Big Budget Brides- BBB

I would say venue and dress are normally big splurges for many. However the #1 thing brides regret they didn't spend more in after their wedding is their photographer! Go with the one you love, not the one with the best "deal"!

Those with big budgets - are you paying for the wedding yourselves? What kinds of jobs do you have lol. Not meant to come off rudely by any means.. I am just genuinely curious!

We're about 35-40k, not including the honeymoon. But I think that is pretty typical for area I'm in. Central/North Jersey.

My parents are paying for 90% of the wedding. I never asked them to pay for it, it is something they have always wanted to do, as their parents have done for them.

We are paying for everything ourselves... I have a wedding cake business as well as work as an executive assistant to the ceo of a law firm in nyc

My honey runs his family's real estate properties.

I agree it really depends on where you like. In some areas 20K is outrages and in some areas that wouldnt even cover the food.

Andrea, I guess you could say that we paid for the wedding ourselves, in the sense that we set our own budget ($45k, came in about $1k under) and were prepared to cover it in full. However, we had very generous gifts (mostly from our parents and immediate family) that covered all expenses, and then some. I am thinking of setting the surplus aside to use as an emergency fund, should our parents ever need anything.

This thread makes me miss Renata.

Emily, when do we get your BAM?! I want to seeeee it.

Thanks guys And I'm sure it also depends on how long you are saving for the wedding too. I was just curious because I see a decent amount of brides who have a big budget!

Hahahaha Andrea! I think the same thing when I see a large engagement ring.

I work for a major healthcare company and FH works as a site administrator in community corrections. We both make a decent living. FMIL gifted us $5,000 and my father just gave us $5,000 over the weekend. Everything else is on us. We already have a house and don't have kids and our bills are minimal.

Second SunshineJenn--will you post a BAM, Emily??? Please?

I suppose I technically am a BBB. We will spend about $50k once everything is all said and done. My biggest splurge is our venue/caterer. The venue is owned by a caterer, so it is all one big package, altogether it will be $34,000 for the venue for the day, caterer, open bar, DOC, linens, set up/tear down, insurance, and security (came with the package.)

So after that, I have another $10,000 to spend on everything else, before the honeymoon.

Edit- My parents are paying for 3/4 of our wedding, and my FH and I are both engineers.

We are in the 45k-50k arena. We are looking at 300 people for the reception. My parents are paying for that (which is the splurge since my mom did the menu) and we are paying for everything else. I still have the flowers and invites left to price out. Seems like a big budget but there is an emergency every month (new AC piping, new tires, cat needed teeth pulled). $4k out the door in 3 months..ugh.

Our budget is big for us and our friends but not compared to these numbers. Not including rings or honeymoon our total cost is about $21K, $12K of that coming from our parents. We would be doing more if I didn't have to pay $500 a month in student loan payments.

ETA: that's for 220 guests

Well if you include honeymoon, and my rings, I sit very close to 100k.

If you focus on wedding expenses only, I'm about 60k.

The biggest expenditures are food (plated dual entree meal, butlered h'ors d'oeuvres, dessert bar, top shelf open bar) for 100 people. That's about 16K.

My planner/stylist was $5500.

Photography was $5000.

Flowers were $5000.

My venue was surprisingly cheap--The National Aquarium in Baltimore.

Wow, 1stStop, be more subtle.

1StopPhotoBoothShop, you know you're getting flagged, right?

I want to see Emily's BAM too

We're just under $20K, but we're doing a LOT of DIY, so if we hadn't done any DIY it would probably be closer to $30K not including rings or honeymoon (100 people). Fh's kilt was a splurge at $2000. Our photographer was $3K but that's fairly low in my area for a *good* photographer (the best ones are $10K). My wedding cake that I'm making myself would likely be over $1K if I would have ordered it from a bakery.

Thanks Melissa I don't actually feel bad about being a more medium size budget lol. I know we are really working to stretch every dollar we have...but we are still lucky to have as many $'s to work with. I am super impressed by those that can make amazing things happen with smaller budgets and I am also impressed by the awesome luxury that a big budget can provide.

A family friend sorta mentioned to my mom that she was uncomfortable with the opulence that she thought was going to be at our wedding...and I remember kinda laughing...cause yes...this money totally could be used towards something more practical like a house down payment or a car...but I also think this wedding will only be once in a life so it is what it is...though opulent isn't the word I would use to describe it more comfy and thoughtful?

Supaluvstar, we are paying. FH is an attorney. I'm a paralegal.

We are also paying for it ourselves. We are both electrical engineers who live pretty frugally. Our expenses per month are covered by my paycheck so we can bank FHs entire paycheck every month.

Our honeymoon was as much as our wedding.