Wedding budget/ statement of accounts

powerspowers

Hi everyone, I think a lot of the wedding planning posts have been closed and am the first few pages on this board are all covid cancellation discussions 😕

I got married 10 days ago after 2 years planning, one cancellation and one last minute change of venue. One thing we found helpful in the early planning stages was drawing out a budget and keeping it updated. This wasn’t easy as a lot of wedding planning stuff is geared towards a big do! It was really helpful though when things started to change, as it gave as a rough idea about what we were prepared to pay rather than get swept away by it all. 

I’m going to detail what we spent, I’d be interested in seeing others plans or final figures to and hopefully it will help someone’s wedding planning in future flowers 💐 

powerspowers

Wedding venue- £3750 includes ceremony room hire, dinner and drinks package for 35 adults and 11 children and hotel night 
Registrars fees £601
photographer £750
band £850
rings £400
Brides outfit £400 (dress second hand +alterations, bespoke shoes, second hand veil, other bits and bobs new)
Other outfits £700 approx (groom, best man, 3 page boys, 3 bridesmaids - predominantly second hand)
cake £30 - 2 homemade cakes decorated with homegrown flowers, fruit, nuts  and Lego
flowers £150- includes £40 on seeds that mostly failed, £25 on buttonholes and the rest were supermarket flowers
table decs/stationery etc £20- home made, borrowed or repurposed. 

Total £7650

original budget was £8k but for a lot more people! The change in venue meant a much higher cost per head- we were going to do bring your own booze but instead had a compulsory drinks package. If we’d had more numbers, I would have negotiated on this point but they already waived the minimum numbers as it was so last minute. 

I’m really pleased we managed to source so much second hand. The boys suits were a special bargain as they hadn’t even been worn. This meant we had money to prioritise in a good time- dancing and celebrating! 

Spendless

Congratulations. What time of day did you marry at (just roughly, not asking you for specifics) and was your dinner and drinks just the one reception on the day or was there also an evening event? 

powerspowers

Hi @Spendless
Married at 3pm and then had drinks and canapés. Dinner was 5.45 I think? No separate evening do. 

Our venue wouldn’t have let us do it in non covid times as they have a minimum spend in peak times, it’s only because we booked so late that they let us. The only bonus of a covid wedding!