Wedding Blog
Today we’re featuring two similar anonymous bee budgets in the under $10K range.
Bee Budget #1 - $6900
# of Guests: 315
Location: medium southern city w/ population of 200k
Wedding Day Costs:
Church Fees: $175 Wedding Director, $150 Custodial fees
Reception Site: Free
Caterer/Food/Drink: $1500
Bridal Gown & Alterations: $600
Bridal Accessories (Veil, Undergarments, Shoes, Jewelry): $300
Groom’s Attire: free
Stationery/Postage: $500
Photography: $900
Reception Music: $350
Flowers: $800
Favors: $75
Cake: $400
Officiant: $100 (offering to Church)
Hair/Makeup: $85
Wedding Party Gifts: $500
Rentals: $500
WEDDING DAY TOTAL: $6935
TOTAL COST PER PERSON: $22
Other Costs:
Wedding Bands: $1500
Rehearsal Dinner/Day After Brunch: $1500
Honeymoon: $1500
OTHER COSTS TOTAL: $4500
GRAND TOTAL: $11,435
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Bee Budget #2 - $9,000
# of Guests: 60
Location: Island Destination
Wedding Day Costs:
Ceremony Site Fees: $1500
Reception Site Fees: $1000
Caterer/Food/Drink: All-inclusive resort (we chose to not have the private dinner which cost $17,000)
Service Charge/Gratuities: Some included in fees, some I don’t know (our parents tipped all over the place)
Bridal Gown & Alterations: $1500
Bridal Accessories (Veil, Undergarments, Shoes, Jewelry): $500
Groom’s Attire: $400
Stationery/Postage: $200
Photography: $2600
Videography: Free (friends)
Flowers: $300
Favors: $1200
Cake: Included
Officiant: Friend
Hair/Makeup: Did it myself
Wedding Party Gifts: $600
Misc: $500 (wedding party attire & misc.)
WEDDING DAY TOTAL: $10,400
TOTAL COST PER PERSON: $173
Other Costs:
E-ring: He won’t tell me
Wedding Bands: $2600
Rehearsal Dinner/Day After Brunch: All-inclusive resort, boo-yah
Our flights & accommodation for 1 week: $3600
Honeymoon: $700 (got an awesome deal to stay at same place another week)
Misc: $500 (boot camp x 2)
OTHER COSTS TOTAL: $6,770
GRAND TOTAL: $17,170
Do you have a similar budget? Do you anticipate spending more/less money in certain areas than these bees did? Share your experiences with this budget range in the comments!
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We’d really love for hive members to share their budgets as well! If you’d like to participate, check out our past real budget features, and submit your own budget and pictures with the information provided here!
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Share this post: Anonymous Bee Budgets: $7000 & $9000
I know these are supposed to be anonymous but this info isn’t really helpful because it is so sparse. I mean “medium city”? That means nothing…and without pictures to see what was done, or at least descriptions of food, flowers etc. I love the idea of this column but I think that it could be better implimented.
@heather25: Well if we added cities and pictures, then they wouldn’t be anonymous!
There’s a real lack of budget information online. The hope is that this series at least gets some data out there! We’ll be posting some non-anonymous budgets as well… if you’d like to see more, you can always check out the budget tag:
http://www.weddingbee.com/tag/budget/
If you have any ideas on how we could do a better job sharing budget info, please let us know! It is very hard because so many people are (rightfully) shy about sharing budget info in a public forum.
im doing my wedding for 7 grand in south florida. everything included, it might go up to 8. but thats it. not a 7 grand wedding that ends up being 12.
I agree with heather25. Perhaps you can state the region like medium sized city (population X thousand) in the midwest, etc.
Markyk…that is exactly what I am talking about. And tablescape pictures.
I don’t think that posting those kind of things will expose identity.
Great feature though…this is something I have been looking forward to!
Since these are the budgets of the actual bees that blog for weddingbee, posting pictures of the details, further details on the locations, and more specifics would make it pretty easy to figure out exactly who the person is.
im wondering why people are ashamed of their budgets. dont be. i would be more than happy to provide pictures and everything else once i get married.
@lifeonastick: I don’t think it’s necessarily “shame”. I really think it’s much like discussing your income in a public forum for some people. I don’t tell my best friends my income, nor would I divulge it in a public forum, and I think many people treat their wedding budget in the same way.
@Mrs. Penguin: it seem strange to me, how much i put towards my wedding has nothing to do with income. and people make amazing weddings on every budget, big and small.
Oh, I am sorry…I didn’t realize these were “Bee” bee budgets. I thought these were the lovely hivettes buzzing around. Ok, now it makes sense. As soon as you get more non-blogging bees to submit, I am sure the posts will become a little more detailed. Mea Culpa, I didn’t realize the connection.
I wrote this on a the money board awhile ago regarding is subject…
I would love, love to share a breakdown of our actual wedding costs with Weddingbee readers — I know that seeing actual wedding costs really helped me — but I don’t feel comfortable opening myself up for criticism on the subject. It’s just too personal.
Mr. Cookie and I got criticism before our wedding from a guest who point blank told me that she hoped, “I didn’t regret spending so much money on one day.” I don’t for a second regret how much money we spent, but I think the stigma surrounding money forces many bees, including myself, to remain anonymous during this series.
I agree, I wish there were ways to make this more specific.
I will say that I am having the hardest time finding affordable catering… catering for $1000, $1500 sounds ridiculously, wonderfully low! What kind of food was that for?
Money is a very personal topic and I completely understand and respect the various reasons anyone has for sharing or not sharing their budget.
There really isn’t budget information anywhere online, so we hope that this information is helpful!
We’ve also updated the population so that it’s a little more specific.
I think the thing that is bugging people about the anonymous part of this series is this (and I’m thinking out loud here): Why even write about your budget if you’re going to be anonymous which forces MANY details to be withheld inherently?
Maybe the best way to have done this would be to eliminate the anonymity and only go with people willing to share all. I think there are plenty of Bees with a wide range of budgets (myself included when I have some actual #s) who would gladly post a detailed entry on their budgets. Then the hive would get the insight, details, & pictures to explain their process from start to finish.
I know that before I came across WB, I was desperate to see a series like this somewhere, but as many have stated already, it IS hard to grasp a $XXX budget without seeing the outcome or knowing how it was achieved (i.e. where they scrimped and where they splurged, what was free/handed down and what was DIY, etc.).
Just my honest input. Don’t rip me apart! haha 
@Miss Labrador: no worries about being ripped apart. i agree, though i think i can piece together who’s budget these belong too even with the little info provided.
but it would help make it easier to visualize if we could see how the money was spent
I think there is real truth in what Mrs. Cookie said above. I feel it in my planning (”you’re spending WHAT on letterpress… What a waste”) although not intended to judge, hurts a little when you making tough decisions along the way.
I think the cool thing about these anonymous budgets is the comparison between prices spent on things that truly vary- like photography, types of meals (cost per plate), flowers and gowns… Because clearly you can choose to spend (or save!) money everywhere!
@Miss Labrador: Excited to see your budget post!
I do hope that anonymous budgets help get the conversation about budgets started. Hopefully they encourage more Bees to post about their budgets (and for more readers to submit to the Real Budgets feature).
I think we all agree that budgets combined with pictures are the best! We’ve been publishing Real Budgets (with pictures) for a while now - each post takes several hours to prepare, so hopefully they’ve been useful!
http://www.weddingbee.com/author/real-budgets/
It’s pretty obvious who the second bee is, but I’m not sure about the 1st. I agree that not knowing what city or what you’re getting kinda makes the budget useless, but it’s nice to see what you can get for 10k, because I wouldn’t think a ton and I was wrong.
I know there’s a few “bad apples” in every bunch, but please trust that most in the hive would hopefully not judge others budgets–big or small–but welcomingly appreciate them with open arms. I think we’ve all found Weddingbee to be a very warm online community or we wouldn’t be here, but people will be people.
Who is someone to judge how much someone spends on their invitations, dress or catering? “People who live in glass houses should not throw stones.” We can’t stop helping our fellow human being just because of the fear of ignorance of a few or nothing would ever be done in this world.
Okay, off my soap box. 
I know it’s just a wedding budget but I felt like it lent itself to a bigger issue. Sadly, money is very personal and definitely has a stigma attached. So thanks so much to all who shared their budgets, both anonymously and not, it’s really helpful to see the breakdown, especially for wedding planning newbies like myself!
Also, I think people have to remember that these Bees (who already share so much of their lives with us) are not necessarily the only people impacted by their sharing their budget. People’s parents contribute, and the Bee would inadvertently be bringing their parents into the spotlight in a way that they may not desire.
I totally respect the desire for anonymity or non-revelation!
Regarding budget #1 - how can you provide food and drink (and it says catering - so I’m assuming that means someone to serve the food and drink) 315 people for $1500? Was it a dry wedding or cash bar? Was it a breakfast or day time wedding? Was the food aps, was it a sit down meal… That is $4.75 per person. I just cannot for the life of me figure out what that buys. Did you make all the food yourself? I have never been able to host a back yard BBQ for $4.75 per person - so I’m racking my brain to figure out how you did it. I’m guessing no alcohol? Or family friend contributed some food/cost. Was it pot luck? I’ve always dreamed of a xmas time potluck wedding - if only I had a home town to have it in! (And we’re already married). The point is - Budget #1 isn’t that helpful because all of us are left wondering - how? Really, how? If people aren’t willing to post enough details to make it helpful, then maybe it isn’t worth it. And we all know who #2 is - but it is helpful even if you didn’t because it makes us realize the brilliant idea of using an all inclusive.
doctorgirl — the reason you listed is of the reasons why some Bees have opted not to share their budget specifics.
But money is a highly personal matter and I don’t think it matters why someone decides to share or not share their budget — it is 100% their decision and I completely respect that.
this feature didn’t have the reaction that we expected, so we’ll take your comments into consideration and rethink it altogether.
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Real Budgets
Feature Launched: July 3, 2007
About: Real wedding budgets submitted by former brides.
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