Wedding budget

[lucyw_524 0]

Hi, guys~

Me and my fiance are planning a small wedding party. We are planning to get married this Aug.

There are list of things we are planning on:

Wedding photograph -

Buffet lunch/dinner for 100 people

Drink -

Gift bags (guest favor)

Parents Gifts -

Invitations: - include a welcome letter, invite to lunch/dinner, map of directions

Thank you Cards -

Hair/Makeup -

Clothes for events -

guest book - ?

Cake –

Decorations-

Favor CDs: ?

Does anyone know how much would cost for a small wedding? Anything that is missing from our list?

[gwenneh 7]

Cost is going to be affected by where you're living. A small wedding in NYC is going to cost more than the same small wedding held in, say, rural Iowa.

[iceyspots 0]

yes.. it does depend on where you're at... although I cannot give you an estimated cost... here's some ideas I threw out for me and yacine's weddings

if you look online, you can find tons of low cost favors... we found some for my fraternity's banquet with east asia trading company.. cheap thank you cards... decorations as well..

Don't go overboard on the cake... budget a cake for the amount of people that are coming and have a piece for you guys to put in the freezer for your anniversary... a lot of people go overboard on cakes and end up spending too much... people are just going to eat it anyways

also what we have decided for our wedding dinner/brunch thing.. is that we know a really good polish cook in our town.. and a middle eastern one.. so we're going to have loads of salad and bread and all kinds of dishes..

for $50 we're renting out the clubhouse at my brothers apartment complex..

and we found a couple people to prepare plates and set up things and serve foods... we are paying them but its a lot cheaper than going to a restaurant or banquet hall and having to pay inflated prices for food and huge amounts of gratitutiy..

Hope this helps!

[LebaneseMama 1]

Wedding are expensive .... your going to go over budget no matter what.

[iceyspots 0]

I kinda agree leb... no matter how much you plan there's always SOMETHING you see and HAVE to have when you're out doing the shopping... but you can save more by having a good game plan lol

[Mirorgate 0]

I'll try to answer individually as I know... but keep in mind, these will be quoted for US, not canada (since you didn't specify where..)

Wedding photograph -

This will vary... you can check to see who does pacakge deals... say they shoot the entire wedding, and you get to choose which ones you want prints of, and may 150 copies total.. maybe about $1K... any reprints they will charge an extra arm for.

Buffet lunch/dinner for 100 people

generally... $10-$13 a plate is a decent deal (inexpensive)

Drink -

buy a certain amount of bottles, then offer open bar for those only... all else, is outa the guests pockets.

Gift bags (guest favor)

there are online places to check... www.orientaltrading.com.. inexepnsive things.. maybe to liking, maybe not

Parents Gifts -

$50-$100 for the gift (this is an optional thing)

Invitations: - include a welcome letter, invite to lunch/dinner, map of directions

www.sealnsend.com... or something like that. 150 invitations for $154+tax

Thank you Cards -

check target for sales on TY cards

Hair/Makeup -

hmmm... not sure on this one.

Clothes for events -

again, not sure.

guest book - ?

$25-$50.. davids bridal, things remembered, internet

Cake –

might be able to get this included with price of reception hall if they specialize or do a lot of weddings.

Decorations-

depends on where you get them, and hoe many you want.

Favor CDs: ?

not sure I get this one.... you want to buy guests some CD's? or some to play at the reception? wouldnt the DJ have those?

Does anyone know how much would cost for a small wedding? Anything that is missing from our list?

How frugal do you wish to go? I have friends that had reception at fathers VFW club, bought a keg, and everyone did the bring dish to pass piece... total cost, $1500. Another friend went all out, including $75 plates at reception downtown provate club.... total cost over $50K.

[Fandango 1,439]

omG Mirror, where do you live where you can get $10-$13 a plate?

[Marilyn. 340]

our wedding cost us about 1000 bucks.... that inluded our mini-honeymoon at a bed and breakfest for 3 nights.....

We only had about 20 to 25 people at our reception though....

my mom made my dress and sister's dress, she was the flowergirl... the material for both dresses cost about 100 bucks...

We hired a caterer for the reception she cost about 250 bucks....

With the help of my sister-in-law, I made my own invitations... I also made my own wedding favours....

I also made my own wedding cake.... I made banana cake and cut and shaped it into a heart and then frosted it with chocolate icing... it was sooo yummy!!!

My sister-in-law knew this lady who did flowers and that cost me about $150...

Our wedding was nothing fancy but it was perfect for us.... I never wanted a big wedding

Edited May 14, 2006 by MarilynP

[Fandango 1,439]

I noticed the har/makeup is on there, but there's no mention of a dress/tux, or veil & headpiece.

Also thank-you to the wedding party favors, transportation, church fees (or any other place where you're getting married) music for ceremony music for reception (band?/dj?), cost for rehearsal dinner...

flowers - bouquet for you, your bridesmaids, boutonnieres for men, throwaway bouquet for you (for the toss), flowers for wedding & reception site...

You can get thank you cards and order them with your invites...that way it's the same theme throughout. A wallet sized photo of you two in the thank-you card would be a lovely touch also.

I suggest checking everything out online...like at theknot.com or any other wedding planning site. That would give you a much better idea & help you personalize everything to your tastes.

GOOD LUCK!

I forgot:

the cake topper (can't forget that!) and you mentioned photog, but also videographer too!

[terri o'neale 0]

Make a budget. Decide how much you have to spend. Then look at all the things that generally go into a wedding. There are sample budgets online you can use. Then together sit down and decide how much you want to spend for each item and which ones you'll without. Some people want a spectacular wedding dress but are willing to spend less on the reception. Only the two of you can decide that. For some people this is a good indication of how they as a couple will cope with finances. See it that way. But once you decide the bottom dollar that you have to spend the key is to never go over budget in one thing without cutting it from something else. So that means you need to think creatively. For instance, photography...maybe one of your friends is an amature photographer with a really good digital camera. Suggest that s/he doing the photographs as the wedding present to you. Same thing with the cake...and even sometimes with the food. A great source of ideas for what you can do yourself if Martha Stewart's Wedding magazine. In there, it will show you how to make decorations, centerpieces, guest gifts and the food. But it all goes back to sitting down...deciding how much you have to spend...where you want to spend it...sticking to it...and being creative. That's going to be important cause unless you're rich...most of us have already spent the cost of a small wedding just for the privilege of being together. So let people help you...don't be afraid to ask.

[LebaneseMama 1]

Daaaaaaaaaan I agree Lisa. We could never find that price here in Cali. Mine is buffet with two entrees for $23 a plate. I wish it were $10 !!

[Traviesa 0]

If you are REALLY trying to be cost-efficient, you could always print your own invitations (you can get the stationery at several stores, Target is one of them). Many weddings I've been to have not actually been catered, but have had the food and cake prepared by people the family knows...also you may know someone who can do photography or videotape it. If you really want a caterer, find one that can do it aldecorations, cake, and all that...they often can get you the best deals. The catering company I work for does all that-but then again, you're talking over $50 a plate...so getting help from people you know almost always turns out nice...you can pick exactly what food you want, and keep your costs close to nothing. You can also save on decorations by using silk flowers instead of real.

[Dixie_Peach 1]

our wedding cost us about 1000 bucks.... that inluded our mini-honeymoon at a bed and breakfest for 3 nights.....

We only had about 20 to 25 people at our reception though....

my mom made my dress and sister's dress, she was the flowergirl... the material for both dresses cost about 100 bucks...

We hired a caterer for the reception she cost about 250 bucks....

With the help of my sister-in-law, I made my own invitations... I also made my own wedding favours....

I also made my own wedding cake.... I made banana cake and cut and shaped it into a heart and then frosted it with chocolate icing... it was sooo yummy!!!

My sister-in-law knew this lady who did flowers and that cost me about $150...

Our wedding was nothing fancy but it was perfect for us.... I never wanted a big wedding

marilyn... i would love to see pics of your cake, flowers, decorations, etc... all of it! lol

[Mirorgate 0]

omG Mirror, where do you live where you can get $10-$13 a plate?

looked around quite a bit.. and played one hotel against the other for the best deal. they are out there, maybe location isn't exactly where you wanted... but is worth the trade off with cost. just some ideas thrown out is all.

[Traviesa 0]

omG Mirror, where do you live where you can get $10-$13 a plate?

looked around quite a bit.. and played one hotel against the other for the best deal. they are out there, maybe location isn't exactly where you wanted... but is worth the trade off with cost. just some ideas thrown out is all.

Is that price just for the food?