Wedding Blog

Our wedding took place on September 9, 2009 in Hillsboro, North Dakota at the Traill County Courthouse. There were seven guests: our four parents, two siblings, and one mutual friend. Our original budget, set back in March almost on a whim, was $1000.

This post will break down the costs of each element of the wedding. Then I’ll tell you how close we came to our goal budget, and where we splurged/saved.

Ceremony Site Fees: $50 (original estimate: $0)

• Fee to marry at the Courthouse: $50

[Shawna Noel Photography]

Dinner on the Day of for 9 of us: $0 (original estimate: $150)

• Gifted by a family member.

Bride’s Attire & Accessories $441 (original estimate: $400)

• Dress: $208 (including S&H)
• Shoes: $29 (*gift card used to offset $100 price; free S&H)
• Sash: $8 for spool of ribbon and strand of beads
• Hair flower: $13 (including S&H)
• Earrings: $0 (*gift card used to offset $30 price)
• Bracelet: $48 (free S&H)
• Necklace: $105 (total last minute “It’s my wedding, gimme gimme” splurge)
• Manicure: $30 (another last minute splurge)

Groom’s Attire & Alterations: $186 (original estimate: $100)

• Shirt: $20
• Jacket: $98
• Pants: $48
• Pants Alterations: $20
• Tie: $0 (gift from a family member)
• Shoes: $0 (*gift card used to offset $69 price)

Paper Products and Postage: $200 (original estimate: $150)

• Save-the-Dates: $0 (supplies were $17, gifted by my MIL)
• Save-the-Date Postage: $0 (postcard stamps were $28, gifted by my MIL)
• Picnic Invitations: $106
• Picnic Invitation Postage: $48
• Ceremony Invitations: $8
• Announcements: $23
• Announcements Postage: $15

Photography: $400 (original estimate: $0)

• Shawna Noel worked out a deal with us (priced at a little more than an engagement session) because she’d never shot our “type” of wedding before, and we wouldn’t be eating up too much of her time.

Cake: $30 (original estimate: $30)

• Courtesy of FMIL and FFIL, both of our cakes were made by a family friend.
• Cake Topper: $30

Bouquet and Bout: $34 (original estimate: $60)

• Flowers: $30
• Ribbon: $0 (used ribbon scraps I already had.)
• Corsage Pins: $2
• Flower tape: $2

Misc/Other Expenses: (original estimate: $0)

• Ribbon for the mismatched jars (picnic decor): $6

ACTUAL BUDGET TOTAL: $1347

We missed our budget mark by $347. And I’m totally happy with that. I’m not budget-nazi. $1000 was an estimate we cooked up fairly indifferently because we thought we could do our wedding for that much. And by our original plans, we would have made it. We have no regrets over a few extra pennies spent!

What busted our budget?
Our photographer. She wasn’t in the original plan at all. I have no guilt over this decision. I mean, have you seen the pictures? They’re worth 10 times that much money. The memories are worth it, she’s awesome, and she gave us a great deal to boot. What else? Mr. Mary Jane’s outfit. But he needed a suit, and what better opportunity to buy him one? Even though we broke the menswear budget, we still got excellent deals on his clothing by taking advantage of sales and coupons. And the final budget buster: the DIY paper crafts. I hadn’t originally planned on the picnic, but once it was decided I volunteered to make the paper products for it. FMIL contributed some money and I chose to contribute some more of my own.

Where’d we save?
I came in almost a full $100 under my dress and accessories budget. That helped offset the cost of the splurges a little. And someone’s generous offer to buy everyone’s meal on our wedding day? Well, that saved us a ton. Aside from straight-up budget savings, we also saved a lot in other ways. We watched the sales and managed to get many items for deep discounts (Example: Mr. Mary Jane’s pants and jacket were originally over $550, but we purchased them for under $150). We also shopped around, often finding items for significantly less on certain websites (Example: I saw my bracelet listed for as much as $450, but eventually found it elsewhere for $50.) And finally: I had a lot of gift cards and coupon codes. I saved them from Christmas, my birthday, and store promotions, and I had quite the hefty stash in my purse by the time I snapped in to Wedding Purchasing Mode. It was to the point where I was embarrassed to admit to you all that I’d skirted our budget once again by use of a gift card!

What was the hardest thing to spend money on?
My dress. I’m serious here. I never buy full-price clothing, and I couldn’t find this on sale. And I never spend even close to that much on one article of clothing: especially one I’m sure never to wear again. For most people, $200 is a minuscule price for a wedding dress… but for me, this was a very difficult purchase to make.

And Finally, A Note About the Picnic
Many of you think I should include the picnic in my budget. I’ve decided not to, and here’s why. It was never a planned part of the “Mary Jane Wedding”. MIL Mary Jane wanted to throw this party for us, and we accepted her offer. We did not, ourselves, plan on having any sort of reception (other than the dinner on our wedding day). Therefore, in my budget I have only included picnic-related stuff that I bought (mainly paper products). Like the invitation supplies: they’re included. But the food for the picnic? Not included. I realize that this doesn’t give you an decent picture of how much you can expect to shell out for an event like ours, and for that I’m sorry. But I won’t be asking my in-laws how much their gift to us cost so that I can post that information online. That would not exactly be polite. Just try to think of this picnic like you would a bridal shower: would you include the money your aunt spent hosting your bridal shower in your budget? I didn’t think so.

And what about the honeymoon?
We just don’t know yet. I really wish we’d had time to do something. And now, with some financial strains we’re facing, I don’t know if we will be able to do something. I guess we’ll see about that… at some point later.

What are/were your splurges? How about savings?