Wedding budget

[Fandango 1,439]

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?

Yep. and it's raw.

[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

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

I don't have many pics on the computer right now.....

The lady who did the flowers did a great job but there were a few little things she did differently then we talked about but the flowers were still very pretty...

For my bouquet I wanted all blue roses with a few white roses.... but the lady did the opposite because she said it looked too blue otherwise .... but that is the effect I wanted I didn't want the flowers to blend into my wedding dress in the pictures but the bouquet was still gourgeuos... .... also we said that we would just tie a ribbon around the flowers but leave the green stalks showing but she ended up wrapping them ....

My matron of honour and flower girl carried white tulips.... they were pretty ....and then men had a white rose in thier lapel

the lady who owned the chapel at the bed and breakfest where we got married did the flowers in the chapel... they were silk flowers and were so pretty..

For the decorations at my parent's house where we had the reception I made butterflies out of coffee filters that I dyed blue and then I hung them from the ceiling with fishing line.. it looked like they were flying around

Edited May 14, 2006 by MarilynP

[lucyw_524 0]

I am going to get marry in Manassas (Virginia), properly this Aug, all depend on my visa. We are planning to invite our guests to a buffet restaurant on our wedding day. Anybody know good buffet restaurant around that area?

Thanks

[Traviesa 0]

Well, since you're in the DC area...(shameless advertising here)...

www.occasionscaterers.com

but like i said, it's expensive. Also, I don't know if we go to Manassas. Sorry, I don't have any other suggestions...

[luvaLimey 0]

... I'm so glad we're eloping....

[rebeccajo 14]

Wow! 100 people isn't a small wedding, really.

If you're going to include the price of your gown in this figure, I'm gonna shot strictly from the hip and say 5 grand minimum....

[CarolineM 0]

... I'm so glad we're eloping....

Amen, sister!

Since we did elope I have little no info to offer on this thread. The one thing I CAN say is that if you are getting flowers and a cake...just mentioning the word WEDDING ups the price. If you can do it without telling it's for a wedding...you save money. My best friend did this...and it was true. Sad, but true.

Also...you can get your cake from somewhere like Publix (dunno if this is where you are...) it s a grocery store. it was HEAPS cheaper for my other friend than the bakery's...(that's if you can't cook like Marilyn! Had I baked my own cake,...people would have died of food poisening I'm sure. I cannot cook to save my life.

I did want a cake, but we are going to get a small one for our 1 year anniversary so I can have my cake!

[ajames79 0]

Also we are going to do our own flowers.

Simple Simple Simple...

The vases I found in a craft store for about $1-$3.00 a peice.

The the flowers we are ordering are from Costo. We did them for a friends event and they were beautiful.

We decided that we don't need color themes or anything so I am pretty happy with just beautiful flowers of any sort.

We also decided against a "proper" wedding cake. My mom has a recipe for this coconut cake with seven minute icing that is WONDERFUL (even if you don't like coconut) We thought we might do one of those, maybe a chocolate mouse cake, and then maybe a strawberry short cake of some sort.

I always wanted a nice elegant wedding...my dreams were a sit down dinner and everything. But somehow as I got older my ideas have changed. We've decided on a band and great food. But it works out for me that we own a rental company so the tables, tents, and chairs I can borrow!

I'd like to start the party...then some how annouce everyones attention then get married right there while everyone is standing around us. No entrance or procession. Just do it.

The tap the kegs of some british beer of some sort and some wine and champagne and then maybe a catered BBQ....A company here is willing to trade the use of some equipement from my company for the event. So hopefully if all goes to plan then it will work out!

Of course we are on a year away and awaiting paperwork so it might not! Who knows.

Good luck...

Ohh and for a dress...check Nordstroms.com or maybe just look up white dresses. If you add the word wedding to anything it will cost twice as much. I found a lovely dress at Nordstroms for $149.00. Looks Amazing. Costs less then the bridesmaid dress I am wearing this August!

Good luck!

p.s. number of people...about 100 to 150...

Edited May 15, 2006 by ajames79

[TracyTN 237]

You can also check consignment stores for bridesmaids dresses (or even yours, though I couldn't do that) and then get them altered. There are lots of wedding consignment stores popping up around here these days.

[CarolineM 0]

If I had HAD bridesmaids...my money saving tip would have been this: I would have picked a COLOR and had them all get the dress they wanted in said color. Woulda been something common like black or red...you know? That way they can spend as much or as little as they wanted...

[Cassie 8]

There were a couple of things that we scrimped on and did ourselves, and a couple of things we didn't scrimp on. Together, it turned out to be about $5000.

Stuff we did ourselves:

--invitations: bought a kit at Staples and made my own, and they looekd as good as professionally done ones

--thank you notes: I refused to pay the horrible prices charged for tiny packets of thank you notes. I bought a ream of nice parchmenty-style paper and had the Staples people cut it in half. I then got on the computer, made a pretty Thank You with flowing script, printed it off and photocopied it onto the paper. I also bought matching envelopes. The total cost of making 200 thank you notes was less than 4 packages of 10 thank you notes each!

--the flower girls' baskets and my maid of honour's bouquet were made from silk flowers that I got on sale -- you can't tell the difference in the pictures.

--for my bouquet, I ordered a dozen long stemmed cream roses (the florist knew Jerry and included in another half dozen for free when he found out they were for our wedding) and my mom and I made the bouquet ourselves. Easily saved ourselves at least $50 on that one

--Jerry's sister made our wedding cake and groom's cake as her wedding gift to us. They were two of the best tasting cakes I have ever put into my mouth!

--We got the videographer for free in exchange for Jerry setting up his website. we also received 3 copies on DVD and 2 on video

--we made favours ourselves

--our reception was a buffet, catered to by....the deli section at Reasor's grocery store! I think we spent $700 on that in total. The trays were scrumptious -- high quality fruits and veg, sandwiches made with mini croissants, smoked turkey/ham, lots of great cheese etc etc. And we made the squares out of box mixes and you couldn't tell.

--candles and heart shaped confetti I got for peanuts at the dollar store

--instead of renting tuxes, we got suits, and I had matching ties made for Jerry, his best man, and the two dads

--my aunt made my veil (saved $100 + on that!)

--bought my shoes at Payless!

Things we didn't scrimp on:

--my wedding dress

--the wedding site -- it was a smidge expensive, but it was a mansion with fantastic grounds for pictures, it included the reception site and all sorts of other things in the price, and was already decorated. I arrived 45 mins before the ceremony and everything was already done, all I had to do was get dressed.

[anya-D 8]

Our wedding turned out about $9000 - with lots of thing we did ourselves (or I did ) - this is for wedding party only

our food is the main focus - we LOVE good food so we spent a lot here(for 80 people) - about $6000 (plus alcohol drinks ) - I think you can get it a lot cheaper.. this caterer includes all the plateswear, sliverwear, napkins and stuff like that and waiters already

decoration - help from my freind who made the centerpieces and we bought decorating stuff from Micheal and AC Moore - very cheap.. i focus on marbles and candles - total $400 (i gave my friend $100)

and i got the Thank you card from AC Moore aswell...

My invitation, i made it myself (in photoshop).. very simple and printed out like a post card on the back - cost like $ 0.20 per card

the room was about $800 - plus tax and insurance - didnt use the hotel coz it's so expensive - i had the wedding in Feb so it was still cold.. we rented that gas heater thing for outside too... not so expensive..

A DJ is $400 - I gave him permission to play anything he likes.. he did a great job mixing the song for everybody (he gave us discount )

A CAKE!!! only $170 for 120 people from Whole Food... great cake.. yummy too.. and also very simple.. with real flower in the middle.. i'm showing u all the pictures

this is in Durham, NC - the most expensive thing is food.. but we got a very good food and that's all we care

edit to say - the dress and his suite we taylored from Thailand for our Thai wedding - so no cost here

Edited May 15, 2006 by anya-D

[ajames79 0]

Our wedding turned out about $9000 - with lots of thing we did ourselves (or I did ) - this is for wedding party only

our food is the main focus - we LOVE good food so we spent a lot here(for 80 people) - about $6000 (plus alcohol drinks ) - I think you can get it a lot cheaper.. this caterer includes all the plateswear, sliverwear, napkins and stuff like that and waiters already

decoration - help from my freind who made the centerpieces and we bought decorating stuff from Micheal and AC Moore - very cheap.. i focus on marbles and candles - total $400 (i gave my friend $100)

and i got the Thank you card from AC Moore aswell...

My invitation, i made it myself (in photoshop).. very simple and printed out like a post card on the back - cost like $ 0.20 per card

the room was about $800 - plus tax and insurance - didnt use the hotel coz it's so expensive - i had the wedding in Feb so it was still cold.. we rented that gas heater thing for outside too... not so expensive..

A DJ is $400 - I gave him permission to play anything he likes.. he did a great job mixing the song for everybody (he gave us discount )

A CAKE!!! only $170 for 120 people from Whole Food... great cake.. yummy too.. and also very simple.. with real flower in the middle.. i'm showing u all the pictures

this is in Durham, NC - the most expensive thing is food.. but we got a very good food and that's all we care

edit to say - the dress and his suite we taylored from Thailand for our Thai wedding - so no cost here

Lovely!

So what kind of food did you serve??

[Octa 0]

Wow! 100 people isn't a small wedding, really.

If you're going to include the price of your gown in this figure, I'm gonna shot strictly from the hip and say 5 grand minimum....

You are soo right, we live in Chicago and our wedding - 100 guests. we went over $10,000 and it was not grand, it was simple and nothing special ,really. Maybe the food was kinda expensive $50 per plate.

[anya-D 8]

Lovely!

So what kind of food did you serve??

food!! umm.. I dont know how to explain - will try my best

rosted beef - medium rare - sliced thin

chicken (put in the oven - rosted?) with 3 kind of hurbs.. i know one is rosemary

salmon (not sure how he cooked it.. but very good.. not dry and still have great taste of salmon) with mango salsa - the most favoirite of everyone

some kind of rice thing... dont remember the name

and vegetable (cook in the oven.. rosted again???) - also all gone..

and we have fondu (spelling?) of fresh fruits.. for desert

it was a totle of about $30-34 per person.. but we think it worth it.. Bram and I LOVE to eat and we cook (and Bram is a great cook) so we find a place that really have good food ^^