Wedding Budget planning help!

danagh

Hi,
I have just started to plan our wedding for february 2015! I have just undertaken the task of outlining a budget, however I'm a little stuck on what I should expect to pay for certain services! The Venue etc im ok on as there is plenty of information out there to help me establish average cost per head and whats good value etc.

so... if anyone out there could help me with an estimate or guideline figure for the following services that would be great!!

• Groomsmens suits ( to hire)
• Flowers ( 6 bouquets, 7 buttonholes)
• photographer/ videographer
• Band & DJ
• Hair and Make-up for myself and my bridesmaids
• Church
• Church Singer.

Any help would be appreciated just so I can make an informed start on things.
I should add that I am in the meath area, so nay tips or recommendations of suppliers are more than welcome!!
Thanks ,
D:P

D3PO

for most of those things you can pay as little or as much as you want.

taylor what you want to spend to your budget and not the other way around.

ABajaninCork

Get at least three estimates for your supplier.

Set up a spreadsheet detailing all your costs. Put in the estimate and when the final price is agreed, then put that figure in. Keep a very close eye on the costs.

toadfly

[*]Groomsmens suits ( to hire) 80 each but that was a special offer at a wedding fair, pageboy free
[*]Flowers ( 6 bouquets, 7 buttonholes) 320 for 4 bouquets and 11 buttonholes
[*]photographer 1000 disc only stayed until 11pm/ videographer 780 to stay to 10:30pm we had to pay him an extra 50 on the night as first dance went late so he'd stay
[*]Band & DJ 2300 for both
[*]Hair 320 for my trial, me and three BM upstyles and two blowdries and Make-up 250 for 7 of us
[*]Church
[*]Church Singer.400

Minier81

I would agree with previous posts that you can pay as much or a little as you like but here is what I paid for a late 2012 wedding:
Groomsmens suits ( to hire)
100€ each including everything (shuits, shirts, shoes, cufflinks, even socks!)
Flowers ( 6 bouquets, 7 buttonholes)
Overall I got church flowers (2 pedestals, 1 altar piece, 5 windowsill flowers), big bridal bouquet, 3 smaller bm bouquets, 8 buttonholes for 500€.
photographer/ videographer
Photographer 2000€ for full day til 10pm including final album (if you wanted photos only it would have been 1200€ I think). Skipped vidiographer.
Band & DJ
1600€ for both (band also had a dj service)
Hair and Make-up for myself and my bridesmaids
275€ for hair, €275 for makeup. This was the price for bride plus 3 others, any extra peopel were 30€ per person extra for hair and 30€ pp for make-up.
Church
Got married in my own parish so no church hire fee
Church Singer
€275 for a musician who also sang

Gatica

• Suits about 100 apiece
• Flowers - starting at about 60 per bouquet and 8 per buttonhole/corsage
• Band/DJ - starting from 1500 or 2000, depending on band
• photographers start at about 1000
• videographer starts at 500 for half a day
• hair about 35 per upstyle
• make-up about 35pp
• Singer - about 400. Get someone local, from the family or recommended by the priest, it'll be cheaper.

That's if you get a good deal, if you want top of the range photographer or make-up artist, you'll pay accordingly.
As D3PO recommended, decide how much money you can afford to spend and then allocate it as you see fit. You may want a brilliant band or maybe a fantastic photographer instead. I would've skipped the videographer. We've watched it once and have no interest seeing the video again. Maybe some day it'll be of value to the kids or grand-kids, but I wouldn't spend a fortune on it.

Dubliner28

Groomsmens suits ( to hire) Approx 100 each. Some places throw in the grooms/page boy for free.
Flowers ( 6 bouquets, 7 buttonholes) Looking a €650. This would enclude everything incl Church.
photographer/ videographer €2'500
Band & DJ Band €1250 + DJ €250
Hair and Make-up for myself and my bridesmaids €65/70 per head
Church €100 min
Church Singer -recommend 100% Catherine Byrne €350. Class singer

* The list is endless as you'll soon find out.

Invites/books/rings/shoes/venue/cake/cake topper/favors etc etc

Gatica

Dubliner28 wrote: »

The list is endless as you'll soon find out.

Invites/books/rings/shoes/venue/cake/cake topper/favors etc etc

+1 to this.
We ended up going 50% over our original estimate, which was based on what we thought things would cost and things we'd need. Between an expensive honeymoon and every other little thing that added up, we spent way more than we thought we would.
So defo keep an eye on your budget and make sure you keep tight reigns on what you can and cannot afford to splash out on.
We didn't realise how expensive bands are, photographer, flowers, dress and hair/make-up (that's the chunk of it ain't it?! :P).
We'd budgeted for about half of band cost, and while flowers weren't that expensive when I included all the extra little things I got for table plans, centre-pieces etc... It was way more than just the cost of flowers.


btw, Mrs2be website has an excel budget planner that we found really helpful for breaking down and tracking costs.

Gatica

anyone curious what the Irish average spend is, Mrs2be have done a survey...
see here

Berty

Gatica wrote: »

anyone curious what the Irish average spend is, Mrs2be have done a survey...
see here

Seems about right but you shouldn't need a Wedding Planner these days if living in Ireland or locally at least. Everything is there to find out at the click of a button.

Ms2011

Gatica wrote: »

anyone curious what the Irish average spend is, Mrs2be have done a survey...
see here

Holy crap that seems awfully expensive!!
The only thing that was on the list that was cheaper than what we paid was the cake!!!

XMASSmrstobe

Hi,

Just wanted to say if you are having a (catholic) church wedding don't forget the cost of the compulsory (with most priests) pre-marriage course (200-250 euro ttl). Although we are getting married in his (HTB) parish - we do still have to pay the church €200 and will also have to give the Priest something for his time. Also, all weddings must be state registered (200 euro per couple plus another €50 for duplicate birth certs). Think these both fit into the 'Miscellaneous Costs' section on the Mrstobe report and I know when I started planning I discounted that entire section thinking it was avoidable expense...whoops!

We're DIY'ing a lot and are still finding some of the costs involved :eek: but loving the process. It's difficult to stick with a budget but do-able. Weddingface also have a great budget section with guide prices that's worth a look! Best of luck.