How much is your wedding costing you?

[KEE LAC]

Ours will be about 18,000-20,000 we really picked an expensive place! too late for changes though! We are saving like crazy and it should all be paid in cash when we are finished! We are buying all our expenses on a credit card to earn miles to help pay for the trip but at the end of the month we pay off the entire balance. serious discipline All of the extra goes to the wedding STRESS STRESS STRESS it better be worth it in the end!

[adias.angel]

Quote:

Originally Posted by KEE LAC We are buying all our expenses on a credit card to earn miles to help pay for the trip but at the end of the month we pay off the entire balance.

Us too except we are using a points system that you can use for any travel related expense! We figure in 2 years it should pay for a decent part of our resort costs.

[trophywife]

Our wedding is going to be no more than 50 people tops in Hawaii. Anyone have any idea how much a wedding for that size should cost??

[adias.angel]

Quote:

Originally Posted by trophywife Our wedding is going to be no more than 50 people tops in Hawaii. Anyone have any idea how much a wedding for that size should cost??

There are so many factors it would be hard to answer. Best thing to do is do a rough budget, that is how we finally decided on MX. In my siggy is a link to all my templates which also has one for the budget. Might give you a good start because I broke it out into a lot of different groups. Hope that helps. Carla

[sunstarsmoon]

Carla, I am sure I have told you before but your templates are a life saver thanks for sharing

 

Chris

[Angela139]

Ours is costing us about $22,000 - but that includes the cost of subsidizing the travel expenses of several guests (parents). If we didn't have to do that, i would cost us about $18,000. We hope to pay the whole thing in cash as well. Living like a student i order to do so! lol

[Roxyk05]

I guess we're doing pretty good so far with our budget...We're planning on spending around $8000. So far I've purchased my gorgeous BM dresses for $50 each, my invites are costing $1 per invite, my dress was bought by my mamma and I've been able to haggled with a bunch of TA's to get our 2 week @ a 5 star AI package with upgrades to just under $5000 for the 2 of us and that includes club class travel for both myself and my FI there and back. The resort wedding package is $2000 for around 20ppl (expecting 30ish) and it will be an additional $10 per person over 20ppl. We luckily have quite a few amazing and talented photographers in the family so we'll be able to save money there...I am sure we will incur unexpected expenses along the way, but so far I feel pretty good about the value I'm getting for my buck. I guess the key words being "so far"...as I still have just under a year to go : )

 

Have fun planning everyone!!

[Tobi]

We will be spending around $7000 when all is said and done. We are traveling via cruise and having the wedding while in port at a hotel with cocktail and nibbles reception on the pool deck, full dinner on the boat (this is how I cut costs). My dress was only $300 and I love it! My photog (and her assistant) is $2000 which is where we splurged since she is traveling with us...but we get the CD rights, etc along with full trip coverage, TTD session in Jamaica so IMO its worth it. I bought all of the wedding parties outfits as thier gifts which I think is def appreciated. Bringing my own video camera with tripod instead of videographer. Using an IPOD instead of a live steel drummer like we originally wanted. Cake, ceremony, etc included with hotel package. You just have to scale back on what isn't as important and allow yourself to enjoy the perks you can't live without.

We have 31 people going....sorry to ramble on but it's getting close and I'm sooo excited!

[Lenchika]

I did the rough budget by researching this site a lot LOL and was hoping to spend around 7.5K, that was about 2 months ago. After more thoughts, things add up... we're up to ~10K of expected spendings, and only 1 week at RPLA in Cancun. We're having a very small wedding, just my parents and my sister and hubby. We're not paying for anyone's airfare...or dresses or anything else.

I cannot fathom how you ladies are only spending around 5-8K! Good for you! Looking for tips from the frugalminded

Not sure where I can cut corners...Here's our breakdown:

lodging & airfare3500 (just a regular room)

ceremony1000 (least expensive at hotel)

photography 1000

video1100

bouqet for bride, boutineer for groom50

additional flowers (rose petals, girl bouquet) 50

centerpieces150

decorations 600 (that's for the bamboo arch that I cannot live w/o)

dress 500 - looooooove it, haven't done any alterations yet.

tuxedo/suit300

music500 (may cut that out - it was for a guitar player - but may go with just CD music)

gifts (welcome basket)100

adventures500

tips300

 

Any ideas where to cut costs/corners?

[DB2B]

hmm... I'm glad to see there's a range - I think it depends a lot on how many people are going (10 or 50)! It looks like we will end up spending around $20-25k, but we are subsidizing the travel and stay for a number of my Mr's family, and if we go with Hotel Playa Fiesta in Puerto Vallarta, we will pay for the dinner/entertainment for our guests. Plus, the one area I allowed myself to be extravagant was the ring - it's above the "suggested" 3% of our budget, but I'm going to be wearing it forever, right?! We've budgeted for the maximum number of guests, so I think it'll be less, but it doesn't include my dress (thanks to mi madre!) and I forgot about kennel costs for the pup... Still, our initial budget was $30k, so if we're below that we'll be happy! We plan to pay for everything with our airline card, but pay it off every month. It's a good primer - I'm in saving mode, so if I keep it up once this is over, I should be set for retirement!