California Budgeting?!

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Hey Jessicah!

A great place to start would be to assess how much you have been able to save towards your wedding and project how much you will be able to save in the coming year. You should set a total budget that you know is achievable and work within that.

Have you had the chance to check out the WeddingWire Budget Tracker? This could be a great way to help you divide up your budget into how much you should think about spending on different vendors.

Have you set your guest list yet?

I suggest eloping to Lake Tahoe LOL Not kidding. With my first marriage that's what we did they have little wedding chapels there and it's not that bad of a drive from Orange County. If your parents gave you $10,000 you could have everything and a mini honeymoon all for about that much.

Oooh good luck girl! We got married in Topanga, California last October and boy was it way more expensive than we had thought it would be! My parents generously paid for the wedding and originally gave us a budget of $10,000, which we all quickly realized was impossible unless we eloped or got married in their backyard lol (which was def not gunna happen). All said and done, our total wedding costs (which included my dress, hair & makeup, accessories, and literally everything else) was about $24,000. And that was after negotiating prices for many things and compromising on a lot of aspects.

My advice for you would be, don't be afraid to negotiate. We found the photographer of our dreams, but her cost was $6,500, which was super over budget for us, but after meeting with her, she loved us so much that she dropped her price down to $4,500 for us. We also opted for just a Day of Coordinator to save about $1,500. I also wanted waaaaay more succulents in my bouquets & other pieces with no flowers, but the cost would have been so high, so I compromised by having less succulents and adding in some blush roses (this compromise saved us close to $2,000 on all arrangements and bouquets). Lastly, we made a HUGE compromise by booking our venue for a Friday wedding instead of Saturday (luckily that only affected our guest list by about 8 people that couldn't attend a Friday wedding, and fortunately weren't any close family members). Moving our wedding to a Friday literally saved us $8,000 and we still got to marry in our dream venue!

Even though weddings in California are ridiculously expensive, you can cut costs by compromising and negotiating! Good luck, I know it's tough!

It adds up so fast! We're getting married in Temecula and our guest list is 40. We looked into some all-inclusives-one of which was Wedgewood-which was great! but it just wasn't what we wanted personally. Depending on your guest count you can also look into an unconventional venue like an Airbnb. We rented a villa for 4 days/3 nights on 2 acres and we're paying an extra $1000 for our event fee which brings our venue cost to about $5000. Other ways to cut costs is to use the LA Flower Market for flowers-you can work directly with the vendors to bouquets and such at a fraction of what a florist would charge.

Holy smokes! I thought Colorado was expensive. As far as flowers you can do silk flowers. That what we are doing. I cannot justify the price on REAL ones for a day and watch for deals! photographers, dj's, sometimes florists or DIY in bulk, there is a 'sale'. For example, I hired our DJ in August and they were running an early bird special for 2 weeks. Normal pricing was $1895, I book him for $800. same with my photographer, I went through a BIG company (classic photographers) because I loved their packaging and in June they ran a promo and I was allowed to make payments on it every month rather than forking it over all at once. my package I chose is originally $2200 I paid $1685. So definitely keep them eyes open!! Good luck girl! You can make this happen!

View Quoted Comment Definitely have been using the budget trackers. Then for our guest list, it keeps fluctuating from 120-150 guests. Trying our best to keep it around 130!

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Definitely keeping an eye out for all possible deals. The silk flowers are an excellent idea!!

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Yes! Negotiating is so tough and I don't want to demean any professional for their services though. Then we are booking on a Sunday night which saves us about $5,000. CRAZY how much of a difference it makes.

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They look very real too!! So i didn't have an issue agreeing to it. plus, we can keep them forever!

Ventura, CA wedding here. We are looking at around $25,000 for 40 guests. I'm DIYing everything possible. Bouquets, bouts, centerpieces, signs, invitations, etc. CA is expensive. The largest expense is always the venue. If you have that covered, you are ahead of the game.

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OMG $25.000 for just 40 Guests?! Thats so crazy!

Yes! I will mention that I include the cost of our rings in the total. I know some people keep that cost separate, but I feel I’m being more realistic about the total cost if I include them.

I'm getting married in Orange County (San Clemente specifically). We're looking to have about 100 people and are at about $37,000... this is the price with me obsessively looking at every way to save money possible (FIL officiating, doing a cheap rehearsal dinner, etc.). Our engagement will have been 17 months long by the time everything is said and done, and we did that so that we could save enough to pay for it ourselves. My best advice would be to lock down your vendors as early as possible. You get to pick the one you really want instead of being at the mercy of who's available for your date, they're often cheaper if you lock them down way in advance, and you can pay as you go instead of having to drop $20,000 all at once. Also, getting married in Orange County, you should get married in the off-season. It's cheaper, May/June weddings are cloudy and gloomy, and July/August weddings are HOT.

Hey! We are getting married in Diamond Bar and our reception is in Whittier. I highly recommend the Crystal Marquis, we are having 150 people for around $7,000 including food and linens and tableware, and centerpieces and they even threw in the chivari chairs for free since it was around Christmas time. They have an exclusive DJ that I have heard great things about for only $750. They have been slow to respond at times, but I went in knowing this through the reviews and I just make sure to continue to ask and not leave important questions until the last minute with them. It's worked out wonderfully and our wedding will cost around $18,000, $19,000 max. (That is only because we chose a very expensive photographer/videographer since it was one of our priorities.) Let me know if I can help in any other way!

Girl, I hear ya! I'm from Texas so I don't have any advice specific to your area but I'm DIYing my flowers. I'll order from Fifty Flowers and we'll have a flower arranging party the Thursday/Friday before the wedding. This has saved me thousands because of how big of a wedding it is and how many bouquets/centerpieces I would have to pay for. I'm also looking into making my own cake... I know that's a large responsibility to take on. I was thinking about doing a dessert table with normal cupcakes (bought) so we don't have to deal with cutting the cake and then making a small cake for us to cut. Nobody would be eating it but us anyway. If you buy things unrelated to a wedding, they're always cheaper. I've also opted into simple centerpieces with minimal greenery. With all the DIY, I'm still over $20k. (Accidentally went way over on my dress). It's amazing how everything adds up SO quickly. Hang in there!!! You got this

Just look at as much wedding inclusive packages as possible. Also, some places have deals for fridays or sundays. We are getting married on a Friday and it saved us 66% on the ceremony cost ($1,000). Our venue includes cake, set up, 6 hour reception, buffet, unlimited soda coffeeand tea, day of coordinator and an outdoor patio at a GOLF COURSE for just under 8k in Long Beach. It took a lot of research. I gave them my budget beforehand and went from there. Flowers from a wholesale instead of using a florist. And finding up and coming photographers from instagram/family friends that we are trying out with an engagement session. Our favorite quoted us $1,500 for the wedding!

Venue: many golf courses in Anaheim and Long Beach that are City-owned are really well kept and have similar pricing.