Every bride dreams of a fairytale affair on their wedding day, but fairytales cost money. Hence each guest that is invited is a cost for the couple getting married. In order to know where your money is going you have to divide your list of needs into personal & guests.
Personal = which includes bridal gown, groom’s suit and all that adorns the bride and groom right down to their jewelry and shoes
Guests = and that includes anticipating all that has to accommodate your guests from the church right down to the reception , this list can be costly but it is dependent on how many guest are attending and what kind of experience the couple wants to provide for their guests .
The smaller the guest list the more a couple can embellish on their desires if they have a tight budget. A small wedding of 50 people can cost $10,000 or more, again it all depends on what the couple wants at this event. Let’s a take a look one of the most recent event consultations and how tight their $7,000 budget was for 65 wedding guests. (not including the personal needs of the bride and groom).
Donation to the church for the wedding ceremony - $500; Flowers and wedding arch for church - $400; Payment for Reception area -$1,500; invitations - $350; Caterer – $2,500; Photographer- 1,800- 2,000 DJ- $800 ; Linens Rental (table cloths, napkins, chair covers, chair sashes) - $360; Flatware, utensils and glassware- $950 – 1050 ; Limo service $400 (3hrs); floral centerpieces- $1,200 ; desert table with backdrop $800 – $1000 ; a day of coordinator to tie all these moving pieces together including set up and break down staff of 5 people - $2,800. The overall total came to $14,660
This couple was over by 7,660, doubling their initial budget. They had to decide what was worth keeping and what they would extend their budget for. This consultation left this couple with a clear layout of the expenses for their wedding plans and wondering what their next step was in the planning process; no wedding is an easy fix and so as their day of coordinator I provided discounted prices in my network that allowed them to cut the overage by half . We love Weddings and our job at Personalized Events is to make your dreams come through.
