Typical cost of a wedding with 40-50 people

[Treasure43]

FF and I are trying to plan a small wedding with around 40-50 people. We want it to be tasteful and intimate. Any ballpark figures of what would be reasonable for this many people? Also, are there any good wedding planning budget sites anyone can reccommend?

 

[musincy]

Date: 4/25/2009 7:19:34 PM
Author:Treasure43
FF and I are trying to plan a small wedding with around 40-50 people. We want it to be tasteful and intimate. Any ballpark figures of what would be reasonable for this many people? Also, are there any good wedding planning budget sites anyone can reccommend?

It will depend a lot on your location and venue/caterers. I can tell you that for my wedding (in the mid-west), we''re spending about $50 per person for food and drinks (including wine and beer). All of my other costs would probably remain the same if I had a smaller guest list, except the cake might have been a little bit cheaper. Hope this helps.

 

[kama_s]

Aye. That''s an incredibly difficult and subjective question you''re asking! You can plan a nice wedding for 40-50 people from anywhere between 5000$ to 50,000$! Depends on your area and budget

 

[Treasure43]

We are in the Richmond area and would like to spend no more than $10,000.

 

[Hudson_Hawk]

Every bride''s budget differs. I would NOT use the knot''s budget''er as it''s built with TONS of extras that will make you spend more money than you really need to.

I''m having a 50-person wedding at a restaurant on a Sunday night (4th of July weekend) and the ceremony and reception are costing us right around $10,000.

 

[kama_s]

Date: 4/25/2009 8:19:24 PM
Author: Treasure43
We are in the Richmond area and would like to spend no more than $10,000.

10K is definitely do-able. Maybe you can ask other Richmond brides for help/recommendations?

 

[Treasure43]

Any ideas on what is reasonable for catering per person?

 

[vintagelover229]

Our wedding is running (including the dress but not my ring) ~7-10k. I havent really added it all up, but I'm sure its less than 10K. Lets see...I'll try to put it out a little bit

-dress w/alterations and veil, shoes and jewelry ~920.00
-reception w/food for ~50 guests, open bar until X-$$ reached, and then cash bar is ~3200.00 including grats and taxes
-DJ is ~650.00
-flowers (bridal party, not reception) ~300.00
-reception decor (manzanita trees, flowers, etc) 1000.00
-photographer...free...uncle is doing it
-videographer ~200.00 a local college student
-day off costs...nails, spray tanning, hair, make-up ~275.00
-runners, charger plates, etc. ~220.00
-other odds and ends (ring bearer pillow, FG basket, bridal party gifts, apothecary jars, goodie buffet supplies, candles, etc) ~1000.00 (I went on the high side there because there is so much STUFF...this includes 200.00 for home made kissingballs, etc)

~total I guess is 8K...and I'm planning on selling things after the wedding as well. I rounded everything higher, so its probably a few hundered $$$ less, but I'll never fully know the "cost" because I've been buying odds and ends for almost 2 years for the wedding. 20.00 here and there add up quickly...and thats why I said 1K in extra stuff that I know I bought...but I dont know HOW MUCH I bought!

If you want to add in the honeymoon ~2k and then the trash the dress photoshoot with dress and photography ~600.00 you can. But those are just "extras" after the fact.

I hope this helps!

 

[Treasure43]

Date: 4/25/2009 9:15:02 PM
Author: redrose229
Our wedding is running (including the dress but not my ring) ~7-10k. I havent really added it all up, but I''m sure its less than 10K. Lets see...I''ll try to put it out a little bit

-dress w/alterations and veil, shoes and jewelry ~920.00
-reception w/food for ~50 guests, open bar until X-$$ reached, and then cash bar is ~3200.00 including grats and taxes
-DJ is ~650.00
-flowers (bridal party, not reception) ~300.00
-reception decor (manzanita trees, flowers, etc) 1000.00
-photographer...free...uncle is doing it
-videographer ~200.00 a local college student
-day off costs...nails, spray tanning, hair, make-up ~275.00
-runners, charger plates, etc. ~220.00
-other odds and ends (ring bearer pillow, FG basket, bridal party gifts, apothecary jars, goodie buffet supplies, candles, etc) ~1000.00 (I went on the high side there because there is so much STUFF...this includes 200.00 for home made kissingballs, etc)

~total I guess is 8K...and I''m planning on selling things after the wedding as well. I rounded everything higher, so its probably a few hundered $$$ less, but I''ll never fully know the ''cost'' because I''ve been buying odds and ends for almost 2 years for the wedding. 20.00 here and there add up quickly...and thats why I said 1K in extra stuff that I know I bought...but I dont know HOW MUCH I bought!

If you want to add in the honeymoon ~2k and then the trash the dress photoshoot with dress and photography ~600.00 you can. But those are just ''extras'' after the fact.

I hope this helps!

Thanks! This is VERY helpful! We''re planning on having my stepfather make the invitations and my parents make candles with our pictures and the dates imposed on them for the guests. I''d probably spend more on the photographer because that''s a priority to me.

Any idea on what a cake for 50 guests might be?

 

[Dannielle]

I am having a small wedding of around 45.

So far the only thing we have booked is our reception venue which is $160 per head.

So.. by that we are already at $7,200

I think with everything (including rings and honeymoon) we will be looking at $25000-$30000.

 

[vintagelover229]

Oh silly me! I FORGOT THE CAKE! Well, my fondant cake costs me ~250.00 with tax, set up and delivery. The actual cost of the cake is ~200.00 and then you add everything else in there. Its 3 tiers and servers ~50 guests (not the 4 teirs shown). I did "normal" flavors and no fillings though. So its still the ~8K because the ~total was like 7500.00 before I forgot the cake! Thats why I rounded up because I knew there was some things I was forgetting!

My mother in law made all the invatations herself from nice cardstock and a normal printer. She added some roses and damask and ribbon...and DIY all herself, maps included. I think the total including postage and the RSVP cards postage was well under 100.00...


I should probably add that my shoes were only 9.00 in that total and my veil was another 9.00 (I bought off theknot.com just to "try on" with my dress so I could see if I liked a veil or not...a TOTAL JOKE VEIL but it was really high quality and looked GREAT! My bridal attendent thought I paid a TON FOR IT! LOL! My earrings were 20.00 from TJ maxx and my nadri cuff was 70.00 but I cant wear it cuz it doesnt look good with my dress

. My alterations were 205.00 of that total and my dress was ~615.00 of it.

Because we were engaged so long I could hunt for the great steals as I saw them! For example: Lenox pearl toasting flutes...used once...20.00 shipped. Leonx pearl cake server set 16.99 shipped...sexy bride hoodie 20.00 shipped, etc. So I found these things over time which was a HUGE help. Because the cake server alone NEW is 65.00 and the flutes are 45.00 w/o shipping.

If you need someone to hunt for a bargin I'm your gal!

 

[vintagelover229]

Here is my cake inspiration. Mine is 3 tiers which server 50 instead of the cake shown, which is closer to 150 I believe!

 

[House Cat]

It really does depend on what you''re looking to do with your wedding. You can be as simple or as elaborate as you want to be. I think the key is to set a budget and then stick to it. A wedding can be done for $200 down at city hall, in all reality. Anything else is above and beyond. So keep that perspective, and move forward with your budget.

Wedding budget spreadsheet

Ignore the amounts entered on this spreadsheet and put in your own. This will help you to put together various wedding scenarios very easily as you are checking out different wedding venues. What you will want to do is enter in your fixed costs for your attire, photography, officiant, etc. and then when you see a venue that you like, put in the venue and catering costs. Don''t forget tax and service charge, as this can increase the budget by a lot, depending on how much you are paying for catering.

Your best bet to get an idea of what costs are like in your area is to check out websites like projectwedding and maybe makes some calls. Project wedding does give a bit of an idea of cost in your area and some of the reviewers will also reveal the actual cost of services.

I am in California and although I''m not in the SF bay area, I''m still in one of the more expensive wedding markets in the state. All of my 50-60 people wedding budget scenarios are in the $12,000 to $18,000 range. This budget includes absolutely everything though, from gifts to attendants and favors, to my attire.

 

[bagelboy]

We had a small wedding. My wife and I just wanted the basics, cake,flowers, dress, in a church. We did a few things ourselves or our friends did as a wedding gift to us. Bottom line was probably three grand. Our cake was two hundred delivered and set up, from the best shop in town, two flavors and looks somewhat like the photo above except with red roses spiralling down the sides. Flowers from Costco, eight vases too, returned four after the wedding.Amazing amount of flowers if you tip the flower manager! Reception at a Chineese resturant, seven dollars per head, no booze served either, so my tab was like 550 for around 70 people. A family friend video taped the whole thing as his wedding present, actually did a better job than if I hired a some clown. At least no wedding photo extortion plot like a friend of mine! You can have a really nice wedding without spending lots of money. Several people that had these big production types of weddings, were paying long after that special day was over. Sometimes this financial strain wrecks relationships, and causes lots of fights. My wife and I didn''t want any of these headaches, so we went a little cheaper and invested our money. It is your life and your money, but bigger is not always better!

 

[julabean]

We had a wedding in Vegas with 55 people. Not including my dress, rings, or travel, it was right at $12,000 for the ceremony (flowers, photography, room rental, etc.) and our reception (wine and beer included, plus the food and cake). Including rings, dress, plus honeymoon, we probably pushed $20,000.