S/o weddings. Cost of your kids wedding?

$3000. We made the dress for $150 and all the brides maids dresses as well. We self catered and had a free venue. The cake was a gift from a relative. the centerpieces were purposely eclectic (each table was different) and most of the items were borrowed with a few purchased from thrift stores.

Yes, it can be done cheaply, but I wouldn't do it if I didn't have to. I put a lot of work into it and when I do it for my other children I plan to spend more so we can have it catered at the very least. I will make as many wedding dresses and my girls ask me to, however.

I just got married and we paid for everything (attendant clothing as well).

Attendant clothing $1500
My dress $1300 plus $500 in alterations and accessories
Flowers $500 (we only did bouquets and boutinwres, no decorative flowers)
Church fees $500ish
Reception hall free with hot meal purchase
Food and beer $3800
Photographer $2900 (full rights to our photos)
Dj $1200
Centerpieces around $200
Head table $6 (proud of that one!)
cake $200 (I made it)
His parents did pay for the rehearsal dinner

I never added it up because I don't want too. Lol but this was everything we wanted and nothing that we didn't. We did not decorate the church. We had the altar dressings changed to white (it was dressed to green at the time) and that was it and the pictures were so beautiful because of the stained glass in the church.

Three daughters married and we paid all. The DDs did buy their bridesmaid gifts and gifts for hostess. This is one of those things we just don't talk about. All three were offered $$ but wanted traditional weddings which we were fine with. I will say that last month, you just buy and buy - budget is out the door.

Budget for DD's upcoming wedding is $15,000 including everyone's contributions.

They've chosen a venue in a mansion which will only allow for about 90 guests. It's quite formal and the ceremony will take place there, too. Plated dinner with open bar. It will be fully decorated for Christmas so we don't need to provide any decorations beyond the flower bouquets that will be carried.

They decided they'd rather do small and fancy as opposed to a larger gathering in a more casual setting.

The surprise to me was in the cost of photographers. They are getting a discount from a friend of the family who is a professional. The nearly half-off price is just over $2,000.

Received a 20% discount off of DD's dress at a small, locally-owed shop. The salesgirl had mentioned that they run different monthly specials on certain lines, mostly bridesmaids, but sometimes bridal. I asked if they planned an upcoming special on the particular dress she had picked since we had plenty of time to order. Girl called the owner to ask and he said we could have 20% off if we ordered today. Done. There's a big markup, so it doesn't hurt to negotiate.

Bridal expos are really fun and a great way to get discounts. Lots of the vendors had coupons, giveaways, and "book today" discounts.

10 years ago, oldest stepdaughter married for $5000 which included everything except invitations and programs. Her biggest splurge was the photographer which DH and I thought was too much but it was how she wanted to allocate the money. It was a church wedding and reception. My mother and I did all the flowers for the receptions - I bought a bunch of them at Sam's Club and Mother does gorgeous arrangements. I did all the invitations and programs and I don't remember what I spent but it wasn't that much. A friend catered for her and it was very reasonably priced.

6 years ago, youngest stepdaughter married and while she had a similar budget plus her Mother bought her dress she did not spend nearly that much on the wedding. A lot of it went toward the honeymoon. She did the wedding on the cheap and it showed. She wouldn't let anyone help her. Her mother spent the entire reception going around telling everyone, "Bless her heart, she did all this by herself." I wouldn't have cared that she spent the money on the honeymoon if she had just kept the wedding small.

I think some things look great DIY like favors, invitations, programs, and flowers if you are talented in that way or have a reliable friend. To me a wedding budget is like anything else, you have to figure out where your priorities are and spend on those. Most of us just can't have it all.

My kids are younger, but they will be paying for their own weddings. We are paying for their college and there is no way we will be able to afford a wedding after college (big out of state universities are $$ ). We have three girls (19, 17 and 13) and they love the beach, so they want a small beach wedding anyways!

I think if you add up the money we pay for their dance from ages 3-18, we probably spend more than most do for fancy weddings!

My son is getting married in June. I'm guessing the total will be around $4k-$5k. I'm paying for the photographer and invites which is about half of that. My ex paid for the church and her parents will help pay for some too. I'm not sure what's going to happen outside of what I'm taking care of because they seem very blase' about the whole thing!

When I got married in 2010, I read that anything under $15k is considered a budget wedding. =-O

DD2 got married last year and the cost was around $5,000. Groom's church for ceremony and reception, so no fee there. About 125 guests with a catered meal. My sister did cupcakes for the wedding cake, but we got a plain white round cake from the grocery store for the bride and groom to cut. That was only about $12. DD did the flowers and decorations. DH built a beautiful backdrop. Photographer was a family member of the groom who gave us a small family discount. I think we paid $1300 for 2 photographers for 6 hours and the edited photos on a disc.

DD1 is getting married in December and will have the same budget. Her tastes are more expensive so she's thinking about what to trim so she can make it work.

My dd was 30 when she got married, so she and her now husband paid for most of it themselves and it was beautiful but super economical. We gave her a check for a certain amount to cover the limo, flowers and down payment for the photographer.  Al together I think they paid about $ 2000, including our money.

I am now paying for my own, VERY small wedding (40 guests), and am in complete sticker shock as to how much things are costing.  I think when we are done it will be about $ 8000, maybe closer to $ 9000.  The cost of the food alone is crazy, but is kind of being offset with the price of the cake being far less than we had anticipated, so things like that are helpful.  And my friend's husband is doing our pictures, so that was a HUGE savings which I will be forever thankful to them for. 

I just read my very first wedding related magazine and had to throw it away...it was just too much.  It said the average cost of a wedding in our area was about $ 32,000 with average cost of the dress alone being $ 1800 and here I was, losing it over a mere $ 8000 or $ 9000.  I felt so petty .

I agree photos are important but I think often there is too much time and money on the professional photos.  How many photos do you really need of you in the same dress on the same day?  While I had a photographer and bought many of his prints, mostly the casual ones, 3 of my friends brought their cameras and took the best photos of the entire day.  They knew me and my family far better than a photographer.  For my stepdaughter, they liked that the photographer had an assistant and took photos from two angles during the ceremony. His photos were beautiful but I bought maybe $200 worth and that was plenty.  I have maybe two on display in our home, same as I have of our wedding.  The rest went into my scrapbook with the photos I took.

Oh, I should add that the one thing my youngest stepdaughter did right was hire a friend who was just getting started as a photographer.  She did beautiful photos and we had all of them on disk to use as we wished.  

I was surprised only because this wasn't something I'd ever priced before. I've never hired an independent pro photographer except for senior pictures and we used a young person who was just starting out for those. 

Certainly not saying it's not worth it, it was just a higher percentage of the budget than I had originally imagined.

I bet your outdoor wedding on the pond was lovely.

My friend got married 2 years ago, she and her husband paid of it themselves, each paid $15K and their wedding was done DIY very cheaply. Flowers from Costco, venue was super small and no fancy decor.

That was the first thing that went through my mind too!  My husband makes good money, but I feel poor when reading what others spend on weddings.