gift, which I'm sure saved a TON, because they were seriously stunning. I have no clue what they would have cost if we had to pay.

ETA this cost doesn't include our honeymoon-I forget how much that was. We went to the BVIs for a week and it was fantastic! Super relaxing and not that pricey. We didn't want an action packed trip because we were exhausted (in a good way!) from all the wedding stuff. That was my first lazy beach vacay and I loved it!

 

[kefira]

Ours was under $1000 in 2010. We did the Vegas drive thru, though we "walked thru". The only costs were our plane tickets, cabs, hotel, license, and service costs, plus tips for the cabbies and the officiant. We wore our street clothes and didn't bother with rings until about a year later. It was basically done on impulse, and luckily I never wanted a traditional wedding. In fact, the idea terrifies me, so I'm very grateful my husband didn't mind the extreme casualness of the ceremony.

 

[Circe]

Eloped in Carmel in 2007 for a grand total of 2k, including everything from the dress to the rings. I'm happy with how it turned out. <3

 

[chemgirl]

We spent less than 10k for a mall wedding at a local winery in 2010. We served brunch with the ceremony and then had friends to a private room in a bar for appetizers/drinks in the evening. Simple and fun. I even found a white lace evening gown instead of a wedding dress so it was under $500!

We didn't hire a professional photographer, but had an amateur relative take pictures at the ceremony. I do really regret this decision since the pictures suck. My old roommate is a photographer and she took some amazing pictures at the evening reception so not all was lost!

We payed for a professional videographer and I definitely wouldn't do that one again. MIL couldn't make it to the wedding (long story) so we wanted to make sure she had a good video of the ceremony. FIL fancies himself to be a professional since he has done so many home movies so he hounded our videographer all day. There is no sound in half of the video because FIL wouldn't shut up. Also many crotch shots and face shots where he tried to adjust the camera while the videographer was filming! Everything was edited, but it really made for some choppy transitions. Didn't help that we payed a fortune for the videographer and FIL gave us a COUPON for a wedding gift. LIke one out of the newspaper.

On a more positive note, my aunt made the bouquets out of "Real Touch" polymer flowers and they looked super real. I still have my bouquet in a vase in the dining room and everyone touches them to see if they're real! Glad we spent a bit extra on materials and saved by having my aunt put them together instead of a florist.

 

[packrat]

We got married 11-01. My parents paid for it. We rented a church that my second family used to go to, for like $35. JOP did the service (we went to school together so that was kinda neat). My first dress was on sale for about $75-but the woman who swore she could alter it from a 10 to a 2 was not able to...so back to the store for a $200 dress. My mom and 2nd mom worked at the local greenhouse and so had spent years decorating for weddings. One of her coworkers did the bows and things for the pews, decorated the card basket, made the bouquets (fake flowers), as part of our wedding present. Hired a dj, rented the local VFW for the reception, got a keg. Food was provided by us. Well..I just specified what I wanted. A woman my moms know in the area who has a top secret to the grave cake recipe did the cake, my mom made green bean casserole and a macaroni salad. Gramma potato salad and another macaroni salad. My aunts mom made a different kind of macaroni salad, (could macaroni salad be a fave of mine??) MIL made deviled eggs. 2nd mom made mints. There was more food...baked beans or something, I forget. A friend got a hog, so we had two different kinds of pulled pork sandwiches. The most expensive part of the whole deal were the pictures and we didn't even have the cool ones people do now, they were just standard fare, nothing special.

 

[manderz]

We paid in the $1-5k range, for a Sunday afternoon lunch ceremony. I honestly have no idea exactly how much, as I just bought stuff as I could afford it, and never kept track of spending. I figure as long as we can afford it and not go into debt over it, I really don't care what I spend. We planned in something like 4 months, and did A TON of DIY (invites, flowers, cake, centerpieces, ceremony... you name it, I made it!). We had about 35 people total.

 

[bunnycat]

I think the elopement that some of you did is kinda cool. I was married once before and had no ceremony (common law), no rings, no engagement, no party. Hubz is the oldest son and had never been married. Both sets of families would have strangled us if we had not done a ceremony when they knew we were engaged, though the stresses of planning made me wish a couple of times for elopement! In the end, hubz was right (as he often is) and we are both glad we did the whole shebang; dress, rings, engagement, the walk down the aisle, ceremony, family, food and dancing.

 

[joyluck]

My husband and I got married in June of last year and ours was around 40k for 115 people. We split the difference between our parents and ourselves, they paid for the ceremony/reception and we paid for the rest. This compromise was due to the fact that we wanted a destination wedding with 7 guests only and they needed the whole she-bang.

Cost saving tips? Do a destination wedding and allow people who would want to go have the option to get a group rate, etc. Don't get a videographer - I'm awkward enough that I don't need to see that on video forever. No need for crazy centerpieces either, they just get trashed/taken home at the end of the night.

 

[Autumnovember]

Married in 2011 in downtown Philadelphia. We paid for it ourselves, spent 40k for 120 people. A large part of the cost went to the caterer and I don't regret that at all. I would not have done anything different... it was by far the best day of my life

I gotta say... I'm really glad I got a videographer! I would suggest saving money in things like invites, save the dates, and favors.

 

[vintageinjune]

My parents gave us $5,000, which we used all of, and we paid about $1,000 of our own money on buying tuxes for the groomsmen (as their gift), and my dress alterations.