How much to spend on wedding?
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Anonymous
Double those numbers for a range and you'll be more realistic... hear me now, believe me later when the costs, proposals and estimates start rolling in. |
Anonymous
OP here. We will be using a vendor for food. Both locations don’t provide any extras besides the location. |
Anonymous
+100 Especially if you're looking to buy a house in the same year. Would you want to compromise on what house you buy (which you would hopefully live in at least 5 years) for a party? The items that are usually the high ticket items - venue, food, and booze An easy way to minimize those costs are to have a smaller wedding And, these prices are also dependent on location -so I'm not sure what's available in Chicago Another way to have a lower cost wedding is to do a destination wedding in Jamaica - though that really just shifts the cost to the guests, but they do get a vacation out of too! And, you would have to be okay with many people not attending. |
Anonymous
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I think you cannot afford what you want. If having 150 people at your wedding is the most important thing to you, then the wedding is going to need to be extremely casual.
Even that is not a great use of money when you also want to buy a home, in my opinion. A big, nice wedding is a luxury item not a necessity. |
Anonymous
OP can afford a nice wedding with 150 people (she and fiance make six figures and have 1/2 mil in savings and are moving back to the midwest), they are just ignorant of costs. |
Anonymous
I would be shocked if you can do what you want for $50k. SHOCKED. Up your budget. |
Anonymous
OP here. We are definitely underestimating how much a wedding costs. Our absolute max budget is $150k but we want to spend far less than that. We want to do - Open bar for entire event. Range from $18-45 per person depending on package. - Plated seating, appetizers, late night snacks, and a dessert table. Plated seating will be $85 a head. $8 guest for dessert table, appetizers are per appetizer ranging from $1.50-5.00. - Photo Booth. $500ish for 3 hours. - Venue. 3 options we like range from $15-20k. So far that’s all we thought about. |
Anonymous
I had a wedding similar to I think what you are envisioning. I had it in the DC area 10 years ago and it cost about 70k with contributions from both of my parents and my husband and I. We did not go into debt for it and have no regrets as it was a wonderful event for our family but I think from your responses you should be targeting 50-70k instead of 30-50 and add 10-20 more if you want to have it IN chicago vs some smaller location an hour or so out from the city. General costs that I had: DJ - 2k Dress - $800 Cake - $700 Photographer - 5k Venue/Catering/Open Bar (came as a package, had a full open bar with liquor and passed apps) - 45k Paper (invitations/programs etc) - 1k Flowers - 1.8k (and we cheaped out hard core on this) Hair/Makeup for my BMs and me - $500 (again this is artifically very cheap I had a friend basically give this to me as a wedding present) And then there were a bunch of just incidental crap that adds up. Favors, a candy bar, the photo booth etc, my jewelry, our rings were another 1500. I can't remember all of it now but I do remember adding it up once and being shocked and mildly horrified. Anyway again your food and open bar are going to be the single most expensive cost. |
Anonymous
| Your cost will be closer to 80-100k |
Anonymous
| Don’t waste your money. You’ll be divorced in a few years |
Anonymous
| I would expect to spend at least $75k for what you are describing and possibly as much as $100k. |
Anonymous
[quote =Anonymous]
OP here. We are definitely underestimating how much a wedding costs. Our absolute max budget is $150k but we want to spend far less than that. We want to do - Open bar for entire event. Range from $18-45 per person depending on package. - Plated seating, appetizers, late night snacks, and a dessert table. Plated seating will be $85 a head. $8 guest for dessert table, appetizers are per appetizer ranging from $1.50-5.00. - Photo Booth. $500ish for 3 hours. - Venue. 3 options we like range from $15-20k. So far that’s all we thought about. OP, I’d advise you nix the Photo Booth - it takes away from the dance floor energy. Here’s the other costs you should consider below. You really should not spend $150k on your wedding. My DH and I spent about 80k and we made 450k at the time (now 700, 5 years later). I would not have spent more. DJ Whether a dance floor needs to be constructed Photographer Videographer Dress Cake Paper (save the date/invitation/return postage/programs/ dinner menus/ place cards) Flowers Hair/Makeup for you + bridesmaids (or you can request they pay their own if they want it at all) Transportation to and from hotel for guests If venue requires a tent and cost of that Any extra lighting or decor you plan on getting Tips for various vendors |
Anonymous
| I dont get it. I have friends who spent so much on a wedding and then couldn’t afford a down payment. |
Anonymous
| Cut your guest list |
Anonymous
Did they spend it or their parents? I'm a parent who spent nearly $100k on a wedding. My DC is working on saving for a down payment. |