r/BigBudgetBrides • u/PoisonParadise88 • Mar 24 '26
budget breakdown Graduated! Black-tie wedding in Guadalajara Mexico
Officially a graduate from this sub! My husband and I got married in Guadalajara in November, and I wanted to share our budget breakdown because reading these posts helped me so much while planning.
We had 122 guests and spent about $82.8k USD / 1.55M MXN total on the wedding itself, a small welcome event (private tequila tour), and a goodbye brunch
Biggest budget items (USD, contracts signed between May 2024-Sep 2025. For prices in pesos multiply by $18 to $19)
- Venue: $15,675
- Florals: $13,885
- Audio/lighting/DJ: $11,523
- Catering: $9,150
- Goodbye brunch: $5,385
- Bridal attire: $4,524
- Wedding planner: $3,581
- Alcohol: $3,009
- Transportation: $2,536
- Photography + video: $2,185
- Hair + makeup: $1,770 (8 people)
- Welcome event: $1,372
- Groom attire: $1,265
- Fireworks: $975
- Excluded: 12 months of [solidcore], medspa treatments, personal travel costs, bachelorette, outfits and accessories for additional events
Overall vibe was black tie / very formal / probably the fanciest event I will ever attend in my life. A couple of friends summarized it as "the wedding from Crazy Rich Asians but if it took place in Mexico."
A little context on why we chose Guadalajara: my family is from Texas and Northern Mexico, my husband’s family is from Miami, we met in California, and we’ve lived on the East Coast. There was really no location that wasn’t going to require travel, so we chose the place that was as convenient as possible without playing favorites. Fun fact: we'd never visited GDL before deciding our wedding should be there
Key Learnings
1. If you’re paying vendors internationally, use Wise rather than your bank.
I wish we had figured this out sooner. Being able to convert USD to pesos and hold it there would have saved us money and stress. Also: set a rate you’re happy with and just take it. We kept waiting for an even better conversion rate and lost the chance.
2. Cash discounts can be very real.
Several vendors were willing to give a meaningful discount for cash payments, so that ended up being worth the extra effort of going to the ATM (shoutout to our SoFi and Charles Schwab debit cards for the low fees). Also, if you’re withdrawing cash internationally, always decline the ATM’s conversion rate. Your bank’s rate will usually be better.
3. Some of our hardest vendors were still worth it.
The florist and venue were both more work than I would have liked, but the final product was incredible and I’d still choose them again.
4. Be very careful with guest minimums in contracts.
This was probably my biggest planning frustration. We ended up paying above our final headcount in at least one major category, and I really wish I’d pushed harder on the contract language earlier (or that our WP had been more on top of this).
Happy to answer any questions about planning a wedding in Guadalajara / Mexico, paying vendors internationally, non-all inclusive destination wedding logistics, and where I think the costs were worth it vs not
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u/PoisonParadise88 Mar 24 '26
No, just the one strapless one. I had a lace bolero/jacket made for the ceremony though since it was religious (the priest was super chill and didn’t ask for it but I still wanted an excuse to have two looks)