Wedding Cost

11 Responses

1. lesliehope24

   2009 Oct 27 1

   well we did an outdoor wedding in my husband’s grandparents garden so the flowers were free but paid for chairs and music. The dress was bought a week before the wedding from a prom dress shop in the mall and was on clearance for $40 haha —it does look like a wedding dress though. The most expensive thing was probably the reception which was at a fancy restaurant. The dinner was amazing. We made our own programs and invitations and they looked professional. It was a nice wedding done on the cheap that looked more expensive than it was. Altogether we spent about $3000 which is amazing because everything is way more expensive these days. I hear about brides spending $20,000. That’s just not me.
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2. Ashley D

   2009 Oct 27 2

   i have one brother and his wife who spent about $10000 when all was said and done

   my other brother and his wife spent about $5000 and it was just as pretty/as much fun

   mine is still in the planning stages but so far it looks like we are going to end up somewhere around $5000
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3. Sapphirebullet

   2009 Oct 27 3

   I completely understand the feeling a newly engaged gal gets when she starts planning her wedding. But I’m afraid experience will teach you that there simply is no ‘average’ or ‘basic’ price tag you can slap on a wedding.
   Every detail, from the quality of the napkins to the designer of the gown changes the price dramatically. Some gals in this community wanted top designers and labels for their wedding, while other brides were happy to go with house brands. It all depends on what YOU want.
   Aside from preference, wedding date plays a significant part in how much things will cost. Weekdays are less expensive than Saturdays. Mornings are usually less expensive than evenings. Indoor vs. outdoor. Church vs. Hotel. Big city vs. small town. All of these things can swing the final cost by thousands of dollars.
   Before you try to compare your wedding to others, sit down and make a budget. Find out what you can afford before you do any further planning. If your parents are willing to toss $30,000 your way – you wont be limited by much! Go out there and get that $18,000 Vera Wang Luxe bridal gown! But if you’re looking at a more modest budget of say, $10,000, you might look to Alfred Angelo or one of the more cost-conscious designers.
   My point? Don’t fall in love with a wedding outside your budget. Know what you can afford before you get started!
   My wedding? Budget of $5,000. Suburbs of Seattle. I came in about $400 under budget! Paid for it myself. 120 guests, church, fully catered, and I wore a Maggie Sottero gown! Formal weddings can be done on a budget!
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4. Soon to be Mrs. M

   2009 Oct 27 4

   I agree with Sapphire. There is no average. It depends on what YOU want. If you can afford it and not go into debt then go for it.
   We get told that we are wasting money, but we don’t care. We both work hard and we feel we shouldn’t have to scale things back because of the "economy" (how the hell do people think we are going to fix it if people aren’t out spending money on services!?)
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5. Just married! <3

   2009 Oct 27 5

   We made it with around $5,000 (maybe a little less). My dress I got online for $175, then alterations for around $120. Had someone make our cake. Got the church for $350. Decorations and such. Got the hotel venue for the reception for an afternoon wedding around $2100 including heavy hordurves. Had to do invitations and postage. Bought random things we needed like cake toppers, knife and server set. Paid probably $350 on flowers which were for a crazy awesome bouquet for me, and flowers for all the bridesmaids, groomsmen, mother and father. Miscellanious stuff like that. Odds and ends throw you off. Got a dj to play for 3 hours for $300. Our budget was about $4,000 and we just went a little bit over.
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6. Luv2Answer

   2009 Oct 27 6

   About $30,000. We splurged on a great band and the reception venue which was more than half the budget. We didn’t spend a lot on the dress or photographer. Looking back I’m happy with the decisions. My parents really wanted the reception at a nice place near their home and were willing to pay for it so of course I said yes.
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7. Sweet

   2009 Oct 27 7

   well see i havent had a wedding for myself yet because im not ready to get married yet lol but, i know all of my cousin nothing less than $32,000 everyting together. The hall cost the most (sometimes the hall gave food with it or discounted food with it, if not they had to pay for which was the next highest priced bill for the wedding) live singer, decoration including the flowers the hall and church, dress, suits,cake, wedding party stuff, and little things for the house of the day of the wedding when the girl leaves the house and groom has guest over. So put that all together nothing less than that. Well but i know one of my co works who is having a wedding for only 6,000 all together. so it depends and by the way my cousin and friends who had pricy weddings like that had over 600 guests tho.
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8. nova_queen_28

   2009 Oct 27 8

   The cost of a wedding can vary greatly from area to area – a cheap wedding in New York City could cost much more than a lavish wedding in a more rural area.
   The # of guests is the biggest driver of costs because if you are feeding them a meal it is some dollar amount multiplied by the # of guests.

   I’m a budgeter so I am going to come in under my budget of $20k. We are expecting 150 to 160 to actually show up for the wedding. It will be a typical church wedding on a Saturday with a usual dinner including cocktail hour, dinner, cake, and full open bar.
   We are going "all out" on our cake which is being ordered from Charm City Cakes (from the Ace of Cakes show) so that is costing waaaay more than if we went with a local baker – – $1,500 plus a delivery charge. We could have gotten a cake from a bakery for under $500 so that was a total splurge.
   Flowers are $600 – we are not doing floral centerpieces – the cost is just bouquets, bouts & corsages for the wedding party and some important family members.
   Church $600
   Reception venue $300 rental fee but we are locked into the house caterer and the dinners will be about $45 per person plus gratuity and tax.
   Our rehearsal dinner is about $500
   Attire is $2,500 – – My dress was under $300. We are also buying our bridesmaids + flower girl dresses and paying for the tuxes for the guys.
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9. Savannah

   2009 Oct 27 9

   I’m in the process of planning mine. So far, it looks like it’ll be between $3,000 and $4,000. I’m renting my center piece vases from the same company I’m renting my tables, chairs, and linens. My flowers are probably the most expensive thing. I’m using carnations in a lot of the decorations though. They’re pretty cheap and great fillers plus they come in almost every color. 100-150 carnations are between $100 and $120 at the second URL below. I haven’t decided on a buffet full of finger foods and fruit or it being catered but I know I’m going to the cheapest in the end HA HA I’m also buying most of my stuff online. The first URL is for the rental place. Tables are less than $9 a piece. My dress is from David’s Bridal; it’s about $600 and the bridesmaid’s dresses are $80. So far, it’s less than my budget which I love. I don’t want to spend anymore HA HA
   References :
   http://www.simplyelegantwed.com/index.html
   http://www.fiftyflowers.com/

10. Grace

    2009 Oct 27 10

    From start to finish, ours was under $1500. We are both college students, so the wedding was simple. We were both more interested in family than details.
    Let’s see…we did a lot locally and that saved us a lot of money.
    Photographer: 400 plus prints (we asked a student photographer from the college that we knew)
    Cakes: 250 (cupcake tower with 6" round on top, extra large sheet cake, two tier grooms cake)
    Flowers: 100-150 (allergic to pollen, so we bought separate silk stems from Hobby Lobby along with ribbons and took all to local Dillon’s store to get them arranged)
    Dress and accessories: about 200 (davids’ bridal clearance, online coupons, and a great find at shoe dept!)
    Decorations: probably about 100 or so (ribbons, white candles, silver ribbons for candles, plants for church)
    Miscellaneous: probably 200 (tablecloths, sandwich trays for traveling family, etc)

    Our wedding was not the typical wedding. We had it in our church and the reception in the gym at our church. We did not have a dance or a dinner, but we had a few hours to visit with family in the afternoon and that was what we really wanted! Friends who were out of town for the summer were able to drive in and back in the same day, so it wasn’t a big expense for them either.
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11. TotalRecipeHound

    2009 Oct 27 11

    Just over $6,500 including wedding, reception, rings, engagement ring and 10 day honeymoon. Small wedding, total of 40 people including ourselves. Wedding held in tiny rural chapel, reception at our new-to-us-house. Served appetizers, cake, pie and beverages. Oh, and little sandwiches were popular too. This was a weekday wedding (Tuesday) in the a.m. so I basically fed them lunch.

    I made my own dress (Tudor recreation) and bought the hat and shoes so that totaled about $150. Hubby wore his suit with a vest that matched my dress. We had no attendants. The appetizers were mostly bought at Sams Club, but my step-kids and I made some stuff that we tested at Thanksgiving. Food was served semi-buffet by my aunt and stepkids. My sister made the cake and we both made the pies (my hubby isn’t fond of cake).

    We bought some poinsettias and flowers to decorate our home, but needed nothing at the chapel which was still decorated for Christmas. I chose not to have a bouquet. Nobody missed it. We budgeted $7,500 and had about $1,000 left over.

    Two things I would have changed. I would have had a couple more fans on low for circulation because 40 people in a house makes it kindof hot even with windows partially open. I also would have had the wedding at our house in the first place. Fiddling with boots was a pain in a wedding dress.
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