vendor prices?

[nyc7782]

I''m just starting to plan my October 2009 wedding in VT and I have no idea what vendors should cost. The few photographers I''ve contacted seem to be around $5000 which seems like a lot! What should I expect to pay for a photographer and a band? What about florists? I''m thinking about 10 tables with simple centerpieces and just one bouquet. Thanks so much for your help! I''m lost!

 

[Lanie]

I''m in Houston, Texas...here are my prices. A lot of pricing depends on your area. I think Houston is kind of cheap compared to what I''ve seen elsewhere.

Florist: 2,000 (7 bmaids, my bouquet, 10 or so boutonnieres, 17 or so centerpieces, pew bows, mom corsages, etc)
DJ: 800
Photographer: 5,500 (he''s kind of on the high side though)
Price per person for food and wine/beer at reception: about $100
Cake: 700 (and we got a discount)
Paper/invites: who knows...1000?

I''m sure I''m missing some, but these are the biggies

 

[Kellybell]

You will be able to find vendors in each one of these categories that range from a few hundred dollars, to many thousands. There are so many different factors that can influence the price of these that there is no one "correct" price (it will depend on location, time, scale of package, hours of service, etc.) I think that''s why it is typically advised to start with your total budget, and work backwards. I think that photography, flowers, and musical entertainment are each supposed to be about 10% of your total budget. So, if your budget is $20,000, you should be looking in the $2000 range for each. Hope this helps!

 

[galvana]

I would suggest you make an excel spreadsheet and make a column for each thing you need to think of, there are SO MANY THINGS to think of.
my wedding is this july.
anyway - prices are about
photographer -$3500 or so
DJ - $1000 or so
Flowers - all girls, guys, toss bouquet, parents, church, $1200 - this is without centerpieces
invites - $250
Save the Date - $200
Limo - $1200
dress - $1000
Cake - $800
programs - $200
bathroom baskets - $250
Welcome baskets for hotel-
etc etc etc
so much

 

[cincin090]

Hey Lanie!

Saw that your planning your wedding in the Houston area and I''m about to start planning my own also...which is probably going to be sometime in 2010. I was wondering if you could give me some tips on the vendors you''ll be using and some good tips! I''m currently in Austin finishing up my degree...so that''s why I haven''t had the time to get planning...

Sorry...don''t mean to threadjack!

Thanks in advance

 

[emeraldlover1]

Hey there. Ok, first, you have to get a copy of Well Wed Vermont. It is the original Well Wed magazine and fab. I''m obsessed with the Well Wed NY and there are awesome vendor suggestions in there.

As far as photography is concerned, its really a personal choice. All of the photogs I liked were upwards of $5500 without albums. There are less expensive ones out there. There are some guidelines on the knot that you can use to determine what percentage of your budget you should allocate where.

Personally, we pretty much guestimated what money out of our budget we wanted to spend where and it has been pretty accurate so far.

Oh, did you find a place for your reception yet?

 

[elrohwen]

Here are prices from my experience:
photographer: initially about $4k, but we cut it back until we were at $3k, but then again, all we wanted was to get the pictures on a disc, so we cut out a lot of the extras; our photographer doesn't have the most fantastic photos I've ever seen, but he's highly recommended and really nice to work with, so we thought he was definitely the best we could get within our budget

DJ: most places seem to start at $1000-1500, but it really depends on whether you want lighting and all that fancy stuff, or just someone to play music; seems like even the $1200 packages include 2 djs and some kind of lighting

No idea on flowers because it's included with my venue.

I hope this helps! For reference I'm getting married in the Hudson Valley area.

 

[nyc7782]

Thanks all!

EM1, haven''t picked a venue yet but have it narrowed down to 3 in VT after visiting this weekend (all barns-so I''m happy!) We didn''t wind up looking at Onteora because we decided we really wanted vermont--thanks for your help, though! Did you ever call them out on lowering their rates?

 

[lliang_chi]

You should be able to email some photographers with a general:

Hello,

I''m looking for a photographer for X date. Are you available? Can you send me information on your prices & packages?

~NYC7782

Then just go ahead and throw out the ones that are way to expensive.

I''m getting married in S. FL, and there are definitely some WAY expensive photographers, over $5000. I went middle of the road, just around $3100, and am pretty happy with it. I must''ve emailed over 75 photographers to whittle it down though.

Also, a good way to save $ is to pass on the albums etc. We''re just getting all the photos on a disc and will make albums after the wedding.

 

[Hudson_Hawk]

nyc-So glad to hear you went with VT. I grew up literally on the border of VT and NH (the CT river was in my backyard), so the state holds a special place in my heart. VT is a weird state in the sense that it''s rural so you''d expect the prices and rates to be low, but a huge wedding and tourist destination so the rates are often inflated to be closer to those of Boston or Providence. That being said, $5000 seems astronomically high (thought we don''t know what your package contains). I would say the average photog up there starts at around $1200.

Here''s a list of wedding photographers, with rates.
http://www.wpja.com/wedding-photographers/vermont-photojournalist.htm

 

[emeraldlover1]

Date: 1/27/2009 2:12:25 PM
Author: nyc7782
Thanks all!

EM1, haven''t picked a venue yet but have it narrowed down to 3 in VT after visiting this weekend (all barns-so I''m happy!) We didn''t wind up looking at Onteora because we decided we really wanted vermont--thanks for your help, though! Did you ever call them out on lowering their rates?

I figured you probably wouldn''t because when you want a barn, you want a barn! That is so exciting for you! Please get Well Wed Vermont. I love that mag.

My fiance did call and asked about their rate. He addmitted that he lowered it because of the economy and he was not willing to do anything. I could go on for hours about it but at this point I just have to let it go because we don''t have any rights and the deposit was just so much money. Too much to lose. Anway, thanks for asking. I did book our floral designers this week and they are amazing. I can''t wait to see how it turns out.

October is such an amazing time in VT. Congrats!

 

[gedean]

i''m getting married in SF and the photographers can go from fairly priced $2000 to over $6000. It really depends on the quality and amount of photos you are looking for. the cost is always dependent on those factors.

I got lucky because a family friend is an up-and-coming wedding photographer that really cut us a great deal. but i''m sure he''s not the only up-and-comer. Try looking for someone like that. It''ll help a lot on the budget and their work is good too so you dont have to worry about photo quality.