Wedding Budget Help
Wedding Budget Dilemmas
- Who Pays for the Wedding?
- Should You Elope?
- Saavy Questions to ask Wedding Vendors
- The Power Around Who Pays
- Creating a Wedding Budget
- Wedding Photography and Videography | What Do You Want to Record and at What Cost?
- Should you Splurge? A Decision Guide
- Dilemas: Chosing A Wedding Party
- Wedding Budget
- Create the Guest List or Budget First?
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Wedding Reception Budget
Your wedding reception will be roughly 40-50% of your wedding budget. This is important to note because there is a myth that if you simply reduce the guest list, you'll save a lot of money. It's important to think through, can you afford a small wedding? There are many fixed costs separate from the number of guests. This includes:
Fixed costs (generally unimpacted by your guest list)
- wedding dress and accessories
- wedding party attire
- ceremony site
- reception site (this varies greatly but small and large weddings happen in low cost and expensive settings)
- beauty and pampering
- honeymoon
- rings
- parent and wedding party gifts
- officiant
- transportation
- music
- photography
- videography
The national averages, according to The Wedding Report, is as follows:
Reception Budget = $11,457 |
|
| 2009 | |
| Hotel Room for After Reception | $252 |
| Other Accessories or Decorations | $252 |
| Reception Bar Service | $2,309 |
| Reception Food Service | $3,299 |
| Reception Location | $2,636 |
| Reception Rentals (Tent, Table, Chairs, Etc.) | $1,881 |
| Reception Table Centerpieces | $294 |
| Toasting Flutes | $98 |
| Wedding Cake | $334 |
| Wedding Cake Topper and Serving Set | $102 |
The music at your wedding of course plays a huge role in your budget. Again, national averages:
Entertainment$895/musicians, $1,295 DJ, $1,731 band |
|
| 2009 | |
| Band at ceremony | $605 |
| Band at reception | $1,126 |
| Dance lessons | $405 |
| DJ at ceremony | $643 |
| DJ at reception | $652 |
| Musician/s at ceremony | $384 |
| Musician/s at reception | $511 |
Remember as well your reception has to do with your guests comfort, how fancy they should be dressed, how far they have to drive (either from your ceremony to reception or simply from the reception back home.) Your reception also has to do with how kid-friendly your wedding will be, how easy it is for guests to find (downtown, parking issues, tucked away in an esay or hard to find neighborhood, etc.)
Your reception also sets a good part of the tone of your big day, whether it's regal or relaxed, how easy it is for guests to walk around, to dance, to mingle. Does the reception feel comfortable based on the types of guests you have (the country club social circle or the VFW social circle) and are you in a big public area with a lot of other non-guests around to either add to the energy of your event or to take away from your specialness?
The First Dance with Todays Complex Families | First Dance Wedding Etiquette