Wedding: One women’s take on how to cut wedding costs while focusing on what matters to you
Our “What does it really cost” series sheds light on how much different women across the country spend on the big life events: having a baby, taking a sabbatical year, moving, getting a master’s degree, buying a house, etc. This week’s feature is highlighting one woman’s costs of planning a wedding for about 130 guests including tricks she used for how to cut wedding costs.
Location: Charlottesville, VA
Age: 31
What are your expected total wedding costs?
The wedding itself will cost between $50-55k, not including the rehearsal dinner. Within that, The largest chunk of that cost (~$25k) is food and drink.
The rest is spread out among vendors ($3k for a florist, $4k for photographer, $1k for the church, etc.). We tried to be really economical on a lot of the other things because food costs are just really high!
How to cut wedding costs? Decide what’s important to you. While we are spending a lot on food, my dress, for example, was $380 with $300 in alterations. We had to look hard to find a florist without a required minimum that was higher than what we wanted to spend. In addition, we opted for a DJ ($1500) over a band (~$5k).
Final Costs: About $50-55k
Was this more or less than you were expecting?
This is more than I wanted to spend. I originally was hoping we could do it with $35-40k. I’m a practical person and tend not to be extravagant, but, feeding people was important to us and our families. Both of us have family cultures that really value good food and drink, so that was a priority for the celebration.
Ultimately, we are blessed to be splitting the costs among ourselves, my parents, and my partner’s parents. If we were doing this on our own, we would not be having a $50k+ wedding!
Were there other options that you considered? What are the pros and cons of this compared to other options?
We did consider some less traditional options in the early days (small ceremony, casual party with friends, more rustic wedding in a field [not necessarily less expensive because you must truck in everything!]). However, something anyone who has ever gotten married probably knows, is that weddings aren’t just about the bride and groom! They are very much about families and your extended community. In the end, we decided that we wanted to have a more traditional celebration where those important to us could have roles and come together to blend families.
What tips do you have for how to cut wedding costs?
Because food costs are the biggest chunk of our budget, we could have saved a lot of money by opting for a smaller and more intimate wedding. For example, we could have cut cousins, or we could have reduced the number of friends we’re including. Think about who you want to look out and see on your wedding day, and go from there.
Also, there’s a WONDERFUL book called “A Practical Wedding Planner” that I recommend newlyweds purchase and read together. The author really shows you that you can do a wedding on any budget as long as you set expectations appropriately. It has some great tips for how to cut wedding costs.
In conclusion, this woman’s total wedding costs will be ~$50-55k for about 130 guests.
We hope this gives you insights into how someone else navigated the wedding costs for about 130 guests. Do these costs surprise you? What tips do you have for how to cut wedding costs?
This post was created as part of the “What does it really cost series?” Her Personal Finance’s mission is to help high-earning women take charge of their finances. As an MBA, our founder has a particular passion for supporting this community. Here is a link to a Q&A with Harvard Business School students about finances in school. You can also learn more about our founder and our classes on our website.
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