How much will a DW cost?

[maisy]

I've been trying to find out how much money a DW will cost approximately. I know everyone will have ended up paying different amounts depending on soooo many things but roughly I would like some idea as a base as to how much we are looking at for a DW? We won't be having any discounts for a large wedding party because it will be very small...4-6 people maybe 8 so I'm trying to get some numbers to start with but I'm not having much luck. Does it depend on where you go such as Cuba versus DR or no it just depends on the resort u stay or what? If anyone can tell me how much they paid and where they stayed so I can have a rough idea of how much we might be looking at would be appreciated. I know that alot of variables can change the prices but I just want a rough idea as to how much I should allow for an all inclusive 7-10day DW. Thank you

[TammyB]

I had 8 people at my wedding in Cabo. I think over all I spent around 12k, but that number included rings, wedding dress, invites, hotel for 8 nights, flight, photographer, everything for the wedding day, it even included spending money (I took 2k with us) Now with all that said, you can do it for cheaper and of course more $$. It really depends on the location you choose, what hotel you stay at, and how extravagent you want your wedding to be.

 

Since our wedding was so small, we had a really nice dinner on our wedding night and we allowed our guests to order whatever they wanted off the menu, including unlimited drinks (which BTW ended up costing us double the amount of the actual food, lol) But we kept the ceremony pretty simple, since we were married on the beach.

[Riley]

We are almost finished buying everything for our wedding and we are spending about $15,000. That includes the trip, my dress, invitations, decorations, photographer, reception, OOT bags plus paying $100 on all of our guests trips (we have about 22 people coming). We have budgeted about $2000 for extra's once we get there.

 

We opted to have our reception at a location off the resort, and it actually worked out to be cheaper that way. The resort was going to charge us for an open bar and it was included in the price off resort.

[dinogomez.com]

Welcome to the forum!!

[smith3576]

We are just at $15K for EVERYTHING. We are paying for lodging for a week (just for ourselves), having between 50-60 guests, have a rehearsal dinner with about 20 of them; cocktail hour plus 4 hour reception all with open bar and sit down dinner. Videographer and photographer. We are doing everything at the hotel and bringing some decorations with us and using some from the hotel.

[Macphail]

Congrats Maisy and welcome to the forum! I'm sure you'll get a wide range of numbers from people on here. All inclusive resorts will definitley help you save money. The big difference on locations costs for Cuba vs. DR will be flights. When it comes to the rest of your wedding details, there are always ways to find things a bit more affordable. For photographers, there are a few of us on here that are still fairly new to the DW end and as long as expenses are covered they won't charge much else. That might be a more cost effective option than booking a local vendor.

 

Best of luck with the wedding plans!

[Kathie]

Hi. Welcome to the forum!

[dolfinluck]

Congrats and welcome to the forum!!!

[O'Driscoll Photography]

Congrats and welcome!

 

Best wishes,

Tod

[SunBride]

You can probably get an all inclusive trip from Halifax for about 1500$ (maybe a few hundred more or less depending on the resort and time of year). You may find a small price difference (100-200$) between Cuba and DR but not that big.

 

In terms of the wedding costs, some resorts have free wedding packages and only require you to pay a small fee for teh legalities. You can usually have a free reception at the buffet restaurant, but most resorts will charge you extra if you have a reception in one of the a-la-carte restaurants.

 

I would think you can have a very nice wedding for 5000-6000$ with all the basics (i.e. 3000$ for trips, leaving 2000$ for photos, dress/suit, rings and the actual ceremony costs). Of course you can easily spend 3-4 times that much if you want to get a really good photographer, expensive dress, elaborate reception, etc etc. I splurged on a lot of stuff but saved money on others (i.e. I brought a photographer with me and got a good videographer for 2 hours, both of those coming to 3000$ total, but on the other hand, I didn't spend a penny on my reception. I also splurged a little on clothes and decorations). All in all I spent 12 000$