The Dreaded Budget: A cost guide to help you build a realistic budget for your wedding
My name is Lynda and I’m the owner of Celebrations by Lynda. Over the past 5 years in the wedding industry, I’ve seen how much stress making and sticking to a budget can cause. As a planner, one of the services I provide is how to put together a budget and help you find vendors that will work with you and stay with-in your budget. As this is my first blog, I decided why not tackle one of the first items you would need to check off your list as you start the planning process. The Dreaded Budget.
I totally get it, no one wants to talk about money, the conversations around it can be brutal, stressful, and can be very uncomfortable at times. The budget is said to be one of the most stressful parts of planning a wedding. First, be sure to go into the conversation with patience, an open mind, and complete honesty. Having clear expectations from the beginning will help make the rest of the planning process run smoother.
This week’s blog will focus on finding the all-around budget, how to break down that number, and the average cost for vendors in Northern Western Washington (Snohomish, Skagit, Whatcom and Island County).
Now, for the scary numbers. On average, the cost of a wedding for 125 guests in this area ranges from $26,000 to $54,000 for the entirety of the wedding. On average couples tend to be engaged for 12 to 18 months. This information is important to know going into budget planning because it gives you a good picture of what vendors are charging and a good jumping off point. So, say you were considering getting married in December of 2026, and it’s November of 2025, let’s be honest if you are thinking about a Saturday wedding you are already late to the game & that gives you just a little over 13 months to make all the various payments to all your vendors. Here are a few questions for you to answer; how much are you realistically able to spend, how much debt (if any) are you willing to accumulate, and are your parents or anyone else in your family going to be contributing any money towards the wedding? This can be another difficult conversation but there are ways to make this easier for everyone. The biggest factor in your budget is guest count, how many guests are you wanting to invite to the wedding? This number will contribute to most, if not all of the decisions you make while planning. A lot of vendors base their prices on guest count, even your planner. For example, I would need an assistant if the guest count was over 200, and that would add to the overall cost.
Once you’ve established the overall budget and guest count, it’s time to break it down. Each category of the wedding should have a percentage of the budget. One of my favorite visual examples of this comes from The Knot.
Putting together a spreadsheet with all of this information definitely will help keep everything on track. Be sure to have the total budget, the budget for each vendor, and how much the vendor actually costs. Below is a link to a downloadable PDF for your budget.
A good tip I can give you when setting your budget for the amazing vendor scavenger hunt is to make sure you give yourself the flexibility to change it, or only start with your venue budget, and set the rest once that has been booked. The venue should be your first hire besides a full planner if you desire one. You will want to make sure to ask what all is included with your venue. Is it an all inclusive venue where most of your vendors are included in the total cost? Do they include tables and chairs, or a decor lending closet? Depending on what is included with your venue means you may be able to devote parts of your budget towards other things.
Ok, now that you’ve set your budget, and you are ready to get vendors on the books, make sure to set your filter to the correct amount range, and once you’ve started the conversation include the following questions.
Is there a service charge?
What’s included in the service/venue?
Is tax included in the total?
Are there any hidden fees I need to consider?
Do you automatically include tips?
Being aware of the potential for additional costs is important. A great example, imagine you found a venue that works for your $6200 budget. It’s $6000 for 12 hours, but using their tables and chairs is an extra $500, and the rehearsal is $200. If you want to use the get ready rooms, that's an additional cost of $300, and you only get them before the ceremony. Also, sales tax will be added after you include all of your add ons. This makes the venue over $1000 more than your budget allows.
So we’ve talked about budget and things to consider when booking vendors. Now below I added the average vendor cost sheet for 125 guests. This will give you a better idea of what vendors in this area are charging.
Vendor - .Average cost for 125 guests
Venue: $7890
Catering: $3125 - $16000
Photographer: $3500-$8500
Videographer: $2500 - $6500
Rentals: $1700-$2100
Floral: $2000-$6000
Dessert: $650-$700
DJ: $2000 - $4500
Photobooth: $800-$1000$
Bartender: $750-$2100
Planner/Coordinator: $3500-$8000+/$800-$2000
Hair/Makeup: $500-$800
Officiant: $200-$450
So, in conclusion we have talked about creating your budget, and the cost expectations for vendors. Now I’ll leave you with one more thing to take into consideration, there are hidden things to consider with the budget that aren’t monetary such as time, emotional tolls, mental tolls, and the convenience factor. Stay tuned for my next blog highlighting backyard weddings vs a professional venue, and DIY vs buying/renting.