250-280 people guest list

Our budget is $37,000 with a 175-200 guest list. I think it all really depends on your location. You might be able to easily pull that off cheaper, whereas I'm in New York and can't.

We are making sure to splurge on our photographer/videographer and DJ. The venue was pretty average for everything we looked at. We will probably skimp on the little details.

Our biggest expenses are catering and our venue. If you can nail that down for a reasonable price, you'll be able to stay on budget. We had to find a venue that allowed us to bring in our own caterer. We looked at one venue that we loved but the catering estimate for 250 people was $20k. Just for the food! Nothing else. Not the venue, not the cake, not our attire, not our invites... I could go on and on. For us we just didn't want to spend that much on food alone.

Dang. I was exhausted after my 120 guests. I couldn't imagine the 300!

I skimped on things that needed printing: menus, programs, save-the-dates. I didn't splurge, but I made sure food and alcohol was sufficiently taken care of.

We're at about 270 on guest list and the venue (with tons of food, cake, linens, open premium bar, some flowers and a bunch of other little things) is the bulk of out budget but we won't have to worry about too much else, so it's hard to say for me what I payed for food only ...

But, it definitely depends where you are and what kind of food you want to serve and when (lunch v dinner for example). I'm in New York like the other Danielle and it's friggin crazy what they charge around here and even though it's not a surprise knowing from friends weddings, it starts to hit when you're the one paying for most of it and it's your wedding!

Anyway, it can be done but you're going to have to be creative and be prepared to not have something like a sit down 5 course dinner...best of luck on your planning!

I live in Texas and have 120 guests. I'm spending a little over $8000. My biggest expenses were my venue and dress. It can definitely be done, you just have to sit down and do a lot of research and figure out how you want to spend your money.

I'm not having a large wedding, but like the others said you need to start pricing venues and catering NOW! Catering will be the bulk of your budget and can get VERY pricy. My food minimum for 40 guests is $2900. You might need to look into doing a Friday or Sunday wedding. Perhaps a cake and punch reception only or a brunch/lunch type deal. Worst comes to worse you might need to slash your guest list even more or have an adult only reception. I can't imagine having such a large wedding. We both come from big families, but liked the allure of small intimate ceremony. More power to you!

We're having a 300 person wedding. our budget was around 10k but some people have taken on expenses which has helped. here's a little breakdown.

- venue $4000 it is a do it yourself venue. very beautiful but we chose a friday during an expensive month which saved us at least $2000 or $3000

- food $2500 my FILs ended up taking on this expense. We went through a restaurant and got fajitas and rice and beans but it is enough for 300 ppl with ppl serving the buffet.

- dress about $1000 (dont know about alterations) at alfred angelo

- decor about $700 I bought decorations from someone elses wedding

- photographer $1600 def had to shop around and research for that

- dont have a dj yet but will probably be around $700

then of course all the other small things!

I am in Houston so a big city. Let me know if there is anything I forgot!

We have 150 on our guest list and our budget is $11,000. Things add up fast, the venue and catering take up over $5,000. We are skimping on the things we can, I am making all the bouquets and boutonnieres myself since I can get enough bulk flowers to make all of them for about the price of the average bride's bouquet (in my area at least). We are doing a tower of cupcakes instead of a traditional wedding cake and literally paying about half what the same baker would charge for a wedding cake. The DJ and officiant are free because they are family friends and our photographer is giving a significant discount because he is a personal friend of my fiance. The biggest splurge is a chocolate fountain for the reception but once I got it in my head I just WANTED IT SO BAD lol.

Idk if youll be able to do it for that price. Itll cost us around 13,000 for food and drink. Were set at a little over 20,000 for the whole thing. And we arr in upstate ny. Anywhere from 250-300 people

I'm already struggling with 125 people, I can only imagine the stress of a 275-person guest list!

Our budget is about $16k right now. Our biggest expense is the venue, which is $10k but includes - catering, beer/wine/champagne bar, wedding cake, DJ, and day-of coordinator. Next splurge is my dress - $1,700. And the other big expense is photographer - $1,200 (we got a really good deal from a family friend). Planning to get a photo booth still, but looking for affordable options.

Skimping on: invitations (DIY), centerpieces (DIY), a few decorations. We made sure we splurged on the most important things rather than focus on the little details than no one will probably remember

Our original budget was less than $10K so I started looking for elegant yet affordable options. You can do a backyard wedding (lighting is the key), barn, or state park. Think of friends and family that can help out like a cousin who's a photographer or a friend that can DJ. You'd be surprised how many people would love to help!

Our guest list to our wedding is over 500 but what we did was family and older people/people who not going to party party with us are coming to the reception and that number is at 200 well 215 which is running us about $8,500 and it's buffet style and then we are having an after party at the same venue a hour later with just finger foods for our party crowd and cash bar. And we found a catering company that does platters and we ordered a few platters just so they will have something to nibble on and dance the night away.

That budget simply will not work for the amount of people you're trying to handle. I hate to sound like a butt head but it won't ever happen on only 5-6K even if you stuck with just app's, dry wedding, etc. My best advice would be to severly cut back that guest list.

Yea ours is about 300.

I want to shoot myself

and FMIL

How on earth do you have a $5,000 budget for 275 people?

That's $20 a person.

Our guest list is around 300. I think the biggest expense, like everyone said would be the caterer. And depending on your area, things could be a lot more pricey. I've noticed many brides on here getting a lot more than I am for less.

My venue is $3800. That included beer, DJ, table covers & overlays, chair covers & overlays

Catering will be ~$1800 ($6/plate & $4/plate for kids)

I'm also in Wisconsin! Our guest list is currently sitting at 304. I was trying to cut down to 250 tops, but my parents keep adding more!

I'm also in Wisconsin e are doing our at Olympia gardens guest list is 150 and our original budget was for 10k but quickly arround 25k and growing what part of Wisconsin are you at?

My wedding is in Texas and our budget was $10,000 for 133 guests and we are now at about $13,000 and that's without having to pay for a venue. Most of are budget went to food, photography and videography.

We are near the Wausau area, in WI. Have have our venue booked which cost us $850 for the day, we're doing both the ceremony and reception there. I should specify that our $5-6000 budget is not including my dress or any of our rings.

Good Luck to you!!! But if you put your mind to it and budget right you can pull off whatever you want to. I am in a small town in Pennsylvania. We are planning on a 150 person wedding and we are doing it for around 11,000. So far it is working out but things are adding up quickly and it might be a little more than that! We are spending about 3,500 on venue and catering and our next big expense is our photography which is 2,000.