Sticker shock

The price of photography was the biggest shock to me.

@StPaul It's worth it to me to know the exact total and pay it in full up front. Totally just preference.

@FMG/@GB Valid point! We looked at a few all-inclusive venues, but in our area (Northern IL) even those had different bar packages to choose from. That's crazy that y'all are charged the adult price for children!

I told my wedding planners what I envisioned for my 40 person wedding and asked them to give me a rough idea of what I would be looking at for cost. The took a few days to look into rentals and what not (my venue was free) and came back with a $40,000 estimate!!! I literally laughed uncontrollably!!! I no longer have a wedding planner!

Floral! At one place I was quoted at $2k for bridal party floral alone. Ceremony and reception floral not included. Yikes!!

My sister found a place in her city or near her city (Milwaukee) where you can buy flowers by the bucket (75-90 flowers per bucket I think). We're getting two buckets and putting our own bouquets and decor together. Cost for the two buckets is about $180. The flowers will only be whatever is in season at the time. Not sure if other florists do this or if you feel crafty and ambitious enough lol I was shocked at venue costs and all of the extra little fees caterers can have...

The venue was mine. $16,000 for 115 ppl FH And I weren't expecting that at all

Photography! I thought maybe $1k, not $4k. Also, the catering when it's all added up seems SO expensive.

Hm. I would say floral but it is not as much as some people here

Mine has been DJ! Apparently I underestimated the cost of a good DJ! Guess I'm going over my budget....

Haven't got to flowers yet though :X

The invitations FH wants are $45 each. Yes, that's the right number. Buuuuuuut we have SUCH a small guest list that I'm not gonna argue about it.

I know it seems like a lot of money, and we're aware of the fact that our art, like every other form of art, is not for everyone. Luckily, there are still plenty of couples who see the value. $3K? That's hardly unusual, but that's typically for a larger wedding with a few expensive focal stems added to the package. For a budget bride, we can get that number down and still deliver something beautiful. Just be honest and up front. Say, "This is our floral budget? Can you work with us or not?" If not, you have other options.

Draping was for me. Who knew just one panel of draping over beams on a ceiling would be $500?? I put a hard no on that and just going with the natural ceiling instead

Wow some of these prices are making me glad I am where I am. I can't even come close to some of these, but I'll have a lot of diy.

Chairs. $1000 for chairs that will be used for 6 hrs. WTF is that crap???

Flowers and photographer. There is no way we could afford fresh flowers, so I dug a lot to find some I liked for the bouquets. I found some premade silk bouquets on Amazon for $15. They looked nice, and we ordered them. My moh and I are going to cut the stems apart and mix purple, blue, and white roses for the girl's bouquets. We will order a few more and make the guys' flower things (no idea what they are called) ourselves as well. We get to keep everything forever as a keepsake, and it doesn't cost a fortune.

For photography, the cheapest, most basic package around here is $1500. That is pretty much only the ceremony. So I talked with a old co-worker of mine that does photography and has a camera. She said she will do it for $300. She is taking photos of us getting ready the morning of, the ceremony, the group photos between the ceremony and reception, and part of the reception. She is also throwing in our engagement photos. She recently did a engagement photo shoot and they are beautiful! So I am pretty psyched about her offering all of that for only $300. We plan on giving her a very large tip.

Literally all of it. I had an initial budget of $10,000 *cries*

I had budgeted $700 for a wedding photographer *hysterical crying*

And I had budgeted $2000 for catering *dies*

We have been so thrifty, but my alterations were my first moment of sticker shock. $800 to make it fit me when I only paid $700 for the dress! Oh well, at least it will look like it was made for me...because after all the work she's going to do on it, it basically will have been completely restructured for me!! ETA also I was quoted over 1k to rent dishes. For 80 people.

Transportation and photographers

The whole wedding was a sticker shock from beginning to end. Being in S California, everything was just expensive. I was just utterly shocked at the cost of everything. My husband and I paid for the entire wedding since we've been working for awhile. We didn't want to burden our family. We also wanted to make sure our guests have a great time. We had open bar the whole night, paid for our guest parking etc.

Flowers were $6000,

week of coordination was $2400,

videographer was $3300,

photographer was $4000, parking was $12 per car

DJ/MC: $2300

Dessert table: $1200

Officiant: $500

Photobooth: $700

Venue/catering: $38,000

Tux and wedding dress: $4000

Hair and makeup: $1000 (no wedding party, helps reduce cost)

Knowing what I know now, if I had to do it again, I definitely would cut down cost of flowers by $1000, hire a less expensive week of coordination - I think someone less expensive can do a great job. I would hire my videographer team as my photographer, which would make the day go a lot better and save a big buck!

Everythingggggg but I think alterations was the biggest shock. I spent almost as much on alterations as I did on my dress