Wedding Blog

A tragic thing happened four months before the wedding. So tragic, it hurts me to even think about it.

Our computer died. The little Mac laptop that could. It was four years old and working fine until one day, during a crazy Los Angeles heat wave, the motherboard sizzled. We were not fortunate enough (or smart enough!) to backup any of our work.

We lost four years worth of digital photos and about six months worth of wedding planning. Sadly, all of my budgeting spreadsheets are gone. This is actually where my spending took a nose dive, and probably part of the reason we ended up over budget. So, while I no longer have the amounts written down, I will do my best to break down our budget for you!

First, a few budget tips:

1. The best thing we did was open up a second checking account at our bank that was only used for wedding things. It made it super easy to keep track of spending, and it was connected to our regular account for easy money transfers.
2. Pay with a check whenever you can. We paid cash for a few vendors, and one didn’t have our payment recorded and sent us a second invoice. Luckily it all got cleared up, but that could have been a costly mistake for us.
3. Only buy things after you have already been planning for a few months. Even if you see some great sale, unless you are 100% sure you will use the items, it isn’t worth it.

So here is a very, very basic version of our budget from my memory (and a glance at our wedding bank account before we closed it last week!).

I am so sorry that I don’t have exact numbers for most items, but all of the “big ticket” lines (venue, photography, etc.) are pretty exact because I looked at our contracts to determine what we paid.

Our wedding took place on a 9/12/09 in Los Angeles, California. We hosted 90 guests (including 14 children).

Venue Costs:

• Venue Rental (12 hour rental): $6000 (plus a $3K security deposit)*
• Venue Cleaning & Trash Fee: $500*
• Valet Service: $1000*
• Doorman, Site Manager, Event Manager: $1800*
• Seating and Other Rentals: $1600
• PA System: $190

Wedding Helpers:

• Ceremony Musician: $300
• DJ: $1500
• Babysitter: $150*
• Hair and Makeup: $350
• DOC: $500
• Officiant: $550

Random Stuff:

• Miscellaneous (candles, vases, jars, kids table, photobooth, favors etc): $1000
• Flowers: $300
• Paper Goods: $1000

Edible Things:

• Caterer (includes food, wait staff, bartenders, chef and tableware rentals): $7500
• Alcohol: $800
• Cakes: $200
• Cupcakes and Cookies: $60

Wearable Things:

• Dress: $1500
• Alterations: $200
• Various headpieces: $150
• Mr. S’s Outfit: $700
• Rings: $500

Memorable Things:

• Videographer: $600
• Photographer: $2500
• Engagement shoot: $750 (photographer fee was included in wedding photo package, but we spent SO MUCH $ on clothes, accessories, and getting photos printed, albums for parents, etc.)
• Boudoir shoot: $600 (fee of $250, plus hotel room, hair and makeup, book printing, etc.)

Other Things:

• Rehearsal Dinner: $600
• Hotel Rooms (night before wedding , night of wedding): $450
• Honeymoon: $2800
  Cat Boarding: $550 (they were boarded for the day before the wedding until the day after we got home from our honeymoon)

Grand Total: About $40k
(We were refunded the $3K security deposit from the venue, but since I am also sure there are more than a few things that didn’t make it into the budget {gifts, OOT bags, centerpiece trials…}, I am just leaving that as part of the money spent.)

*All starred items were contractually required by our venue.

Ultimately, we spent about $40K on our rehearsal, wedding day and honeymoon. Most of the money was a gift from my mom, although Mr. Sprinkle’s parents gifted us the rehearsal dinner fund, and we were able to save up about 15% of the total during the 9 months we were engaged.

If I could do it over again, I don’t think there was much I would change. Maybe we’d consider not spending so much on a few things (six pairs of shoes I haven’t returned yet, two expensive dresses, hmm…)! I would also have followed tip #3, which is to not buy anything unless you are 100% sure you will be using it. I have boxes and bags full of stuff to be donated and sold, which could have been prevented if I had waited until I had a clear wedding vision before I started spending! That is the hardest rule to follow, for me, because I just get so darn excited about celebrations!

(photo: Hazelnut Photography)

All in all, everything was totally worth it, because if we didn’t have a wedding, we wouldn’t have this picture. And without this picture, life would be incomplete!