Wedding Blog

There’s been a lot of discussion about budgets on weddingbee, and I thought I should share our budget details..

Our Ideal Wedding Budget: about $20,000

The Actual Wedding Budget, here’s the breakdown:

(Note: The major budget costs are accurate but less significant budget expenses such as candy buffet jars, candy, DIY stuff, are an approximation of the original cost)

Ceremony/Reception Site Fee at the PAFA: $2000. The rental fee is typically $4000 at the PAFA, which is a pretty standard rate for renting a museum. For having a guest list under 100, the museum offered half the original rate.

Liability Insurance: $225

Officiant: $500

String Trio: $465

Catering : $8200. The catering includes gold chairs, matching linens and place settings, reception tables, and all other tables. Also included is a one hour open bar, hors d’oeurvres, and all food and drinks (appetizer, dinner, wine, champagne, and wedding cake)

DJ: $550

Slideshow: $0 Equipment was provided by our DJ.

Florist: $2300

Transportation: $450. We rented a 1950’s Bentley for us and our photographer.

Lighting: $575. Includes 4 breakup lighting patterns on the dance floor, 8 pinspotted reception tables, the candy buffet table, and cake table. The museum also provided some lighting on the painting and the sculptures.

Photographer (We bought the “fine arts” package which included two large photos albums, one guestbook photo album, DVD of proofs, and 8 hours of wedding coverage) : $4500

Videographer: $0. I was seriously planning to book a great videographer in the Philly area but Mr. BP really made me think about the value of having one. The reality is the image quality is not comparable to photography and what are the chances I’ll watch my video over and over? The cost of having one is at least $1000 and I definitely wanted to use this money for our photography budget instead.

Day-of-coordinator: $0. Days before our wedding day I was really nervous and stressed about the wedding. So many questions were running through my head: What if we missed a guest’s RSVP? What if it rains outside? Do all of the guests know where to park? What if my updo falls apart? All of these questions made my head want to explode! Luckily, the event sales and catering manager were extremely supportive and helped me arrange all the details as I imagined.

Wedding Hair/Makeup: $170

Wedding Dress: $2500. I got a small discount on my dress because I bought it during a Judd Waddell Trunk Show Sale.

Wedding Accessories & Shoes: $1200

Alterations: $320 for a 4 alterations sessions and a french bustle

Qipao: $350

Groom’s Tux: $0. Men’s Wearhouse has a deal where when you have at least 4 wedding party members rent a tux, the groom’s tuxedo is free.

Wedding Candy: $375

Candy Buffet Jars: $240

Cake Topper: $60

DIY stuff: ~$1000

Total Cost: $25,940

Many of the readers are right on the money, around $25,000. I gotta say if I had all the money in the world, I would love to spend whatever amount for all the details of our wedding. The reality is that both of us graduated medical school and we both owe around $150,000 of loans each. With our living expenses and our loan expenses, there was really little money left for us to spend on our wedding. My parents offered to pay for all of my wedding expenses but I really didn’t want to ask for a lot of money. A budget around $25,000 is pretty reasonable and I’m happy that it all worked out. We have just enough more to buy more crepes and ice cream in France!