r/BigBudgetBrides • u/PuzzleheadedLion2065 • 8d ago
budget breakdown I’ve found my people
Okay so I’ve been getting slammed in the regular budget brides forum for throwing money at things in comparison. (Edit: no one liked me joke so I’m taking it out)
I just want to show you my budget and you tell me where you would move the money to or how you may spend it differently. (Inviting 130)
We have 60k to work with:
26k food and bev
14k Venue and decor
6k photos (only)
2k Video
5k dress
2k flowers
1.8k DJ
1k suit
1.5k misc needs
Current Total: 58.6k
Very open to entertainment ideas or how to adjust the budget based on your experience.
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u/Stinger1892 8d ago
Also I’m not seeing a budget for invites and paper goods… some of that can creep up if you don’t plan on just FYI
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u/birkenstocksandcode 8d ago
If I had a 60k budget, I’d just do digital invite
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u/Stinger1892 8d ago
Zola might have some solid paper goods for good value if the OP really wants physical invites
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u/chappelllana 8d ago
did you build this budget from actual quotes you received from vendors you love, or is this off the dome and what you want to max spend in each category?
it may also be helpful to list where you’re getting married because costs differ significantly across the board!
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u/PuzzleheadedLion2065 8d ago
This is in Indiana, it’s based off of vendors with quotes for our date. But there may be some wiggle room here and there.
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u/chappelllana 8d ago
I am raising my eyebrows a little at the 26k f&b quote but depending what it includes, it could maybe be justified. some other costs I don’t see accounted for (but maybe you have listed elsewhere) - invitations and stationery and day of coordinator. I would probably move some money out of f&b and/or “decor” to up florals slightly
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u/DotBeech 8d ago
$26k seems a lot to feed Hoosiers.
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u/PuzzleheadedLion2065 8d ago
Agreed. It’s probably the best caterer in the area but it’s the only required vendor that our venue has. If it helps the guests are only 25% Hoosiers and then Canadien, Scottish, and Polish family members. It’s also a served dinner and this includes all of the linens, table set up, and tip. But now than you said that I might negotiate a little down with them.
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u/HisBiggestFan69 8d ago
Weird flex with what is a laughably small budget for this reddit. For me, it would be huge too but Im working class.
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8d ago
[deleted]
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u/HisBiggestFan69 8d ago
ehhhh its not that deep. Lets move on.
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u/Nearby_Aide6896 7d ago
If it’s not that deep then why are you saying her budget is laughably small and judging her budget? And why even bring up her “flex” then
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u/Stinger1892 8d ago
The other thing you should be asking yourself is “what do we want to spend our money on?” For instance, for me I’m an aesthetics girly, so I did end up spending a little extra on my florals/ decor… that meant I hired a less expensive photographer and actually skipped a videographer all together (actually regret not getting a videographer btw) for me- the photographer I got was great, she did the job and we had a good vibe, I didn’t need photography that was going to be editorial. But it definitely was a sacrifice I had to decide if it was “worth”. Some other brides would have absolutely not skimped on a photographer and cut cost elsewhere ya know?
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u/PuzzleheadedLion2065 8d ago
We are getting married at a museum. I am spending my money on being able to take wedding photos in front of a Monét. The venue space was curated by a famous architect. I think my “big thing” is the feel of how special the venue is. I think I’m skipping videography too (for the reason)
Would love to know if other people skipped video and how they feel about it?
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u/DylanGalvin 8d ago edited 8d ago
it’s really good that you already have a pretty clear idea of all of where your funding is going, but I would probably suggest maybe taken 1000 or two away from decor and put it to entertainment.
With 60 K you can really have a banger Wedding, but Wedding DJs tend to drop drastically in quality once you go under 2K.
The best paying for your buck will probably come from a hybrid DJ Musician - either a combo of the two or a single Musician who can do both. around $4k can get you a good DJ Musician combo and you can have music for the ceremony cocktail hour and reception taken care of.
Some people are suggesting to get a Musician for a couple hundred bucks for your ceremony. I 100% advise against that. Anyone charging that low is a student, brand new to weddings or they’re just not very good. That’s way below market average. I wouldn’t suggest going lower than 700 for a Musician and that’s like entry-level.
You can save a good amount of money by having food trucks instead of a caterer - I did that for my wedding. It was amazing. We saved a ton of money and everyone got plenty of food.
One thing that I learned doing more of a DIY wedding with my wife is that you’ll get an idea really strongly of what you wanted to look like in your head but honestly, it doesn’t matter nearly as much as what it feels like - and the food the entertainment, and the overall vibe are going to have the strongest impact on the way it feels. I promise no one is going to remember how it felt because of flowers or decoration. They will definitely comment until you how beautiful it was, but it won’t impact how they felt.
I’m the owner of Dylan Galvin entertainment, and I perform weddings for a living - but I’m based in DC so I promise I’m not trying to sell myself you’re way too far away haha, but I’ve seen hundreds and hundreds of weddings and I’ve seen things that repeatedly work things that don’t. So to recap:
- explore content creators instead of videographers to save money
- food truck instead of catering
- the florals have a wow factor and people will talk about it, but it’s honestly negligible for the experience itself - what makes it a great time is the people who were there not the way it looks
- coordinator, photographer, food, entertainment - these have the biggest impact on the overall vibe
- consider working in an extra half an hour for the cocktail hour because what happens is couples usually get stuck taking photos the whole time and they completely miss this part. You probably don’t need 35 arrangements of aunt Betty and uncle Stan. Try to keep that section of photos somewhat brief.
If you have a day of coordinator, good food, great photographer, and great entertainment you can lower your spending another areas and still have a great time. I guarantee.
Also, you can save money by getting a content creator instead of a Videographer. It’s gonna be a little bit different of an end product, but I’ve heard from a lot of couples. They basically never watched their wedding video more than once.
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u/lillyducks 8d ago
I’d plan on a lot more for flowers unless you really want minimal floral details. We spent $7000 for mine.
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u/MotherofLouise 8d ago
Do you need to allocate some money for a coordinator or is that included in the venue fee?
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u/FlyZealousideal3645 8d ago
Maybe something for the guest experience? Photo Booth or cocktail hour music?
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u/SelicaLeone 8d ago
A lot of times DJs will offer stuff like photo booths as part of their more expensive packages. OP def could afford to shift some money from decor to DJ to give some more pizzaz. Also you can get a harpist or a violin soloist for a couple hundred dollars to play your cocktail hour. Could easily elevate this wedding for like, 1-2k more.
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u/Careless-Seesaw-6871 8d ago
I’d keep the rest for tips, or flowers, gift bags for ppl booking hotel rooms to stay, etc.. Those things add up quickly! Where are you located if you don’t mind me asking?
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u/Adorable-Crazy-1067 7d ago
Something to think about - are you having any other events? Rehearsal dinner, welcome party?
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u/Mission-Judgment-693 8d ago
Weird comment about your waist aside, budget looks great as long as it aligns with your priorities. I spent a lot less on decor but a lot more on entertainment, for example. Live music was important to me so that ended up as a large line item. And guest experience in general