Wedding Budget

[Winter]

We eloped to Las Vegas. Celebrant & Elvis impersonator, flowers & cake all for $450....
The rest of the $40K was spent travelling for a year - would recommend it to anyone!! Got my rings about a year after we were married. DH still wears his cheap-arse Vegas ring & loves it.

[Lulu]

We eloped to Las Vegas. Celebrant & Elvis impersonator, flowers & cake all for $450....
The rest of the $40K was spent travelling for a year - would recommend it to anyone!! Got my rings about a year after we were married. DH still wears his cheap-arse Vegas ring & loves it.

Now THAT'S awesome.

[Mum2Romone]

We got married in a Buddhist temple ibn Bali, then had our Reception on the beach in Bali followed by another reception on our return home to Sydney

Our whole wedding in Bali was about $3000 not including flights ($1400) /accom ( $1500)/honeymoon ($2000 spending money)
my dress was $200 from a Dressmaker with one offs in Surry Hills (I was 17 weeks pregnant and needed a particular style) I did my own hair/makeup with my Mum and MIL
Our rings were : Mine $1500 on special the set ( Diamond princess cut and diamond wedding band ) Hubby got a Silver band in Bali and his ring tattooed on ......
Our Sydney Reception was $2000 for 35 guests (for all you could eat basically) though not a buffet lol... I wish
Alcohol on top extra too (We had Dom Perignon Champagne special from my Dad) and plenty of Baeer /Wine flowing.....

it was everything I ever wanted !!!! And about $6000 all up

[Floweryfields]

Gosh a $50000 wedding budget would've paid for my first house with change! Haven't done the wedding thing yet, but don't think I could ever spend such a large amount of money...who knows though.

[krisp]

I don't really think the budget is important. I've been married twice, first one was when I was very young, in the church where both our parents were married in, big dress, big venue, a million guests, you know, the whole kit and kaboodle! Didn't last long so was a waste of money really!

I then ran away to Scotland and married my true love in a tiny outdoor ceremony on the edge of a Loch in the highlands. We had the reception (12 guests) in a tiny pub built 300 years ago that had a function room, beautiful local food (salmon caught in the river and venison from the local supplier), a celtic band who played all night and fabulous Australian wines. It was very small and intimate and we ate and danced the night away. Best day (and night) of my life.....

The only things you need for a wonderful memorable day is 2 people who are in love and willing and ready to dedicate their lives to making each other happy.

[lil_chookie]

My wedding was about $15K for everything (7 years ago). We had the big reception at a reception centre for 130 people. The way I got the wedding I wanted for cheap was I got married in August rather than February. Having a winter wedding got the reception for 1/2 price.

[Liviam]

Our entire wedding cost us around $25K. We didn't skimp on anything but it wasn't an elobrate affair. We had a reception for 100 people (although 10 pulled out on the day, GGGRRR!!!), $2500 on the bar, and paid for everything for the 2 bridesmaids and groomsmen. I would definitely start pricing things before you set your budget. And don't forget to allow a bit extra for incidientals that always pop up.
Have fun planning. I loved planning ours and would do it again in a heart beat.

[PumpkinZulu]

I don't really think the budget is important. I've been married twice, first one was when I was very young, in the church where both our parents were married in, big dress, big venue, a million guests, you know, the whole kit and kaboodle! Didn't last long so was a waste of money really!

I then ran away to Scotland and married my true love in a tiny outdoor ceremony on the edge of a Loch in the highlands. We had the reception (12 guests) in a tiny pub built 300 years ago that had a function room, beautiful local food (salmon caught in the river and venison from the local supplier), a celtic band who played all night and fabulous Australian wines. It was very small and intimate and we ate and danced the night away. Best day (and night) of my life.....

The only things you need for a wonderful memorable day is 2 people who are in love and willing and ready to dedicate their lives to making each other happy.

Your second wedding sounds amazing!!!

[MissM]

Our entire wedding cost us around $25K. We didn't skimp on anything but it wasn't an elobrate affair. We had a reception for 100 people (although 10 pulled out on the day, GGGRRR!!!), $2500 on the bar, and paid for everything for the 2 bridesmaids and groomsmen. I would definitely start pricing things before you set your budget. And don't forget to allow a bit extra for incidientals that always pop up.
Have fun planning. I loved planning ours and would do it again in a heart beat.

I will definately start pricing before really 'setting' a budget

I dont know if we are going to get out of the reception cost with all the people that will be coming, we already know the venue and the church

I will start pricing things and am planning on going to the bridal expo this weekend. Should be interesting.

Some of the weddings sound so cool, thanks for sharing girls

It will take alot of planning tho Oh im sure it will be fun.

[Amy_jellybean]

We spent $45k on our wedding, that included our honeymoon which was $6k (im a travel agent so got it cheaper!) but it didnt included my engagement and wedding ring which is $21,500

We did let ours get a little bit out of control but we didnt have any debt after it, everything was paid for by the end of it (we planned it for 13 months) and mum and dad paid $25k towards it.

I dont regret anything because we had everything exctly the way we wanted it.

[Starfish]

My first wedding was about $5. We had the reception at the Polish Club in Wellington, NZ (where we were living at the time), so got that quite cheap. We also got a chef friend to do the catering for a discounted fee. So if you know anyone who provides services that you could use at your wedding, why not ask them. Our photographer was also a friend (cost $150 for great photos and she put them in an album for us), and the DJ was also a friend. My dress cost - get this $35. It was a sample/second from The Tree of Life, and was massively discounted because the ribbon that laced up the bodice was a bit frayed (no one ever noticed). We had about 40 guests.

My second wedding was about $500, and about $450 of this was for the marriage licence, registry office and marriage certificate. We went out for dinner to a restaurant and there were about 8 people present including DH and me, and the guests paid for their own dinner (and ours too - that was their gift to us). My dress was another Tree of Life sample that cost $10. DH wore a jacket and shirt that we got from Vinnies that I then modified into what he wanted to wear.

[luna moth]

Ours was $12K all up, but it was very relaxed.

$3500 went on the ****tail reception at beachside location
$3000 went on the photographer and photos
$1500 went on the bar (we went waaaaay under budget on this!)
$1000 or so went on hotel accommodation and transport (it was out of town)
$1000 went on the rings (didn't include engagement, that's a separate expense )
$500 on the celebrant
$500 on the wedding, bridesmaid and flowergirl dresses (I made mine, sis's housemate did hers, friend did the FG's)

The rest was sundries I guess. We did our own cupcakes and cake stand, our own music (our playlist, their sound system) and we served a special homebrew during the ceremony, which is probably how we kept the bar costs down!

ETA: Was for about 140 people. Just so you know.

$5K is a perfect dress budget. You will be able to shop really well with that.

[beckoes]

I was going to say 30K is so much $$....but then i saw it was a greek wedding....so maybe not so bad...hehehe!

I guess ours will be about $8K maybe $9K. for 70 guests.

Brides outfit $800
Hair/makeup $FREE (friend)
Cake $300
Invites $150
Celebrant $400
Flowers $200
Reception $1200 (pig on spit)
Money behind bar $500
Suit for DP $300 (rented)
Ceremony venu $FREE (beautiful little white chapel on a friends property)
Music for reception $FREE(friend)
Dridesmaids $100....not buying them matching dresses, might do little gifts.
Photographer $1200
Videographer $FREE (friend)
Cars $FREE (friends)
Transport for guests to and from hotels/ceremony/reception about $500
Wedding favours $200
Day after celebrations with interstate/overseas guests $800
Rings $300
Spending a week in sydney with my uk family after wedding $1000

I think thats my entire budget

[sconeonamission]

Ours was under $5000, not sure how much though, but still under. The honeymoon was about $2500.

Would love to renew our vows, and do it all even cheaper!

[Madham]

KRISP i agree with you, its not important how much it costs.

I am getting married for 2nd time in October this year, my first wedding would have cost about 8-10k 12 years ago this one approx 3k

$500 alcohol reception
$500 food - which includes gourmet bbq and breakfast next morning for 60 people
BIL - photographer
UNCLE - video
$500 accommodation (out of town) for 60 guests bargain i know
$1000 rings
$300 celebrant
$100 bridesmaid dress & page boy suit
$50 for ingredients - cupcakes (mum is making)
$50 flowers
$200 - music

Keeping in mind we are having small wedding ceremony with family only and next day having reception or party as we are calling it with 60 friends and family. All staying together at same place party is held, we are not having alot of formalities, really just trying to take the stress and cost out of the occasion and just have a good time.

[grub17]

i agree withthe other girls here. it is possible not to spend a zillion and still have a lovely wedding.
All up we spend about $12000 on our wedding of 60 guests in tasmania.

I bought a dress off the rack (okay, i had a fancy one ordered but they monumentally stuffed it up and i only saw the disaster 2 mnths out from the wedding, so not enough time for a remake) that cost $160 (and still love it).

bridesmaids dresses off the rack from myer - ****tail, $140 each and goregous.

guys hired suits

we didn't do the car thing and just used my parent's hire car with a bit of ribbon as we aren't car people. we only had 2 cars and everyone piled in whereever but our reception was 500m from our ceremony.

married on the family farm, in the garden. also had pics there.

honeymooned locally.

made table runners, used my sister's centre pieces. kept flowers simple. had 2 large arrangements at ceremony which then went inot reception place. didnt' throw a bouquet - there was really only 2 or 3 single girls anyway and not my thing.

the biggest expense was the reception. we got a place that did $35 a head and my parents paid for that. kept it to beer/wine only. also it was such a nice restaurant that we didn'rt have to spend heaps to do it up. just used their bridal table draping etc.

you could also have a friend do your hair/makeup but it is nice to get pampered.

if you just keep to the basics its fun and easy. also the favours - keep it local ie we did chococlate from the local choc factory and it was a hit. Place cards we made ourselves. Invites we made ourselves all really easy it just takes time.

i really believe that if you are able to put in a little bit of time, do a bit of research you don't need to spend heaps and there's lots of things you can make yourself.

also our guest book was one of those photo and quote books called "love". it has great pics of couples in different loving situations ie cuddling, talking, kissing, holding hands and quotes. we asked guests to pick a page and write a message for us... we love it, worked so well.

also you will pay a bomb for prof photographers. consider calling your local newspaper and see if one of the snappers moonlights on the side. they will often do cash in hand and give you the whole lot of pics - you print what you want/need etc.

hope you find a happy medium.

i think 30K is definitely enough but it depends on how many guests and how many 'extras' you want/need.

have you thought about doing a ****tail reception rather than a full sit down meal?

[allycat06]

Ours was about $8k for 80 people. Really low key ceremony at the registry with 50 of the guests and a classy little ****tail party afterwards in Prahran. I made the invitations and ceremony booklets and wore a family heirloom dress so saved alot of money there. The big costs were the bar tab and food at the reception, DH bought a new suit, the photographer and our rings.
When I ordered all the flowers, no where did I mention the word wedding, saved a fortune!!! They'd initially quoted $400 more.

I just went to a big all out wedding a few weeks ago, 4 bridesmaids and groomsmen + flower girl and pageboy, couture gown, big cathedral the works. That cost $50,000 apparently (they didn't go on a honeymoon) so perhaps that would be a more realistic figure?

[MissM]

Thanks for sharing girls

Alleycat - DP did say a 50k budget would be better, but I think 30k is do-able. If we need another 20k the money is surely there

Friends of our's spent 70k on their wedding, and it wasnt extravagant, there was just ALOT of people(Bride and Groom are both Greek) That is a tad extreme for me tho

DP and I are aiming at 30K but after the bridal expo - which was full of useful info and brochures etc I had a browse. There is a venue not far from our house that is reasonable (95pp) and looks so fantastic! The inclusions are fantastic too!!

There is no doubt in my mind we willspend AT LEAST 30k on our wedding, it wont be anything elaborate tho. We do not expect the bridesmaids/groomsmen to pay for their own dresses/accesories etc (I feel rude asking to do so, as THEY are doing ME a favour) and there is no way DP would ask for people to pay for their own dinner (that is something that just is not done) PLEASE do not take offence to my opinions.

It won't be an elaborate wedding though, basically the 30k should cover us. (I hope)

We will be browsing at rings on the weekends, which will be fun I have allowed approx 7-8k on a ring, but DP says 10k should cover us.

We did consider his sister in law designing my engagement ring, but I would rather now have his family know how much we've spent on a ring or when we will get engaged. His sister in law would run back to his mama straight away and tell her (another awesome thing about Greeks LOL)

I am looking forward to all the planning cos it will be My BIG fat Greek Wedding