Budget!

We have definitely increased our original budget. I have to admit, I was that girl who used to say people were “ridiculous for spending THAT much money on just one day”. But then once I started planning our wedding, I realized I had NO idea what all went into planning and just how expensive everything was! And then there are all the “hidden costs” you aren’t aware of either. Add into that the fact that we had to postpone a year because of the pandemic- that’s a whole year to think of and add other things LOL We are now about double our original budget.

View Quoted Comment Oh my! Well I was that girl to and still am. Planning got to stressful and our families didn't offer any money so I threw the towel in and we are planning to elope for under a grand.

View Quoted Comment I love an elopement! They are so sweet and intimate 💕 Personally, I would have loved to elope! My fiancé is the one that wanted to do a full-on wedding, so we compromised with the small destination wedding. Where are you eloping?

We did! I tried to over estimate every category, but then we decided to add in videography when we hadn’t previously planned on it, & I panicked a bit about paying tips & taxes so I increased our “miscellaneous” category. I’m optimistic we can save money in certain areas. Clothes, flowers, & decor are my targets. I may skip formal hair & makeup although that is TBD. We also added in a budget for a day of coordinator even though my venue manager said we didn’t need one (controversial, I know, but we will have a ceremony coordinator at the church, a venue coordinator, a catering house manager, & the DJ).

View Quoted Comment Oh wow, that's a lot. Though it's the norm these days.

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It really is! Again, I am super, super hopeful I'll save some money in a few places, and I'm also willing to ditch things entirely that aren't really important to me. I saw you're eloping, which will be lovely! I have to say I've been tempted, especially with the pandemic.

We definitely increased our budget!

View Quoted Comment Yup that's very common lol. I did the rare thing and decreased it.

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I think that our budget was unrealistic for what we wanted at first ... But then we had a minimony and spent soooooo much less. But we are still having our big extravagant wedding and thats where we increased

It still the same $$$.Our families are not paying for the wedding. Hopefully, it stays that way.
Since day one, we decided our maximum would be, for example, $1000 (it's an example ), but we decided to start planing at $600, so we could have room to spend more if that's the case.

We increased by a little... we forgot about vendor meals and tips which added on about $500.

We set a budget of $10,000. In the end we will end up spending nearly $15,000. Thankfully, we have had help from some of our family and friends.

The day we booked our venue we said no more than $14k, excluding rings & honeymoon. We are projected to spend $23k before rings & honeymoon 🤦🏽‍♀️

Yeah, we significantly under-estimated the cost of a wedding in our high cost of living area. We originally said $15,000 and ended up paying about $23,000 when all was said and done. Although, that technically isn't bad considering the average cost of weddings in our area is around $35,000.

View Quoted Comment Okay that's a smart idea. Thanks for sharing.

View Quoted Comment Okay that's not terrible. Thanks for sharing.

View Quoted Comment Whew thats a 50% increase. None of our loved ones offered and if they did, we probably wouldn't accept.

View Quoted Comment Oh goodness. That is quite an increase.

View Quoted Comment Whew! $23,000?! That's more than what I had in student loans.

I had initially increased our budget from $5000 to $8000 when we first discussed wedding stuff. After seeing how expensive everything was, especially after my little sister spent $15000 and postponed twice, we couldn’t justify spending so much money on one day. We’ve cut our list down and will be having a minimony ($1500) sooner than later and a larger vow renewal ($3000) in a year or two.