Breakdown of costs for a 2012/2013 wedding please?

boogaloop

I'm new to this, finding it overwhelming already and haven't even really started!
There seems to be a huge price differentiation between suppliers. I'm in Galway, most likely getting wed in Galway next year sometime.

Could you please be so kind as to advise me what (even roughly) I'd need to budget for:

Church -
Priest -
Dress -
Bridesmaid -
Suits -
Photographer -
Music for church -
Music for arrival at hotel (like someone playing harp maybe) -
Flowers -
Cake -
Invites and mass books
Videographer -
Band -
DJ - I've already gotten feedback on this, looking like approx 1,900 or so for the band I'd really like.


I would really love if I could include a dress up photo booth for the afters, and in a dream world I would also have fireworks, though I imagine they would be very, very expensive (so may have to be ruled out). If for any mad reason it worked out to be very cheap (ha, unlikely ) I'd consider having a pig on a spit for the night time food (anyone know how much this would cost?)

We're hoping to just whatever friend has the nicest car at the time if we can use that!

TBH, I think I need a bit of a reality check now, before I go and start booking. It may be that once I see the figures, I change my plan on a church wedding, go with a civil ceremony & just cut back the numbers (currently looking at approx 100 - 120 guests, probably closer to the 100 hopefully).

Thanks a mill in advance!

lazygal

Dress - 1,100+alterations of about 150
Bridesmaid - 80, got it online then paid 15 for alterations.
Suits - 500, he bought a good tux he's worn a few times since. His GM opted to wear a tux he owned. We would have bought this if necessary though.
Photographer - 1,100, all day service, 50 prints and an album, plus rights to all high-res images. Well worth it.
Music for church - family member provided this as a gift, worth asking around.
Music for arrival at hotel (like someone playing harp maybe) - not necessary IMO
Flowers - about 200, got a good local amateur florist, didn't bother with button holes, or big floral displays as we were on a budget.
Cake - didn't bother, neither of us like the cake cutting photos or indeed cake.
Invites and mass books - all in about 150, Reads Print and Design.
Videographer - got a full day deal for 500, well worth and would have paid more if necessary. A must have, its great to look back on. We also got copies for our parents.
Band - 1,700, again well worth it, people have booked them having had a blast at our wedding
DJ - I think we paid about 250.

Had a civil ceremony so can't help with church, but I know people who've married in our local church don't see much change from 1,000e, between donations for the use of the church, remarriage courses, flowers for the church which must be left for the use of the parish, donations to priests, sacristan, organists (even if you don't use her) and alter servers.

I find where people lost the run of themselves with a budget was having a large bridal party and having to buy several dresses, shoes etc and having a large guest list. We managed to save a lot by providing our own wine and bubbly and only inviting 100, i.e. friends and family we'd know and like, not all the cousins and aunts/uncles/neighbours we don;t know from Adam. Some people get good deals for a midweek wedding. I got my husband's titanium ring online for about 30 quid, he wasn't pushed about a fancy gold one. We didn't bother with cars, as we married in the venue we had our reception in, but someone will have a nice car.

hoodwinked

Church - €400 (its not our local church its the college one)
Priest - Free (relative)
Dress - €100 (bought online)
Bridesmaid - €60 each (bought on New look online)
Suits - €600 (for 5 rentals and one very good one for the groom to keep - friend of mine also owns the shop)
Photographer - Free (family and friends)
Music for church - Free (family friend)
Music for arrival at hotel (like someone playing harp maybe) - Included in hotel price per head.
Flowers - €100
Cake - Free (gift from confectionist in my family)
Invites and mass books - Free (my mum is a graphic designer)
Videographer - None
Band - None
DJ - €500 (Friend of mine is doing it for the whole night and that price is covering the cost of all the equipment he is renting!)

Toto Wolfcastle

The cost of the church varies depending on the church itself. Ours is free. The donation to the priest is entirely up to you.
Dress can cost anything from 100 - 3000+ depending on where you get it and what you want.
Bridesmaid dresses are the same. Depends on what you want and where you get them. They can go up to about €400 but you can get them much cheaper.
Suits are about 100 or a little more to rent. Shop around. Cheapest is not necessarily best here.
Not sure about photographer because we're getting someone we know to do it.
Music for church: String quartet is about €500+ but a trio is also a good option. Presume you can get other options cheaper.
Flowers vary wildly. You really need to shop around here. Can't remember how much we're paying.
Cake varies depending on size. You can get nice cheap ones in M&S or spend €300+ on a more elaborate one.
Invites can be bought cheaply on Vistaprint. From other places they tend to range from €2.50 - €5 per invite. www.cardsandpockets.com is a good option for cheap but good quality invitations.
Mass booklets cost as much as the paper and ink because they're easy to do yourself.
No idea about videographer.
Band can cost from €1000 - €3000.
DJ can cost from €300 upwards. Some bands include a DJ. Our band has a deal with a great DJ so we got a good deal.

A lot of the costs depend on what you're willing to pay and how much you're willing to shop around and haggle.

John Mason

from my experience

Church - ??
Priest - ??
Dress - 50e - 3,000
Bridesmaid - 50e - 3,000 each
Suits - 100e - 600e each
Photographer - free - 5,000e
Music for church - free - 3,000e
Music for arrival at hotel (like someone playing harp maybe) - free - 500e
Flowers - free - 1,000e
Cake - free - 1,000e
Invites and mass books 10e - 400e
Videographer - ??
Band - 300e - 7,000
DJ - I've already gotten feedback on this, looking like approx 1,900 or so for the band I'd really like.

boogaloop

Thanks so much for the replies, I really do appreciate people taking the time to type out the costs. I've found another thread from a few years back also that I will take a look at.

So the whole church/priests side of things seems to be a bit of a grey area. We don't have any priests that are relatives (unfortunately, that'd be handy)!

I think I just need to try & sit down with my fiance and try and decide the things that are an absolute must, versus the things that make us go 'meh'.....(I'm thinking the cake, videographer, harp player, cars could all be seriously culled if not cut out altogether).

The guestlist could be a little tricky - I think if you invite some aunts/uncles you kinda have to invite them all. But I'm open to people's suggestions as to how they got around this one .

Also, did many/any of you invite work colleagues? And if not, was there any issue with that? I've worked in the same place for a long time, I do have some friends in there but would I be friends with the vast majority of them were I not working with them? Probably not is the answer. I also dont want to invite my boss but others in the company who have married recently have invited him....oh the politics!:P

silly

boogaloop wrote: »

Thanks so much for the replies, I really do appreciate people taking the time to type out the costs. I've found another thread from a few years back also that I will take a look at.

So the whole church/priests side of things seems to be a bit of a grey area. We don't have any priests that are relatives (unfortunately, that'd be handy)!

I think I just need to try & sit down with my fiance and try and decide the things that are an absolute must, versus the things that make us go 'meh'.....(I'm thinking the cake, videographer, harp player, cars could all be seriously culled if not cut out altogether).

The guestlist could be a little tricky - I think if you invite some aunts/uncles you kinda have to invite them all. But I'm open to people's suggestions as to how they got around this one .

Also, did many/any of you invite work colleagues? And if not, was there any issue with that? I've worked in the same place for a long time, I do have some friends in there but would I be friends with the vast majority of them were I not working with them? Probably not is the answer. I also dont want to invite my boss but others in the company who have married recently have invited him....oh the politics!:P

dont forget the rings!

John Mason

yeah, the single most expensive thing for our day was my wedding band as it had to be made to fit around my engagement ring.

I only invited work people to the afterwards (well except one friend but she was made redundant a couple of years previously).

we invited some Aunts, Uncles and Cousins but not all of them. They were all invited to the afters.

i know some didnt come because they felt snubbed to tbh we didnt give a sh.it. we didnt miss them and them not turning up had no impact on our day.

hoodwinked

boogaloop wrote: »

I think I just need to try & sit down with my fiance and try and decide the things that are an absolute must, versus the things that make us go 'meh'.....(I'm thinking the cake, videographer, harp player, cars could all be seriously culled if not cut out altogether).

We spent more on the rings as we figured they would last well after the day, things that are just for the day are cake, dresses, hair, dinners....etc, photos and videos will also last longer then the day, thats how we looked at it anyways,

boogaloop wrote: »

The guestlist could be a little tricky - I think if you invite some aunts/uncles you kinda have to invite them all. But I'm open to people's suggestions as to how they got around this one .

we invited just close family members, all my aunts were invited (no uncles), but as for extended we invited those who were helping us out on the day to the full thing and and the others were all invited to the afters.

boogaloop wrote: »

Also, did many/any of you invite work colleagues? And if not, was there any issue with that? I've worked in the same place for a long time, I do have some friends in there but would I be friends with the vast majority of them were I not working with them? Probably not is the answer. I also dont want to invite my boss but others in the company who have married recently have invited him....oh the politics!:P

my partner works in a place like that previous weddings have had full and afters invites, we invited all his work people boss and all to the afters, he explained it was a small family wedding with a big party afterwards with cake...etc

Acoshla

If you decide to you don't want a cake to cut costs some cake makers have display wedding cakes that they keep stored in perfect condition for wedding fairs. These can be sometimes be rented if for any reason people want a cake for photos but don't want to serve one etc, generally to appease parents who think they should have it!

circleskane

1,900 for a band to play? That is insanity! I will definitely not be splashing that kind of cash at my wedding for the band. No way!? Or will I be left with no choice.. Wow...oh no I am scared now.

altoids

I'm getting married this July so here's my twopence:

Church - 100 (i'm actually not even going to ask about the cost - just give them an envelope!!!)
Priest - 100
Dress - 900
Bridesmaid - 2 X 250
Suits - 400 (groom, 2 groomsman, my dad)
Photographer - 850: that includes getting ready to midnight
Music for church - not bothering
Music for arrival at hotel (like someone playing harp maybe) - probably MP3 into speakers
Flowers - none. i'm doing DIY centre pieces from lanterns and wooden flowers
Cake - 500
Invites and mass books - 150 - all in, including stamps and wax seal etc
Videographer - none
Band - 1500

Sleepy

Having a civil wedding carried out by the Spiritualists in the same hotel as our reception so no church to hire/decorate and venue costs covered in the meal costs.

Celebrant Fee - 450
Dress - 200 (for material and accessories, dress being made by brides mother)
Bride's Shoes & Lingerie -150
Bridesmaid's dresses (x3) - 300
Flower Girl Dress - 50
Suit Hire - 600 (Groom, Best Man, 2 Groomsmen, Both Dads and Page Boy)
Hair and Make-Up - 300
Wedding Rings - 400
Ceremony Music - Free (being done by our band)
Arrival Music - Not necessary, will be an iPod or similar
Photographer - Free (a friend)
Videographer - Not having one
Band - Free (my brother plays drums with a wedding band)
DJ - 250
Invites - 150 (making them ourselves)
Wedding Cake - 50 (Bride making it)
Flowers for Bouquets & Centrepieces - 200 (Bride making them)
Sweets & Jars etc. for Candy Buffet - 200
Chinese Lanterns - 100 (if we're allowed to release them)
Gifts for bridal party - 200
Hotel Rooms for Band/Photographer - 220
Wedding License - 150

Contingency Fund - 500

I've deviated from your format and taken this from our wedding planning site because from my experience to date it's all the small things you forget about that really add up! I've also excluded the hotel and wine costs because they'll depend entirely on where you go and your numbers. Can range from 30 to over 150 a head depending on where you go, your numbers and your men.

Sleepy

circleskane wrote: »

1,900 for a band to play? That is insanity! I will definitely not be splashing that kind of cash at my wedding for the band. No way!? Or will I be left with no choice.. Wow...oh no I am scared now.

Prices for established bands will range from 1,500 - 3,000+

clint_silver

circleskane wrote: »

1,900 for a band to play? That is insanity! I will definitely not be splashing that kind of cash at my wedding for the band. No way!? Or will I be left with no choice.. Wow...oh no I am scared now.

Its insanity if you dont have the money, read this for costs.

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=77796742&postcount=862

If you dont have the budget for a band, Book a DJ. A really good DJ will keep the floor up all night and will cost half what a bad band is. Its not for everyones taste, most people seem to like a bit of live entertainment, however if your budget only stretches to a really good DJ, then just accept it and do that. theres other alternatives like reserving a night club area and now you get your guests in and music for free but if your having your night in a hotel function room, entertainment is usually expected post meal.

Shivers26

I can just give you a rough idea what I paid for things and if you want any more information PM me and I can give you supplier details if you like.

Church - €50 donation (they looked for nothing)
Priest - €50 gift (again, he looked for nothing)
Dress - €999 + €120 veil + €100 shoes + €95 jewellery & hair piece
Bridesmaid - €195 for 3 dresses (sale in Debenhams) + €75 for 3 pairs of shoes
Suits - €250 just for 1 dad and 2 kids
Photographer - €1700
Music for church - €400
Music for arrival at hotel (like someone playing harp maybe) - €300
Flowers - €835 for bridal & church flowers & fairylight backdrop in the hotel
Cake - €700 in total for cake and chocolate fountain (approx €350 each)
Invites and mass books - Mass booklets were DIY, bought paper in Easons, ribbon etc to decorate online. Invites approx €135 for 90 day invites, RSVP cards, return address labels from Vistaprint
Videographer - didn't have one
Band - €1500
DJ - €250 (contact in work)
Don't forget rings, hair & beauty, cars etc. We also had Irish dancers and a candy buffet (DIY) and childcare costs.

Shivers26

Also a girl I work with had fireworks and I think they cost approx €2000 and you would need to make sure your venue was appropriate for them. Those sky lanterns could be good? They look really pretty and are way cheaper.

Another girl I know had fire dancers and a photo / video booth at her wedding. I think they photo / video booth was organised by her photographer and videographer (which were excellent by the way) and she said if you google Polish fire dancers you get the details for the dancers

Sleepy

The only wedding I was at that had fireworks was mid-celtic tiger and the groom got the absolute piss taken out of him over them: "bet that'll be the only fireworks tonight" etc.

Shivers26

Sleepy wrote: »

The only wedding I was at that had fireworks was mid-celtic tiger and the groom got the absolute piss taken out of him over them: "bet that'll be the only fireworks tonight" etc.

The girl I know had one of those 700 guests, no expense spared, daddy paid kind of weddings.

ABajaninCork

If you're having fireworks, then you need to check that the venue has the appropriate licences.

Chinese Lanterns? An absolute no no in my book. A lot of venues will not allow them because of the obvious fire risk. No telling what well-oiled guests might do and all that...:pac: There is also the risk to surrounding countryside and livestock when the lanterns do come down.

boogaloop

Thanks. I've checked with a few venues about the fireworks. Tbh, I'd be hoping NOT to have invited anyone who would take the mick out of us for having something we like at our own wedding?
But as I said, it'll come down to price really in the end. It just so happens that I really, really like a good fireworks display :P

Looks like there can be huge differences in photography packages - up to a grand in the difference? hmmm, will have to think about that one.

I should have said that we have the rings sorted, or at least mine is & he is saying he is not fussed about having one as not likely to wear it every day anyway.

Cheers all

Gatica

irishbird wrote: »

from my experience

Church - ??
Priest - ??
Dress - 50e - 3,000
Bridesmaid - 50e - 3,000 each
Suits - 100e - 600e each
Photographer - free - 5,000e
Music for church - free - 3,000e
Music for arrival at hotel (like someone playing harp maybe) - free - 500e
Flowers - free - 1,000e
Cake - free - 1,000e
Invites and mass books 10e - 400e
Videographer - ??
Band - 300e - 7,000
DJ - I've already gotten feedback on this, looking like approx 1,900 or so for the band I'd really like.

I agree with the above - each one of those items can range significantly. You can go for cheapest or DIY/home-made option or hire the top pros to do it...


Church -? -> Civil ceremony setup is costing us €400 though.
Priest - ? -> Celebrant is costing us 475 though.
Dress - the sky's the limit, or you can get second hand or off the rack for < €300; most shops have dresses ranging from €600 to €2500 or so though.
Bridesmaid - <€200 for 1, plus we'll be paying for her shoes; you can spend as much or as little as you want/need
Suits -mostly around €100 a suit for good quality tails or 3/4 suits at Corless or Martin Feeney's in Galway. They usually throw in free shoe hire, shirt and cufflinks to keep.
Photographer - usually >€1000, total cost depends on whether you want to include morning bridal preps, a second photographer or photos til and including your first dance. We're getting DVD/CD only package.
Music for church - rope in talented family. Hiring someone for civil ceremony is also costly, €300 - over €600!
Music for arrival at hotel (like someone playing harp maybe) - can cost around the same as ceremony music.
Flowers - depends on how much you're willing to spend on this, starts from €100 for a couple of bouquets to €900-packages including altar and pew-end arrangements.
Cake - again, from about €150 for 3-tier Marks&Spenser's plain-cakes to €800 for 4 or 5 tier luxury cakes.
Invites and mass books - we're only printing invites, got self-help packages and mostly DIY'd the rest and still managed to spend almost €300 including postage! So this ranges from very little for home-made projects to 5.50/invite for fancy ones you'd see at wedding fairs.
Videographer - >€500, and total cost depends on whether you want preparations and first dance filmed as well.
Band - >€1700 for anyone decent or well known. Newer or lesser-known bands may be less.
DJ - €200-300 I've heard is normal.

circleskane

actually shaking in my boots reading all of these costs! how the hell do people afford it? massive sit down going to be happening here tonight. looks like i might be engaged for a long...long time.

clint_silver

circleskane wrote: »

actually shaking in my boots reading all of these costs! how the hell do people afford it? massive sit down going to be happening here tonight. looks like i might be engaged for a long...long time.

budget. set it. stick to it. all the prices above are averages for me, theres nothing too far of the mark. So then then it becomes a matter of...

cant afford the hotel? find a cheaper one.
cant afford videographer? dont get one
cant afford a band? just get a dj
cant afford invites? email/phone print and design your own.
cant afford seat covers? dont have them
etc, etc....

detail what you want/need and find providors to come in under budget. get creative. necessity the mother of invention and all dat jazz.

Sleepy

What clint said.

Be flexible about what you have to pay for and shameless in asking friends / family for favours. Obvious cost savers such as asking a friend with a nice car to drive Bride to the church instead of hiring cars, wedding dresses can be had on-line for 100 euro or so if you order from China, settle on just the one best man and bridesmaid, have the groomsmen wear their own suits, get a friend to do the photos or get a 500 quid CD-only package that you can create an album of afterwards etc.

The hotel packages available vary wildly from place to place and county to county. Myself and the other half are getting married in February in Wexford even though we live in Dublin because the "off-peak" package the Hotel offered was so good (winter weddings can often be the same price as mid-week during the summer and with Irish weather, there's never a guarantee you'll have sunshine anyway!). For less than a third of what we were quoted in our nearest hotel locally (Clontarf Castle) we're getting a *much* more comprehensive package.

All in, I'm expecting to pull our wedding in for under 10k and tbh, there's plenty of areas where budget could be cut further in our case (a smaller bridal party, less fancy invites, ditch the candy buffet and chinese lanterns, wear our own suits rather than hiring tailcoats, civil ceremony on a different day instead of hiring a legal non-religious celebrant, less flowers, cheaper bridesmaids dresses etc. etc.) I'd comfortably say I could have arranged the day for under eight grand (for a wedding of about 150 guests) if we needed to (other half likes her "fancy" things though ).

Gatica

yeah, that's why it's such a huge industry of its own!

Best thing is to decide on a budget first, set priorities and then assign percentage of your budget to each of the main items. That'll give you a fair idea of what you can spend on each.
There are some helpful sites that do this, but I can't remember which one I liked specifically. Here's an example, with fairly detailed explanation of the breakdown though:
http://www.willyoumarryme.ie/Msites.php/mbox,31,6/Creating%20a%20wedding%20budget

I remember reading this article after we got engaged, it really put the whole thing into a new perspective for me budget-wise:
http://www.mrs2be.ie/newsworthy/some-wedding-stats-from-irish-wedding-survey-2011/

However if you read DIY threads and "intimate wedding" threads, you'll see there's a lot of cutback that can be made by doing things yourself and by slimming down you guest list! Almost simple as (except for all the people that will decide to get offended at not being invited).

Overestimate everything and even try to include the smallest things, as these add up. This is my regret. Plus I never included honeymoon in original budget, big mistake!

Sleepy

I remember reading that second article and thought it was very telling that it had been carried out and promoted by an events management company: the budget included 1200 for wedding planning services! lol.

The reception really is the most expensive part of the day though prices vary wildly from under €30 a head to over €150 (for the traditional sit-down meal and hotel reception affairs, I believe you can get even cheaper if you go the buffet or BBQ route).

Almost everything else can be done on a budget or cut out completely (e.g. wedding favours: a total waste of money that no-one misses if you leave them out).

Gatica

Sleepy wrote: »

I remember reading that second article and thought it was very telling that it had been carried out and promoted by an events management company: the budget included 1200 for wedding planning services! lol.

Didn't even notice that!

Sleepy wrote: »

Almost everything else can be done on a budget or cut out completely (e.g. wedding favours: a total waste of money that no-one misses if you leave them out).

Totally agree. I thought favours would be such a great and personal idea, until I was talking about a friend's wedding with another girl and she mentioned she thought their favours were lovely (chocolates in an organza bag, which is exactly what I'd been wanting to do as well) but I couldn't remember them at all! I vaguely recollected that I may have had some chocolates on sitting down at the table, but it really didn't make an impression on me (I know that it did on this one girl somehow though). So I think if it's gonna be the same for my guests, I won't even bother....

lily09

Hi got married in the last month so all these prices are very recent. Just to bear in mind we had 90 guests.

Church -500(not a parish church)
Priest - 0
Dress - 440 plus 80 alterations
Bridesmaid - 120 (1) including shoes etc
Suits - 360 (for 4)
Photographer - 900 - cd only will make my own on site
Music for church -320
Music for arrival at hotel (like someone playing harp maybe) - (incl with band)
Flowers - 400
Cake - 110
Invites and mass books and seating plan and menus 180-made myself
Videographer - 0
Band - 1400
DJ - (inc w band)
Rings-550
Transport -0 (actually 4 euro for ribbon!)
Favours -40 made my own yes total waste of money but I am big into arty farty stuff so enjoyed making them, took ages but labour of love
Hair and make up -140
Presents etc -200
Drinks reception-180
And finally the meal cost 5,100
Have added in few more things that we spent money on. My advice would be have a budget and stick to it and like Sleepy said have a contingency you will be amazed the money you spend in the last couple of weeks. And save for the wedding, its so lovely to have any presents you recieve for yourself in the aftermath. Its a bit of a downer and I would hate to have to pay back a big loan.

patsyrockem

Hi all, getting married soon and only yesterday the priest informed us that the church will cost 300euro. Now I would'nt have a problem paying it if it was'nt our parish but my fiancee is a parishioner and her family are heavily involved in all church activities. This he inform us is outside his donation. I'd love to know if this happens elsewhere, I would have gone elsewhere and hired a cathedral if I knew:o Its a tricky subject to bring up with her family but I feel its a bit much. What is the going rate out there?

lazygal

There's no 'going rate', each parish church operates its own system. We live in an area with a beautiful church which is always in demand for weddings and I know charges 500 for those living in the parish and more for those outside it, before priests expenses etc. As its an old church I'd imagine the upkeep of it is significant and with donations falling it needs to generate revenue from somewhere.