

The more time you give yourself to plan, the easier it becomes to identify bargains and help make them into a reality. (The Knot Real Study says the typical wedding has 131 guests.) If you follow all of our ideas, you’ll reach under $4k in your final tally.ĭifferent people look for different things in their wedding, so go through the list below and choose the ideas that work for you.ġ7 steps for a frugal (not cheap) wedding on a budget Start planning early By paring down here and there, we got it down to $3,950, if you go with a guest list of 50. The strategies below can collectively shave away 10s of thousands of dollars from the budget of an average wedding.Īccording to our calculations, a typical American wedding comes to about $28.5k, which we detail below. The best solution is to take a serious look at all of the expenses involved with a wedding and find realistic, frugal ways to cut back on the expense without tinkering with the magic or the memories. Many people dream of a beautiful, unforgettable wedding, but not many long for the financial aftermath. Given that the median American household income charts in around $69,000, (according to the Census Bureau), that means the average wedding devours nearly half a year’s worth of income.
#Wedding budget professional#
If you spend £7,000 on your dress but can’t afford to feed your guests properly then you’ve got your wedding budget priorities wrong! Don’t forget to include any beauty treatments and on the day professional hair and makeup you want into this section too.The average wedding and reception in 2019 (the most recent pre-COVID year for which data is available) was $28,000, according to The Knot Real Weddings Study.
#Wedding budget plus#
That’s of course up for you to decide, but on average about 10% of the budget is a good benchmark for your bridal outfit, plus grooms wear, bridesmaids dresses, usher’s suits and other attire associated with events around your big day.īe realistic though. Some fashion or designer loving couples will want to spend a lot on their outfits while others won’t see the value in spending so much on attire they’re only going to wear for a day. This is the area of wedding spending that often gets dialled up a lot or dialled down depending on the individual bride or groom.

If not, you’ll need to let guests know in advance to bring cash or their cards.
#Wedding budget free#
You also need to decide whether you can afford to have a free bar at the evening reception or not.

So the smaller the guest list the less you’ll pay. The amount of guests you’re having will impact how much you spend on catering as caterers usually charge per head. Of course there are ways to have a cheap wedding and still have plenty of tasty food – think afternoon tea, sharing platters and barbecues rather than three-course plated meals. So as percentages of your budget go, this is one to make sure you keep nice and high. Hungry guests are not happy guests so it’s really important to make sure your friends and family are well fed and have plenty of drink (both alcoholic and non). Spreadsheet at the ready? Let’s get budgeting… Of course, if some areas of your wedding are more important to you, for example you want to go big on live music, or food is your passion, then you can dial up or dial down the wedding costs to suit your day. In the below wedding budget checklist, we’ve put together the average percentages that most couples spend on each aspect of their wedding day to help you work out how much of your money you should be parting with. Whatever your budget, from £3,000 up to £300,000, approaching your spending in this organised way will really help you keep on track and ensure you have enough money to cover everything you want on your wedding day. The key to ensuring this doesn’t happen is to separate your wedding budget into smaller manageable amounts and to allocate specific percentages to each element of your wedding day. What if you overspend on one key element and then don’t have money left over to feed your guests? Once you’ve worked out how much money you’ve got to play with when it comes to your wedding day, it can be a bit scary to start spending it.
