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Just Said Yes August 2020

Budget

Rebekah, on February 6, 2020 at 11:31 AM Posted in Planning 0 18
What is the least and most you think a person should spend for all things wedding? What are you spending if you don't mind saying? I'm having a hard time even starting planning anything because I have no idea what to even spend. Help me please lol

18 Comments

Latest activity by Tiffany, on February 6, 2020 at 8:13 PM
  • Caytlyn
    Legend November 2019
    Caytlyn ·
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    The least they should spend is about $35 since that’s the lowest marriage license fee I know of and the most they should spend is whatever doesn’t put them into debt. We spent $25k on our wedding. I think you should focus on what you can spend instead of what you should spend.
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  • Lisa
    Expert October 2021
    Lisa ·
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    It really depends! People spend $1000 - $50,000+


    Our wedding is going to cost about $23,000, excluding attire and rings.

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  • R
    Just Said Yes August 2020
    Rebekah ·
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    Thanks I guess..
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  • Amber
    Master February 2020
    Amber ·
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    I agree with Caytlyn. We can't tell you what a good budget is for your wedding without knowing your finances. Our budget is 10k. We could've planned a much cheaper or much more expensive wedding, but that's what we were comfortable spending on our wedding day based on the type of event we wanted and how much we were willing to spend out of our savings. It's completely dependent on your personal situation.

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  • MrsD
    Legend July 2019
    MrsD ·
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    This is a hard question. Everyone's financial situation is SO different. The lowest budget I've seen is $3,000 and that was very simple and very DIY. The highest was over $100,000. I think whatever you can afford without going into debt or dipping into things like savings for retirement, car purchase, renovations, etc.

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  • R
    Just Said Yes August 2020
    Rebekah ·
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    Okay thanks. I guess I didn't realize how expensive everything was and am just very overwhelmed. But I do understand that each persons budget is different I guess I should have worded it differently.
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  • Sherry
    Master September 2019
    Sherry ·
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    There are so many things it depends on. For us, this was both of our 2nd marriage so we wanted to keep things intimate and casual and ditched a lot of the traditional wedding things. Our final total was $6869. For others, they are spending $20k-$50k or more.

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  • MrsD
    Legend July 2019
    MrsD ·
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    I think the average is $34,000 across the United States? I've been in two weddings, one spent 3k and one spent 20k. We had a higher budget and spent 60k.

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  • M
    Legend June 2019
    Melle ·
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    I spent around 16k for mine but man I've seen people spend so much more. A couple of my friends spent 40k and 60k on theirs. One went extravagant and one went large.
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  • Gen
    Champion June 2019
    Gen ·
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    It really depends on your income/savings and what you can afford to spend. Like someone who makes $50k a year shouldn’t be having a $50k wedding. But someone who makes $700k per year if they wanted to have a $100k wedding that seems reasonable proportionately 🤷🏻‍♀️
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  • MOB So Cal
    January 2019
    MOB So Cal ·
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    Agree with others, this depends completely on what the couple can/wants to spend. One thing that helped us at the beginning of planning daughter's wedding was to Google, "average cost of a wedding in _____." Various sites all said the average cost where we live is $32,000. We immediately assumed that was ridiculous, and randomly guessed we could do it for about $20,000. It didn't take long to realize, for 100-guests at a fairly traditional Saturday night wedding in suburban So Cal, that wasn't nearly enough. By the time we were done, after 18-months of planning, when everything was accounted for the total was almost exactly $32,000*.... The wedding was absolutely perfect, and exactly what daughter and SIL wanted, but it was not at all over-the-top extravagant and daughter did a TON of comparison shopping for EVERYTHING in order to stick to the budget. Weddings are crazy expensive, but exactly how expensive depends a LOT on where/when/size of guest/etc. Good luck! Smiley heart


    PS * the $32,000 did not include rings, honeymoon, wedding party gifts, etc. (all things the B&G paid for directly), but included pretty much everything else for the ceremony, reception, and rehearsal dinner.

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  • Katie
    Devoted March 2019
    Katie ·
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    This process can definitely be overwhelming, especially if you are just dipping your toes into the wedding planning process! Like lots of other commenters have said, this is a hugely personal decision that is based on 1. what you WANT to spend 2. what you can AFFORD to spend and 3. how the two of you envision your wedding day Smiley smile


    Looking at EVERY aspect of our wedding, the total cost came to about $60k (but this also included the honeymoon $7k, purchasing new outfits for both of us/hair/makeup for engagement photos + rehearsal dinner + bridal brunch $500, flights for bachelorette party, etc. that aren't traditionally a part of the formal budget). The elements for the actual wedding day were likely closer to $45k. This budget was a mix of contributions from my parents, in laws, and husband + me. If this isn't your budget, DO NOT PANIC! There are so many men and women here who can attest to the fact that you can have an amazing and perfect wedding day for less than $10k or go all out with a six figure budget if you have it!


    The easiest way I can think to help you get started are this:

    1. Think about what is important to the two of you and how you envision your big day...Are you total foodies? Is a killer dance party a must? Who are your VIP "can't get married without you there" guests? Do you live in/want to get married in an expensive city? Is your style rustic/glam/natural/etc? How strongly do you feel about having a wedding video? Detail out your dream wedding - the aspects that are most important to you should allocate more of your budget.

    2. Consider your guest list....since a lot of other factors will be based off of this number (number of tables, venue size, caterer amounts, cake size, etc.), get a ballpark! Considering our family sizes, my husband and I broke it down like this: we "gave" my parents 50 invites, his parents 50 invites, and 50 invites for our friends (including wedding party + SOs)

    3. Time to talk money!! You have around 1.5 years before the wedding, and if you are planning to pay all/some of your budget, now is the time to really sit down and see how much you can save. This is also a great time to have a discussion with your families - are they considering contributing? and if so, what areas are they considering? My in laws offered to pay for the bar, rehearsal dinner, and honeymoon, which was so generous! We sat down with them to discuss what they'd be comfortable spending. My dad is definitely the businessman and for areas he was contributing, it was more effective when I had done my research and then presented him with my findings in a way where I evaluated several people I'd be interested in working with and compared value for money, and provided my favorite.


    Once you nail down your vision, guest list, and budget, you can begin looking seriously at vendors (you can always look at vendors to get an average feel for the budget lol). Start with your venue, as they'll have lots of direction on some other vendors - like preferred caterers, rental companies, etc. and can set the mood for the rest of the planning. You totally got this girl! Good luck Smiley smile

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  • Angel
    Expert August 2020
    Angel ·
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    We're keeping our wedding under $6K. We live in SoCal and our families are paying for the venue fees, food&bev, etc. We're paying for our rings and attire. We knew we wanted to keep it small and relatively cheap since our parents were paying for it, we didn't want to break their bank! First, determine who's paying for it. Then, determine how much you're comfortable with spending. Definitely do a lot of looking around and price checking when you first start - just to get an idea of how things add up and think about what matters most to you! I decided I wanted a good photographer, and a beautiful ceremony so those are the things we're spending the most on.

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  • R
    Just Said Yes August 2020
    Rebekah ·
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    Omg thank you Katie! That is exactly what I needed!! I really appreciate you breaking things down for me all the aspects of the wedding is a lot to look at it helps to know where to start!
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  • Mary
    Dedicated October 2020
    Mary ·
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    Your budget really comes down to these factors:

    1. Number of guests

    2. Your location (or where the wedding will be)

    3. How much money you and your SO make (or have saved)

    4. Whether or not your parents will be contributing

    5. Cultural requirements

    6. Wedding type (destination, religious, etc)

    7. Your priorities (maybe you'd rather pay off your loans, or save for a house, or maybe you want to spend $$$ on food or music)


    Mine is clocking in at 65k, and that doesn't even include honeymoon (which we haven't figured out). I know this figure may seem ludicrously high to a lot of people, but it really came down to what I just listed--we have a lot of guests (200+), in the most expensive city in the US (San Francisco), we make good 6-fig tech salaries, we're having a Vietnamese Catholic wedding, and we wanted to spend more on food and open bar.


    Our parents aren't contributing at all, except for the 2 rehearsal dinners. Neither of us have student loans, my FH already owns a house, and we both have healthy retirement accounts.

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  • Tara
    Devoted August 2020
    Tara ·
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    Budgeting can be overwhelming. We wanted to keep ours at $4k but we’re looking at more like $5,500 but that’s okay! We’re having a 100 person guests list too. A smaller budget is doable but you have to choose your priorities and shop around for everything.
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  • Cristina
    Expert April 2021
    Cristina ·
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    Like everyone else has said everyone's budget and financial situation is different. We originally set a budget for 15K but will most likely be closer to 20K. Thank goodness for a long engagement because it gave us time to save up for everything.

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  • Tiffany
    Expert March 2020
    Tiffany ·
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    Our budget is 11k, but I think we will be spending a little over that. I had no idea what to budget going into this. I had been saving money for a car since 2016, but for some reason never bought one. So once I got engaged my fiance and I decided to only use a little over half of the amount I had saved for the wedding and save the other half for furniture/housing/future needs. So we started with about $5k for a wedding. Then my parents said they'd give 3k and then his parents said they'd give 3k as well. So that's how we ended up with 11k.
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