Wedding Blog
I am still not sure how comfortable I am giving out the entire details of our budget, but I’m going to do it anyway because I am almost certain that no one who would care (except our photographer) knows that I blog on Weddingbee. It seems to be of interest to the WB readers, and so hopefully by posting this, I will be helping someone else plan their wedding.
So, here it is kids! The first ever Canadian bee budget. Since our dollar is doing so well lately, these figures are pretty comparable with the US prices. But please do keep in mind that all of my figures are in Canadian funds, and that some items were purchased as far away as one year ago (so the exchange may be a bit funky).
City - Regina SK Canada
Budget - $30,000 (or $40,400, depending on how you look at it. See below for my small discussion on budgets in general)
155 Guests
Ceremony Site Fees: $900 - including ferry rides to and from the island for all guests and vendors throughout the day
Reception Site Fees: $3000 for rentals, tent, and lighting.
Caterer/Food/Drink (per person if available): $13,887.22 ($30/person for dinner, $8/person for late lunch, and then drinks and taxes on top of that. But we also received ~$1800 from our honour bar so that would bring out total down to $12,087.22)
Service Charge/Gratuities: $1,868.73
Bridal Gown & Alterations: Momma Pumpkin picked up the alterations for me but I think they were around $200. My first dress, which I still have not received a refund for despite sending it back over a month ago, was $740. The second dress that I purchased was $1300. I will only include the $1300 in my totals as I am going to fight until I get my money back from the first one!
Bridal Accessories (veil, undergarments, shoes, jewelry): $320
Groom’s Attire: $140 ($90 for rented tux and $50 for Vans shoes)
Stationery/Postage: $2200 (including everything from STD’s right down through to thank you cards and postage for all)
Photography: $1600 including e-shoot, digital book of 20 photos and 1 8×10 from that day, 8 hours on the wedding day, a coffee table book of 200 photos, and a CD of all images from wedding day.
Videography: $0 (we weren’t planning on it but after the ceremony my Uncle told me that he had taped the ceremony for us and is making us a copy - such a nice surprise!)
Ceremony Music: My father paid for our quartet but I know that it was $400
Reception Music: $60 for rental of equipment to hook up our laptop with iTunes
Flowers: $144 - my bouquet, MOH’s bouquet and 6 boutonnieres from Costco - my Mom paid for 4 corsages elsewhere.
Favors: $850 - we did not have traditional favours, but we had a candy buffet. I also had a basket of 20 Pashminas that I am including in this total (they were ~$8 each shipping included on eBay)
Cake: $200
Officiant: $0 (friend of the family!) We did give him a nice bottle of scotch as a thank-you, which cost $200
Coordinator: $0
Hair/Makeup: $100 for my MOH and my hair, make-up was DIY!
Wedding Party Gifts: $1300 - which seems high since we only had a MOH and a BM, but I have included all gifts we gave them, hostess gifts, my MOH’s dress, which we bought, BM’s tux, which we paid for, and then we took them out for dinner as a substitute for the BM tea. I also included gifts that we gave to others who helped us out, and also our gifts to our parents.
Transportation: $0 - we planned on walking from the ferry launch to the restaurant but we actually ended up going in our photographers car for a couple of more photos before the reception started.
Hotels: $40 - I booked two nights in a nice hotel with Airmiles and so I only needed to pay for parking and taxes
Misc: Yikes! Well, I have calculated what we spent on the wedding in total and so if I take out the items above as well as those listed below, then the total for the rest is about $4100. I think that adds up - I am getting a bit confused here because I have my personal list itemized out so it was hard for me to combine them all into categories!
GRAND TOTAL: $29,500
I put these items separate in order to stay consistent but as you will read below, I had them in my budget.
Wedding Bands: $330
Rehearsal Dinner/Day-After Brunch: I would estimate that the rehearsal dinner cost $1300 for 30 people (~$45/person in a rented out restaurant) but I really don’t know as it was hosted by my in-laws. The day-after brunch was hosted by my parents, and I would estimate that it cost $400. But again, I really don’t know. We probably had about 60 or 70 people come and go to the brunch, so ~$6/person.
Honeymoon: $10,500 for 2 weeks in Europe including two Pearl Jam concerts and spending money, right down to the McDonald’s on the way to the airport!
Total with rings and honeymoon was $40,400
My in-laws contributed $5,000 and my parents contributed $10,000 but they also paid for some other things as well such as the ceremony quartet and my dress alterations. Plus, Mom made tartlets to be served on the island as well as various other things throughout the planning process. As I have mentioned before, I am pretty sure that neither set of parents knows what the other gave us and I would really appreciate it if it could remain that way. So, if by chance there is someone who knows us reading this right now, please keep this info on the down-low, the QT, very hush hush, if you know what I mean. Mr. P and I will be paying the remaining $25,000 or so ourselves.
Okay, here is my view on budgets - the point is to try to plan out what the wedding will cost you, right? So why would you not include EVERYTHING? I have included absolutely everything that Mr. Pumpkin and I were responsible for paying for that was even remotely wedding related. The way that I judged that was to ask the question, “if we were not getting married would we still be buying/paying for this?” If the answer is no then it goes into the budget. We certainly wouldn’t have been going to Europe for two weeks if it weren’t our honeymoon, so it goes in the budget. It makes no sense to me what-so-ever to leave out anything because *somebody* still has to pay for it right? So, what do you do if you leave them off the main budget? Do they just go onto a different list of expenses? I don’t understand how that is useful to anyone…but that is just my opinion. I found it much more useful to know exactly how much money Mr. P and I were going to need for everything, and then plan accordingly.
I hope that this was helpful to those who are interested! I will be doing some posts this week on some of the DIY projects that I did before the wedding and I will price those out as well. Good luck with your budgets new-bees!
*Notorious BIG
|
Share this post: ‘Mo Money, ‘Mo Problems*
“Notorious BIG” - you crack me up Pumpkin!
I just copied and sent the 2nd to last paragraph of your entry to Mr. Eggplant with the title “you’re right after all”.
We just had an “discussion” about budgets recently, and he has the EXACT same view as you. 
I keep taking things out of the budget (like rings and honeymoon) and he keeps telling me that I can’t take wedding related stuff out of the budget.
After reading your perspective too, I have to admit that he’s right this time.
I think it’s easier to think about some things being left off the budget if they were paid far in advance (like an engagement ring, which might have been part of a prior year’s budgeting) or if the honeymoon was less than 1k (which could be thought of as a standard vacation to save for).
Can I just point out that it amuses me to no end, as a wedding photographer, that you paid 1/2 of the amount that you spent on photography on favors? Or that your photography budget was 1/10th what you spent on the reception? And only 4 times what you spent on a quartet. You won’t have the food or the quartet around in 5 years, but you’ll have photographs. That is the one thing that your children & their children will have to treasure down the line.
Like I said, this is coming from a wedding photographer’s perspective. I see brides time & time again trying to get that for a really low cost, when it is probably one of the few things you should skimp on. It is the only tangible thing, aside from your dress, that you will have after your wedding day. It is the one thing that - with a good photographer - will capture the true essence of your day as a whole.
Just something for other brides to think about as they plan their big day.
I notice though that your photographer line item doesn’t include your album(s), or what it will cost you to have prints made down the road. Be sure to use a GOOD professional lab; Costco & Wal-Mart won’t last for the generations to follow, and CDs don’t last forever. Print now while the data is still good.
I agree with you on including everything into the budget. I’m even including all the new makeup I’m testing out The only thing I’m not including are the wedding bands since they’re gonna stay with us for the long haul.
Jennifer, you have the perspective of a photographer and thus can add some valuable information. However, your comment about being “amused to no end” seemed more condescending than helpful.
Ultimately, it is the couple’s decision to spend money on what THEY choose and what THEY find important. A digital book of 20 photos and a coffee table book of 200 photos (plus an option of printing additional photos from a CD) sounds just right to me!
Those photos you posted came out AWESOME, you didn’t need to spend more on a photographer. Personally I think price does not always mean better… for example our first choice photographer, based on quality alone, was $1,000 less expensive than the one we’re using now, but he wasn’t available on our day, so oh well.
Hey Pumpkin! I know it was probably weird going through all of your expenses, but thanks for posting. As a fellow Canuck, this gives me a slightly better comparision than some of the other budgets, since it’s in Canadian dollars.
Hi Jennifer,
I just wanted to let you know that we didn’t go into our choosing a photographer trying to skimp on that expense, she just happens to be a fantastic photographer at an incredible price! We also did not follow any of those guides that tell you what percentage of your budget should be spent on what, we just paid whatever the things we wanted cost and it all worked out. I appreciate your comment on not including the cost of printing photos - that is something that I forgot to include in the honeymoon budget as well!
Hi Mrs. Pumpkin,
A fellow Canadian with a couple of questions:
How did the iPod thing work out for you?
Did anyone actually use the pashminas?
Thanks!!!
Mrs. Pumpkin,
Thank you for posting! I did the same thing…everything even remotely related to the wedding, I included on my Excel sheet. From taking my BMs out to lunch after vendor meetings to bus fare.
Hi Lisa,
I have two posts coming out soon that talk about both of these questions. The short answers are that the Pashminas were gone before I even got to the reception and that the iTunes thing worked out great with a few surprises! Stay tuned for more details….
Sorry, I didn’t mean to sound snarky. I really shouldn’t be reading so late at night all the time, because I come across wrong sometimes when I comment.
Finding someone at a great price is fabulous, and I agree - spending more money doesn’t always mean you get something better. You’re right on both accounts. I know people that charge $15,000 for a wedding, and their pictures aren’t that great at all. So money isn’t the only thing.
Thanks to Mrs. Pumpkin for clarifying that it wasn’t an area that was “skimped” on. I’ve seen so many people over the past few years with the “Oh, my friend has a fancy camera, so that will do…” mentality, and really - it isn’t about the camera body. It is about the person rockin’ the camera behind the scenes.
And guidelines? Meant to be just that - a guide. I agree whole-heartedly against tossing them out the window from time to time! 
Sorry for coming across as snarky. I’ll be better about proofing my comments in the future, promise!
Thank you for the price breakdown including the honeymoon! I agree that EVERYTHING wedding related needs to be included becuase if you have to have it because of the wedding or planning of the wedding - it’s a wedding expense.
I totally agree that things like wedding rings, honeymoon and rehearsal dinner should be included in the total budget!! Thats what we are doing as well…
| Visit our sister sites | Project Wedding Wedding Songs |
eHarmony Advice Dating Advice |
JustMommies Pregnancy Calendar |
Fertile Thoughts Infertility Support |
Mrs. Pumpkin, Saskatchewan, Canada
Blogger Since: April 10, 2007
Age and Occupation: 28, Lawyer
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 29, Farmer
Engagement Date: July 14, 2006
Wedding Date: June, 2007
About Me: I love movies, music and I am addicted to TV. When I have some spare time I also love scrapbooking and making personalized greeting cards and above all playing Hide & Seek or Duck, Duck, Goose with my two adorable nieces!
| Sun | Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | Sat |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 |
| 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 |
| 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 |
| 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 |
| 29 | 30 |
Latest Gallery Pics