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It's all well and good to share all the details my sweet day BUT for those of you planning your own wedding, I thought sharing a bit of the more practical side [i.e. financial side] might be even more exciting.
As Jack and I were the ones footing the bill for our wedding we tried to keep costs as low as possible. Initially I had wanted to spend even less however I would not give up my dress, my menu or my photographers. All in all - money well spent!
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INVITES: $88
$6 Paper: cardboard
$6 RSVP paper: craft paper
$3 Seal paper
$6 Seal cutter
$35 Envelopes
$10 Screen printing ink
$22 Transparencies
ATTIRE: $1,450
$960 Bride's wedding dress: inspired by Vera Wang, sewn by a seamstress.
$180 Groom's suit: Ted Baker [at an appalling discount - hurray for the Bay one-day sales!]
$150 Groom's shoes: Ted Baker
$75 Bride's shoes: Yosi Samra
$35 Bride's something blue
$50 Groom's cufflinks, pocket square & perfectly skinny tie
PRIMPING: $330
$150 Bride's hair: trial + day of
$100 Bride's makeup: trial + day of
$80 Sister's hair
FOOD & DRINK: $2,124
$1500 Sandwiches & salads: as made by the talented, Andrew Farrell
$0 Stands & trays: borrowed
$15 Dinner & dessert plates
$7 Straws
$35 Candy
$0 Candy bags: given to us by friends
$22 Mason jars: some borrowed, some bought
$200 Bar supplies*: propeller bitter keg, homemade spiked pink lemonade & other bits*we opted for a toonie bar which helped to keep bar costs manageable
RECEPTION: $944
$453 Table & chair rentals: for 70 people
$121 Table cloths: Bought from fabricville, cut into table cloth length
$30 Table runners: Bought from fabricville and borrowed from friends
$25 Bunting: Fabric bought and sewn by a friend
$120 Lights: Bought and borrowed
$110 Flowers: Hydrangeas bought wholesale
$85 The sound system
THE REST: $2,524
$1500 The photography
$30 The bouquet: Mini calla lillies bought wholesale
$90 Wedding favours: blueberry jam made by a local business
$448 The rings
$121 The marriage license
$120 The justice of the peace
$130 Porta-potty
$85 Miscellaneous
TOTAL: $7,460
If you have any questions, feel free to leave a comment or email me to ask!.png)
Sorren, what a beautiful wedding and in my opinion, well done with the budget. I've been following you for ages now and I have REALLY enjoyed reading all about you're wedding!
ReplyDeleteThank you so much, Jenn! That's really means so much, especially because I've loved sharing :)
DeleteThank you for sharing these financial details! I always wonder how much weddings cost!
ReplyDeleteI know!! People rarely talk about it so it's hard to gauge the possibilities!
DeleteWow, this was a super useful breakdown. Thanks for much for sharing, Sorren! I'll have to remember to check back for reference when my own time comes :)
ReplyDeleteAwesome breakdown! My love for awful wedding shows has really skewed my view of the cost of weddings (ie: I tend to watch shows where bridezillas insist on $9,000 gowns)
ReplyDeleteWow, good for you for keeping it under $8,000 that's amazing!!!!! You looked amazing and it seemed like such a unique and personal ceremony reception. Perfect!
ReplyDeleteNot only did it look like a beautiful wedding, but this financial breakdown is an inspiration. While planning our own wedding we've become very overwhelmed with some of the wedding sites and their claims for costs, this is much more the style wedding we want, and the financial breakdown we were looking for. THANK YOU! Sorren is a hero. End of story. :-)
ReplyDeleteYay! I am so happy because that is EXACTLY what I wanted to do. Wedding budgets can quickly get out of control ESPECIALLY because everyone and everything around you is telling you that is how it's supposed to be. It's not. It's just not. It's a little tricky but there is definitely a way to not go broke and still have a gorgeous, stylish wedding you'll love forever.
DeleteI really love that you posted this! Matt and I will be paying for (most of) our own wedding as well, so it's SUPER inspiring to see that someone can throw an absolutely gorgeous wedding for under $10 grand. Everyone kind of laughs at me when I tell them that's how much I want to save before we get engaged/start planning.
ReplyDeleteCool breakdown! This will def come in handy one day ;)
ReplyDeletexL
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Oye! You inspired me to plug my final numbers into our budget and now I'm sad. I don't even know how you did it! I went crazy inexpensive (like talking $500 photographer, $800 dress) and I'm still way over your number. I Googled the average wedding cost and seeing that it's 25K made me feel 10x better. :)
ReplyDeleteWow fantastic budget you an inspiration and I must say love the photos and you looked amazing beautiful dress.
ReplyDeleteOh my goodness! Thank you! I've never seen such a detailed wedding budget breakdown before. I'm in the middle of planning my wedding and we're trying to keep it below $10,000, so it's really nice to see that it is impossible. Well, you've got me hooked... I'm off to read ALL of your blog posts now. :)
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ReplyDeleteOk... now for my questions. The biggest discrepancy between my budget and yours is in the food & drink and the music category. How did you get those costs down? Did you have servers and bartenders? Was the food partially gifted by your friend? You mention a sound system, but not a DJ -- did you just use an ipod?
ReplyDeleteAsk as many as you would like!
DeleteFood: We opted out of bartenders and servers and set up buffet tables instead for our guests to help themselves. Our chef/friend was the only one onsite prepping and bringing dishes to the buffet table. It was a big job. He did not officially gift any part of the food to us [costs covered ingredients, prep, labour and travel] but I'm sure sparing us the added cost of a helper was a gift.
Music: We did opt for the iPod DJ. It cut down costs A LOT. That said, it was kind of a bummer every time there was a pause between songs which was, on average, every 3.5 minutes. If you go the way of the iPod DJ, see whether you can use a program to make transitions. It might be worth spending a little extra time preparing a playlist.
I'm so glad my recap can help you! Let me know if you have any other questions :)