Wedding Cost

I’ve read/heard that weddings can cost between $20,000-$30,000. I think this is insane. I mean…that is a down payment on a house. I would like to know what the cost of a normal not high not low wedding costs. If you have been married or know someone who has and you have this information please share it. I would like to know the cost of everything minus the honeymoon and rings. Please help…I get married in July and need to get a budget worked up. Also, please don’t just tell me that it is based on how much I can afford. I am not looking for that. I am looking for acutal costs. Thanks for all the help!! 🙂

My wedding cost about $3000. I used silk flowers and did most of the decorating myself…rented an arch, borrowed the wedding dress (was beautiful!)…cut costs on things like wedding cakes…used someone who baked them out of her home who came highly recommended…Had it at a local church that had a big reception hall. We had about 200 people attend. Had my 4 tiered cake, the groom’s cake was a full sheet, double layered cake…had 2 platters of fruit and 2 large cans of mixed nuts (in nice dishes of course :p) and some wedding mints. Made some homemade punch. Everything was just enough!

We’re trying to work on our budgeting right now… Does anyone know around what the average cost of a wedding gown might be?
Edit:: We want to have a ballroom-ish wedding.

It depends on what sort of gown it is and where you get it. Honestly, there is no real average price. My gown retails for $2500 in one bridal shop and $1849 in a different shop. My future mother in law made the perfect replica (she is very talented) for $129! You some really nice gowns at a cheaper price by buying straight off the rack or finding deals online. Some deb dresses these days look like bridal gowns and they sell for hundreds less. I would set a budget of about $1500 if you can afford it and I wouldn’t spend that much if I didn’t have to. Good luck

i`m talking the cheaper sort of wedding on a budget.
any idea?
thanx.

As a wedding pro. (25 yrs), for 100 guests, I’ve done some "budget" weddings that have varied from:

4,000.00 (Outdoors, park w/pavilion w/silk flowers for the entire bridal party and throughout, catered buffet, including alcohol for guests). Here’s some sample photos of a wedding within this budget:

http://outdoorweddingnov08.shutterfly.com

10,000.00 (Tropical wedding, outdoors with a beach area, hor doeurves; buffet, tiki bar [what a hit that was!] & fresh flowers throughout and bridal party)..including a boat ride for guests to/from the wedding site to the hotel. Here are a few sample photos of this wedding within this budget:

http://outdoortropicalweddingmarch08.shutterfly.com

25,000.00 (Indoors, ceremony was outside in a lovely garden w/pond; indoors w/fresh flowers throughout and bridal party; 36" pillar vases w/2 doz. orchids as centerpieces; hor doeurves; a full bar; food was served to guests while at their seats [prime rib; Chilean sea bass, chicken or vegetarian])

……and up to 75,000.00 (due to no. of guests)!

Each of the ones described above included the costs of rental tables/chairs and linens.

So it varies and all workable within your budget! Best wishes on your special day and choices!

Ironically, my husband and I eloped (1,500.00) Included our announcements that we created and sent out, Fresh floral bouquet & boutonniere (that I made), dinner, our mini cake,my silk outfit, and it also including 3 days in Santa Barbara….no stress. It was lovely!

A wedding that is not small but not really big either.
And what makes it a big wedding? Is it the number of guests?
If so, where is the cut off between average size and large?

Alot. Somewhere in the ballpark of $35K.

A big vs small wedding is based on the guest count. Some people consider 50 or fewer to be small and anything more than 50 is huge. Others consider anything under 100 to be small and then you have folks who consider anything under 200 to be small. It depends on what is customary in your family and social circle.

just curious about the average, out of city, cost for an informal wedding ceremony? what is each individual average cost for things you need? like example- place, food, entertainment, decor. ect. thanks!

These type of questions are hard to answer since there is no average.
Some couples only pay for a wedding license and have a family friend marry them.
Others pay well over hundreds of thousands of dollars to have a very fancy affair.
I hope you find what you want.

I know it depends on the area. but i’m trying to get a general idea for budget.

The average wedding bouquet is between $75 and $150. Don’t know about the rest of the stuff, but this is for real flowers.

It would help if you broke it down into dress cost, cake cost, etc, as well. I have NO idea what a reasonable amount of money to spend on a wedding is. Also, if plane tickets are needed for family members, do I pay for them, or do the family members? I have no idea where to begin, and I’m so nervous!!!

Thanks in advance!!

(PS… I’m the bride… haha)

Average cost of a wedding is 20K…which makes me twitch…honestly My wedding will cost 5k… thats it…and thats spending 2,500 on food… If you’re looking to save money… Many ideas…
check out ANY wedding checklists on google search, look through as many as possible, read up, decide whats just needed….the important things…
Start at the beginning…
Guest List?
Where? Locations…how many people will be able to fit?
what colors?
theme?
flowers?
Invitations, RSVP’s, Reception Cards, Thank you notes and all the envelopes…(this can get expensive, the one I liked ended up at about $600 for all of this…I dont think so, so I used GIMP (design program)
and made my own, EXACTLY what I wanted with the pattern I loved…$140 to get it all printed and envelopes for them that fit perfectly)
The point is to find out whats important and what you just cant live without, make it, or subtract elsewhere where you dont care…for me it was the music and an $800 photographer…I know someone…)

Heres the list I pulled off a site for this question:

Ceremony (Location fee, Officiant Fee, Marriage License, and Musician fee)— 3% of total budget
Reception(Location fee, Food, Drinks, Rentals, cake, favors-for guests)— 48%
Attire(Dress,shoes veil, jewelry, hair and make up, tuxedo, shoes, tie or bow, cufflinks and studs)— 10%
Rings (For the both of you, engraved)—3%
Flowers(Ceremony, Bouquets,corsages, centerpieces)—8%
Music(Band/ DJ/ Musicians/ Sound System)—8%
Photographer(Photographer fee and additional prints)–12%
Transportation( Limo? Guests? Shuttle?)–2%
Stationary(Invitations& envelopes, Response card & envelopes, thank you cards & envelopes, reception cards-seating- postage, and guestbook)—-3%
Gifts(Parents, eachother, and wedding party)—3%

This is basically made for a 20,000$ wedding but its a good eye opener, and helpful to see where you can cut from and where you and spend what you want..

CAKES ARE EXPENSIVE,($300-$1000+) if you wanna save some money, dont tell them its a wedding cake!!! family is expected to pay their own way as far as I know, you can get the hotels in bulk (Get all at once) this will bring down the cost for them, but you are expected to give them welcome gifts…fruit basket or something

Bridesmaids are also expected to pay for their own dresses… if they cant them I’d suggest offering a little help to them…

WOW I hope this helps, my fingers hurt…

and if this isnt enough honestly read through some postings and forums, alot of people ask these questions(Only reason I have a clue spent the last 2 days looking and reading) and It paid off…

I want to do some research on how much a wedding cost. I would love to get married Summer 2010 but that may not be enough time to save up. Could you give me some ideas of how much your weddings cost and where you had them?

Our wedding is on April 17th, 2009 and we are expecting it to cost around $25,000, not including $10-$12K on our honeymoon that we are paying for ourselves. We are very lucky in that my parents want to pay for the majority of wedding expenses (we are paying for our own rings, invites, and DJ but they are pretty much footing the bill for everything else), which allows us to have the wedding of our dreams and not start married life in debt. Our wedding will have about 80-90 guests, it is more important to us to spend the same amount of money on fewer guests so that the wedding could be nicer and more elegant, rather than spreading the same budget out on 150-200 guests.
Also, I live in NYC metro area, which is super expensive compared to the rest of the country.

The average wedding in the US today is about $20,000.
I think you can definitely pull off a nice wedding by summer 2010, you have over a year and a half to plan! Don’t put it off longer, you will just be really antsy anticipating a wedding that’s so far away. Consider your budget and go from there: biggest way to save is cut the guest list, that way you can still afford the beautiful wedding you deserve.
Good luck and congratulations!