How did you determine a budget for your wedding?

Our original budget was 15 and now we’re at 30 k however we did not expect the stimulus payment so we were able to pay most of it off with that

Before you decide, get a ballpark price check on various things and decide what you are willing and able to spend without going into debt or asking for assistance. Just because the average is a certain range doesn’t require or commit you to spending that. Everyone figures budget differently and what works for you may not make sense to someone else.

Make a list of people you cannot imagine the day without. Anyone not on that list who you would obligated by others to invite do not get an invitation.

Sit down with fiancé and think about what is important to you and what isn’t. Focus on the important stuff and toss out the rest. Do you want a fancy wedding or more laid back. A blank slate venue (including a community center or park) will allow the most freedom and be the most economical because all the prices are transparent. Most include tables/chairs/kitchen so you just bring in catering, dj, photographer. Be aware that all inclusive venues lure you in with a low rental fee and then hit you after with 5-6 figure required food and beverages minimum that not everyone can afford. And doesn’t include photography, invites, etc.

First my fiancé and I agreed on a number we were comfortable spending. Then, we researched budget breakdown examples that show the average % allocated to each category and applied it to our budget number. For example our budget is $30k, and the average venue/food/beverage spend is 50% so we allocated $15 for that, then 10% for photography ($3000), etc. Then, we went through the categories and removed ones that weren't relevant (favors, transportation, etc), reduced the budget for things that weren't important to us (stationary), and increased the budget for our top priorities (photography). This gave us a rough starting point to begin reaching out to venues and vendors for quotes. As we booked things we either adjusted our expectations on what we could get for the money, or agreed to splurge a little for what we wanted and cut back somewhere else.

I absolutely agree with Michelle, in that you should think about the few things you know you want and understand the expense and build a budget from there.
We did the total opposite- $5k and that’s it. Then covid hit and we re-evaluated and decided to stop at $3k. That meant a lot of work on our end and our family’s part but it saved a lot of money.
I’ll share details if prompted lolIt depends on your own personal priorities, how you choose the money and how to celebrate your day.

I took our incomes plus what I would ask from my mom (we have that type of relationship) and factors what we could reasonably save and spend. I don’t have much debt at the moment and my fiancé is still in college but works. Overall, we set our budget at $**** by ourselves with $3,000 from my mom. But the overall average for weddings where I am is about 20,000 so that also helped

We ballparked what the wedding we wanted would cost. From there, we sat down and discussed budgeting for that. We made sure that what we were spending would not put us in significant debt or drag down our future.

Our original budget was $10k, but it's gonna be more like $16k. Things start to add up, the biggest being the venue and food/alcohol. It was an arbitrary number, no math went into coming in with the original number.

Short answer: guest list, venue/food pricing, all other decisions

Long answer: We did a guest list as the first thing because being able to invite everyone we wanted was the most important to us. So once we landed on that, we looked at venues that would fit our number and priced out some options - some were all inclusive, some were a la carte and that really affected the cost. Then decided on what we liked and what we were comfortable spending based on the pricing we found. I personally dont' think it makes sense to just pick a number without having an idea of who you want to invite - a 20k wedding for 250 people will look a LOT different than a 20k wedding for 50 people.

FBIL and his wife actually sent us a spreadsheet they used during their wedding planning, and it had their wedding cost on it, which was over $30k lol. We instantly knew we did NOT want to spend that much. So we sat down and got a rough guest list together, and what our vision was. We also made a list of vendors and things that were 'must haves' for us, and determined the areas we could skimp on cost wise.

We've managed to stay under budget by using a lot of vendors that are new to the wedding industry, so they don't have their prices jacked up lol. The first photographer I wanted was over $3k for her basic package, and she had been in the business for 8 years, with price increases every 1-2 years. The one we went with has been doing it for 2 years, and we paid under $2k for her, and get SO MUCH more than than the first photographer. Videographer is new as well, and had a 50% off deal around the holidays, so we paid $500 for that, when it's usually over $1-2k. Also same for our Florist, we paid under $1k for that. So you really can stay under budget if you just do your research and look at all of your options! You can also save a ton on renting/buying décor if you can find a venue that has a décor storage free of charge. Ours has this and we will have to purchase hardly anything for décor.

Our guest list is at 195, and our budget is $15k. Right now we're at $11k, and set to still be around budget after booking our remaining vendors (cake, caterer).

Well our first move was to look at our savings and determine an amount that sounded comfortable and reasonable to spend for a one day event. And THEN we did some research and reaching out to vendors and came to understand what our vision would reasonably cost ....and determined if we wanted that vision we’d have to double our budget....so then we sort of negotiated with ourselves and made some compromises....and ultimately basically doubled the dream budget to get to the dream wedding bc not all dreams work together haha

I worked in the industry for several years, so I knew ballpark what we would be spending. It also helped that I knew exactly which vendors I wanted to work with and I could do in depth planning for how much each of them would cost.

I lucked out and got discounts with a few of them because we had worked together so much.

From there we calculated ideally how many people we'd like to invite and how much that would run. Figured out what we could afford and went from there. I ended up getting a second job and I'm putting 85% of my paychecks from that directly into a savings account for the wedding.

We're letting those savings accumulate to gather interest and hopefully if our numbers continue to flow in the right direction we'll have enough saved to pay for all of the planned expenses by the end of this year.

If you don't have one already I would create a budget that has nothing to do with the wedding. If you know where your money goes and how much you have leftover (and are willing to spend on one day), it's much easier to know how much you can reasonably save up for it without regretting it afterwards or still paying it off once the day is over.

In the meantime, get pricing for the major vendors (venue, food, photog, dress, floral) that are important to you.

I decided to start ballparking a cost by asking vendors. Fiancé and I haven’t been to a wedding in the new state we live in, we have no lines on anything, and no idea how much things cost here. We went through things we didn’t want (boats, beaches, barns) and I widow shopped potential venues (estates, historic buildings) and started asking for quotes. I used the guessing game number of 150 guests (our agreed upon max) so I would know what the ceiling would be. I made a spreadsheet of venues, venue fees, what that included, food and bev minimums, etc.


Then I asked around in a group for average pricing in our area for photography, florists, H+MUA, DJ, photographer, etc.
I ran all of these general numbers and showed them to fiancé basically saying this is the baseline for what we can expect. We have added a bit more of a cushion on top of that for contingency/attire/etc.
Now if we elope, or have a small wedding, or make some significant change, that budget may/will change and we know that. But I wanted a general, realistic figure so I wouldn’t be insulting or rude to vendors, and so we could figure out if it was realistic/doable in the time frame we wanted.

View Quoted Comment I agree with this. Have an idea but until you shop venues and figure out want you want and what's important and the cost of your area it's hard to budget. Agree with other as well depends on number of guests, that's one of the first things we figured out because it dictates venue but also budget when catering is usually one of the most expensive items..