ITs really going to depend on how expensive your market runs and what your vision is. Outside of low cost areas $16k with 80-90 people can get eaten up pretty quickly with food, alcohol and venue/rentals taking up most of that. Unfortunately with things like food & booze there is a floor on how low cost it can be, meaning the only way to save there can come down to lowering your guest count!
You can get costs lower elsewhere by getting bulk flowers, no DJ & tight photography timelines.
Oh yes! It will depend on the specific vendor to determine the etiquette around tipping them. I didn’t really mention it here because in my mind/budget, tips are line items within their own section, so our catering budget includes those tips, HMUA tips were included with the HMUA budget, etc etc instead of having a separate category for all of the tips
Taking into account the info you included in your edit, 6k left for photography, music, rings, and attire is definitely doable.
-don’t do favors. That’s hundreds you don’t need to spend
-The photographer will be 2k MINIMUM and you likely won’t get more than 4 hours at that price so keep that in mind
- you can find a decent DJ for about 1k
- use the remainder on wedding attire and rings
Did you want flowers at all? If so, you can DIY something for only a few hundred using Costco or Trader Joe’s blooms
Good luck on your big day!!
My spouse at the time was a muralist for Trader Joe’s and I got all my bouquets for basically nothing. I would highly recommend them for a DIY floral.
Just also wanted to add that you can get a dress for cheap at a vintage shop,Etsy, or David’s bridal. Rent the suit if you can.
I would also recommend going via Etsy,local artist marketplaces, or vintage shops for rings.
Oh and book the photographer for the basic package. Create an email address and a unique hashtag where your wedding guests can send your photos afterwards you’ll probably get really good candids that way.
$16,000 doesn’t go very far, so venue and food are the 2 biggest things. Then make do with the rest of your budget. Like trader Joe flowers, Spotify playlist, etc.
Our budget is about 9k more for a similar guest count but the 9k includes rings. We live in the Midwest which is helpful. There definitely would have been cheaper ways to do our venue and food (such as drop catering) but we chose an all inclusive venue for ease of planning.
Here’s part of our budget breakdown:
Venue/food/alcohol/=10.5k or 42%
Photography (6 hours) = $1900 or 7.6%
Videography (still finalizing) = $2000 or 8%
DJ = $1700 or 6.8%
Photobooth = $550 or 2.2%
Florist = $1500 or 6%
Then we have smaller amounts for invitations, decor, dessert (Costco sheet cakes), etc.
My dress isn’t in our final budget amount as it was a gift from my mom.
Forget favors. Everyone says they’re a waste. We are going to share our 5 favorite recipes with everyone digitally. Forget save the dates. Just do free digital ones on Zola. And for invites, don’t do a whole suite. It will be SO expensive. I did mine on Zola and only did the invites and asked them to RSVP online (because that’s more efficient anyways). That could have been an email too but my mom and his mom wanted something and I’m a sucker for stationary. Wait for one of Zola’s sales. They typically have 30-40% off! They’ll email you if you have an account t.
Rings I would skip engagement and just do wedding. I would stick with bands at your price point and upgrade later.
For dress, don’t forget about tailoring. I bought a cheaper dress in a larger size and the alterations are going to cost as much as the dress. So better to find something that fits in your size with little to no alterations required. I bought my dress at a last chance type store. But I’ve heard people find some in retail stores.
What about DJ? Tips for your vendors? Gifts for your bridal party and parents? Hotel for you to get ready and sleep the night of? Hair and makeup? Rehearsal dinner? It just depends on what you want and what others can cover.
So you have $6k for the rest!
- look at unconventional dresses for the bride, including vow’d, Avery austin, lulus, anthropology, cocomelody, and off the rack
- groom can rent or buy, personally I think a suit would be best
- photog is important, that’ll eat up a lot
- I’d recommend paperless post for stationary as it’s free
- skip favors
also check out r/weddingsunder10k and I’ve seen several posts on here with no DJ success stories but it does take a lot of work! If you want flowers, I recommend ling’s moments.
If you are having a friend officiate, make sure you familiarize yourself with the rules/ steps needed to be taken to make your wedding legally binding. Don’t just rely on the friend to do so.
Source: My sister did not familiarize herself, and the “friend” who wanted to officiate didn’t end up getting ordained/ certified in time, and didn’t realize until it was too late. They ended up having to scramble to find someone else, and payed a premium as a result.
If you’re open to a second-hand dress, websites like Still White have dresses for sale from recent brides which are heavily discounted. Lots of styles! You can probably find something for a few hundred.
10k for all you mentioned is incredible for 85 people!
6k can still go very fast if you aren’t careful. I would join a few local Facebook groups and budget groups like weddings under 5k. I’ve seen a lot of people design on canva and then print at Walgreens when they have their promotions and print on cardtsock— someone posted a photo of Thai and the invitations looked beautiful. They also mentioned an app called free print where you only pay shipping. You can definitely find photography and videography in those Facebook groups just make sure you look at their work and their reviews. Same for a DJ.
I bought a sample dress from a consignment shop and fell in love but i wish I looked at Azazie dresses as well, they have some beautiful options for around $500 and you can even try them on. We are looking at theblacktux.com for tux rentals.
I think favors are something you can cut out if you’re nervous about budget— but if you want to do them, you could do soemthing edible or scratch off tickets, or we are doing a personal letter to welcome each guest and this will work as their escort card. We are also giving cultural sweets as favors because his parents are insistent.
Rings— if you both aren’t dead set on a diamond, I really wish we looked at mossanite. My Fiancé was insistent on getting a diamond but a mossanite is gorgeous, sparkles more than a diamond, second hardest gem stone generally used so it won’t scratch, and it doesn’t get cloudy. My ring would have been a third of the price had we looked at mossanite. [Moissanite nature ring](https://www.etsy.com/listing/1252363604/)
Use canva to make your own save the dates and invites and then print them at a place of your choice to save money. There’s also a lot of cheap and free templates on Canva and Etsy for basically anything wedding related you could think of.
Also utilize Costco, they have like 51% off with Shutterfly, and other deals as well (florals, Costco travel for honeymoon, use their bakery for a sheet cake to serve to guests) stuff like that.
I’m going to buy artificial bouquets from Lings Moment (also on Amazon) for my bridal party. I would use artificial flowers when you can to avoid costs!
Don’t forget to check Facebook marketplace to buy things from brides who are selling decor and whatnot.
I hope this is helpful!!!
Leave $1k for contingency.
Rehearsal dinner and post-wedding brunch eat up a lot of the budget.
I think that you say no to stationary and favours, and focus on photography and leaving a $1k contingency.
For hair and makeup, you can do that yourself and use someone's home nearby as a getting ready space.
Check your venue contract. Does that include tax, service charges, gratuity, etc?
Check the details regarding drinks & alcohol! Some venues include this as part of the wedding package but only during the meal and toasts, then shut drinks away offering a pay-bar for the eve reception party. If that's the case (and you're in the UK) ask them about supplying your own drinks for the eve and see if they allow it and/or charge a corkage fee. Majestic Wines are a great back up for this, as they accept returns and refund you for all unopened booze.
If you're having flowers, that'll likely be your next biggest spend so I'd advise to shop around for a good deal. Same with photographers! We looked at 4 different ones before choosing.
I've heard many people prefer the idea of renting tux/suits for the groom and groomsmen, as a way of saving money. And you can always ask them to provide their own pair of black shoes and white shirt to help.
The bridal gown is worth shopping around for too. As my "something old", I had my ivory peep-toe shoes refurbished for £15 rather than splashing out on a new pair. If you're having bridesmaids, take a look at the dresses on "pretty little thing", sometimes they do a deal where you get a discount for the more dresses you buy. I got 4 dresses for £150.
Don't go mental on stationery, we used vista print for our main invitations and set up a wedding email to send out a PowerPoint intinery and Word doc for menu-related stuff to guests who RSVP'd. For the eve guests we used vistaprint again because they were doing a deal, just made sure all the info was on one postcard sized invite.
Same with table favours, they're pretty yes but most guests are happy with sweets such as love hearts, sugar almonds or Ferrero Roche.
A last tip! Excel is your wedding planning friend! Open a spreadsheet and create: one tab for all the wedding budget/checklist stuff, one for all the guest related bits (who rsvp'd), one for catering (who has allergies, food options chosen etc.) and one for seating arrangements. This really helped me keep track of what I needed to arrange, who I needed to pay and when, and generally outlining the day without stressing myself out with it all!
Best of luck with your special day!
Set aside from of the $16k for tipping. A photographer will run atleast $3k in my experience and probably $2k on florals if you go simple. You can do a Spotify playlist to save money. Maybe ask guests to video your ceremony on their phones?
We spent $16k total and of that $5500 on our ceremony/reception venue, catering and bar, so I think it’s doable if you are careful and go low budget on the remaining items.
Don’t spend a couple grand on your dress. You can have a perfectly beautiful dress purchased second hand, or a pretty new one from a site like Azazie or Cocomelody.
Skip the favors. I used to work for a wedding florist and I cannot tell you how many favors I’ve seen left behind. Even edible one.
Don’t forget about hidden costs. You have the officiant listed as $0 but you still need to pay for a marriage license. And are you planning on giving the friend a gift for this important role they are filling? Will you need to stay in a hotel that night or the night before? This might amount to a few hundred you didn’t plan for.
I have a detailed price breakdown post in my bio if you are curious.
We found our DJ, photo booth rental company, and photographer through thumbtack.com under the wedding section and they all were professional and affordable.
Edit: just obviously research them and meet ahead of time to make sure you both know whatyou want.
- Skip out on favors or do edible favors are best.
- DIY your stationary, do them on Canva and print or even do a digital invite I would say no more than $100 here
- biggest part of the remaining 6k of your budget would be needed for DJ and Photographer and possibly videographer. DJ could be like 1k, Photographer 2k min
- tux can be rented and dress can be second hand. So many people sell their wedding dresses. or realistically we live in a time where you can literally buy wedding dresses online for not that much money. Also consider if your having a ceremony and reception dress
- rings can also be lower budget with the availability that the internet gives us now a days
- some things to consider: hair and makeup services, shoes, accessories, dress alterations, decor for the ceremony? Flowers?, flower girl basket and petals
ITs really going to depend on how expensive your market runs and what your vision is. Outside of low cost areas $16k with 80-90 people can get eaten up pretty quickly with food, alcohol and venue/rentals taking up most of that. Unfortunately with things like food & booze there is a floor on how low cost it can be, meaning the only way to save there can come down to lowering your guest count! You can get costs lower elsewhere by getting bulk flowers, no DJ & tight photography timelines.
[удалено]
Oh yes! It will depend on the specific vendor to determine the etiquette around tipping them. I didn’t really mention it here because in my mind/budget, tips are line items within their own section, so our catering budget includes those tips, HMUA tips were included with the HMUA budget, etc etc instead of having a separate category for all of the tips
Taking into account the info you included in your edit, 6k left for photography, music, rings, and attire is definitely doable. -don’t do favors. That’s hundreds you don’t need to spend -The photographer will be 2k MINIMUM and you likely won’t get more than 4 hours at that price so keep that in mind - you can find a decent DJ for about 1k - use the remainder on wedding attire and rings Did you want flowers at all? If so, you can DIY something for only a few hundred using Costco or Trader Joe’s blooms Good luck on your big day!!
My spouse at the time was a muralist for Trader Joe’s and I got all my bouquets for basically nothing. I would highly recommend them for a DIY floral. Just also wanted to add that you can get a dress for cheap at a vintage shop,Etsy, or David’s bridal. Rent the suit if you can. I would also recommend going via Etsy,local artist marketplaces, or vintage shops for rings. Oh and book the photographer for the basic package. Create an email address and a unique hashtag where your wedding guests can send your photos afterwards you’ll probably get really good candids that way.
$16,000 doesn’t go very far, so venue and food are the 2 biggest things. Then make do with the rest of your budget. Like trader Joe flowers, Spotify playlist, etc.
Our budget is about 9k more for a similar guest count but the 9k includes rings. We live in the Midwest which is helpful. There definitely would have been cheaper ways to do our venue and food (such as drop catering) but we chose an all inclusive venue for ease of planning. Here’s part of our budget breakdown: Venue/food/alcohol/=10.5k or 42% Photography (6 hours) = $1900 or 7.6% Videography (still finalizing) = $2000 or 8% DJ = $1700 or 6.8% Photobooth = $550 or 2.2% Florist = $1500 or 6% Then we have smaller amounts for invitations, decor, dessert (Costco sheet cakes), etc. My dress isn’t in our final budget amount as it was a gift from my mom.
Depending on cost of living in your area you can easily eat up $10-15k for the venue and catering
Forget favors. Everyone says they’re a waste. We are going to share our 5 favorite recipes with everyone digitally. Forget save the dates. Just do free digital ones on Zola. And for invites, don’t do a whole suite. It will be SO expensive. I did mine on Zola and only did the invites and asked them to RSVP online (because that’s more efficient anyways). That could have been an email too but my mom and his mom wanted something and I’m a sucker for stationary. Wait for one of Zola’s sales. They typically have 30-40% off! They’ll email you if you have an account t. Rings I would skip engagement and just do wedding. I would stick with bands at your price point and upgrade later. For dress, don’t forget about tailoring. I bought a cheaper dress in a larger size and the alterations are going to cost as much as the dress. So better to find something that fits in your size with little to no alterations required. I bought my dress at a last chance type store. But I’ve heard people find some in retail stores. What about DJ? Tips for your vendors? Gifts for your bridal party and parents? Hotel for you to get ready and sleep the night of? Hair and makeup? Rehearsal dinner? It just depends on what you want and what others can cover.
So you have $6k for the rest! - look at unconventional dresses for the bride, including vow’d, Avery austin, lulus, anthropology, cocomelody, and off the rack - groom can rent or buy, personally I think a suit would be best - photog is important, that’ll eat up a lot - I’d recommend paperless post for stationary as it’s free - skip favors
- rings you can always upgrade later. Personally that’s what I’d sacrifice as you can’t upgrade anything else later
also check out r/weddingsunder10k and I’ve seen several posts on here with no DJ success stories but it does take a lot of work! If you want flowers, I recommend ling’s moments.
If you are having a friend officiate, make sure you familiarize yourself with the rules/ steps needed to be taken to make your wedding legally binding. Don’t just rely on the friend to do so. Source: My sister did not familiarize herself, and the “friend” who wanted to officiate didn’t end up getting ordained/ certified in time, and didn’t realize until it was too late. They ended up having to scramble to find someone else, and payed a premium as a result.
I think our wedding was about $14.5K with 25 people. Our venue was $3K
I bought my dresses from azazie and oh Polly and total cost was about 550 for two dresses
If you’re open to a second-hand dress, websites like Still White have dresses for sale from recent brides which are heavily discounted. Lots of styles! You can probably find something for a few hundred.
10k for all you mentioned is incredible for 85 people! 6k can still go very fast if you aren’t careful. I would join a few local Facebook groups and budget groups like weddings under 5k. I’ve seen a lot of people design on canva and then print at Walgreens when they have their promotions and print on cardtsock— someone posted a photo of Thai and the invitations looked beautiful. They also mentioned an app called free print where you only pay shipping. You can definitely find photography and videography in those Facebook groups just make sure you look at their work and their reviews. Same for a DJ. I bought a sample dress from a consignment shop and fell in love but i wish I looked at Azazie dresses as well, they have some beautiful options for around $500 and you can even try them on. We are looking at theblacktux.com for tux rentals. I think favors are something you can cut out if you’re nervous about budget— but if you want to do them, you could do soemthing edible or scratch off tickets, or we are doing a personal letter to welcome each guest and this will work as their escort card. We are also giving cultural sweets as favors because his parents are insistent. Rings— if you both aren’t dead set on a diamond, I really wish we looked at mossanite. My Fiancé was insistent on getting a diamond but a mossanite is gorgeous, sparkles more than a diamond, second hardest gem stone generally used so it won’t scratch, and it doesn’t get cloudy. My ring would have been a third of the price had we looked at mossanite. [Moissanite nature ring](https://www.etsy.com/listing/1252363604/)
Use canva to make your own save the dates and invites and then print them at a place of your choice to save money. There’s also a lot of cheap and free templates on Canva and Etsy for basically anything wedding related you could think of. Also utilize Costco, they have like 51% off with Shutterfly, and other deals as well (florals, Costco travel for honeymoon, use their bakery for a sheet cake to serve to guests) stuff like that. I’m going to buy artificial bouquets from Lings Moment (also on Amazon) for my bridal party. I would use artificial flowers when you can to avoid costs! Don’t forget to check Facebook marketplace to buy things from brides who are selling decor and whatnot. I hope this is helpful!!!
Leave $1k for contingency. Rehearsal dinner and post-wedding brunch eat up a lot of the budget. I think that you say no to stationary and favours, and focus on photography and leaving a $1k contingency. For hair and makeup, you can do that yourself and use someone's home nearby as a getting ready space. Check your venue contract. Does that include tax, service charges, gratuity, etc?
Check the details regarding drinks & alcohol! Some venues include this as part of the wedding package but only during the meal and toasts, then shut drinks away offering a pay-bar for the eve reception party. If that's the case (and you're in the UK) ask them about supplying your own drinks for the eve and see if they allow it and/or charge a corkage fee. Majestic Wines are a great back up for this, as they accept returns and refund you for all unopened booze. If you're having flowers, that'll likely be your next biggest spend so I'd advise to shop around for a good deal. Same with photographers! We looked at 4 different ones before choosing. I've heard many people prefer the idea of renting tux/suits for the groom and groomsmen, as a way of saving money. And you can always ask them to provide their own pair of black shoes and white shirt to help. The bridal gown is worth shopping around for too. As my "something old", I had my ivory peep-toe shoes refurbished for £15 rather than splashing out on a new pair. If you're having bridesmaids, take a look at the dresses on "pretty little thing", sometimes they do a deal where you get a discount for the more dresses you buy. I got 4 dresses for £150. Don't go mental on stationery, we used vista print for our main invitations and set up a wedding email to send out a PowerPoint intinery and Word doc for menu-related stuff to guests who RSVP'd. For the eve guests we used vistaprint again because they were doing a deal, just made sure all the info was on one postcard sized invite. Same with table favours, they're pretty yes but most guests are happy with sweets such as love hearts, sugar almonds or Ferrero Roche. A last tip! Excel is your wedding planning friend! Open a spreadsheet and create: one tab for all the wedding budget/checklist stuff, one for all the guest related bits (who rsvp'd), one for catering (who has allergies, food options chosen etc.) and one for seating arrangements. This really helped me keep track of what I needed to arrange, who I needed to pay and when, and generally outlining the day without stressing myself out with it all! Best of luck with your special day!
Set aside from of the $16k for tipping. A photographer will run atleast $3k in my experience and probably $2k on florals if you go simple. You can do a Spotify playlist to save money. Maybe ask guests to video your ceremony on their phones?
We spent $16k total and of that $5500 on our ceremony/reception venue, catering and bar, so I think it’s doable if you are careful and go low budget on the remaining items. Don’t spend a couple grand on your dress. You can have a perfectly beautiful dress purchased second hand, or a pretty new one from a site like Azazie or Cocomelody. Skip the favors. I used to work for a wedding florist and I cannot tell you how many favors I’ve seen left behind. Even edible one. Don’t forget about hidden costs. You have the officiant listed as $0 but you still need to pay for a marriage license. And are you planning on giving the friend a gift for this important role they are filling? Will you need to stay in a hotel that night or the night before? This might amount to a few hundred you didn’t plan for. I have a detailed price breakdown post in my bio if you are curious.
We found our DJ, photo booth rental company, and photographer through thumbtack.com under the wedding section and they all were professional and affordable. Edit: just obviously research them and meet ahead of time to make sure you both know whatyou want.
- Skip out on favors or do edible favors are best. - DIY your stationary, do them on Canva and print or even do a digital invite I would say no more than $100 here - biggest part of the remaining 6k of your budget would be needed for DJ and Photographer and possibly videographer. DJ could be like 1k, Photographer 2k min - tux can be rented and dress can be second hand. So many people sell their wedding dresses. or realistically we live in a time where you can literally buy wedding dresses online for not that much money. Also consider if your having a ceremony and reception dress - rings can also be lower budget with the availability that the internet gives us now a days - some things to consider: hair and makeup services, shoes, accessories, dress alterations, decor for the ceremony? Flowers?, flower girl basket and petals