Wedding What is the average budget for a wedding?

[azbuyer]

I know there are rules of thumb with respect to rings but what about weddings? How much of a couple's savings should be spent on a wedding? 20%? 30%? 5%?

I live in NYC so wedding costs here are at least double what they cost elsewhere....

Thanks!

 

[Cleopatra]

I think it all depends on the regions that you live in.

Where I''m from, an average wedding can cost around $20K - and we spent slightly over that - but you can ALWAYS have an amazing wedding for any price.

There is no "set" rule of thumb to follow when it comes to wedding budgets, you just have to adjust accordingly to the amount you and your FI are comfortable spending. It will be an incredible day whether it costs $1,000 or $100,000.

 

[tberube]

I think you may have answered your own question, with your comment about NYC being more expensive......there really IS no average budget. It''s truly all over the board. I''ve been to weddings that cost $6,000, and I''ve been to weddings that cost $60,000. And to be honest, I had a great time at both those weddings.

My advice is to do some research of vendors in the area you desire, and talk with your fiance about what you both want for your wedding, and what you''re willing to spend on it. Then go from there.

 

[bee*]

Most weddings that I''ve been to, the couple have spent roughly €30-40 thousand, however we''re trying to do ours for about €20000. We''re going to do a lot of work ourselves and try and budget well to save us some money. Your budget has to be one that you''re both happy with, that''s the main thing.

 

[musey]

I've never heard a percentage guideline.

Last average number I heard for US weddings was $28k.

Here's an interesting site: costofwedding.com ... I know nothing about its accuracy or sampling methods, but if you're curious just to get an idea of the range in your area, it's somewhat useful for that.

 

[Blair138]

I specifically saved for my wedding since college graduation. It''s going to be expensive, but I''m trying to save where I can...

 

[marchswallowbird]

The rules of thumb with respect to rings are also baloney. The same adage holds true; spend as much as you are comfortably able, based on your own financial circumstances and future financial priorities, while factoring in the emotional side of things.

 

[noelwr]

spend what you can afford and never go into debt for a wedding. being in debt can put a huge strain on a married couple.

 

[HollyS]

NYC weddings will be expensive. The wedding machine media -- aka theknot.com and others like them -- would say the American average is $25,000 to $30,000. You won''t even come close to that if you plan to have your wedding in NYC. That''ll be your catering bill. I wish I were kidding, but I''m pretty sure I''m right on target.

Here on PS, which encompasses a wide variety of Americans and a smattering of a few other countries, I don''t think you can really pinpoint an average cost. But, at least on PS, there may be a slight trend toward a smaller, more personal wedding that doesn''t cost what the experts say the ''average'' is.

 

[mjso]

Date: 9/6/2008 9:31:00 AM
Author: HollyS
NYC weddings will be expensive. The wedding machine media -- aka theknot.com and others like them -- would say the American average is $25,000 to $30,000. You won''t even come close to that if you plan to have your wedding in NYC. That''ll be your catering bill. I wish I were kidding, but I''m pretty sure I''m right on target.

Here on PS, which encompasses a wide variety of Americans and a smattering of a few other countries, I don''t think you can really pinpoint an average cost. But, at least on PS, there may be a slight trend toward a smaller, more personal wedding that doesn''t cost what the experts say the ''average'' is.

I totally agree with Holly. I''m getting married in NJ, about 30 miles from NYC and even where I am getting married is more expensive than average, but way less than the city itself or venues closer to the city.

Our budget is somewhere around $35,000. But we are having a Friday night wedding to reduce the costs a little bit.

I have also found that a lot of weddings on PS tend to lean toward the more intimate/smaller wedding than what I was/am used to from growing up in NJ. Meanwhile, some of my friends from other states have had really nice weddings for $1,500 (one quarter of what I''m spending on my photographer!).

But it all depends on what you can afford. So sit down and calculate or have a conversation with whomever is paying, and figure out what works for you. There are lots of tips that can help you save money. And really, no one except people who have recently planned a wedding have any idea how much it all costs. So none of your guests will be any wiser, most likely, if you spend $50,000 or $30,000 or $15,000, etc.

 

[diamondseeker2006]

These amounts really amaze me! Most of our friends kids have opted for small weddings with close friends and family, and I''d estimate they have spent between $5000-$10,000 max. We live in the southeast and not in a major city.

 

[vintagelover229]

Date: 9/5/2008 8:22:07 AM
Author:azbuyer
I know there are rules of thumb with respect to rings but what about weddings? How much of a couple''s savings should be spent on a wedding? 20%? 30%? 5%?

I live in NYC so wedding costs here are at least double what they cost elsewhere....

Thanks!

From my experience, you spend what you feel you can afford or want to afford on a wedding. If you &your FW want a huge wedding in NYC...OMG I''m guessing you should plan on 65,000-up on the wedding. If you want a small wedding in NYC, plan for less than that. If you go outside of the city, etc. I''ve watched Platinum weddings and they spend 250,000 on a wedding and they love it. I''m spending under 10K and I''m happy with mine! It''s all about what you want, and if your willing to pay for what you want, or if change your idea of what you want (ex. 100 guests instead of 300) and still be happy with a bigger wallet at the end!

Do what makes you happy and doesn''t strain your checkbook to much. That isn''t a good way to start a marriage! O btw...do you have a pic of that cushion ring yet? I''m dying to see it!

 

[Diva0413]

Date: 9/6/2008 3:19:11 PM
Author: redrose229

Date: 9/5/2008 8:22:07 AM
Author:azbuyer
I know there are rules of thumb with respect to rings but what about weddings? How much of a couple''s savings should be spent on a wedding? 20%? 30%? 5%?

I live in NYC so wedding costs here are at least double what they cost elsewhere....

Thanks!

From my experience, you spend what you feel you can afford or want to afford on a wedding. If you &your FW want a huge wedding in NYC...OMG I''m guessing you should plan on 65,000-up on the wedding. If you want a small wedding in NYC, plan for less than that. If you go outside of the city, etc. I''ve watched Platinum weddings and they spend 250,000 on a wedding and they love it. I''m spending under 10K and I''m happy with mine! It''s all about what you want, and if your willing to pay for what you want, or if change your idea of what you want (ex. 100 guests instead of 300) and still be happy with a bigger wallet at the end!

Do what makes you happy and doesn''t strain your checkbook to much. That isn''t a good way to start a marriage! O btw...do you have a pic of that cushion ring yet? I''m dying to see it!

I live in NYC too and I''m in the middle of planning. As of right now, my budget is 55K (thanks to my family honestly), but something tells me it will balloon slighty. Darn shame too because that''s only with about 150 guests.

 

[emeraldlover1]

Azbuyer!!! Did you propose yet? As you know, I am in NYC as well. We looked at about 40 places for receptions in NYC, Long Island, and the Husdon Valley. Prices are obviously inflated because of the area. We called a bunch of reception locations in Conn. and NJ that were ALOT less expensive. Mostly because some of those locations did not have site fee''s. However most places that host one wedding at a time had site fees. I think it also depends on what kind of wedding you want to have.

As for the budget, we decided what we could spend and asked a lot of friends how much they has spent on their weddings. Our close friends were not offended and happy to offer advice. Originally we wanted to spend about $55k on the wedding but we quickly realized that we weren''t going to be able to do what we wanted to do without at least spending close to $70k for 150 ppl. Now, that doesn''t include our honeymoon. All in all we are expecting to pay close to 90k all in. We are paying for the whole wedding ourselves and budgeting based on what the both of us have in savings. We also own our apartment and feel that this is something that we want to do for ourselves and our family and friends.

I know some people don''t understand this because NYC and the surrounding areas are different. I only have about $3000 in the budget for flowers and trust me that is hardly going to get me what I want. Obviously we are trying to save money where ever possilble but the most expensive items ate up most of the budget. Out of all the locations that we liked all of them had site fee''s. So, that eats up a good chunk of the budget. Don''t forget NY sales tax is expensive! 8.5%. Again, that doesn''t include tips. We found that almost 40k of our budget is going to food, fee''s and tips. Crazy right?

Let me know if their are places you are interested in and I can help you out with the pricing if I''ve been there. Also, LI weddings is pretty good for some of this stuff too.

 

[Harriet]

We just had a sweet little wedding in Central Park for $1,500. This included a photographer, an officiant, a chauffeur and lunch for ourselves and our witnesses. It excludes our attire because we bought clothing and shoes that we can wear again and again. We were very happy with how things went.

 

[Octavia]

We're having our wedding in the Philly suburbs and my current estimate for 130 people comes in right at the "national average." It's about double what I was initially hoping to spend, but my FI had a somewhat grander idea of what he wanted the wedding to be than I did, and our compromise leaned more toward his side than mine -- which is fine, since we can afford it, but it's still an awful lot of money. I'm hoping we can cut this down a little, since I'm still waiting for proposals on catering, and we may go the ipod route for music instead of hiring a DJ (I'm one of those obsessive music planners, and we know someone who can pre-mix the music so it flows seamlessly, like a DJ would do). This also includes our wedding bands, which I don't consider a frivolous "wedding expense" like the rest of it.

The cost makes me sick, but it's important to us to have our friends and family there -- and let me tell you, I never realized how many friends we have until we started making the guest list! This is even following the "only invite people you think you'll still be friends with in five years" rule. AND considers that most of my FI's childhood friends, as well as some of his family, won't be able to come because he's from another country and the trip is prohibitively expensive for them. So we'll be doing a second celebration in his home country a few months later. Sigh.

Ka-ching, ka-ching, ka-ching.

 

[zipzapgirl]

I used to think that those "average weddings" were skewed by the huge Indian weddings with 500 people, or the Platinum Wedding people, but if you want to have a traditional wedding for about a hundred people, it will probably run you at least $15,000. This was a huge (unwelcome) surprise for me

 

[scarlet16]

Date: 9/7/2008 4:57:21 PM
Author: emeraldlover1
Azbuyer!!! Did you propose yet? As you know, I am in NYC as well. We looked at about 40 places for receptions in NYC, Long Island, and the Husdon Valley. Prices are obviously inflated because of the area. We called a bunch of reception locations in Conn. and NJ that were ALOT less expensive. Mostly because some of those locations did not have site fee''s. However most places that host one wedding at a time had site fees. I think it also depends on what kind of wedding you want to have.


As for the budget, we decided what we could spend and asked a lot of friends how much they has spent on their weddings. Our close friends were not offended and happy to offer advice. Originally we wanted to spend about $55k on the wedding but we quickly realized that we weren''t going to be able to do what we wanted to do without at least spending close to $70k for 150 ppl. Now, that doesn''t include our honeymoon. All in all we are expecting to pay close to 90k all in. We are paying for the whole wedding ourselves and budgeting based on what the both of us have in savings. We also own our apartment and feel that this is something that we want to do for ourselves and our family and friends.


I know some people don''t understand this because NYC and the surrounding areas are different. I only have about $3000 in the budget for flowers and trust me that is hardly going to get me what I want. Obviously we are trying to save money where ever possilble but the most expensive items ate up most of the budget. Out of all the locations that we liked all of them had site fee''s. So, that eats up a good chunk of the budget. Don''t forget NY sales tax is expensive! 8.5%. Again, that doesn''t include tips. We found that almost 40k of our budget is going to food, fee''s and tips. Crazy right?


Let me know if their are places you are interested in and I can help you out with the pricing if I''ve been there. Also, LI weddings is pretty good for some of this stuff too.

NYC is super expensive but it is doable at "reasonable" amounts, at least reasonable by NY standards. I know because I just had a high end NYC (Manhattan wedding) for 180 people for $60,000. And it was only that high because we went high end for a lot of things - photography/videography, dress, custom tux, gifts for our bridal party, dinner package at venue, photobooth. We could have probably saved at least another $10,000 if we had scrimped on those items.

We were able to keep the price "down": 1) by having a Friday night wedding, 2) by doing all of the stationary (ie., STDs, invitations, menus, placecards, table numbers) and decor (ie., runners for tables) DIY, and 3) because I negotiated the best deal possible with EVERY vendor.

Hope that helps!

 

[eaglesgal]

I''m getting married in NJ, and I''m hoping to make it out under $60,000 not including honeymoon. We''re having about 150 guests for our Saturday night wedding. Wedding is in March...we could never have afforded a Saturday night at our venue during the height of wedding season.

 

[emeraldlover1]

Date: 9/11/2008 4:28:18 PM
Author: scarlet16

Date: 9/7/2008 4:57:21 PM
Author: emeraldlover1
Azbuyer!!! Did you propose yet? As you know, I am in NYC as well. We looked at about 40 places for receptions in NYC, Long Island, and the Husdon Valley. Prices are obviously inflated because of the area. We called a bunch of reception locations in Conn. and NJ that were ALOT less expensive. Mostly because some of those locations did not have site fee''s. However most places that host one wedding at a time had site fees. I think it also depends on what kind of wedding you want to have.


As for the budget, we decided what we could spend and asked a lot of friends how much they has spent on their weddings. Our close friends were not offended and happy to offer advice. Originally we wanted to spend about $55k on the wedding but we quickly realized that we weren''t going to be able to do what we wanted to do without at least spending close to $70k for 150 ppl. Now, that doesn''t include our honeymoon. All in all we are expecting to pay close to 90k all in. We are paying for the whole wedding ourselves and budgeting based on what the both of us have in savings. We also own our apartment and feel that this is something that we want to do for ourselves and our family and friends.


I know some people don''t understand this because NYC and the surrounding areas are different. I only have about $3000 in the budget for flowers and trust me that is hardly going to get me what I want. Obviously we are trying to save money where ever possilble but the most expensive items ate up most of the budget. Out of all the locations that we liked all of them had site fee''s. So, that eats up a good chunk of the budget. Don''t forget NY sales tax is expensive! 8.5%. Again, that doesn''t include tips. We found that almost 40k of our budget is going to food, fee''s and tips. Crazy right?


Let me know if their are places you are interested in and I can help you out with the pricing if I''ve been there. Also, LI weddings is pretty good for some of this stuff too.

NYC is super expensive but it is doable at ''reasonable'' amounts, at least reasonable by NY standards. I know because I just had a high end NYC (Manhattan wedding) for 180 people for $60,000. And it was only that high because we went high end for a lot of things - photography/videography, dress, custom tux, gifts for our bridal party, dinner package at venue, photobooth. We could have probably saved at least another $10,000 if we had scrimped on those items.

We were able to keep the price ''down'': 1) by having a Friday night wedding, 2) by doing all of the stationary (ie., STDs, invitations, menus, placecards, table numbers) and decor (ie., runners for tables) DIY, and 3) because I negotiated the best deal possible with EVERY vendor.

Hope that helps!

Scarlet16...I didn''t realize that your wedding already passed, Congrats! Where did you get married? I know Friday would have saved us a lot of money but we have so many people coming from out of town and DF was dead set on having SAT. We also are getting married in the Catskills but seamingly the price of our place was very similar to Manhattan prices. We actually never even considered a NYC wedding. DF and I have lived here for so long we decided that we didn''t want to do it here. All of our friends are from here and the Mountians are very special to my youth that I thought it fitting. So, anyway, I''m sure AZBuyer could really use your advice. For my own purposes, did you DIY centerpieces. I''m taking on that task. I''m a little scared but two of my friends are wedding planners and have told me that they will do whatever they can to help.

My biggest expense so far has been my photographer. Seriously the more than I could have ever expected but I know in the long run it will be worth it. I can''t wait to hear/see pics of your wedding.

 

[pocahontas]

Slight threadjack....

Date: 9/8/2008 12:45:43 AM
Author: Harriet
We just had a sweet little wedding in Central Park for $1,500. This included a photographer, an officiant, a chauffeur and lunch for ourselves and our witnesses. It excludes our attire because we bought clothing and shoes that we can wear again and again. We were very happy with how things went.

Harriet, don''t you owe us some pictures - lol

 

[sna77]

Date: 9/12/2008 9:47:41 AM
Author: pocahontas
Slight threadjack....

Date: 9/8/2008 12:45:43 AM
Author: Harriet
We just had a sweet little wedding in Central Park for $1,500. This included a photographer, an officiant, a chauffeur and lunch for ourselves and our witnesses. It excludes our attire because we bought clothing and shoes that we can wear again and again. We were very happy with how things went.

Harriet, don''t you owe us some pictures - lol

I second that... Hurry it up Harriet!

And for OP... I think we were at about $60k for a high-end Saturday night wedding in NJ... Not including the honeymoon, hotel costs or the $10k for the rehearsal dinner... oyy...

 

[emeraldlover1]

Date: 9/12/2008 3:05:42 PM
Author: sna77

Date: 9/12/2008 9:47:41 AM
Author: pocahontas
Slight threadjack....

Date: 9/8/2008 12:45:43 AM
Author: Harriet
We just had a sweet little wedding in Central Park for $1,500. This included a photographer, an officiant, a chauffeur and lunch for ourselves and our witnesses. It excludes our attire because we bought clothing and shoes that we can wear again and again. We were very happy with how things went.

Harriet, don''t you owe us some pictures - lol

I second that... Hurry it up Harriet!

And for OP... I think we were at about $60k for a high-end Saturday night wedding in NJ... Not including the honeymoon, hotel costs or the $10k for the rehearsal dinner... oyy...

Yup! I forgot to mention that our 70K includes the rehersal dinner.

 

[CDNinNYC]

I came across a "Starting Budget Calculator" that might assist in determining a budget.

Savings: Total savings X .50 =
Combined Monthly Income: Income X months of engagement X .20 =
Bride''s Family Contribution: XXX amount
Groom''s Family Contribution: XXX amount

For Example:
Total savings: $12,000 X .50 = $6000
Combined Monthly Income: ($8000 X 15 months) X .20 = $24,000
Bride''s Family Contribution: $2000 = $2000
Groom''s Family Contribution: $2500 = $2500

TOTAL BUDGET = $34,500


Of course, this is only a guideline.

 

[Italiahaircolor]

In Chicago, our wedding (Saturday night, July affair) cost over 100k

We hired every vendor independantly which added up...and I was NOT a diy bride what so ever...I also had a coordinator and planner, and paid for a lot of my attendants things as well!

The best advice budget wise I can offer, is to set anywhere from 10-20% of your budget aside for incidentals that you cannot plan for in advance. Its funny, but there are so many hidden charges with weddings--delivery fees, set up fees, tear down fees, tips, upgrades, ect. Depending on your venue...everything must be gone by 2am or you have to pay to keep it there until morning...so often times companies will charge you a pretty big fee to swoop in after hours and collect their things. So, if you set aside a decent amount of cash up front, you have that cushion to lessen any cash blows...but, if you never need the money, you have extra cash for your honeymoon, or to add that extra pop at the wedding...

Be a smart saver as well, and open an account that pays you for banking there...even if you only earn $20.00, thats twenty you didn''t have before.

 

[Rhea]

Taking an average doesn''t make sense, they vary from the $100 for the license and rings at city hall to several hundred thousand. Spend whatever you feel comfortable spending.

 

[tberube]

Date: 9/6/2008 9:08:36 AM
Author: noelwr
spend what you can afford and never go into debt for a wedding. being in debt can put a huge strain on a married couple.

Best advice you''ll ever get on this topic!

 

[Harriet]

We haven''t seen our wedding photos yet! Our photog was called off to Akhazia, Georgia, while we were on our honeymoon! I do have pics of our honeymoon. But, it''s so much work to size them and crop out our ugly mugs.

 

[Dreamer_D]

I think your budget should be what you can afford comfortably, reasonably, and in good conscience!

In the end, the ceremony and the vows are the most moving and wonderful part of the day, the rest is just icing... and drinks, and cake, and dancing, and kissing...

 

[purrfectpear]

$60K to $100K just to watch a 100 friends get drunk and scarf food???

Call me venal, but I can''t help picturing the diamond that would buy