Full Wedding Weekend Cost Breakout - June 2024

This group was so helpful to me during our wedding planning process and the least I can do is return the favor. Coming into this I had no idea what to expect and thought I could pull off everything for less than $150K. And boy was I wrong! We had the wedding weekend of our dreams and don't regret one cent. We are very fortunate to have received some help from family but also have worked hard during our careers to have saved money to put toward our wedding weekend. We are in our early 30's and were some of the last in our friend group to get married. It was our goal to have a fun, elegant, but not stuffy(!) weekend that put the guest experience first.

Below is the detail for our entire wedding weekend - Rehearsal Dinner (~40 people), Welcome Party (~225 people) and Wedding Day/Reception (~250 people). I will note that while we got married in a relatively low cost of living area, most of our vendors came from medium/high cost of living areas since there weren't many options for vendors near our wedding location. Both of our venue locations were not true wedding venues (i.e., did not provide any sort of service, rentals, etc.), so we had to bring in everything down to the silverware and bathrooms. We even had to rent an extra tent to essentially build an outdoor kitchen for catering. While this allowed us to have a truly customized experience, this is not for the weary! We were so fortunate to have such an amazing planner to handle all of the logistics and details.

All numbers are rounded to the closest $1,000. Not captured in the below: wedding weekend outfits, alterations, gifts, welcome bags, wedding website, etc. All of these can add up quickly!

Total Wedding Weekend Vendor Spend: ~$466K

---Breakout---

Full Concierge Wedding Planner for full wedding weekend (fee structure was based on a % of our total vendor spend): ~$60K

Rehearsal Dinner (~40 people) & Welcome Party (~225 people): ~$76K

  • Catering & Bar: $30K
  • Floral Design: $12K
  • Rentals (tables, bars, dishes, chairs, flatware, etc.) $7K
  • Tent: $7K
  • Stationary: $5K
  • Guest Transportation: $4K
  • Bathrooms: $3K
  • Band: $2K
  • Linens: $1K
  • Venue - free (held at my family's house)
  • Gratuities: $5K

Wedding & Reception (~250 people): ~$330K

  • Catering & Bar: $84K
  • Floored tent with custom dance floor and stage: $53K
  • Floral Design: $47K
  • Rentals (flatware, bars, dishes, tables, chairs, etc.): $43K
  • Stationary: $18K
  • Band: $15K
  • Photographer (Rehearsal Dinner/Welcome Party/Wedding Day): $13K
  • Videographer (Rehearsal Dinner/Welcome Party/Wedding Day): $10K
  • Venue: $10K
  • Linens: $7K
  • Hair & Makeup for Bridal party: $7K
  • Bathrooms: $5K
  • Guest Transportation: $4K
  • Ceremony & Cocktail Musicians: $2K
  • Getaway Car: $2K
  • Gratuities: $10K