How to Make a Wedding Budget
The only thing we know that is continuing to trend upward is the cost of a wedding in 2022. Weddings are expensive.
Are you recently engaged and not sure where to start with wedding planning? First, yes, BEFORE you go book your engagement photos, sit down and make a wedding budget.
We have compiled some information to help you think through your spending priorities for your wedding day. Planning a wedding budget can be tricky, but these tips will help you think about your overall look and feel and decide what you want.
Priced per head vs priced in full
Items such as catering and beverage, venue space, and seating can usually be priced by the guest. These days, it is extraordinarily difficult to get catering for less than $10 per person. Bar services and beverages (think cocktails and beer) can usually be priced out at $10 per person or charged by the service to be inclusive of guests in this manner. A venue with a built-in bar service, or included beverage policy will normally be more expensive than a venue that allows BYOB.
Some counties have preferences or laws surrounding the bar and security, so make sure you ask these questions before booking your venue! You will want to include this in your wedding budget, as food and drink is a large spend in most cases.
Entertainment
DJ or Live Band? Instrumental? These are all things to take into consideration. A live band will understandably be more expensive than a DJ. DJ’s normally charge by the hour of service. A standard wedding reception is 4-5 hours. Depending on your location, you can expect to spend anywhere between $1000 or $3000 on a DJ. Ceremony music is usually priced separately than your reception, although some DJ’s automatically include these hours. DJs have several extra services that can be added to your package, and some have photobooths.
Photography and Videography
We suggest allocating 10% or more of your total budget to photo and video. These are the only items you get to keep of the wedding. You want quality photos to remember, because the day goes by really fast. Yes, photobooths are fun, and so are cell phone pictures, but how many pictures on your phone do you keep when you get a new one? An average photography package runs about $3,000-$4,000 in the College Station area. You may find cheaper or more expensive, but it is a good average rate for 2022. Videography starts around $2,000 and can really depend on production quality.
Floral and Decor
Unpopular opinion – Don’t buy your linens. We highly suggest renting them. Linens can be bought today on some websites for about $8.50 each plus shipping and taxes. That drives the cost of each linen up to close to $10.00. You then have to clean and press them or iron them like crazy to make them look presentable for your wedding day.
When renting, the polyester linens can start around $12.50 a linen, and they come cleaned, pressed, and are dropped off and picked up with a delivery fee. IT. IS. WORTH. IT. Relieve yourself of this huge stress for the very minimal convenience fee. It will make the event look nicer, and will not keep your family busy with the linens before the event!
Floral is priced all over the place depending on designer, blooms, seasonality, install, and labor. It is not simply priced per stem. In this area and in Houston, Texas, florists range between $2,000 to $4,500 for the exact same order. Greenery is not cheaper than flowers, and faux flowers are not necessarily cheaper than real. You may save a little for fake but will get a very limited look. It all depends on your style and vibe.
Know that we do not try to price gauge with our floral orders and attempt to be as fair as possible.
The Venue
All inclusive? Includes decor? Includes Coordination? The more that is included should ideally be cheaper, right? Not necessarily.
You should pick your venue on your overall preferences. It will set the tone for your entire day to be somewhere you think is beautiful and worth hosting your wedding ceremony. Wedding venues in the area have a very wide price range.
Below we put together a starting budget for a $20,000, $30,000, and $50,000 wedding. Vendors are sometimes more expensive based on how established they are, quality of work, and exclusivity. You will find a large range between new-to-industry and long-term wedding vendors, but it doesn’t necessarily mean they aren’t gems!
How We Help You Stay Under Budget while Wedding planning
In our partial planning and full-service package, we put a dollar amount on the styles and aesthetic you are hoping for your wedding, and we then let you know what you can expect to spend on your vendors in the area. Throughout the planning process, we continue to guide you to try to avoid overspending. Contact us today and let’s begin planning your wedding and creating your wedding budget.
