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Samantha
Just Said Yes October 2022

Price for a wedding

Samantha, on June 1, 2020 at 11:21 PM

Posted in Planning 50

Ok so I set up a budget of $20,000 for mine and FH wedding but his grandmother told that it’s way too much and that even $10,000 was too much. Me and FH are trying to save and only use our own money so we can have a nice medium sized wedding but is our budget too much?
Ok so I set up a budget of $20,000 for mine and FH wedding but his grandmother told that it’s way too much and that even $10,000 was too much. Me and FH are trying to save and only use our own money so we can have a nice medium sized wedding but is our budget too much?

50 Comments

  • Jennifer
    Master September 2018
    Jennifer ·
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    Wow how did you do this for 250 guests? I had 125 in rural PA & spent 18K with tons of DIY. I am impressed!

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  • Katharine
    Expert July 2021
    Katharine ·
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    As long as you can afford what you're budgeting for, and if you're paying for it yourself, then NO ONE ELSE has any right to say anything about your budget. If she were paying, then she could have input.

    It's your wedding. You're paying for it. Feel free to be nice and thank her for her input, then go right on with your plans and ignore her input. Also, you should probably decline to discuss the finances with her anymore to avoid future conflict.

    FWIW, We're going to end up around 18K total since we had to postpone our original wedding plan to next year, and are now adding a much smaller ceremony and a small party for this year near our original date. We were at about 16K for our original wedding alone.

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  • Gen
    Champion June 2019
    Gen ·
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    Depends what you can afford. Everyone’s finances are different!



    Also regarding your grandma, she may not have a perception of how much inflation has affected the cost of weddings. My parents spent $10k on their wedding in 1994. Our wedding was about the same level of fanciness, only slightly bigger, but cost $17k in 2019
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  • Kayla
    Beginner November 2019
    Kayla ·
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    I don't think its too much if you are getting what you want. His grandmother, for her wedding most likely did not have to pay anywhere near any of that in her time and so this seems outlandish. But you all might also be of different tastes and hers may not be the same as yours. So hers might be less than 10k. and that's fine..... but it's not her wedding, nor her money. Take the comment with a grain of salt and dip.

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  • Meghan
    Master October 2019
    Meghan ·
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    The right budget is really what you and your FH feel comfortable spending and can afford. I would not listen to what anyone else has to say about it. Budgets can fluctuate greatly on your location and what you put your priorities in. Venue, food/drinks, photography, and videography were very important to us and those tend to be high ticket items. We budgeted $20k and ended up spending about $25k (not including our dresses).

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  • Emly
    Expert June 2020
    Emly ·
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    Haha thanks, I will say It was a bit stressful (and now seems like a waste since we had to cancel.. thanks rona Smiley xd ) but I was just very strict on my budget, and i suppose it helped to that I don't care too much about the frills and flowers.

    Our venue was $900 for 3 days and the DJ include (it helped to look for non profit or historical buildings, they often don't charge an arm and a leg),

    Photography was $900,

    Food was $800 (taco bar @ $3 per person) - grandma was going to make the cake

    my dress was $200 - I bought a brand spanking new Morilee gown off of Stillwhite.com. (no alterations needed)

    Hair and makeup was going to be about $200

    Grooms men were going to be in Jeans and a nice button up so that's like nothing lol

    The remaining $2,000 were to have gone to beer, wine coolers, cutlery/plates, decorations, and other misc expenses. I made my bouquets and bouts from amazing flowers i found off amazon. Our Venue had tons of decorations we were able to use and i DIYd a few myself


    Too be fair we would have cheaped out on a lot of things; but that was OK with us as long as our guests were treated right and we had a good time. Since we had to change our plans we will be having a small ceremony and reception (This Saturday!!!! Smiley laugh ). For this 30 person backyard wedding we will be spending about $3,000 - just a difference of how we chose to spend our money here- we are hiring a food truck to come and that's the bulk of the expense haha.

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  • Kaysey
    Super February 2020
    Kaysey ·
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    Honestly I think this is something you have to sit down with your FH and determine. If you two are the ones paying for your wedding you should make sure that your wedding budget is comfortable for you and will not put you in a rough spot financially. If you can comfortably afford a $20K wedding budget, then I see no issue with that being your budget. My husband and I sat down before we starting looking at any wedding options and planned our budget. We took both of our incomes into account and looked at our monthly bills. From there, we saw the chunk of money we had left at the end of every month that usually went into our savings account and decided to put half in our savings and the other half into our wedding fund. By doing this, we were able to pay for everything we wanted from our wedding without an issue and never had to dip into our savings - which we said we weren't going to do from the beginning.

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  • A
    Dedicated June 2020
    Adrianna ·
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    Our wedding in California with guest list of 125 is costing us $40k. Just really depends on the venue and the quality of the vendors you are choosing.

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  • Michelle
    Super October 2020
    Michelle ·
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    That’s the average cost of a wedding but it’s very subjective to each person. $10,000 to me is a lot of money but for a wedding I would consider it budget for myself.
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  • Alexis
    Savvy May 2021
    Alexis ·
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    Your budget is what you're comfortable with. If you think you can pull off 20k, then do it. If you think you can pull off 10k, do that. Don't let family intervene unless they are helping you pay for it. It depends on your city and the type of venue as well.

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  • MrsD
    Legend July 2019
    MrsD ·
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    Your budget should be whatever you and your fiance (if you are the only ones paying) can afford and want to pay. I don't think people should go into debt for weddings. I've been to weddings that cost $3,000 and weddings that cost into 6 figures. There is no perfect budget.

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  • Arrington
    Savvy July 2020
    Arrington ·
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    We doing ours under 5,000 Intimate and simple
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  • Kimberly
    Just Said Yes October 2022
    Kimberly ·
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    I suppose it depends on how big you want your wedding to be. I’ve known people who spent up to $25k or even $5k and are perfectly happy with the wedding they got. So just sit down and just picture your dream wedding and meet in the middle. You don’t want to underdo it or overdo it. It always feels good to spend less then your budget. Hope this helps (:
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  • Dynesha
    Devoted June 2020
    Dynesha ·
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    Is his grandmother paying for the wedding? If not, you can do what you want . Like the other brides said, it all depends on venue, catering, and guest count. Our budget was about $10K, but we’re looking at about $12K for EVERYTHING including the diy decorations I plan to sell to make a few $$ back. Just try to stay close to your budget (whatever it ends up being). I wouldn’t recommend going into debt for 1 memorable day.
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  • Courtney
    Expert July 2020
    Courtney ·
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    I think it depends on location, and how many guests mostly because food adds up quick! I think it's easier to set a budget based on income , how much family members are contributing and how much things cost in your area. That may make it easier! Our budget was 12K and even my mom thought that was too much but compared to others we know that was cheap. I think parents and grandparents will think things cost more because of how prices were in their time. Don't sweat it too much (:
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  • J
    Expert May 2021
    Jaime ·
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    We are pushing 35K for our 100 person wedding in a midwestern city. It isn't extravagant but we aren't cutting corners either. We are paying for our own wedding and the budget we set is the right budget. I just don't discuss the cost with anyone so no one has had the opportunity to tell me how I am spending too much!

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  • Emely
    Savvy August 2022
    Emely ·
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    Honestly it depends on where you live & how many people. I live in a wedding heavy area in NY and even having a wedding with 100 people (not including attire or hair, photos/vendors) it would cost minimum $15k-$20k at most places with food. We have opted to just do something at home because it's just too far out of our budget to have our dream wedding and my FH family is very large.
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  • Sara
    Just Said Yes June 2022
    Sara ·
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    We set a budget of 10,000 as well. I think that with everything included that is pretty reasonable.
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  • E
    Super October 2020
    Emma ·
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    My dad wanted to pay for our wedding ( I will be forever thankful) we originally had a 15,000 budget but he’s upped it to 17,000 because we can’t cut anyone else off our guest list. We’re having 125 people. It depends on what’s important to you. My biggest things were the venue, the caterer, and most importantly for me; the photographer. We’ve spend over $10,000 on just those 3 things 😅
    If we had a small budget we would have had a different venue and caterer.
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  • Taylor
    VIP October 2020
    Taylor ·
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    We're in Texas and also started out thinking $10k would cut it but with how many guests we invited (250), it wasn't doable. I think we honestly just didn't realize how cost inflated wedding related things are. We're coming in around $25k. This is excluding the honeymoon and rehearsal dinner. If you'd like to see a current budget breakdown, let me know!

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