Let&#8217;s Talk Money

Let’s Talk Money

June 27th, 2007 @ 12:12 pm by Mrs. Butterfly
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Hello weddingbee readers! It’s been a long time since I’ve blogged, but I read something yesterday on WB that piqued my interest. I’m talking about budgets, of course! In response to one of the comments, I’m going to break down my budget for you. Hopefully it will help some brides budget their wedding. Just a quick note - I don’t actually remember the exact amounts anymore, so these are the closest estimates that I could come up with.

Total Budget - $40,000

Reception: $22,000
Florist: $4,400
Photography and Video (excluding albums): $4,100
Invitations, STD’s, Programs, Menus: $1,000
DJ: $1,350
Officiant: $400
Tea Ceremony: $1,350
Wedding Dress (including alterations) & Shoes: $1,750
Groom’s Tux: $700
BM and GM (everything including clothes to gifts): $1,200
Hair & Makeup (for everyone): $600
Transportation: $1,600
Quartet: $500
Hotel for 2 nights: $1,000
Tips: $1,500
Other and Miscellaneous: $1,500

Total Cost: $44,950

We ended up going over by about 12%. I didn’t include things like facials to prepare my skin, the hair appointments prior to the wedding, wedding bands for both of us ($4,000), and personal training sessions. So we probably spent another $8,000 if you count that.

Did I think that my budget was “high”? Well, no….not for NYC anyway. I’ve been to weddings that cost much more, but I’ve also been to ones that cost much less. Personally, (and I am completely biased here!) I think $40 to $50K is not an unreasonable amount for a NYC wedding. I’m sure I could have had a much cheaper wedding if I didn’t have it in Manhattan, but Manhattan was just so much more convenient for everyone involved.

I probably did not need to stay at a hotel for 2 nights either- but then again, I just really needed to NOT be home before and after the wedding. Did I really need a 16 person limo to drive us around the day of to take pictures? Probably not. I could have probably spent a lot less on the florist - but I loved her work! I also probably didn’t need the string quartet to play for an hour - but I wanted that too! At the end of the day, I probably could have scrimped on a lot of things which would have saved me about $6,000 ~ $10,000 without changing the location.

My parents gave me about half to help me pay for the wedding, and we came up with the other half. We truly consider ourselves to be very lucky because we were able to afford the wedding of our dreams.

Whatever your budget may be, I think the most important thing is this: that the memories of your wedding day brings a smile to your face when you are old and gray. I know mine will. Let's Talk Money : wedding budget new york Happy012 happy012

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40 Responses to “Let’s Talk Money”

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Guest

Miss Popcorn

my budget is closer to mrs blueberry’s but we spent closer to what you did on mr. popcorn’s tux since he plans on keeping it and wearing it again.

6/27/07 @ 12:21 pm (reply)

Guest

Lucy

I appreciate your willingness to reveal the cost of your wedding. It really helps brides like me understand just exactly *how* things start adding up and what the financial obligations are for the types of wedding we’re envisioning. Thanks, Mrs. Butterfly!

6/27/07 @ 12:23 pm (reply)

Guest

Mrs Ant

you are so brave for sharing this!

6/27/07 @ 12:24 pm (reply)

Guest

nyc bride here and i’m still looking for an officiant and quartet…what you paid seems reasonable, mind sharing who you used?

6/27/07 @ 12:28 pm (reply)

Guest

Red

I wholeheartedly agree with your last statement!! It’s the memories that count the most.

BTW, I think I’m in the wrong career - I really should become an officiant - judging by recent posts and prices I’ve been quoted, it looks like they average about $200+ per hour!!

6/27/07 @ 12:30 pm (reply)

Guest

Nopinkertons

Thanks for this–my wedding budget looks much like yours, and I agree that it is not at all extravagant in NYC–in fact, I feel I am cutting out a lot of things I would like to have in order to make this “small” budget!

I think for these budget breakdowns it would be helpful to know how many guests were at the wedding–I am wondering, for example, how much of the difference between Mrs. Butterfly’s and Mrs. Blueberry’s receptions came down to guest count and how much to location.

6/27/07 @ 12:32 pm (reply)

Guest

Thanks for sharing One of the things that frusrates me the most when searching venues is that no one posts the cost associated with it and sites don’t always make it clear what all the hidden charges/inclusions are either. Plus, I had no idea how much a florist would charge, what it’d cost for special lighting, DJ etc…

I love seeing budget breakdowns, and hope no one will judge others on what they do and don’t spend It’s really VERY helpful. Thanks so much Mrs. Butterlfy!

6/27/07 @ 12:39 pm (reply)

Guest

Mrs. Blueberry

Nopinkertons–well, to try and answer that question, I think there are several factors. For one, my wedding had about 120 guests–not sure how that compares to Mrs. Butterfly’s. For another, a large part of the reason we saved so much money was the fact that we didn’t do a sit-down dinner, or a buffet dinner, or hors d’ourves, or anything like that: we had that super-delicious dessert buffet instead. So I think comparing costs might be an apples-to-oranges issue. Also, we didn’t work with a caterer: of course, a bakery did the wedding cake, and we hired someone for the chocolate fountains, but the rest of the food was provided by us. That helped cut down on costs quite a bit

6/27/07 @ 12:40 pm (reply)

Guest

a note to brides out there:

we had the wedding of our dreams by going with something a bit unconventional. we held our reception at a restaurant in Beverly Hills that allows couples to rent the entire restaurant for LUNCH without any location fees, only the cost of food!

Our guests had: 3 different h’ordeuvres, lobster tail, spun salad, prime rib or halibut, and ice cream (with the cake) for only $60/per person. Including wine and gratuities, the total was just under $6,000 for 70 guests! My brother (who got married one year earlier) was shocked and kept saying what a great deal we got!

everyone ate like a king and thought we spent much more than we did! If you’re on a tighter budget, make sure to look around, you’ll find more deals than you think

6/27/07 @ 12:47 pm (reply)

10.

Guest

Mrs. Butterfly

My wedding was budgeted for 90 guests - for the reception and the flowers, etc. 9 tables.

as for the venue, i ended up getting a great deal for $170 per person with a minimum guarantee of 85 people - however, i couldnt do the december wedding that i wanted originally. i had to move it up to november - a less popular month. which was FINE by me!! =)

6/27/07 @ 12:50 pm (reply)

11.

Guest

Jessie

Thank you Mrs. Butterfly for the break down! That was one of the most helpful blogs I have read on weddingbee, given that I am a NYC bride. I agree with hm in that it is frustrating with the searching for a venue and nobody likes to post prices.

This was very useful as a guideline to see what range most wedding items fall in.

Just as note regarding future bee budget posts, we the readers, should use these as guidelines and not necessarily the real price we can go to a particular vendor with. There are a lot of negotiations, differences in packages, and of course, the yearly price hikes that goes into these budets.

6/27/07 @ 12:53 pm (reply)

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Guest

Miss Butterscotch

Thanks for sharings. I think we are going to over too but I can’t think about that yet.

6/27/07 @ 12:58 pm (reply)

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Guest

Jean

Mrs. Butterfly - I agree that your budget is very reasonable for a NYC wedding. That was our original budget too but we have gone WAY past our budget already.

I was just wondering who you hired for your a. your florist and b. hair and makeup b.c $600 is very affordable for both (and they did such a great job too).

Thanks!

6/27/07 @ 1:02 pm (reply)

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Guest

Go Amie

Red - the downside is that you don’t work a forty hour week. But if you are serious, and want to do this on the side, you can consider becoming a celebrant. See http://www.celebrantusa.com/ for more info.

6/27/07 @ 1:04 pm (reply)

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Guest

Red

Go Amie - That WOULD be a pretty cool side job….hmmm….

6/27/07 @ 1:16 pm (reply)

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Guest

Tea

thanks very much for posting your budget breakdowns. it’s nice to actually see where and how the money is spent. i’d be interested in seeing the difference across the country. they’d be a lot more helpful and realistic than those typical wedding budget generators.

6/27/07 @ 1:17 pm (reply)

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Guest

Miss Snow Pea

Thank you so much for posting this Mrs. Butterfly. It’s very helpful and I am going to do the same.

6/27/07 @ 1:19 pm (reply)

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Guest

YUM

Hi Mrs. Butterfly,

I was wondering where you were able to find the quartet and officiant at such a reasonable price. Where did you look? I have done a lot of research and it seems all the ones I found are way more expensive. Any info. will help greatly. Anyone else out there found great deals on these two areas??? Hahahha. Thanks!

6/27/07 @ 1:42 pm (reply)

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Guest

Andria

Thanks for the interesting post. I’m not sure if you are paying for all of that or if it a combination of people, but sometimes I just honestly wonder, am I the only one that doesn’t have $40,000 laying around? I am in no way trying to be critical, but I am just so amazed that people my age (mid-20s or so) have that kind of cash. I’m college educated (your budget is my school loan debt and I’ve had just a hell of a time. Where on earth do people work? If I lived in New York, I think I’d have to get married somewhere else because it just wouldn’t be doable. Please don’t think I’m being critical, sometimes I feel like I must be the only one who doesn’t make $50K right out of college and have $50K in savings, etc. (obviously, just an example). And even if I did save up that much for a wedding, I wouldn’t be able to save for a house after that for another 20 years probably…lol…

6/27/07 @ 1:53 pm (reply)

20.

Guest

tto

n - sounds like lawry’s. WAS IT LAWRY’S?!?!?!

6/27/07 @ 1:57 pm (reply)

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