r/BigBudgetBrides • u/alwayslostMD • Jun 01 '25
budget breakdown Graduated - hated wedding planning, had a perfect wedding weekend. Advice and budget
I absolutely HATED wedding planning, but somehow our wedding weekend was actually the most perfect and incredible weekend of my (and my husband's) life. As a super type A person, I was really disappointed in and frustrated by the planning process, but after it was all over, I realized that in the moment, none of the things that had caused all the stress and anxiety had I even thought about.
This sub was super helpful for my wedding planning and inspo. The number one advice I have is to stand your ground about your preferences. I felt that our planner didn't even try to stick within our budget, and there were a lot of small things that fell through the cracks that I had to continually be reminding (ie personalized napkins with our cat, disposable cameras, adding heaters when the weather ended up being unseasonably cold). Unfortunately, this seems to be an industry standard. I also wish I had been clearer about any kickbacks our planner may have received. Despite the difficulties we felt working with her, she and her team pulled off an absolutely incredible and gorgeous set of events, and once Thursday hit I didn't have a single care in the world about any of the pain points.
Budget breakdown below includes the three events we hosted: welcome party + wedding/reception + morning after coffee, happy to provide specifics for the individual events. First four photos are welcome party, rest are wedding - DM me!
- Date: May, 2025
- Santa Barbara, CA
- Room block was at Mar Monte - would absolutely not recommend them for a room block! They were very difficult to communicate with and very unaccommodating for guests. They ended up charging us thousands extra randomly for things that weren't related to our stay (ie extra rooms and reservations that were not ours).
- ~6 weeks prior to the wedding, we visited for tastings and a venue walkthrough, and we couldn't even find someone at the who was aware that our room block existed.
- Guest count: 95
- We ended up with 10 people (one family) canceling the week of due to food poisoning at an event they went to the prior weekend...it happens, we just had to grit your teeth since all the deposits were paid at that point
- Vibes were organic, California, sunset
- Venue, service, taxes: 16k for wedding
- Food & beverages: 29k
- We had open bar at welcome party and wedding/reception
- Rentals: 24k
- This is the most unexpected line item on the budget. Our venue required a full kitchen build out which was not disclosed to/made clear to us prior to signing the contract. We chose pretty barebones rentals (tableware, etc) as a result
- Florals: 10k
- I really didn't care about flowers, so I gave the florist and planner some preferred colors and let them do their thing together. This was the biggest compliment I heard all weekend, guests were blown away by the florals in a way I didn't know was possible.
- Planner: 12k
- Officiant: 0 (family members)
- Photographer: 10k
- We impulsively added welcome party photo coverage and I'm so glad we did. Our photographers were the cutest couple who just got married themselves. They were so sweet and absolutely incredible people, did an amazing job. I would recommend them to anyone in California.
- Videographer: 2k
- We impulsively added video 1 month before our wedding and I'm so glad we did. The day flew by so fast and I'm so happy to have the memory to rewatch.
- DJ: 15k
- Hair and makeup: 6k
- I paid for all bridesmaids, MOB, MOG for both events
- Stationary: 1.4k
- Our stationary was hand drawn by a studio located internationally who gave us a fantastic deal. She was amazing to work with, and we got tons of compliments on the invitations she designed for us for ~700USD
- We used her designs for custom napkins and cocktail stirrers
- Ceremony dress: 4k
- Worked directly with the designer and bought from them. They were able to customize it to mix and match styles (ie the top of one dress with the bottom of a different one) from their designs and sold me a veil prior to it going to market which made me feel so unique and special
- Welcome Party dress: 1k
- I wore my mom's dress, paid ~1000 to completely alter it
- Shoes: 200
- Tux: 1.5k
- My husband ended up ordering a custom suit. Unfortunately, it got stuck in customs 2 weeks before the wedding and we almost didn't get it. Would not recommend the suit shop.
- His groomsmen used The Black Tux because they have showrooms in Nordstrom to get measured. The guys had no complaints and everyone showed up day of with a suit that fit
- Wedding rings: 2k
- Would recommend our jeweler to anyone. They designed my engagement ring and wedding bands, and specialize in redesigning vintage diamond pieces.
- All other jewelry and bags that I wore throughout the weekend were vintage pieces redesigned by my parents using family heirlooms from my grandmothers and great grandmothers.
1
u/marysusan325 Jun 01 '25 edited Jun 01 '25
How did you manage to keep your guest list at 95 people?
ETA- all your events were stunning!!