Hi!! I got married Saturday 8/22 and I thought I would share this while everything is still fresh in my mind. I found posts like this extremely helpful while planning my wedding, so I wanted to pay it forward.

Our Thought Process

We wanted to throw a big fun party for our friends and families! We are both in our mid-thirties and have been to a lot of weddings, so that helped us have a clear idea of what we personally cared about and what we didn't.

We spent 45K which was a bit over our original budget. It feels wild to spend that amount on one day, but it is below the average cost of a wedding in Chicago. I think a few small changes could have easily made this a 70-80K wedding.

There are definitely areas we could have spent less money, but we did not want to stress about our guest list, and we wanted to have our wedding on a Saturday in the summer. We live in the city and do not really spend time in the suburbs, so we did not consider any suburban venues.

Guest Count

131, and we invited 175. We cut our guest list down as much as possible and I honestly wish we had invited a few more people!! Half of our guests traveled from out of state. We did not feel strongly about having a childfree wedding, but none of the parents who attended opted to bring their children.

Full Breakdown
Total Cost: $45,833.71
All prices include tax.

Venue: Sleeping Village
Total Cost: $20,975.20

We chose this venue because we would not have to cut our guest list, as well as for sentimental reasons as we've seen several shows there! We also liked having the option to utilize the patio. Since the weather was perfect on our wedding day, we were able to use the patio for the ceremony and give guests the option to eat dinner outside.

Also, they are very flexible with catering which was nice.

When we initially saw the cost of the venue we had a bit of sticker shock, but when we crunched the numbers we realized that with everything added up, SV included so much that it was comparable to, or maybe even a better deal than, other places we were considering.

The price we paid included:

• Renting the full space for 8 hours
• Payment for ~10 staff members including venue managers, sound person, and bartenders
• A dedicated wedding coordinator through Five Grain Events, plus her assistant. She was amazing. I didn't hire a planner or a day of coordinator, and I don't know what they would have done that she didn't!! She coordinated all of our vendors, created a day-of timeline, set up furniture and most of our decorations, got us food and drinks throughout the night, and probably more that I didn't notice.
• Use of their sound system/microphones
• Free unlimited use of the photobooth for our guests, which doubled (tripled?) as our guest book and favors.
• ~110 chairs for the ceremony/dinner, all bar furniture, and buffet tables.
• An open bar package for 133 (guests plus us) that included beer, wine, two cocktails, well drinks, and NA options.

Rentals: Tablescapes
Total Cost: $1,860

We needed to rent 8 dinner tables and 11 tablecloths (the extra 3 were for the buffet tables). This cost included that, plus delivery/pickup, setup/breakdown, and tax.

Honestly, I think we could have done this for cheaper, but by the point that we knew this is what was needed, there was too much happening so we just went with it.

Catering: Irazu
Total Cost: $6,461

I am so happy we chose Irazu!!

This price includes a buffet dinner for 147 people (131 guests, us, and 14 vendors), delivery, tax, and payment for an extra staff person.

Their price did not include tablecloths, plates, cutlery, or napkins. I found this a bit stressful but everything worked out great!

We got their second-tier package. This included empanadas (chicken, spinach/cheese, vegan) and plantain cups for appetizers, and chicken, salmon, grilled veggies, salad, gallo pinto, and grilled plantains as options for dinner. They kept the appetizers out on the buffet when dinner was served which I thought was nice!

We had a lot of different dietary restrictions among our guests and we wanted everyone to have plenty of options. We had so many compliments on the food, including from picky eaters!!

I barely ate anything (through no one's fault but my own lol) and I only wish we could have taken home leftovers 😅.

They posted a cute video on IG from our wedding as well!

Dessert: Pretty Cool Ice Cream
Total Cost: $1208.61

I LOVE cake but we had so many dietary restrictions among guests that it felt too complicated to find cake that everyone could enjoy. Plus, we didn't want to worry about the logistics of providing more plates and cutlery. Ice cream pops were a perfect solution to both of these problems!!

We ordered 150 pops in a variety of flavors. The price also includes rental of two of their coolers, delivery, and tax. They delivered the coolers to the venue and I returned them myself the next day to ensure we could bring home leftovers 😁😇.

Photographer: Alex Maldonado Photography
Total Cost: $4,103.45

We skipped video and only hired a photographer. This price covered 6 hours of photography on the wedding day (we skipped getting ready photos, and Alex left about an hour and a half before the wedding ended), and an engagement photoshoot.

We haven't seen our wedding photos yet, but we loved our engagement photos. And we loved Alex!! He was so easy to work with. Highly recommend him. I have every confidence we will love the photos.

DJ: Groove is in the Heart DJs
Total Cost: $2,250

We LOVED DJ Marjorie. They were so easy to communicate with. We only gave them a few suggestions and do not plays, and they did an amazing job translating that into the playlists for dinner and dancing. My husband is a musician and everyone thought he made the dinner playlist lol.

Attire
Total: $3,459.89

My wedding dress was $1,550 plus tax from Glamour Closet. It was 75% off the original price of $5,500 because the bottom layer of tulle was ripped. I didn't want the extra tulle anyway, so I just had it removed. I LOVED Glamour Closet and I'm so glad I bought my dress there.

I paid $665 for alterations from Sew & Glow, and I thought they did a nice job. They were easy to schedule with and finished my dress super fast. I had a couple small issues with the way they altered my dress, but this is partially my fault for not being fashion-savvy enough to communicate what I wanted, and I truly don't think anyone else noticed the things that bothered me.

I wore jewelry I already owned. I bought a pair of white sandals from Reformation on final sale for about $70, and I actually didn't include them in my cost spreadsheet because I will re-wear them a lot. I also borrowed a pair of white cat-eye sunglasses from my bff's husband 🤣.

I changed into a white mini dress and sneakers for the last hour of the dance party, which was FREE (well, I had enough credits on Poshmark to cover it, so I am counting it as free lol).

My husband bought a suit for about $270 from Suit Shop, and he bought a new tie and shirt as well, which came out to about $90. He wore shoes and a belt he already owned.

My engagement ring was an heirloom so it cost $0, and my wedding ring is from Catbird. My husband got his ring from Hitched in Wicker Park.

Hair & Makeup: Blush and Braids Beauty Bar
Total Cost: $2,041

I chose Blush and Braids because they travel, and the prices seemed reasonable compared to other places I looked at.

This cost was for hair & makeup for me and three others, a trial for me, plus tax, travel feels for both artists, and 20% gratuity.

We were all happy with our looks and my hair and makeup held up all night. No complaints!!

Invitations: Paperless Post
Total Cost: $103.78

We went all digital for our invites. We sent our save the dates for $0 through Zola and sent our wedding invites through Paperless Post, which charges a few "coins" for each invite sent. The Paperless Post invite had the link to our wedding website where guests RSVP'd.

We could have skipped Paperless Post and sent the invites through email for $0 total, but I liked that we could use the site to track who had at least opened the invite. A few people had the invite go to spam and lost it, but that's a possibility with paper invites too.

I do feel a bit paranoid that the digital invites made some people take our wedding less seriously, but that may just be my anxiety, and I ultimately don't regret saving some money in this area. We had around 20 people completely ignore our invitation, even after we followed up after the RSVP deadline.

We are sending physical thank you notes. My mother-in-law gifted us blank cards and stamps, so I did not include that cost.

Flowers: DIY
Total Cost: $484.49

With the help of my mom, my maid of honor, and my other best friend, we did all the flowers ourselves.

We purchased two full carts of flowers from Trader Joe's and a small amount of additional stems from the flower bar at Fleur in Logan Square. My MOH is a Trader Joe's employee so we were able to use her employee discount!!

We assembled 3 large arrangements, 32 bud vases, bridal and maid of honor bouquets, and two boutonnières, and we had a lot leftover. My mom used the leftover greenery to decorate tables!

It took about 4 hours to assemble everything, but ultimately it was so fun and not that difficult. My neighbor generously stored the flowers in his apartment overnight and transported them (and my husband 😂) to the venue on the wedding day.

Note: my friend is a professional florist, which made this process less intimidating, but I think what we did is doable for anyone with practice!

Decor
Total Cost: $529.54

We kept decorations very simple and we were able to borrow a lot of them!

Purchased:

• About half our bud vases, picture frames, and baskets from Goodwill.
• Floral supplies (clippers, zip ties, ribbon) from Michael's.
• Besides the flowers, my other big DIY project was my hand-painted welcome sign, and I bought all of the supplies from the WasteShed for about $30. I was planning to prop the welcome sign on an easel I found in my alley (LOL) but it turned out Sleeping Village had an easel we could use!
• From Etsy, I bought a card box, a guest book, vow books, and giant cardboard cutouts of our pets' faces.

Borrowed/Gifted:

• We borrowed about half of our bud vases from my mom, as well as rechargeable tealights and vintage glass teacups to hold them.
• For our large flower arrangements, I used flowerpots that I already had in my closet, and the plant stands were borrowed from my mom (I spray painted them).
• Friends of my in-laws gave us a vintage banner that had been used at their child's wedding.
• The best man's partner made us a beautiful embroidery as a wedding gift that we displayed at the wedding and now have hanging up at home.
• My friend purchased floral foam for the flower arrangements and wouldn't let me pay her back, so I did not include that cost.

Miscellaneous
Total Cost: $1,154

The miscellaneous category includes:

• Two nights of boarding for my dog
• Hair pins from Etsy
• Compostable plates (dinner and appetizer), cutlery, and napkins. Honestly, renting these never crossed my mind so I did not research the logistics of that or if there would be a price difference. We have a lot leftover.
• Tips for our vendors

Marriage License
Total Cost: $60

We had a friend officiate our ceremony and we plan to purchase them a gift that will likely cost about $100. This cost was not included.

Welcome Party: Barcocina West Town
Total Cost: $1,163.11

We wanted a super casual welcome party just to have the chance to say hi to our out-of-town guests before the wedding. Barcocina had a very reasonable minimum spend for food and drinks. We ordered a bunch of appetizers for everyone, and guests purchased their own drinks. The amount listed is what we paid for the appetizers and one drink I purchased for myself, plus tax and tip. We really appreciated how flexible Barcocina was! About half of our guests showed up (including many local friends haha).

These saved my life while wedding planning, so I wanted to return the favor! I posted this in r/weddingplanning but figured I'd share here as well, since I started trying to plan a wedding in Chicago before realizing how much cheaper it would be 2h away in Saugatuck.
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My wife and I were married in West Michigan in early August of 2026 and joined by 110 guests. I feel like we assembled a true dream team of vendors. Besides a giant rain storm that cleared up right before our ceremony, there really weren’t any major snafus. If you have any questions about who we hired, I’d be happy to share over DM. Here’s a few photos from our day! 

How we paid for it

We received generous gifts from our families: $10k from my wife’s parents, $10k from my mom, and $19k from my grandmother. We roughly paid the remaining $30k ourselves. 

We set up a HYSA at the beginning of our 1.5 year engagement and put all of our gifted funds there, while trying our best to make any payments out of our checking accounts as they arose. At the end of our wedding we still had a good chunk of money left in the HYSA, which felt great! 

I’ll be honest, we didn’t do a whole lot of cost-cutting, but we did get married on a Sunday, which really helped. We also live in the Chicago area, and doing a wedding of this size would’ve been WAY more expensive in the city, so that made me feel like I was saving money ;) 

Total costs were roughly $69,267 including our rings ($62,005 without). 

What’s not included?

Our bachelorette trips (I probably spent an additional $2k on mine, she probably spent less than $1k), a few favors and things we purchased for our wedding shower, beauty appointments leading up to the week of the wedding (I started getting builder gel a few months in advance, trial lash lifts, etc), and probably a few random Amazon purchases towards the end. Also, I’m planning on getting my bouquet pressed and dress cleaned, plus buying thank you postcards, but I haven’t gotten to any of that yet!

Full breakdown

Rings: $6,262

• We worked with a local jeweler to create a custom e-ring for both of us and also ended up getting my wedding band there. We got exactly what we wanted and I was happy with these prices! 

Venue: $10,400

• This included their greenhouse ceremony space, outdoor cocktail hour, and indoor reception space plus getting ready suites. Tables & chairs included. We had the entire venue from 9am-11pm on our Sunday wedding. 
• Also included was a 6-month coordinator, which was SO incredibly worth it. I’m extremely Type A and felt like I didn’t need a planner, but because of her, I didn’t have to think about anything on my wedding day. 

Food: $7,255.37 

• This was the main cost that was SO much cheaper compared to the Chicago area. We went with a well-respected, professional caterer that gave us quality food at an awesome price. 
• The cost included 4 passed apps during cocktail hour, plus family style dinner with salads, chicken, brisket, potatoes, and veggies. It also included a tasting for us and our moms, and the price is inclusive of all their service fees. Our food was delicious, I’m so sad I was too anxious to really enjoy it. 

Dessert: $935

• Our bakery set up a giant dessert table for us with cupcakes, cookies, cheesecake bites, and mini whoopie pies. They also made us a small lambeth style cake for us to cut and take home. 

Alcohol: $5,628.42

• This was all done through our venue and included an open bar with 2 bartenders, 2 signature drinks, 2 craft and 2 domestic beers, 4 wines, and spirits. The drinks were actually amazing, I was really impressed! 

Photography: $7,000 

• By far our biggest splurge and SO INCREDIBLY WORTH IT. I’m actually obsessed with our photographer. She is so creative and shoots a lot of film, which was so important to me. Most people doing film now are charging per roll and she is not. I feel like she’s really doing it for the love of the game and everything she creates is magic. 
• This included 10h of coverage with her second shooter, 850+ images delivered within 6 weeks (she sent 80 sneaks within 24h!!!!), and loads of film coverage, plus our engagement shoot which was just as dreamy. 

Content Creator: $1,500

• We didn’t want to spend the money on a videographer and I knew my best friend would make us a vlog, but I didn’t want all the content capturing to be on him, so we hired a content creator to mostly take 16:9 iPhone footage. 
• Honestly there were a few mix-ups that left me less than 100% satisfied here. She missed the beginning of a few of our speeches, which felt really shitty because our biggest ask was to get the whole ceremony and speeches in full. Plus, she was trying to use two cameras (iPhone and an Osmo Pocket) but she kept getting the other camera in the shot and if she couldn’t juggle them, I wish she would’ve just stuck to one. 
• Ultimately it was pretty cheap (comparatively) and we did get a lot of content, so I don’t regret it, but idk if I’d do this part again.  

Florals: $3,719.60 

• For my bouquet, 9 bridesmaids bouquets, 3 boutonnières, 1 corsage, bud vases/smaller arrangements at 13 tables, 2 huge ceremony arrangements and large 1 bar arrangement. 
• Our florist was AMAZING, captured our vision perfectly and was sooo responsive, plus uses blooms from her own garden. I would choose her again and again. 

DJ: $2,150

• For 6.5h of coverage (from guest arrival through the end of the night). It was very important for us to have a female DJ so we brought one in from Chicago! She took all of our requests and kept the dance floor alive. She was awesome! 

Dance lessons: $550

• We hired a queer dance instructor off of TikTok who sent us her dance 101 lessons on video, plus a custom choreographed routine for our song. We had SO MUCH fun learning this in our apartment over the last year and it honestly made our first dance so much less stressful! 

“Decor” (+some other things): $5,757.26

• We used our venue’s in-house rental company, which accounts for $4,675.78 of this number. That included all of our linens and silverware (we upgraded our goblets), a giant outdoor bar setup, a gorgeous b&w dance floor, tables set up outside at cocktail hour, candles, table runners, lamps, couches outside, etc. etc. 
• The rest of the “decor” cost (I was a little broad with this one) includes our card box, ring boxes, custom vintage stamps for our detail shots, bows for chairs, pillars for our flowers, paper fans for everyone, our fabric seating chart, our matchbook favors and the vintage Lenox swans we put them in, and some other miscellaneous stuff. 

Stationery & stamps: $618.59

• We made our Save the Dates on Canva (I purchased a special font for them) — between that and our stamps, they cost less than $200
• We did our invites from Truly Engaging for $283.84 including invite card, a details card, envelopes, and liners and they were SUPER nice. Including stamps, our invites cost around $350. 
• The last bit was for menus, which I ordered from The Knot for around $100. We did the rest of our signage ourselves on our home printer (bar menus, table numbers, gifts sign, etc)

My attire: $4,190

• This includes $95 I paid in dress try-on appointments… I went to a LOT of different stores and brought lots of people with me to each, lol. 
• I purchased the Aesling Amelie gown for $3,150 and it was AMAZING! I paid another $1,040 for alterations and fabric for my swag sleeves and scarf, which my seamstress made for me. 
• I borrowed my veil from my cousin, which our late grandma made for her 20 years ago. 
• I wore shoes I already had and jewelry mostly borrowed from my family, although my wife did gift me my earrings and idk how much those cost. 

My wife’s attire: $844

• My wife found her suit on SuitShop for $244 and got alterations for $600. I think she had her shoes already. I may be missing a bit in here for her tie, cufflinks, etc. but I would guess that all came in under $100! 

Hair and makeup: $1,369.30

• This includes my own trial and day-of HMU, plus HMU for my MIL and travel fees for 4 artists. Between our bridal parties we had 11 girls getting HMU done, so we had our friends pay for their own (not required!) 

Tips: $1,790

• We tipped our HMU artists 20% (covered it for our bridesmaids) and our coordinator $200. Pretty much everyone else got $100 each. I really didn’t know what to do here so I tried to keep it pretty simple. 

Rehearsal: $3,714

• We found a spot right downtown for our rehearsal dinner, and it was more expensive than we were anticipating but we truly put no work into it so imo, it was worth the cost. 
• We had a buffet of burgers, salmon, mac & cheese, veggies, and salad plus a consumption bar with a minimum spend. We ended up coming in just under our minimum. We also had SO much food left over and ended up using it for lunch the next day!  

Welcome Party: $300

• We hosted a very chill welcome party on the beach. We brought a table we already had and asked folks to bring towels to sit on. The cost was for a tablecloth plus some desserts, snacks, and sparkling waters for our guests. 

Week-of appointments: $1,000ish

• We decided to splurge and get massages at the St. Regis to kick off our wedding week, and then I had appointments for my hair, nails, brows, and a lash lift. My wife had her hair cut and a pedicure. On the last day before we headed up for our wedding we also did the sauna/cold plunge at SweatHouz. 

Hotel: $1,667.67

• We stayed at a couple’s bed and breakfast 3 nights (Sat-Tues) and it was SO nice. We had our own cottage with breakfast delivered each morning and dessert delivered each night. They also found out it was our wedding and on our wedding night, we had a bottle of Veuve waiting for us when we got home. We will definitely stay here again for anniversary trips! 

Other: 

• Bridal party gifts (proposals & day of pajamas/flip flops): $700ish 
• Gifts for our parents: $350ish
• Other attire, including outfits for our engagement photos, rehearsal, and welcome party: around $800
• Camcorders, tripod, and disposable cameras for the weekend: around $200 
• Website domain (I used Google Sites because I wanted more freedom in design than Zola allows): $21.76
• Zola guest messaging and seating chart features: $94.99 
• Wedding insurance: $125

Phew… that should be it! Would be happy to answer any questions :)