Typical/Average Wedding budget

kazzer · 12-01-2009 04:56PM #1

Can anyone outline some ballpark figures. Something along the lines of:

Photographer €xxx
DJ €xxx
Car hire €xxx

etc, etc

I know it’s a bit vague, just looking for some ballpark figures, for someone who has no concept of what these things might cost! Thanks

bazual · 12-01-2009 07:09PM

Hey,

It depends on what part of the country you are in and what kind of expectations you have.

You should budget for between €20,000 and €30,000 for the lot.

Photographers can range from €800-€900 for Cds with your shots to up to
€1400-1700 with an album and cd to over €2000 for loads of mini albums and a big one etc.

Videographer would cost from €800 to €1600 depending on what you want covered.

Band DJ, cost anything from €1500 to €4000

Cake €250 - €1000 or more if you are mad!!!

Flowers - Anything up to €1000, depends on your taste

Reception and meal. Depending on hotel its more expensive usually on a Fri/Sat that a Wed or Thursday lets say.
On a thursday the hotel might throw in free corkage and a wine/puch reception when the guests arrive. Small things like this do add up so if you are on a tight budget, consider a midweek wedding.
I would not recommend getting the wine from the hotel either, the best bet would be to buy it yourself (up north at the moment you can get great deals)
Would usually go with half a bottle for each drinker and then get some spare.

Meal can cost anything from €35pp in a deal to up to €70. The basic package would be around €35 to €50 euro per person.

Wedding Dress and bridesmaid dresses can cost from €500 to (you dont want to know). Average wedding dress is usually €700 - €1500. Bridesmaid dress are around €250 to €450.

Suit hire etc, can be up to €1000 so budget this in too.

Think of wedding rings as well €1000

Gifts for parents and bridal party, €500

Priests/Alterservers, €200 - €400

Musicians for the mass, €200 - €700

Invitations, thing of making your own instead of buying them, that goes for the mass booklets too if you are having them.

Hope this is of help.

B~

Dont know about car hire...........

kazzer · 12-01-2009 08:23PM

Hey thanks alot for that, really appreciate you taking the time for that detailed reply. Thats exactly what I was looking for - just some figures to work with.

Emerald Lass · 13-01-2009 06:13AM

bazual wrote: »

You should budget for between €20,000 and €30,000 for the lot.

...

Ah fair play to ya! €30,000??? you're all mad! Fair enough if you really HAVE to have a BIG wedding, but it is possible to have a wedding for aroud 100 for less than €10,000, and for some very industrious people even way less.

Shop around, don't assume that all suppliers are teh same price - som wedding cakes are thousands, some are around €300 - and don;t go blindly on what others said things cost, cos not eveyone is honest about prices for one, and two some people are just thick and throw good money away!

My advice is to sit down and make a skeleton list of the things you feel you absolutely HAVE to have on the day. Then get on the net and compare prices. Then you will have a ball park figure of what you NEED to spend to feel you had the wedding you wanted. Then everything after that is on a case by case basis - e.g you simply must HAVE a chocolate fountain? well then, maybe you can't afford the silver package meal so will have to have the bog standard Chicken and ham? things like that.

My minimum list of things I really want to have is coming in at a LOT less than €30,000. I know the bear minimum I must spend to have the day I want, and I hae it all ear marked off (well in theory! :rolleyes:) then any money left after that is 'FUN' money - getting things as an extra - or better yet we might even get away with having a few quid left in the bank for a better honeymoon etc.

Good luck with it all - don't let those 'ball park' figures turn into telephone numbers in your head - spend what you can afford and don't feel the need to compete with others.
x

shane b · 13-01-2009 02:55PM

I agree with Bazual above that budget between 20- 30K some of which you will get back as gifts/cash.

I got married in september 08 and our wedding cost almost 30 K to include everything including the honey moon although our guests did cover the price of the hotel. Basic Break down of our costs are below.

Photographers. € 1850
Videographer: €800
Band & DJ, cost €1800
Car Hire € 350
Balloons: € 100
Cake € 500
Invitions which we made ourselves € 250 (materials & printer ink)
Thank you cards: € 125 for 180 cards
stamps for invitions and cards: € 80
Flowers € 600,
Reception, meal & wine for 175 people: € 10500 ( which we got back in cash gifts)
Wedding Dress and bridesmaid dress: € 2000
Suit hire for groom & best man: € 250
Wedding rings: € 800
Gifts for parents and bridal party, €500
Priests and 6 Alterservers, €400
Musicians for the mass, € 350
Honeymoon in South Africa including spending money € 7500
Hope this helps

ilovecars · 14-01-2009 09:43PM

i wanted a big wedding on a small budget, big dress big car small me.. ended up costing about 22grand not including honeymoon.. i got married 6 months ago and believe it or not i got a lot of toasters and i'd been livin with my hubby about 12 years..

esharknz · 14-01-2009 10:23PM

Having a wedding in Australia on the beach and including honeymoon/flights etc it's going to cost us less than €10K. This includes reception for 25 people. My family are from downunder so only his are (willingly) volunteering to travel.

TutuKaka · 21-01-2009 12:50AM

I've noticed that a lot of people that are getting married this year are making conscious decisions to trim costs and are no longer worried about keeping up with the Jones'.

The 3 day Stag in Prague definitely seems to have had its day.

hunnymonster · 21-01-2009 11:21AM

Yeah, I think people will still spend on what they feel is important but not feel like they have to get every little add-on.

galah · 21-01-2009 02:33PM

getting married in Germany - budget is around 10 k, on target so far.

Food and open bar for 100 people will cost around 6 k, dress and accessories around 1 k, photographer 500 euros (including pictures), DJ around 250 for the night (no band since venue is too small for that, friends will bring guitars for later), don't need a wedding car since church and venue are in one location (castle), flowers around 200 euro, my brother makes the cake, my mom makes the invites (material & postage I'd say around 100 euros, it's a gift to us tho ;-)), rings are around 600 for both, suits and stuff for H2B around 500, and that's it, really...

Haven't factored in the honeymoon, but that should come in under 3 k as well.

molly54 · 21-01-2009 04:43PM

my friend ( in Dublin) makes wedding cakes, she does them for about 300euro. i have contact details if you need them. She is very good! Just realistic about prices!

SeekUp · 21-01-2009 05:10PM

I'm not sure how much of a help this is, but if you go to theknot.com, there's a budget calculator. You put in how much you actually want to spend, and then it'll give you a breakkdown of how much you should spend on everything (catering, venue, invitations, photographer, etc.). It's neat because you can put in how much you actually spend and keep track of how close you are to your budget as you go along. The thing is, it's in USD, but you can convert everything to kind of get a ballpark.

Hope this helps . . .

BroomBurner · 21-01-2009 07:09PM

I agree with Emerald Lass. Think about what you actually want for the day, as opposed to what you think others expect you to want. Then research and don't ever just settle for the first price you're told.

We had a wedding and honeymoon with all the trimmings (without the Church, I must say, there's a massive saving right there), all for well under €10,000, so it can be done.

kazzer · 22-01-2009 01:21PM

Thanks for all the replies. Please feel free to add your own budgets! Maybe this could be a sticky.

Dr. Loon · 27-01-2009 04:25AM

All this talk of 20 - 30 grand is insane! What is wrong with people? For us, the breakdown is roughly;

Invitations - we'll do ourselves.
Wedding rings - €1000
Photographer - a friend, we'll throw him a 100 quid.
Videographer?!!? - couldn't be arsed.
DJ - €650
Flowers - free
Cake - free
Meal - paid for by parents
Cars - I'll drive myself
Priest/church - €100 or so and a meal.
Dresses/Suits - €2000 or so.
Honeymoon - €4000

This 30 thousand stuff is ridiculous. People would want to start copping on to themselves. Thank God my wife to be isn't some lunatic that thinks she's princess.

krankykitty · 27-01-2009 09:42AM

Dr. Loon wrote: »

All this talk of 20 - 30 grand is insane! What is wrong with people? For us, the breakdown is roughly;

Invitations - we'll do ourselves.
Wedding rings - €1000
Photographer - a friend, we'll throw him a 100 quid.
Videographer?!!? - couldn't be arsed.
DJ - €650
Flowers - free
Cake - free
Meal - paid for by parents
Cars - I'll drive myself
Priest/church - €100 or so and a meal.
Dresses/Suits - €2000 or so.
Honeymoon - €4000

This 30 thousand stuff is ridiculous. People would want to start copping on to themselves. Thank God my wife to be isn't some lunatic that thinks she's princess.

Big saving right there, that's the biggest expense :rolleyes:

kayos · 27-01-2009 10:37AM

Dr. Loon wrote: »

All this talk of 20 - 30 grand is insane! What is wrong with people? For us, the breakdown is roughly;

Invitations - we'll do ourselves.
Wedding rings - €1000
Photographer - a friend, we'll throw him a 100 quid.
Videographer?!!? - couldn't be arsed.
DJ - €650
Flowers - free
Cake - free
Meal - paid for by parents
Cars - I'll drive myself
Priest/church - €100 or so and a meal.
Dresses/Suits - €2000 or so.
Honeymoon - €4000

This 30 thousand stuff is ridiculous. People would want to start copping on to themselves. Thank God my wife to be isn't some lunatic that thinks she's princess.

Just looking at your list there and you are saving/getting free/not doing/under budgeted about 5K worth excluding the meal.

Invitations – Even done yourself will cost some money between paper/ink/postage.
2K on Photo/Video
1K under on Music between band and DJ
1k on Flowers
400 on Cake
Church will be more than 100 tbh 400 would be average.

Then the meal depending on where you are having it will be a huge expense lets call it 10K for about 100 people having a sit down meal with wine and sparkling for the toasts and then some evening food for the afters. You are lucky it’s been paid for.

So there you go 15K you are not paying for or missed out on cost. Add the 7K on rings/clothing and honeymoon and tada you are at 22K. Now what about all the other bits that are not listed hair, make up, presents for the wedding party, music in the church…….

Kar! · 27-01-2009 03:05PM

Hi,

Im getting married next October and I have budgeted the wedding at 5k. I have made all the invitations already at the cost of 70 euro and thats using handmade paper and a lot of different embelishments. The cake is free as my maid of honour is paying for it.( Her mother is an award winning confectionary chef), the photgraphs are free as my fiance is a photgrapher and is getting one of his friends to shoot the pictures. The dress im getting in monsoon, his suit will be custom made. We are having a Civil service and are decorating the place ourselves with just a lot of candles and ivy. The recpetion which we are having in a retaurant is costing the most. its 50 a head per person including a 3 course meal and two bottles of wine per table of 4.

One upside i guess is the fact its a very small wedding of only 50 or 60 tops. There is nbo reason to spend so much on flowers and dresses and stuff....making it more personal will make the day so much better....at the end of the day all i want is a nice wedding with close family and friends and a sit down meal to finish it off!

ShirleyH · 27-01-2009 03:44PM

That sounds lovely Kar, lots of people are opting for your type of wedding. I definitely think couples are copping onto the fact that some wedding suppliers made a fortune in the days of the celtic tiger, but they realise now with a little resourcefulness, you can have an amazing day for a fraction of the cost.

Our wedding cost us about €10k, my parents paid for the meal, but the €10k included a month long honeymoon in Asia. I am in the trade, so was able to do a lot of the stuff myself, but tbh it was nothing that any other bride couldn't do.

Some people have an element of snobbery about their day, they don't want it to look like they are cutting corners. If you are financially secure and want to have a big budget wedding, fair play to you, but its the people getting loans and going into debt for one day that never ceases to amaze me.

Kar! · 27-01-2009 04:59PM

I know exactly what you mean. I could have gone up to 10k for the wedding but really what is more important to me is just having close friends and family and having a great day out. I know every girl dreams of her ideal wedding with the big dress and the orchestra and choirs etc, but at the end of the day sonthing simple can be so much more effective and its a day to remember.

I thinki doing most of it myself will save a lot of money in the long run. Since the wedding isn't until next year i'm planning well in advance because i wont have to stress out next year when it comes to finalizing the venue and afters.

I'm amazed at how inexpensive i was able to do it all!

esharknz · 27-01-2009 05:12PM

Kar! wrote: »

I know exactly what you mean. I could have gone up to 10k for the wedding but really what is more important to me is just having close friends and family and having a great day out. I know every girl dreams of her ideal wedding with the big dress and the orchestra and choirs etc, but at the end of the day sonthing simple can be so much more effective and its a day to remember.

I thinki doing most of it myself will save a lot of money in the long run. Since the wedding isn't until next year i'm planning well in advance because i wont have to stress out next year when it comes to finalizing the venue and afters.

I'm amazed at how inexpensive i was able to do it all!

Agreed. I once told a couple of people my budget (those spending €30K plus) and was labeled "unromantic" as I wasn't taking out a loan etc and spending a house deposit on one day. Mine is going to come in under €10K and that includes a 2 week honeymoon and flights.

Kar! · 27-01-2009 06:01PM

Oh i'm refusing to go near a bank....i would only be losing out on more money...I really dont see the point in spending 30k on a wedding...yeah you get the big dress and the fancy reception and stuff but its your day at the end of it and its about you and him not 200 odd people who you have to feed! Give me a simple afternoon wedding and a gud meal and a drink or 2 and im happy. Thats all i need!

Thats really good you have your holiday too included in the price.

implausible · 27-01-2009 09:35PM

Dr. Loon wrote: »

This 30 thousand stuff is ridiculous. People would want to start copping on to themselves. Thank God my wife to be isn't some lunatic that thinks she's princess.

I would definitely not belong to the princess category, but neither do I belong to the parents paying for the meal category! That's quite a judgemental post.

Hotel (meal,booze, afters): 11500
Band & DJ: 1500
Photographer: 1700
Video: none
My dress, bm dress, his and best man's suit hire: 1700
Flowers: 600
Honeymoon flights: 1200
Rings:1200
Flowers: 550
Cake: relative
Priest/civil reg/pre-marriage/affidavit: 500+

We're coming in under the 20k mark; I did some serious shopping around and am quite proud of myself.

We're inviting 200ish people and I haven't budgeted for it, but many of them will bring cash gifts.

Kar! · 28-01-2009 12:06AM

Only 1150 for meal hotel and drink...please tell me where your having it becuase i have quoted several hotels and each is working out at 3000 mark alone and thats feeding only 50 guests with two bottles of wine per table.

And thats another reason why im not having a hotel afters....too pricey!!!!

implausible · 28-01-2009 12:17AM

oops! have returned a wandering zero to its rightful home, apologies Kar!

johanne79 · 28-01-2009 04:38PM

Hiya, I just came across a post you put on boards.ie last year and wondered where you found your videographer for €800? That was a great price

Regards

Johanne

shane b wrote: »

I agree with Bazual above that budget between 20- 30K some of which you will get back as gifts/cash.

I got married in september 08 and our wedding cost almost 30 K to include everything including the honey moon although our guests did cover the price of the hotel. Basic Break down of our costs are below.

Photographers. € 1850
Videographer: €800
Band & DJ, cost €1800
Car Hire € 350
Balloons: € 100
Cake € 500
Invitions which we made ourselves € 250 (materials & printer ink)
Thank you cards: € 125 for 180 cards
stamps for invitions and cards: € 80
Flowers € 600,
Reception, meal & wine for 175 people: € 10500 ( which we got back in cash gifts)
Wedding Dress and bridesmaid dress: € 2000
Suit hire for groom & best man: € 250
Wedding rings: € 800
Gifts for parents and bridal party, €500
Priests and 6 Alterservers, €400
Musicians for the mass, € 350
Honeymoon in South Africa including spending money € 7500
Hope this helps

Breaktown · 17-02-2009 06:53PM

Once the meal if paid for, what extra money do hotels charge? I assume there is some sort of extra charge just for booking.

kayos · 17-02-2009 07:06PM

Breaktown wrote: »

Once the meal if paid for, what extra money do hotels charge? I assume there is some sort of extra charge just for booking.

Hotels charge for!!!!

Meal
Reception Drinks
Drinks with the meal (or corkage)
Bar extension (sometimes)
According to one post here a while back security

But they normally give you free use of a cake stand and knife!

sofireland · 17-02-2009 07:45PM

Depends when you booked as well to be fair.
We've had our venue booked nearly 2 years and the prices of the extras are the ones that went up the most.

Breaktown · 18-02-2009 03:20PM

kayos wrote: »

But they normally give you free use of a cake stand and knife!

Oh that will make it all worthwhile then!

What about deposits? Does that cover the cost of the meal etc or is than an extra thing?

Trinity10 · 18-02-2009 03:26PM

I'm doing a wedding on a budget and what I've found is that the prices for things so high it's hard not to be over budget. The hotel itself is €8500 for 120 people. The most expensive cost so far but we both love the place as it's small and quint.

Church - 480
Priest - 150
Dress - 1000
Bridesmaid - 100
Suits - 350
Photographer - 1800
Music for church - 300
Flowers - doing myself
Cake - 80 M & S
Invites and mass books - doing ourselves
Hair and makeup - doing myself
Wine - we're going to France and expect to pay no more than - 500
Videographer - Not doing
Band - Not having
DJ - Friend
Wedding rings - 2000

So that's over €15 before we add the honeymoon. We've compromised on everything except the venue, which we love.

Typical/Average Wedding budget

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