This Will Be Our… Budget Recap Post

This Will Be Our… Budget Recap Post

July 19th, 2010 @ 8:17 am by Mrs. Spaniel
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Way back when I was a wee ’bee, I promised I’d share our final budget numbers at the end. I don’t want to say goodbye on a budget post, though, so you’re stuck with me through a few more recaps.

Yes, that’s what you’re stuck with (guest photo)

So without further ado…

Category	Budget	Actual
Ceremony (location fee, officiant)	$400	$150
Reception (venue rental, food and service, beverages and bartenders, cake and cutting fee)	$17,000	$24,000
Bride’s attire and accessories (including alterations, hair and make-up)	$2,000	$1,750
Groom’s tux and accessories	$250	$0
Flowers and décor (bouquets, boutonnieres, corsages, ceremony decorations, reception decorations and centerpieces)	$2,000	$1,015
Music (ceremony and reception musicians)	$2,000	$1,100
Photography	$3,000	$3,200
Stationery	$750	$750
Wedding rings	$2,000	$1,440
Gifts (bridesmaids, groomsmen, parents)	$600	$660
Videographer	—	$1,100
Day-of Coordinator	—	$350
Transportation	—	$125
Ketubah	—	$620
Total	$30,000	$35,600

Ouch. So, it’s pretty obvious where we got into trouble: when we put our budget together, way back in the long ago days of 2008, we had assurances from our family that the guest list would not exceed 150, that we could plan on 130 people celebrating with us. In the end, we had a guest list of a whopping 205 people, and put on a party for 162. Add in a few extras, like upgraded chairs and passed appetizers, and you can kiss your budget goodbye! The lesson of the day is: get the list from your parents EARLY, and don’t trust them when they just give you a number! They almost certainly have an additional 50 guests up their sleeves.

I didn’t try the prosciutto, but everything else was delicious!

Would it have been such a party if the room weren’t so full?

I’m just going to go ahead and say that, in the end, there is very little we could have done differently without the benefit of hindsight. Every new thing we thought of (video, DOC, ketubah, a ride home at the end of the night), we took out of somewhere else in the budget—I wore low-cost accessories and ones I won, we got a free rental on Mr. Spaniel’s tuxedo from the Men’s Wearhouse, chose a hotel that would give us a free suite for reserving a large block, and hired a freelance florist instead of an established shop, for example. We also took every precaution we could think of on the reception costs by hammering out our guest list early. Unfortunately, just because Mr. Spaniel and I were all wedding all the time doesn’t mean our parents were, and I guess a year beforehand they did not have their wedding caps firmly on their heads… leading to last minute invites that came too late to have chosen a less expensive venue after all!

Admittedly, if this were all coming out of my own pocket, I would have put my foot down more firmly on the last-minute guests. Nearly 20% over-budget is no joke. But our parents thought inviting more of their friends was worth it, and no one at our wedding were strangers. Mr. Spaniel and I spent only what we could afford, and no one went into any debt for our wedding.

And since I can’t think of a better way to close this post…

Meh.

All photos by the wonderful Meg Perotti, unless otherwise noted.

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Tags: budget, los-angeles |

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20 Responses to “This Will Be Our… Budget Recap Post”

Member

TheFutureMcBride (message) 4,484 posts, Honey bee

Thank you for sharing. Looking at someone else’s and tips to boot really help.

7/19/10 @ 8:50 am (reply)

Guest

susieq

thanks for being so transparent with your budget! It is so helpful!

7/19/10 @ 8:58 am (reply)

Bee

Miss Hot Wings (message) 2,213 posts, Buzzing bee

Love the honesty. You’re going to help so many people!

7/19/10 @ 9:30 am (reply)

Bee

Mrs. Trail Mix (message) 6,329 posts, Bee Keeper

Definitely helpful to see other bride’s budgets! I’m super-impressed at your transportation cost, ours was almost a grand to rent a bus for our guests!

7/19/10 @ 9:42 am (reply)

Member

Miss Shoe (message) 105 posts, Blushing bee

Just looking at the photos, I’d have guessed way more than $35k. In 50 years, you’ll look through your wedding album and remember an amazing day, and $6k won’t seem so terrible.

7/19/10 @ 10:07 am (reply)

Bee

Miss Cardigan (message) 8,645 posts, Bee Keeper

Thanks for sharing - it’s always so helpful to read these posts!

7/19/10 @ 10:36 am (reply)

Bee

Miss Starfish (message) 1,926 posts, Buzzing bee

I love budget posts, they are so helpful. I especially like that you included the budgeted amoutn and the actual.

7/19/10 @ 10:49 am (reply)

Member

MeghanV (message) 375 posts, Helper bee

Don’t be hard on yourself! I don’t think that the amount you went over by is a big deal— there was a clear reason for it, and it sounds like your parents were ok with paying more because of it. It’s not like you just forgot about it, or decided “budget schmudget.”

7/19/10 @ 12:13 pm (reply)

Bee

Miss Pin Cushion (message) 1,012 posts, Bumble bee

Though it’s over and done for us, budget wise, I always appreciate seeing other brides’ budgets. Thanks for posting, Spaniel!

7/19/10 @ 1:18 pm (reply)

10.

Guest

Kate

Thank you for sharing! I’m actually really impressed - so don’t be hard on yourself! In all of the photos so far, it looks like it was a $50k wedding - and I can see you spent the majority of your money on guest comfort and killer food and drinks, rather than a $5k designer dress for yourself. So you are awesome.
I went a bit over budget too, but am not beating myself up over it - I figure that when I go on holiday or vacation, we don’t count up every cent spent - and we shouldn’t feel so much pressure to do it ourselves!
Congrats on a beautiful wedding, and thanks for the transparency. I know when I was planning our wedding I wished I had more Real budgets to compare to.
Best wishes !

7/19/10 @ 1:32 pm (reply)

11.

Bee

Miss Brooch (message) 1,721 posts, Bumble bee

I am definitely afraid of the guest list!!! We are looking at proposals from various catering companies right now and the cost totally depends on the number of people that come to the wedding, which is something we cannot predict!! Kind of scary how the budget for food can go from 6k to 10k just 20 people later!!!

Thanks for sharing this too, btw. It looks like even though you were ultimately over, you were under budget in a lot of those categories.

7/19/10 @ 2:36 pm (reply)

12.

Member

tea (message) 7,295 posts, Bee Keeper

oh thank you for sharing your numbers! i’m a little nervous about the guest inflation myself but hopefully we’ll be able to stay near our budget.

7/19/10 @ 3:27 pm (reply)

13.

Bee

Mrs. Spaniel (message) 6,792 posts, Bee Keeper

@Mrs. Trail Mix: Yikes! We were lucky because our hotel offered a free shuttle for guests, but almost no one decided to use it (our friends mostly picked designated drivers; only our wedding party took advantage). That saved us buckets of cash, for sure. We only hired a small town car for Mr. Spaniel and I at the end of the night for an hour so that we didn’t have to get into a big passenger van with my big dress and eight groomsmen.

@Miss Shoe & @Kate: Thanks! I’m not beating myself up too badly, although I do feel a bit guilty that I couldn’t/didn’t do more to absorb the costs elsewhere. But it was a beautiful wedding and I don’t think the money was wasted.

7/19/10 @ 4:32 pm (reply)

14.

Bee

Miss Octopus (message) 1,446 posts, Bumble bee

As I’ve blogged before, we’re going to be in the EXACT same boat. Budgeted a certain number of dollars for a certain number of guests, then added way more guests, so the budget is now far from accurate. However, my parents have the exact same attitude as yours, so it’s all working out, I suppose.

7/19/10 @ 5:24 pm (reply)

15.

Member

jordynrose (message) 6,351 posts, Bee Keeper

This was immensely helpful! Thank you for being so honest.

7/19/10 @ 7:19 pm (reply)

16.

Bee

Mrs. Hamster (message) 4,046 posts, Honey bee

Thanks for sharing! And I definitely enjoyed your eye-candy pics of your beautiful venue

7/19/10 @ 9:43 pm (reply)

17.

Guest

Alaynah Boyd

Thank you for sharing! This was really insightful and helpful.

7/19/10 @ 11:39 pm (reply)

18.

Bee

Mrs. Pug (message) 3,753 posts, Honey bee

thanks for sharing this, spaniel. the food and drink is the biggest chunk o change and the hardest to control, so overall you did an amazing job with your budget and your wedding looks like a million bucks!

7/20/10 @ 12:23 am (reply)

19.