Anyways, onto our budget. When we first started talking about the wedding, we weren't really sure how much we should try and budget for. I did some research and found out that weddings in our location, (Columbia, Missouri,) average over $21,00! I knew that I could have the wedding we wanted for less, so we settled on about $10,000.
We invited about 292 people (this included everyone having a plus 1 and children,) however we only had about 115 people come.
Attire ( 11% of budget)
- Bride's Dress, Veil, Preservation and Shipping: $1,697.74
- Tuxedo for Keegan: $156.00
- Shoes: $57.41
- Garter: $10
- Alterations: $187.44
- Flower Girl Sashes: $20
- Maid of Honor Sash: $20
Actual Total: $2,148.59
How we saved:
- I told my consultant at Victoria's Bridal that I wanted to spend no more than $1,500 total (including veil, alterations and tax.) Of course she pushed me to buy at the top of my price point so that's why I went over on our budgeted amount. Compared to other dresses I had my eye on, however, the one I purchased wasn't too expensive.
- We had only Keegan rent a tux; the boys wore their own white shirt and blank pants. We bought them all ties for approximately $2/tie off of Ebay.
- The girls all bought their own bridesmaids dresses. I told them what color I wanted at David's Bridal so they would all match, but cut, style and fabric were all up to them. This way, they could spend as much or as little as they wanted.
- I made my garter which is why it was so cheap. It was approximately $10 for all of the supplies I needed and I have a lot left over. I used this tutorial and wrote about my experience here.
- Engagement pictures: $250.00
- Wedding Photographer: $975.00
- Videography: $850.00
Actual Total: $2,075.00
How we saved:
- We had my friend and co-worker do our engagement pictures. Since she was just starting out on engagement/wedding photography, she gave us a great deal. We basically had her for as long as we wanted and she agreed to do two locations/multiple clothing changes for us. She also brought along her roommate for support so we got two photographers for the price of one! Don't be afraid to use frendors, they can be a great way to save money and will be much more invested in giving you a quality product instead of just working for a check.
- Our wedding photographer, Dan Wilson of PhotoWrx, did my sister's senior pictures so I knew I enjoyed his style and my mom and sister told me he was a great guy to work with. We met with him when we were in Missouri for the holidays and he told us about his packages. We decided on the one that best fit our needs and then Dan allowed us to tweak it a bit. An example: we wanted the digital rights to our pictures instead of just getting prints or a photo book so he allowed us to do that and took of the cost of prints. We also got a $75 discount from getting a referral from my sister. Don't be afraid to talk to your vendors. They may be able to substitute somethings to get your business.
- I found our videographer, Ramon Salinas of Aurora Video Services on Craigslist. I had finally convinced Keegan that we needed one about 4 months before the wedding so I needed to find out cheap and fast. Craigslist can be full of strange people and rip-offs, so I would advise you to be careful, but you can also find awesome deals there. I had lengthy email and phone conversations with Ramon, saw some of his work and ultimately decided to sign even though it was still a bit of a risk. Again, as with our photographer, I asked if I could move some things around to make the price lower. Instead of staying for the entire reception, Ramon stayed only until the toasts and tosses were done. He also had a second shooter for only a few hours which cut down on costs. It doesn't hurt to ask if your vendors are willing to knock down their prices a bit. The worse they can say is no!
- DJ: $495.00 (for 6 hours)
- Musicians for ceremony: $250
Actual Total: $745.00
How we saved:
- I found our DJ, Rusty Jones of Professional Sound Services just by doing a Google Search of DJs in our location. After comparing a bunch of DJs, Rusty was by far the cheapest so we decided to go with him.
- Our musicians for the ceremony were Michael, a friend of Keegan's from school and Michael's brother, Ethan. After figuring out that it wouldn't really work for us to get sound equipment out to the ceremony space, we realized that we needed some more "traditional" musicians. We didn't really want (or want to pay for) a quartet so we asked Michael if he would be willing to play his cello for the ceremony. He offered to have Ethan play guitar with him to add more depth to the music. Michael and Ethan played for approximately 30 minutes before the wedding started as guests were getting seated and for the entrance and exit of the bridal party during the ceremony. Michael's wife, Liz did sound for the guys and the entire group did an amazing job. Again, use frendors to your advantage!
- Both bride's and grooms rings: $671.79
Actual total: $671.79
How we saved:
- When Keegan bought my engagement ring, he saved money by buying a "promise ring." From what I can tell, "promise rings" are extremely similar to engagement rings, just without the designer name(normally) and the price tag. (The cost of my engagement ring is not in the total for the wedding budget, but if I remember correctly, it was no more than $300.)
- When we bought our wedding rings, Keegan's was easy. He wanted something subtle but original. He also needed something made out of a metal that would be easy to cut through in case of an emergency at his work. As for me, we needed something that would mesh well with the odd shape of my engagement ring. Because of this we were somewhat at the mercy of the store and their selection, but we ended up finding a ring that fit well and wasn't too expensive. In hindsight, Keegan wishes that he had spent a little more money for a wedding set so that we didn't have to go through the headache of finding a wedding ring that fit with my strange shaped engagement ring.
- Tip: shop during sales. Every time we went into the mall, Kay, where we bought our rings, seemed to have a sale going on. We bought our wedding rings during a 50% off sale so that bought the total way down.
- Bride's bouquet: $25
- Ceremony Fans: $10
- Baskets: $10
- "Candles" $20
- Flower girl baskets: $16
- Guest Book $20
- Wooden Disks: $60
- Flower petals: $20
Total: Not 100% sure
(The reason I'm not 100% sure about the price of our decorations is because we used many aspects of our expenses in different places in the wedding. For example, our "favors" were made out of extra paper from our invitations.)
How we saved:
- DIY, DIY, DIY. Honestly, I saved half of our money by DIYing all of our decorations and shopping sales. Every week Hobby Lobby and Michaels offer coupons. Every week they have sales that can be used for wedding related things. We bought glass canisters for our "favors" when Michaels was having a 50% off glass sale. Add on a 40% off coupon and we got two canisters for under the price of one.
- Another example is our guest book. We found a huge frame at Hobby Lobby for $20. We took out the picture that was in it, cut our own matte from random pieces of matte we had laying around my work and added some markers. Voila! Instant guest book for $20 that we can now hang on our wall.
- We also saved in a huge amount of money by not using flowers. I knew that flowers were one of the biggest wedding expenses so I decided from the get-go that we weren't going to use them. The only time flowers were used in our wedding was my fake flower bouqet ($25) and the flower petals our flower girls threw (~$20)
Stationary (6% of budget)
- Save The Dates: $152
- Natural Linen Paper (250 sheets) $18.95
- Natural Linen Paper (250 sheets) $18.95
- Racing Green Paper (250 sheets) $42.95
- Avocado Paper (50 sheets) $10.95
- Chocolate Paper (50 sheets) $15.95
- Mandarin Paper (50 sheets) $15.95
- Outside envelopes (150) $44.95
- RSVP Envelopes (150) $32.85
- Stamps $132.00
Actual Total: $496.50
How we saved:
- We saved the most money by making our own save the dates and invitations. When we first got engaged, I started looking at invitations and STDs and saving my inspiration. I knew that I wanted to make our own stationary simply to save money so I found online tutorials on how to make my favorite parts of certain invitations and then meshed them all together into my own creation. If you're not into the DIY route, you can always look on Etsy and have someone design your invitations and then you print them yourselves. If you don't have a good printer, Kinkos and sometimes the UPS Store will print for you.
Food (50% of budget)
- Room Fee: $450
- Tables & Chairs: free (included in room fee)
- Food: ~ $880 ($8/person)
- Drinks: $150
- Keg: $120
- Wine: $108
- Cake: $270
- Linens: $92.53
- Service Fee: $200
- Taxes and misc.: $114.66
Actual Total: $2,385.19
How we saved:
- We saved the most by having our wedding catered by a grocery store, Hy-Vee. We had looked into "private" restaurants and catering companies but they were way out of our price range. We were (well at least I was) apprehensive about having a grocery store cater our wedding, but it worked out extremely well. For just over $2,000 they were able to provide us food, drinks, alcohol and our cupcakes/cake plus set up and take down. We were quoted $2,000 for just the food at some places. The moral of the story is don't cut out restaurants and catering opportunities that aren't "traditional." Get pizzas from your favorite pizza place. Do appetizers instead of an entire sit down meal. Have a BBQ. There are so many ways to feed guests that don't have to break the bank.
Overall, we came in around $9,500. Under our budget and most importantly, a number we were comfortable with. I truly believe that a wonderful wedding can be made on any budget. If you're willing to DIY a few aspects (or have friends/family DIY,) use frendors and shop around, you can stay within your budget.
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