Budget determines how many people???

Well, you should typically figure out how much you can afford to spend and set your guest list from there. Budget always comes first. And it's totally regional, so I can't really tell you what you should spend. But probably upwards of 12k or so.

You decide your budget first. No one else can tell you what you can afford or feel comfortable spending.

Then you make up a guest list of those people you truly want to be with you on your wedding day.

Then you find a venue and style of wedding that will allow you to host those guests within your budget.

The reason your guest list determines your budget and vice versa is that catering costs will usually be per person... so more people more money. Also, venues frequently have a maximum capacity, and the price for a larger venue can be more than a smaller space.

ETA additionally I guess decorating a larger space could cost more. More tables for guests = more centerpieces to spend money on, a larger venue with more seating = more money spent on aisle decorations and so on.

I'd recommend looking at costofwedding.com for the average spent in your area, and you can put in your anticipated number of guests to factor in.

Your budget comes before your guest list. It doesn't do any good for you to say you want to have 100 people but then when it's said and done you have a 5k budget. You have to start with what you can afford and compose your guest list accordingly. With hosting them properly with food and alcohol. Budget is always number one.

For me my venue determined the number. They told us how much it would cost per person. Then you know how much you can afford. If you plan on renting a space then you need to look at how much catering and booze will cost per person. Account for flowers, dress, DJ, photographer, rings, etc.

Depends on location. In MA it's about $100/person for food and maybe beer and wine. Then add the venue, decor, photographer, celebrant, etc.

We are having ~50 guest and it's $13k

In my area at least venues are priced per person to include food and alcohol, example cocktail hour with apps and bar, and then buffet dinner with abother 3 hours open bar can run anywhere from 55 to over 100 bucks per person. Your venue and food is going to be most of your budget typically. For us we are looking at 120 people at most likely 55-60 bucks per person. Our venue and food cost is going to be somewhere between 8 and 10k.Then we will add up what everything else will run like photographer, dj, officiant, attire, stationary and go from there. We are looking at between 20 and 25k as our budget. Most sites ive looked at for budgets say that venue and food is about half your budget and its usually the best place to start with planning. Good luck!

For us, we did it backwards. We found a venue we liked that included the food which was about 40$ per person not including drinks which we will provide separately. The venue also has limited space so only about 70 people. All in all we're figuring about 10k for our wedding so we're using the long engagement to save up.

We had 80 guests and spent a little more than 13k. It does depend on your location like PPs said.

Thanks everyone.. I was thinking between 10k to 15k as our budget . We came up with that amount figuring if we start saving now and then we will both use half of our taxes next year. I know the ceremony site will be $750 and the reception site will be 1k but I haven't talked to a caterer yet.

It all depends on the area you live. In my area I can find good catering at 20 a person... but areas like NYC you have to expect to pay 50-100 a person for good catering. Then there are drinks, both alcoholic and non alcoholic drinks... I am lucky and get to just get my bartender and then bring in my own alcohol and mixers and non alcoholic drinks... so I am getting a great deal at about 10 dollars per person. Then my cake is 5 per person... so each person attending my wedding is 35 dollars...

Then you have to factor in all rentals, linens, chairs, reception hall... Hired pros... Photographer, officiant, DJ.. Then of course there is the cost if attire, flowers, little extras here and there.. all of this is different for every area.

So really you need to do a little research to figure out how much you want to spend and what you can save.. as well as what things cost in your area. My friend from NYC had 120 people and spent 50K on his wedding.. mine I am spending 6K for 50 people (but I have searched and negotiated some great deals with booking early, and no flowers... plus no friendors or self catering) Plus I only spent 388 on my dress and only needed minimal alterations... so that helped my budget.

So if you were dealing with my area and willing to have unconventional reception location (mine is an airplane museum)... your budget would be 10k... if you live in NYC or and expensive area for 80 people you would need 35K budget. You just need to sit down and figure out what you want to spend, then figure out what it would cost in your area per person (all costs... dress, officiant, rentals, etc) and divide what you want to spend vs per person cost and that is how many you can invite.

Remember, things like family or friends working on your wedding day, hiring your friends business at a discount aka Friendors, self catering and dry weddings (with very few exceptions) are a BIG NO NO.

Budget 1st!!!!

If you can't afford x amount of guest then ppl would have to get removed off the list .

Sounds like you're on the right track op! :-)

Cost per plate per person

You should decide your budget first. You need to figure out what you can afford. What if you decide your guest list is 200 and realize that will cost you 20,000, and you only have 8,000. See why that doesn't work? Start with how much many you have to spend first and the go from there

We did it backwards, we made our guest list first then worked on finding a venue that includes food and alcohol. We looked at how much it would be with the amount of guests we wanted & then figured out if we could realistically afford that & more (more being - dj, photographer, florist etc).

... I have 50 guests and with all the corners I cut and tried to cut my total walk away budget is still close to $9,000. .

We also went the 'backwards' route, we found the venue we really wanted and then made our guest list to reflect what we could afford by using said venue. We averaged out estimates of other vendors we would be needing to get a rough guesstimate of what else we would be spending and came up with a budget we could work with and not go into debt over.

You're on the right track. We wanted to keep it under $12k, and after touring a few venues we realized that NO WAY could we do that with the group we wanted to invite, so we scratched that plan and that same $12k (a little more now since we pushed the date back) will ROCK with 30 people.

I do not know what state/region you are in so I cannot advise what your budget will be. I will recommend that you check out https://www.wedding-spot.com/wedding-venues/ and costofweddings.com so that you can get an idea of what your budget should be. Consider other factors like wedding season, day/time of the wedding, and style of the wedding overall. For instance a Friday wedding is cheaper than a Saturday wedding. And an January wedding is cheaper than a June wedding.