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Catering always eats up a huge portion of any wedding’s budget! See how the bees fed their guests within their budgets. Be sure to check out the rest of the posts in this Real Bee Budgets series!
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Mrs. Avocado’s Caterer
Caterer: Hotel 1000, Seattle WA, 2008
Cost: $86.70/person, 76 guests and 4 vendor meals, for a total of $6936 (including taxes and gratuities).
Included: Tray passed appetizers (average of $44.75/dozen), onion soup (a custom item made with my dad’s organic onions at no extra cost!), an absolutely amazing cucumber melon sorbet intermezzo, pasta/beef/halibut entrees (average of $39/plate), sparkling cider ($12/bottle), strawberry lemonade ($45/gallon), coffee and tea service at the end of the meal (no charge), and vendor meals ($27/average).
Today in our Real Bee Budget series, the bees are sharing their rental costs. How do these rental costs stack up to rental pricing in your area?
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Miss Cherry Pie’s Rentals
Rentals: Celebrate Rentals
Total Cost: $4,400
Cost Breakdown:
Today the bees are sharing their cake costs! Check out all the rest of the bees’ budgets featured in our Real Bee Budget series!
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Mrs. Cookie’s Cake
Cake: Chocolate cake with raspberry preserves, white fondant, and blue royal icing
Cost: $500
Served: 65 (hardly any left over)
Bakery: Blue Moon Bakery
Location: Silverthorne, Colorado
Topper: $5 at Target
“After our initial baker backed-out on us a month before our wedding, I was just happy to have cake at all. But Chief Ben Reil at Blue Moon Bakery stepped in and saved the day. He made us a chocolate cake with raspberry preserves covered in white fondant and decorated with blue royal icing. Unfortunately, with four other weddings that weekend, he couldn’t deliver the cake to our venue. The cake was modified from our original design so that my parents could pick it up and also so it would survive the trek up the mountain on a windy gravel road. The cake toppers were salt and pepper shakers that I found at Target.”
Read more…
Mrs. Penguin here! Flower costs were, by far, the biggest mystery to me. We hope that by seeing the bees’ flowers and their costs, you can get a better idea for floral pricing for your own wedding! A big thank you to all the bees that continue to contribute to our Real Bee Budget series… you guys are the best!
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Mrs. Hot Cocoas’ Flowers
Florist: Kate Baker Florals, Southern California
Total floral cost: $6750
Included:
Featured on Weddingbee
All-Inclusion Invitation Suites
“Make an elegant invitation statement without the fuss. Stylish invitation sets with matching envelopes, reception and response cards included.”
Today in our Bee Budget Series, the bees are sharing their photography costs. Packages and rates vary from year to year, but we hope this gives you a good idea of photography rates across the country!
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Mrs. Tulip’s Photographer
Photographer: Punam Bean Photography
Package Price: $2000
“When I was looking at photographers, there was nothing that made me as sad as finding someone I loved and then discovering that her/his rates were 2-3 (and even up to 5!) times my maximum. But Punam’s 2008 rates started at $2,000. And that price included an engagement session. And you got a DVD of your images. She’s willing to travel and is reasonable about travel expenses, which is how this DC bride ended up with an NYC photographer…”
Read more…
Here is our second installment of the bees’ invitations. This post features invites that were DIYed by the bees! Check out the bees’ professional and semi-DIY invitations here.
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Mrs. Pineapple’s Invitations
# of Invitations: 74
Total Cost: $171.00 (including stamps and programs)
Cost per Invitation: $2.31
Invitations:
About Us…:
Read more…
Create the honeymoon of your dreams.
Next up in our “Real Bee Budgets” series is invitations! Weddingbee has seen a great mix of invitations over the years. Some bees have commissioned artists and stationers to handle the entire invitation process, some have hired graphic designers and completed the assembly at home, and some have DIYed their invites completely! Up first today are invitations that were either entirely professional, or semi-DIY.
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Miss Stiletto’s Invitations
# of Invitations: 80
Total Cost: $447 (including postage)
Cost Per Invitation: $5.58
Invitation front & back:
Invitation envelopes:
Here are the bees’ dresses over $1000 before alterations. Check out the first post in this series, dresses under $1000.
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Mrs. Meatball’s Dress
Dress: #CBD from Deborah Lindquist
Cost + Alterations: $1500, no alterations
Many bees have generously shared their wedding dress budgets with us! First up, wedding gowns under $1000 (before alterations).
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Mrs. Cupcake’s Dress
Dress: Casablanca 1860 in Champagne from The Wedding Touch in Frazer, PA
Cost + Alterations: $980 + $200 at The Wedding Touch ($1180)
Today’s budget comes from a reader who got married yesterday! She’s graciously shared her planning budget with the hive. Congratulations Sarah and Brad!
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Date: 6/20/09
City, State: Long Beach, CA
Budget: $55k (not including honeymoon, rehearsal dinner, brunch or rings)
# of Guests: 220
Original budget did not include rings, honeymoon or rehearsal dinner & brunch. My parents paid for the wedding, his parents paid for the rehearsal dinner, brunch & bar bill at wedding. We paid for wedding
bands and our hotel room.
Wedding Day Costs
Ceremony Site Fees/Type of Venue: $1611 - At Sunset Deck at the Reef on the Water. The total includes ceremony set up and chairs as well as the rehearsal coordinator.
We created a chart using the reception venue rental costs of all the Bees who shared their budgets. The mean cost was $2878, and the median cost was $1900. Where does your venue fall?
Check out the venue budgets of the Bees who got hitched in small towns or medium cities below. You can see venue budgets for Bees who got hitched in major cities here!
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Mrs. Cherry Pie’s Venue
Venue/Place: Polebridge, Montana
Venue Fee: $500
Includes: Use of stage, sound system, and land
Here’s a look at the venue budgets of Bees who got hitched in major cities! Part II will feature the venues of Bees who got hitched in small or medium cities.
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Miss Bruschetta’s Venue
Venue/Location: F.U.E.L. House in Philadelphia, PA
Venue Fee: $6,500 license fee, plus the cost of rentals and caterer
Rental Time: 24 hours
Maureen & Adam - August 16, 2008
Location: Rural Michigan
Budget: $15,000 ($10,000 gifted from bride’s parents)
# of Guests: 125
Wedding Day Costs
Read more…
Hi hive! Based on reader feedback, we’ve retooled the Bee budget posts! We’re approaching the series in a different way by focusing on different aspects of the bees’ budgets and including pictures of what they got, and for what price! We hope this series will give readers a glimpse into what wedding details cost real brides! So, without further ado, we’re kicking off the series with everyone’s favorite detail: shoes!
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Mrs. Cherry Blossom’s Shoes
Shoes: Grace Shoes (Style: Crystal)
Cost: $145 + 15% off
I originally had a different pair of shoes. They were called the rich ‘n post by Kenneth Cole reaction which were a cheaper mock of a pair of Kate Spades … but it was love at first sight … I saw these and couldn’t stop thinking about them. They just screamed bridal and … to me, how could I resist? The best part: I got to wear them twice! 
And I also got these to wear with my Chinese Qi Pao Dress… they go with everything.
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
Read more…
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Real Budgets Feature Launched: July 3, 2007 About: Real wedding budgets submitted by former brides.
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