How much did you budget for your wedding?

[Keurig]

I’m getting married shortly, really low key affair. 3 star hotel, no bridesmaids/groomsmen, no cars, no white dress. Was assured I could do it for about £10K, but final costs will actually be about £25 - 30K. Is it usually a ‘take the first number you thought of and double it’ scenario? This is not a question of affordability, more expectation!

Voting the same as everyone else - I married for 5 or 6k - just over 40 guests. That was low key 😊

@mitogoshi Nicely planned! I hope you enjoy it 😊

£300 in 1997

dh was a student and I had a very low paid job. That was all we could afford. We didn’t want parents to pay for it.

registry office and buffet afterwards. 30 guests max.

We saved money by getting married on a Sunday. It was £3,500 (this was 9 years ago) for our wedding package in a little Manor House. This included 50 guests, use of marquee, 3 course meal with wine, DJ, evening reception with bacon rolls and our room overnight.
My friend used to be a florist so I got all my flowers for cost (think they cost around £200) and my other friend’s partner is a photographer so did our photos for free. We were very lucky.
I bought my dress and my sister’s bridesmaid from Debenhams in the sale.
I paid for our hair to be done but did my own make up. My sister in law made our cake for our wedding present.
The whole wedding would have cost around £6k at the most.

@DinnaeFashYersel this is not the only venue I visited that required taking of rooms above the function room

@pinkchampagne1 it blew my mind, but there was no difference in price due to day of the week. I wanted a Thursday, but they only had the Saturday free

However, my price is ‘off season’. God knows how much it would have been in season

Wow, really? We saved nearly half by choosing a Sunday package rather than the Saturday one. They usually offer cheaper prices for week days too.

I don't think it is a surprising amount.

I budgeted £15k exclusive of honeymoon. That was five years ago. We had a lot of guests (twice as many as you) but had a free photographer, bridesmaids wore their own dresses, cake was a gift. Most of the money went on the food (meal plus evening buffet) and the band. That was in a really cheap venue, at a posh venue we could have spent twice as much.

Budgeted as low as possible. Never counted it up but I'd say about £6k. Maybe less

My son and his fiance are getting married in August 24...80 to day do and wedding and 130 to night do. They are infact getting married 2 weeks before and just having a celebrant to do the service on the day. With everything,venue,food,drinks,ice cream man. crisp walls cake,dj, violin players,garden games, drone footage, the whole lot 45k. It is not low key at all and I love them both dearly but they have gone all out and to me it seems barmy.

We spent about 2.5k. High street dress, village hall, etc. Did my own make up and hair. It was a gorgeous day but if I had my time again I'd pay for hair as I could've afforded it and it would've reduced the stress. It's all relative though. We love holidays so I'd rather save the money for those.

Daughters.
Dress £80. Shoes £15 all in sale.
Hair make up at home .
Register Office. .
Buffet at hotel for 50 guests
£750. With friend DJ.
Car ( friend free).
Husbands and sons suit £70.
Photography free from friend
Everyone says a brilliant wedding.
Can't understand spending loads for a day.. spend more on an honeymoon and enjoy the holiday.

How close an eye were keeping on things for it to all come in so much over budget?

I am assuming you have the money and will have an amazing wedding but most people would have had to reign it in long before it got to being 3x over budget!!

We spent £300.

We didn't go for a lot. Church service and a lunch with our parents and siblings.

I have a friend and a relative who both spent around £25-30k on their weddings and they were very lavish affairs. It’s a LOT to spend on a wedding.

Ours was low key and budgeted at about £3k but came in at nearly £5k. I think there are always going to be surprise costs. I’m really surprised you have to buy the rooms at the venue. Would you get that back through people from your wedding booking them in and paying for them? I’d always assume I’m paying for my own accommodation at a wedding.

About £300!

5K. Came in just under 6K.
This was 2016 in a windmill in Kent. 45 guests, the ceremony was in the windmill followed by a Cream Tea and a Hog Roast a wee bit later in the adjoining barn. Also had a disco. This figure also included flowers and a 6 hour photography package.

@Keurig If you list out every single cost itemised in a similar way to this, you'll soon see where the money has been spent.

Under £1,000 for us. THAT was lowkey

What is strange here is how you have 'not noticed' your costs spiralling from what you were originally quoted to 3x the amount.

As @Starseeking said, , why not list out a breakdown of everything, and then start going through and seeing where you are spending more than you feel comfortable with.

@NewName24 i have it all itemized so I know where the costs are going. Did I say I’d ’not noticed’? I thought the question I asked was about the initial quote being far less than the actual cost

It’s so pointless for posters to add anything unless they have planned a wedding in the last 6 months or so since costs have gone up so much. £30 a head really cracked me up, I’d expect around £100 a head for meal and cheap table wine 🤣

Enjoy your wedding!

Well then, as anything was mentioned by hotel or any other service provider, as being a lot more than you originally planned, how have you not picked that up at the time ?
I mean, I can see how people can be persuaded to add £200 on here or there, but from £10K to £30 is a long way from that.

@NewName24 i very clearly said in my OP that this is not a budgetary issue, more about expectation vs reality. It costs what it costs