Hello everybody!
I got married just over a week ago and wanted to add my budget breakdown. We had an original budget window of $8,500 to $10,000 plus whatever tips. We ended up on the high end of our budget because of extras we decided to include (noted at the end). We got married in New Orleans, where we do not live anymore, so I guess I could call it a semi-DW. What's below is what we actually spent to my best recollection and barely legible note keeping, not estimates, though the numbers are rounded. It's long, but if you're interested, read on and I hope my math is right and I didn't leave anything out. If you don't want to read on, my basic budget tips are to stick to what you're able/willing to spend and to prioritize. We spent most on what was important to us - music, food, and a meaningful and gorgeous venue. The dress, flowers, decor, etc. were not big deals to me and we were super happy to spend time with our smallish guest list.
Significant costs not included in budget: 1) travel - we do this trip every year because we used to live in New Orleans and it's where DH's family lives, so we budget separately for this anyway. We also stayed with family there the week after the wedding at no additional cost to us, so no honeymoon, per se. 2) Welcome dinner for 30 people - MIL took care of this and I have no idea how much it was. If she had not done this, we would have had a small rehearsal dinner for just our parents, wedding party and their SOs, which may have also impacted our other choices.
Guests: 50 (including us and a few vendors included in catering count)
Length: Ceremony and reception was 4 hours total
Venue: $2,392 -included staff, DOC, security, tables, chairs, linens, dishes (glassware) and flatware, microphone, setup and breakdown
Accommodations: $300 -two nights (night before and night of wedding) on venue property
Catering: $2,470 -included, 4 servers, bartender, service fees, and food.The reception was cocktail style with everything served in small plates. We had three passed appetizers, two stations, and a grits bar (which was wildly popular)
Bar/Alcohol: $278 -cost after returning unopened bottles
-beer (Bud light and two local beers), wine, and ingredients for signature drink, plus a few sodas. I bought champagne for the signature drink from Costco and wines from World Market and a local wine shop - both were running super sales. The wines were inexpensive, but good, and we had a decent variety (3 whites and 3 reds), which was appreciated.
Music: $950 -we had two bands, a brass band for a second line following the ceremony and a two piece acoustic band (guitar and violin, with amazing vocalists) for the ceremony and reception. This was an absolute bargain!
Flowers: $175 -I bought bulk white roses from Costco and fresh lavender from Fifty Flowers plus some dried lavender from a farm local to me and a little greenery/filler from Whole Foods. I made our bouquets (two), boutonnieres (four), and corsages (three). The centerpieces were just the flowers and leftover greenery/filler in bud vases.
Rentals: $450 -We rented a dance floor (for inside because of wood floors in an historic building) and misting fans for the outdoor courtyard (these were costs I did not anticipate when making my original budget).
Favors: $80 -handkerchiefs for second line parade
Photographer: $800 for three hours (in the end, the cost was actually gifted to us by my mother, but to save money, we opted for just a few hours of coverage and our wedding ceremony and reception was only four hours total).
Cake: $220 - we had a croquembouche, a doberge, and a small gluten free cake
Invitations: $130 for STDs, invitations from Vistaprint, and postage
Wedding party and parent gifts: $150
Attire and Alterations: $375 - DH owned his tuxedo already and I bought a NWT dress off preownedweddingdresses.com at a significant savings. A local seamstress did my alterations, and I literally spent $5 on a pair of sandals from Payless that nobody saw.
Wedding day jewelry: $0 - I wore earrings I already had and a necklace that was my grandmother's
Rings: $300 - handforged with a local ring maker
Makeup/Nails - $150 - I did my own hair, but had someone do my makeup day of and got a mani/pedi
Officiant: $450 -included premarital counseling, the ceremony, and the rehearsal
Marriage License: $38 (ordered an extra copy)
Misc: $125 - random vases and frames for decor (thrift store and Ikea), diy supplies, fans for guests, guestbook, cake topper.
Total: $9,833 + tips
Extras - these are alternatives for things we decided to spend more on that were not necessary but made the experience better for everyone, including us.
Music: We found an available DJ with great reviews at $375, but decided to do live music instead. If we had done that, we would have saved $575, plus the $80 on handkerchiefs because we wouldn't have had the second line.
Food: We added a station at $200 to expand the vegetarian/gluten free options
Flowers: The fresh lavender was a sentimental choice and was more than the flowers I originally planned on, but was worth it. My original choice would have saved $50.
Accommodations: nice, but not totally necessary $300.
So we potentially could have saved $1,205, making that total $8,628 + tips - but I'm very happy we spent the extra.
Happy Planning, Y'all!
