Budget: What is Reasonable?

When we ask the dreaded question (and yes, we have to ask it every time), “what is your budget?”, so many couples tell us that they just want their wedding to be “reasonable.” That my friend is a loaded word. What is reasonable means something completely different to everyone. It could be $15,000, $50,000 or $150,000.

How Do I Come Up With This Budget?

Deciding on your budget is important and something we recommend everyone do. Choose a ceiling (and then pad it a little bit for those extras you didn’t consider). This should be the number that you absolutely can not go over, or at least try not to go over.  Some ways to determine this number are:

• Talk to anyone who is contributing to the wedding. This could be you guys, both sets of parents (or all the parents depending on your situation), grandparents or anyone who is chipping in.  This may be a little uncomfortable but talk to everyone about what they can feasibly contribute.
• Do some research as to what an average wedding in your area costs (more on this below) and use those numbers as a base for your budget.
• Take your taste into consideration. If you are know for eating out at fancy restaurants and liking lavish things you may want to bump that number up. If backyard BBQs are more your speed you may be able to shave some off.
• Remember, this is a celebration where the people you love the most will be but that doesn’t mean you and your families have to be paying for it for the next 50 years.
• If your budget falls on the lower end be prepared to do more yourself. You can DIY some really cool things and may be able to call on talented friends and family to help.
• Save money! (Yeah, this one can be hard.) Plan to set aside money every month for the duration of your engagement. If you are paying for or contributing to the wedding this goes into the pot, if not, this can go toward the honeymoon or a house!

But What Does a Wedding Cost Anyway?

The average wedding in the US falls somewhere between $30,000 and $50,000 depending on where you live (unless you live in NYC then it falls more around $80,000.) These numbers are based on 100 guests and usually represent a nice but somewhat simple wedding. (Not those lavish wedding dripping with greenery that you see on Pinterest.)

We realize these numbers can be a shock to some people. Remember that you are taking all of your guests out to dinner and paying for their bar tab and entertainment, even if you were feeding them Chick-fil-a (which we are not against), it is not going to be cheap.

When trying to figure out the right budget for your taste we usually suggest taking the type of car you drive and figuring out what that car would cost new. This is a good indication of where your spending will fall.  (Yeah, it’s gonna cost a car. Trust us.) It usually shows what type of taste you have, Nissan Altima taste is different from Porsche SUV taste.

Here are a couple example of different budgets and how the numbers might be distributed within those:

These estimates may vary based on different cities or regions.

Dear Lord, There Goes My Savings…

Don’t fret. You don’t HAVE to spend your life savings. Consider what you think is important and what type of value you place on the events of the day.  For some people this is an intimate ceremony or a small elopement and for some this really is a big party with all of your friends and family.  Whatever you determine, make sure you keep that ceiling in mind.

You can see more about this in our latest episode of Planning + Prosecco here.  Happy Planning!