I was gonna ask you actually...does live music usually run really 'spensive at weddings? What kind of band do you have?
We're planning ours now for Feb 08, we haven't got to the invitations yet, but our wedding cake will be made by the pastry chef at our reception place and I just want one of those chocolate fountains or chocolate mouse instead of a grooms cake. I think I heard that the cake was going to come in at around $4.00 a slice, I'm not into cake so I could care less.. The only wedding cake I have ever been impressed with was from Andre's Pastries in Uptown Park, even if you don't buy a cake from them just go to get dessert one day, they are one of the best bakeries/pastries in town IMO.. If I remember right the Andre's wedding cake I tried was around 2.00-3.00 a slice and was very good.. Just FYI, when cake shopping stay away from FONDANT cakes, fondant is that stuff that makes cakes look like art, but are HORRIBLE to eat.. fondant is made with lard and has a much higher melting point compared with butter cream cakes, so when you eat a fondant cake it tastes like you are chewing laffy taffy until it melts from the heat of your mouth.. It’s the liquor that kills you, we are getting a full bar minus the super premium stuff (Glennlivet, Chivas ex.) for the full reception of 4 hours and that is coming in at $35.00-$40.00 a head.. The food is were I wanted to spend the most of our budget, but I had to compromise because the cost of liquor.. Also, after the reception the photographer and florist will be the largest expenses depending on how wild you go with floral.. The best tips I can give when planning a wedding are 1.Get ALL quotes IN WRITING, you never know when a person will change jobs and the establishment can have a hard time honoring prices that were just verbal quotes from an old employee.. 2. When working with vendors/reception sites towards the end of negotiations ask if they will give you a cash discount at the very least we have saved an extra 3% and as much as 10% by agreeing to pay cash, you give up a little in security by doing this, but the amount you’ll save in the end REALLY adds up.. 3. When meeting with a photographer ask to see pictures from weddings that they shot in the last month don’t just look over their portfolio, anyone can have decent looking “greatest hits” collection.. 4. Verify how many photographers will be shooting at your wedding and ask to see that persons work, one “photographer” we talked with has just had his wife on the other camera and it was going to be with a point and shoot.. 5. Ask if the photographer shoots all digital, if they do will you be receiving the original uncompressed copies of the photos?
Thanks Da-Glyde, great info there. I think I'm just going to let my dad take the wedding pictures...heh. I've heard horror stories in all honesty about people spending tons of money and getting mediocre pictures...I don't care about having professional pictures that much anyways, my dad is a perfectionist anyways, I'm sure they'd turn out fine... Seriously, flowers cost that much? Sheesh, don't think I need any... About the food, thanks for the tip on Fondant, and also GREAT idea on the chocolate fountain...I love those things. That Andre's website is making me drool...I'm going to have to check that place out sometime.
Yall are nuts spending that kind of money for one day. ONE DAY! That money is MUCH better spent on a downpayment for a house or an emergency fund. You can kick start your lives together with that kind of money, especially if you are young and are not established. It just seems so freaking silly to me and such a waste.
Definitely...I heard the average wedding in the US costs between 20-25,000, which is absolutely ridiculous. I'm going to do everything in my power to hold mine under 3,000--the money should definitely go toward more important things.
A good band will cost you between 2 and 4 grand, depending on how long you want them to play, how many breaks they get, how many members, whether you use an agent to book them or not etc. We play 70's dance/funk stuff. Earth Wind and Fire, Chic, Gap Band, stuff like that. Also some 60's Motown and some 80's stuff on standby.
That sounds entirely reasonable. There is a chick that my girlfriend works with that says theirs is costing upwards of $100k when you include everything. She makes around $30k and her idiot fiance is a plumber. Nothing wrong with being a plumber but it isn't like he is making 6 figures. Her parents are getting these huge loans to help pay for it and so are they. The entire thing is basically being paid for on credit. Nothing like getting married and being a ton in debt to start off. I think that they are having somewhere around 500 guests, catering the entire thing, and having an open bar. The guy is a total moron for allowing it to happen.
Agree completely with the Baiter. Before I moved into the house I live in now, my wife and me looked at it (she was my fiancee at that time) and we knew we were going to have to do some major renovation to it like painting all the rooms, putting down hardwood floors, etc. Also, I wanted to put a down payment on the house. It just didn't make good sense to us to waste money on a wedding when we needed it for more pressing things. More power to people who can actually do it but to finance a $100K wedding solely on credit is nuts, IMO.
I agree. I've been to many weddings that I KNOW have HAD to have cost well over 100K. And I know the bride and groom didn't pay for it because they were fresh out of college. I guess having loaded parents has it's advantages.
Say you made $250k a year. Quarter of a million dollars a year. 100k is still a lot of money. Almost half of what you would make in one year. I'd never in a million billion gazillion years pay that much or even a fraction of that for a wedding. I know for sure that I'm not going to do that for my kids. I'll help with with a down payment on a house or put money away in a retirement account or something.
Tell me about it.. One of my old friends just got married and they had an extravagant wedding because "she wanted it" while he was broke and taking loans to fund the whole thing.. Some people want flashy houses, some people want flashy cars and some want flashy weddings.. I'll never understand the idea of breaking yourself to get these things, it just seems that too many people live way above their means.. Also, I was talking with a wedding photographer the other day and he was showing us some pictures and he pointed out this necklace that was really nice and said "that's all real" (All real diamonds).. He started laughing and told us because the people wanted the fairly tale wedding so bad they bought 20K worth of jewelry and watches just for the wedding and returned them the day after.. That’s F'ed up..
I agree to an extent. It all depends on if the booze is free and if the chicken strips are tender or hard.
When my cousin got married, their photographer was literally laying on the floor between them, shooting up at them while they were giving their vows. It was ridiculous. I'm sure it was a great shot but the guy totally disrupted the ceremony.
I'd be thrilled if I never have to plan another one again. I'm overwhelmed and we haven't even started yet.
Alas I get to tap one of my best friends who still dj's on the side; that'll cut down on costs immensely. Didn't know that about the cakes, so I'll definitely make sure its butter cream. We have a copy of the contract, so there shouldn't be any worries there and we were actually able to get the price down from 40 to 32 AND they threw in a second appetizer and offered to cut the price on any children that attend should we exceed our guest limit. So I was really happy with the price in the end. I honestly don't think we could have found something better for less. Felt the same way, but if you can find an all-inclusive place like we did, it takes a big load off. And once you get the two biggest things out of the way - the church and the hall - it seems a lot more manageable. And we got both, and don't have to worry about anything regarding the reception now; just tell them what colors, what food and how many guests and they take care of the rest. And I'm so glad we have friends that can provide the music during the ceremony and at the reception, the photography and the limo (should we opt for one). That's gonna save a ton. But now, it's the invitations that are killing me. I'm thinkin now about finding invitation kits in the store and then having them printed at Kinkos (I had a friend do that and they turned out nice) I figure a cake won't be too bad to get. And I don't think we're gonna be doing a lot of flowers. I found it insane that on average, weddings cost around 20K. That's exactly why people are in debt; they spend beyond their means. Well we can't afford to do that cause we have a baby to think of as well. Plus, they are other things I'd rather spend that money on...like the honeymoon The best thing to do is set a budget first and then stick to it at all costs; that has definitely helped us.
We had a very nice reception, a badass photographer, free beer and wine, sit down dinner with 150. I believe it was close to $25k. It's easy as a guy to say "let's take the money and do something useful with it" and we were actually offered that by her parents (not as much money as they spent on the wedding), but many girls grow up dreaming about their wedding. My wife did and, even though I would've been happing being married in a courthouse as long as I was marrying her, I wanted her to have the wedding she'd always dreamed about growing up. And we had a badass time, so it was all worth it. Those memories will last forever. However, we were lucky in that the only thing we had to pay for was the honeymoon and the hotel room the night of the wedding.
My wife ordered the invitation paper, envelopes, RSVP cards, etc. on-line and then used MS Publisher to design and print them. We used a standard HP color printer. We did this for our 2 children's weddings as well as my parents 50th Anniversary. It is not that difficult to do and you save a ton of money (relatively speaking).
