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Our wedding budget

We set out to have a small, economical wedding...well that didn't exactly happen. I think we had a nice wedding which wasn't a fancy, black-tie soiree but also not cheap, it was mid-range. Simple but nice. I did several DIY projects which saved us a lot of money, we looked for deals where we could find them and negotiated where we could.

We had two splurge items. The first was our venue, which was a little pricier than we'd originally planned on but also in some ways a good value because we could use the venue for the ceremony and reception, included with our catering costs. The catering wasn't cheap but it also wasn't expensive and they were overall very flexible with our budget. The venue was also wired for sound so we skipped a DJ, which saved us around $800 based on the few quotes I got.

Watch wedding diy classes at mybluprint.com

The second was our photographer. Not only did we choose a full-time photographer who was really a professional (part-time semi-pro photographers seem to abound!) but we also booked one of his more expensive packages; there were actually 2 photographers for our ceremony. We wanted nice photos! So we paid for them.

The big savings for us were flowers and cake. We met with a florist early on and I realized how little I cared about flowers. She asked us questions and basically my answer to every one was that I did not care. Before that meeting, I had already looked at the wood sola flowers some online and so I decided to go that route. It was a big DIY project (and I burnt the bejeezes out of my finger) but it saved us over $1,000, maybe more plus we had more flowers that we would have otherwise. If you like the look but can't DIY you can order them assembled from Etsy but the cost is almost the same as fresh flowers.

The other place we saved a lot was on our wedding cake. You'll notice how small the line item is for that! My mom has been making wedding cakes most of my life, so she made our cake. It was beautiful, served 300 and she paid for most of the ingredients so it was very economical for us. Most of all it was delicious. Seriously, mom pulled out all the stops and people raved about the cake for weeks! Go mom!

I never priced cakes in our area but would have expected to spend 600-800 for a cake that served about 150, so much smaller than ours!

We also strategically spent to get as much back as possible by credit card hacking, read my detailed post on that here. We gave ourselves a $3,000+ wedding gift!

So here it is, what we spent on our wedding. We got married in Raleigh, NC in 2017 and had 100 guests with dinner and a full open bar.


Wedding budget
ItemPaidNotes
Attire
Dress, veil, shoes1427.56Dress, veil, shoes and alterations. My alterations were $140 (independent sewist) and my shoes around $70. The rest was the dress, veil and my headpiece.
Groom's suit107.50Suit rental from the Blacktux. We also bought him new shoes and a shirt but didn't include that because he'll wear them again.
Groom's haircut17.00He normally cuts his own hair, for our wedding, he went to supercuts. We're super fancy.
Brides hair trial and deposit135.00hair trial + deposit
Brides Grooming125.66tan, nails (almost all nails)
Day of hair600.00This included hair for 3 bridesmaids, bride hair and make-up, my mom's hair, flower girls hair and a quick styling for my grandma.
Swatches10.00Swatches for bridesmaid dress (order swatches!)
Ties/pocket squares for groomsmen (3), dad's (3) and grandpas (1) Groom (1), Ushers (3)76.2511 ties and 4 pocket squares purchased
Jewelry167.93For bride and 3 bridesmaids, cheap ring sizer to check groom's ring size
Decorations
Flowers317.13All flowers - bride bouquet, 3 BM bouquets, 2 mom corsages, 3 grandma corsages, groom and GM bouts, 3 dad bouts, 3 usher bouts, flower girl bouquet, toss bouquet and some extra flowers for cake and decorations

I used sola wood flowers ordered from Etsy for everything (see detailed posts about it here, here and here) and bought some additional supplies from Michael's.
Centerpieces241.92vases I bought on craigslist, table runners, mirrors, vase filler, candles
Other decorations162.84ribbon, ring box, arch, decorative sand for centerpieces and aisle decorations
Venue
tentWe had a tent over the ceremony but only paid 400 (it would have been more, shared cost with a wedding the day prior to ours). This cost is included in our catering costs.
table and chair rentalIncluded with venue
dance floor rentalIncluded with venue
Catering
Dinner10,517.15Catering cost (reception, dinner & basic popcorn bar!)
Drinks2,500.00Approximate cost for bar, I split out from our catering cost
Cake111.57My mom made our wedding cake as she was a professional cake decorator for 30+ years. These costs were for some supplies I bought her and a cake stand rental, definitely not the full cost of the supplies though. Mom bought most of it.
Invitations
Save the date cards38.47
Save the date postage42.55
Invitations210.32Check out my post on our invitations for more details on our beautiful and frugal invites.
Invitation postage103.00invitation and RSVP card postage
Thank you postageWe haven't sent these yet...in progress.
Programs18.48Printing of programs on card stock
Photographer & Photos2,856.88engagement pic session (I also bought prints) & wedding photos. The package included 2 photographers during the ceremony, 1 photographer all-day, a photo memory book and 700+ digital images
DJ0.00No DJ

Gifts
Favors for guests328.70I made cold process soap and we did DIY tea kits for our guest favors
Bridesmaid gifts134.98This is low because some of their gifts are included with the costs for the parent gifts and the jewelry I bought them is included with mine. This was only the costs for the getting ready robes I ordered the BMs, Flower girl, our Moms and me.
Groomsman gifts180.11Groomsmen and usher gifts
Other helper gifts44.00Flower girl jewelry
Parent gifts220.23
Rehearsal DinnerThe grooms parents generously paid for the dinner at a beautiful venue! We only bought our outfits to wear.
Bride rehearsal outfit83.73
Groom rehearsal outfit70.00Approx cost of groom's rehearsal clothes, but I also bought him some other things in the same order. He'll wear this again anyway.
Misc/Other672.40Lots of random stuff - catering for a meet and greet with our parents, dog walker for wedding weekend, snacks for our getting ready rooms, cocktails with some of my ladies the day before.
Rings125.00engagement ring sizing
Groom ring195.07Wedding band for groom
Bride ringI opted not to get a wedding band, maybe I will eventually if I find one I like.
Day of Coordinator698.33This was money well spent! Get one.
Total$22,539.76

When I look at that final number I almost have a heart attack! But it was a memorable day and now that it's over, we're glad we did it. Though leading up to the wedding there were some conversations about what else we could have spent the money on! Probably the only time we will invite 100 friends and family for dinner :-)

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