Hello weddingbee readers!  Its been a long time since I’ve blogged, but I read something today on WB that piqued my interest.  I’m talking about budgets, of course!  In response to one of the comments, I’m going to break down my budget for you.  Hopefully it will help some brides budget their wedding.  Just a quick note – I dont actually remember the exact amounts anymore, so these are the closest estimates that I could come up with.

Total Budget – $40,000

Reception:  $22,000
Florist:  $4,400
Photography and Video (excluding albums):  $4,100
Invitations, STD’s and Programs:  $1,000
DJ:  $1,350
Officiant:  $400
Tea Ceremony:  $1,350
Wedding Dress (including alteration) & Shoes:  $1,750
Groom’s Tux:  $700
BM and GM (everything including clothes to gifts):  $1,200
Hair & Makeup (for everyone):  $600
Transportation: $1,600
Quartet: $500
Hotel for 2 nights:  $1,000
Tips:  $1,500
Other and Miscellaneous:  $1,500

Total Cost:  $44,950

I ended up going over by about 12%.  Plus, I’m not even including things like facials to prepare my skin, the hair appointments prior to the wedding, wedding bands for both of us ($4,000), and personal training sessions.  So I probably spent another $8,000 if you count that.

Did I think that my budget was “high”?  Well, no….not for NYC anyway.  I’ve been to weddings that cost much more than this.  But I’ve also been to ones that cost much less.  Personally, (and I am completely biased here!) I think $40 to $50K is a very reasonable amount for a NYC wedding.

I’m sure I could have had a much cheaper wedding if I didn’t have it in Manhattan.  But Manhattan was just so much more convenient for everyone involved.  I probably did not need to stay at a hotel for 2 nights either- but then again, I just really needed to NOT be home before and after the wedding.  Did I really need a 16 person limo to drive us around the day of?  Probably not.  I could have probably spent a lot less on the florist – but I loved her work! I also probably didn’t need the string quartet to play for 1 hour – but I wanted that too!  At the end of the day, I probably could have scrimped and saved on a lot of things which would have saved me about $6,000 ~ $10,000 without changing the location.  Mostly though, I think of that money as my “sanity money” – meaning that I spent it to keep my sanity during those stressful planning days. 

My parents gave me about half to help me pay for the wedding, and we came up with the other half.  We truly consider ourselves to be very lucky because we were able to afford the wedding of our dreams. 

Whatever your budget may be, I think the most important thing is this:  that the memories of your wedding day brings a smile to your face when you are old and gray.  I know mine will.