Budget stress/quotes from vendors

Oh definitely, get more quotes. With a wedding and a budget, i dont think only 2 quotes will b okay. You would be surprised what you find when you look a little harder.

I looked at TONS of vendors before I picked. It takes some digging but you can find what you want, in your price range if you're willing to do the work to find them. Craigslist is good, and I'm from the suburbs of Chicago and the townI got my wedding gown in has this bridal program where you get discounts at various venues used in the town (the Geneva Bride Program) and luckily, the florist, photographer, and place we're taking dance lessons are all highly recommended and affordable!

You've got time, definitely get more quotes. I am very budget oriented and I do a lot of e-mailing, calling around, and consultations before committing. I have found that by informing a vendor of what we planned on spending FIRST, they can show me what I can get for that amount.

Yep, I'd say get more quotes. $1300 over your budget is craazy!

If possible I would recommend reaching out to more vendors for quotes, someone with the vision you want that firs your budget is out there! It just might take a little bit of time and research. We shopped around 5 photographers and 4 florists before committing.

First off, hi there DATE TWIN! You're the first one I've found.

Second, keep looking. Check places like craigslist like some others said. That's how I've found my photographer and DJ. When I was looking for venues I got quotes from every single venue that I liked and even some I wasn't a 100% sold on just in case they were in the budget, you never know.

Also, if you're not dead set on real flowers, check into Etsy. I did realtouch fake flowers and got my Bridal bouquet, three BM bouquets and my FH bout. for $132 and they are GORGEOUS! I highly recommend Anush's shop DressMyWedding.

I've decided to do my flowers myself. My bouquet would have been small an would cost me 250 dollars, no thanks ! So I'm making my own. They quoted me 600$ for 3 bouquets and parents flowers.

What all were you wanting them to do? Is it centerpieces and all, what flowers are you wanting to use? And where are you from. Our brides may have tips on which vendor they've found are inexpensive

This is pretty common. People underestimate the cost of goods and services. It happens ALL the time. Most people don't understand what all is included in the services a vendor provides. They think it's just clicking a button on a camera a hundred times. They don't account for the editing, prep time, etc. They think it's just hitting play on iTunes to get the party going. They don't see the hours spent customizing the playlist, and the skill that goes into making on the fly changes to keep guests on the dance floor.

Definitely get 3-4 quotes from vendors you would actually consider using (not the one who you don't see their vision). That should be a good estimate for local prices.

Get three or four quotes. Meghan is right; setting a budget without knowing what the actual cost is for what you really want is just going to be frustrating. You'll probably find that pros doing roughly the same thing with roughly the same experience will cost roughly the same.

I hear ya..... definitely totally blown away by the cost for bands

and we have many friends (different types of bands that aren't really wedding friendly) who book bands for basically nothing at a bar yet cost thousands at your wedding - our friends tell us its common to double the price for a wedding...

Hi Kacy, try this link. It will help you understand what the average costs are for various vendors in your area. Just type in your area code. Some couples set budgets without realizing what the average charges are for various vendors....it makes it hard to set a realistic budget.

Here's the link: http://www.costofwedding.com

I'll ditto what Celia said.

Little miss hostess said it so well! The second the word "wedding" gets brought up, prices skyrocket! I went through a lot of my planning avoiding putting the word wedding into google or getting vendor quotes without initially telling them it is for a wedding...then hear the massive price difference when I pull out the "W" word. They cant ever explain to me why there is the difference though, but some may feel a little guiltier trying to rip you off and give you a lower quote.

Definitely keep looking til you find what you want! It is doable! I contacted 75 venues, about 20 photographers, 6 officiants, 6 djs before we narrowed it down and had our options to meet with. And we found what we wanted for prices we could live with!

You might also want to think about what flowers are really critical to you. For example, we had bouquets and a bout, but used nonfloral decorations, so our floral costs were under $300. Or if you want floral decorations, you could think about reusing ceremony decorations, and even bouquets, as decoration at the reception.

The same goes for photography. We saved on photography by a) having a photographer only for the ceremony and formals afterward, not for the reception, and b) getting only a disk with the edited images, not prints or albums.

I was going to put this in a separate post (and probably still will).

I found a great website that will give you multiple quotes for whatever you are looking for. Try www.thumbtack.com. Super easy to use.

You enter your date and what you are looking for with your contact info. They will then ask if you would like to be contacted by phone or email or both (which is great for me since I work nights).

You will get multiple quotes and there are sections that show each vendors credentials, reviews etc.

So helpful... give it a try!!

Forgot to say that I know that there are only certain cities (sorry - not sure which ones) but worth a shot

I have to echo others. Setting a budget is one thing. Setting a budget after finding our real costs is another.

It is smart to decide how much you are able/willing to spend on a wedding (or any event). Then, you need to back in to those costs. If the person budgeting feels that floral should be $550, but then receives quotes of $****, it shows that either the planner needs to scale back, or realize that the floral costs are more than they expected.

Most brides are novices, when it comes to event planning. This is a good and a bad thing.

So true Kathy. I want a car and I want to spend 10,000.00. The number isn't realistic unless I change my expectations.

I don't even respond to my Thumbtack leads anymore.

FH and I have been in LOVE with Dreamlife Photography since 2009. They are also within our budget so right after booking our venue, we grabbed them. We looked at no one else... Didnt feel the need to.

Florists... We are cutting costs here. We are doing Manzinita Branches from bloomsandbranches.com and preserved orchids for centerpieces. My FMIL, FSIL and I are super creative and love DIY so thats totally up our ally. We are also doing something unique for boutteniers, maybe either a single preserved orchid or a skeleton key with ribbon. Ps. Preserved orchids are real orchids, they look and feel real, because they are. the smell is just muted, which is a bummer because I love it but I hate going to weddings with a floral smell and then eating steak. Yuck. The only thing we will prob us a florist for are bouquets, but even that... we are thinking of just using a website that FH found with really pretty flowers. I cant remember the name... But florists are a bit overrated IMHO.

Thanks for your input ladies!!

I've already contacted another photographer and was pretty happy already with the price list they sent (it's an improvement on the other photographer), we are going to meet with them hopefully next week. As for the flowers, I really like who I contacted so I'm going to send her another email letting her know my cost concerns and see if we can work something out... maybe make some cuts to a few things. Also I already have some other decor items (lanterns mainly) that my FMIL bought for our suprise engagement party and she let me keep them all for the wedding (she's awesome that way!)

With all that being said my main problem was actually that the budget was requested by my FH parents and my parents so we could figure out who's paying for what. So I did have to set this budget before actually having any idea of what it would actually cost.

So now that I have a better idea I'm going to re-evaluate my budget and see what changes can be made.