Stuck on You: Wedding Budget

The title of this post is a misnomer. The Pin Cushions didn't actual budget for our wedding.

That's not to say we were throwing money around willy nilly. We tried to keep costs down and had a general "around $20 thousand" goal, but we did not budget out every item from the get go. I admire couples who sit down with a notebook, or a google doc, and chart out what they think each purchase will cost, plan accordingly, and change their future habits based on past purchases. Truly, truly impressive.

We couldn't do that. 1) We've never been budgeters. I think my "being cheap" gene has helped me to not need to budget too much (plus I'm lazy!). And 2) We had no idea about the cost of ANYTHING related to a wedding, so trying to guess numbers would have been fairly pointless.

So, we had a general goal of $20,000 (when it's written out, it sure sounds like a whole lot of cash). We tried to make money conscious decisions but weren't ever sticklers about one item being 'over budget'. If something seemed too expensive, we didn't use it. Though Mr. Pin Cushion may be a scientist, we didn't go about the process too scientifically.

Enough with the gabbing, here is the Pin Cushion Wedding Cost Breakdown:

Venue: Radonich Ranch with coordination from Vignette Events
Cost: $10,142.00
Our venue included a whole slew of goodies. Not only did it include the site, but they provided food, non alcoholic beverages, rentals (tables, chairs, silverware etc), flowers for the ceremony site and the reception, plus the venue coordinator, Marky, was creative and great to work with.
The venue fee was $3,000.
Food cost per person was $72 ($36 for children and vendors)

Photography: The Weaver House (Formerly Steep Street Photography)
Cost: $4,114.80 (includes travel fees from Portland to San Francisco and tip)
We had our photographer, Kelty, and her second shooter, for the entire day. We received more than 800 edited photos. She sent us all of our images on CDs, plus we have full access and rights to our photos.

Bride's Attire and Beauty:

Cost: $2307.35
Wedding Dress: $1,698.35

Birdcage veil and hair flower: $70
Alterations (including tip): $225
Shoes: $154
Hair and Makeup (including trial and tip): $160

Groom's Attire (no beautification necessary)

Cost: $245
3 Piece Suit from Express Men: $215
Custom made Gingham Tie: $30

Cookie Table

Cost: $116.22
Cookie Jars from Crate and Barrel: $53.80
Table Runner (Ikea fabric): $15.98
Glass Milk Bottles (Ikea): $11.97
Red and White Napkins: $4.47
Ingredients (a guesstimate since I did not keep receipts or keep track of ingredient cost): $30

Band: Full Tilt Band

Cost: $2000.00 (including tips)

4 man band (well, 3 men and 1 woman). They played for 3 hours during our dinner and for boogeying down. The singer also did the announcements (of us as a couple, time for cake etc)

Reception Tables:
Cost: $187.21
Table Numbers (stands, paper and ric rac): $50.69
Green Burlap Runners: $56.62
Striped Napkins (made from Ikea fabric): $79.90

Flowers: Lina Floral

Cost: $539.00
As I mentioned, our venue coordinator did the flowers for our ceremony and reception, so we just needed the flowers for "our people"
Bridal Bouquet: $95
6 Bridesmaid Bouquets: $270
7 Boutonnieres: $84
6 Wristlets (instead of pinned corsages): $90

Rings

Cost: $59.94 (does not include my engagement ring)
Groom's Ring (includes shipping): $59.94
Bride's Ring: none. I ended up not finding a ring that I liked enough to fit with my engagement ring, so I took off my ring before the ceremony and he gave it back when we exchanged rings.

Fauxto Booth: DIYed

Cost: $24.97
Fabic and PVC Pipe: $19.98
Props (chalkboard, fake flowers, handmade mustaches): $4.99

Miscellaneous Costs (including things that were too cute not to buy):
Cost: $220.58
Stripey Straws: $10.25
Ikea Frames (to hold instructions for guestbook, fauxtobooth): $7.98
Croquet Set and Picnic Basket (Craigslist): $40
Ribbon (used for a whole slew of things): $53.75
HUGE balloons for photoshoot: $36.95
Ribbon Wands (DIYed) and tin holder: $22.95

Assorted fabrics and baker's twine: $48.70

Cake: The Buttery
Cost: $400
This was for the simple, 3 tiered cake. It did not include delivery, which ended up being more than a bit of a headache on the day of (it was questionable whether my parents, who were picking up the cake [one of which was the officiant]) were going to make it in time for the wedding).

Guestbook: Components all bought at PaperSource

Cost: $94.05
Envelopes and cards: $54.10
Blank scrapbook: $39.95

Favors:

Cost: $30

60 strawberry plants (we had some casualties). We also used leftover twine and fabric from other projects.

Paper Products: All DIYed

Cost: $327.53
Save the Dates (envelopes, paper, Moo cards): $88.65
Invitations (envelopes, paper, printing, cutting): $93.90
Thank You Cards (fabric, envelopes, cards, stamp and ink pad): $42.18
Postage for everything: $102.80

Alcoholic Beverages: Bought at Costco

Cost: $1095.00
Hard alcohol was not allowed at our venue, so we just provided beer and wine.
White Wine (3 cases, $16 a bottle): $567.00
Red Wine (2 cases, $11 a bottle): $264.00
Beer (3 cases Stella Artois and 4 cases Fat Tire): $154.00
Champagne (10 bottles, about $11 each): $110

Total cost: $21,985.78
$21,658.65

Are you and your partner stringent about budgeting? Do you have a strict budget, or are you looser with your purchases? Also, feel free to ask me any questions about the Pin Cushion Budget. 

All photos by the aforementioned and fabulous The Weaver House