($15k) Cost breakdown for wedding in HCOL US city
I had my wedding this past Sunday and it was fantastic! I wanted to share our budget breakdown - ours might be a touch different than others because we did minimal DIY, skipped certain things and splurged on others.
Location: Chicago, so HCOL.
Guest count: 32. Originally invited 36 but had a few who couldn’t make it. We're both older, have small immediate families, aren't super close to our extended families, and have a small circle of friends, so the guest list didn’t need much editing. Everyone is right: guest count is what drives budget priorities. Nobody cared that it was on a Sunday.
Budget: ~$15k, half parents and in-laws, half us.
Planner: free. We did most of the planning and venue booking, and one of my besties and my sister insisted on helping so we let them take on a little bit. Type A bestie did a lot of day-of coordinating and LOVED it, and sister picked up my cake and dropped it off at the reception venue.
Dress: $2100. I worked with a local designer to make a completely bespoke custom dress that we're going to dye eventually - I wanted something I could wear again.
Suit: $550. Husband bought an off-the-rack linen suit from Buck Mason, which fits perfectly into his current wardrobe so he'll get many more wears out of it.
Accessories: around $100, including bag, shoes and jewelry. Husband used his own tie, jewelry, shoes, etc.
Printed goods and signage: $350. This includes save the dates + full invitation suite + stamps, menus, event signage, bar sign, and placecards. This is the only part we truly DIYed - I designed everything and had them printed online with Catprint, Vistaprint and LCI Paper. I made the event signage with panels of translucent colored plexiglass and window clings. Printed goods are not everyone's priority, but it was important to us as I'm a designer and art director by trade.
HMU: $300. I keep my head shaved so no hair budget, haha. MUA is a freelance artist who did my makeup when he did my BFF's wedding, so I knew and trusted his skills. We did a more colorful (but not alt style), k-beauty inspired look, instead of typical soft glam. He is a magician istg, because I'm oily as hell, cried a bunch, and the day was humid and warm. At the end of the night I basically looked the same, minus a little lip color. Worth every penny.
Transportation: ~$100. We just took Ubers between venues and home.
Ceremony venue: $1200. We reserved a protected nature area within a park here for a private, family-only ceremony. The private permit included staff to close the area for an hour, and the photo permit is included with this option. It was pretty magical to have the whole place to ourselves with no interruptions from strangers, which would have totally happened because it took a while for staff to clear out nosy stragglers.
Officiant: free. My best friend got ordained online and officiated the ceremony, which was maybe 5 minutes long. That gave us the rest of the hour for photos.
Reception: $6950. We chose an all inclusive venue run by my favorite restaurant. Sunday night was half the price of Friday or Saturday, so we ran it by our family and friends and they were cool with it. Zero regrets, everything was amazing. The space was already beautiful so no extra decor needed. Furniture, linens, candles, setup and teardown, event coordinator, on-site coordinator/captain, and wait staff were included. An hour of passed apps, 3 course family style meal, a dessert table with 4 kinds of desserts + coffee service, and alcohol tallied by consumption (all NA drinks were free, and we got to pick 2 signature drinks). They made a frankly awesome looking Mac and cheese meal for the kids menu, and were very meticulous about addressing food restrictions. Their level of care and detail is something we were willing to pay for. Example: when we made our entrance, staff set aside a whole plate of apps for us so we wouldn’t miss out on them, and got drinks in our hands ASAP. The food itself was bonkers and multiple people told us it was the best wedding food they’d ever had. They packed us leftovers, too! Tax, service fees and tip are included in the total.
Cake: $120 for a 6” cake from an Instagram baker with an impressive bakery and restaurant background. We originally planned to do something more low key, like a Whole Foods cake, but since it was only for cutting and photos, we figured it might as well look cool. She made it with custom flavors (matcha chiffon, espresso frosting, chocolate ganache) and decorated it with wavy piped frosting in fun colors, pearls and flowers that matched our florals. It was thankfully both cool AND delicious, light and not too sweet. Surprisingly, it was big enough that staff served it alongside the other desserts and everyone got a piece. No cake cutting fee, either.
Photography: $2450. This is something we were picky about because we both have art backgrounds, and my husband in particular is a fine art photographer. He really wanted to work with someone who shot only film and had a more fine art approach (light leaks, double exposures, etc). Instagram came through again and we found a wonderful photographer who shot 35mm, medium format, polaroid and Super 8. We had her for 3 hours and it was the perfect amount of time - she was actually there through most of dinner. She’s a total pro, wasn’t in our way, and had already worked a lot with our reception venue because she’s also a planner!
Entertainment: free. It was a chill dinner party vibe, so no dance floor or anything. My husband meticulously curated the playlist for months, which was on Apple Music and played through the venue’s A/V system.
Flowers: $1600. We prioritized real flowers - we love flowers, get them weekly and floristry is a hobby of mine. We worked with a freelance florist who did my best friend’s wedding last year, and developed an à la carte plan. We had personals (bouquet and boutonnière), and a dozen bud vases + larger arrangements for the reception. She’s super talented and got our more sculptural vision right away. This included an unbelievable floral “purse” bouquet, constructed with wire and a hoop. Gave away a lot of flowers to neighbors afterwards and are composting the rest.
Tl:dr we had a smaller guest list so we could invest in more elevated aspects, while completely eliminating elements that didn’t speak to us (wedding party, dancing, traditional ceremony, etc).