Wedding Budget Breakdown

Context: ON, Canada in medium-high cost of living city (not Toronto), ~75 guests. Single venue, single day event with outdoor ceremony, patio cocktail hour and indoor dinner and reception. Pretty standard North American wedding.

All-in Total: $37,000-$37,600

Vendors:

Venue, catering and bar: $19,700

Included access to the venue from 10am until 1am, $130 per guest for canapes, buffet dinner, dessert, late night food, open bar and dinner wine. The venue was “all inclusive” so they did some of the set-up and most of the tear-down for me. It also had bride and groom “getting ready” suites.

Officiant: $900, included 3-4 meetings to work out details for ceremony and a rehearsal

Flowers: $1000, included 1 large and 3 small bouquets, boutonnieres and corsages, archway florals that double as head table decoration, and aisle markers (centerpieces and décor mostly DIY, more on that below)

DJ: $900 $200 tip (he did a really good job and is a really nice guy)

Hair: $1200 $150 tip, on-site total of 7 people getting hair done (admittedly, probably could have gotten a better deal here, but I was coming down to the wire and wanted somebody that had enough experience to be able to handle the various hair types and styles)

Make-up: $700 $100 tip, again, 7 people and on-site

Dessert: $300 for large platter of assorted chocolate and 6 flavours of cupcakes

Shuttle: $400 – totally turned out to be a waste of money since nobody used it, if I were to do it again, I would get taxi chits or do an uber code instead.

Photographer: $1800, single shooter for 8 hours and included an engagement session

Outfits:

Bride:

Dress: $2200 total. $1600 dress $200 taxes, $200 for extra lace that matched the dress, $60 chiffon for cape, $150 alterations (very minimal, hemming and adding bustle). I hand-made the cape (instead of a veil) to get the custom look I wanted but on a budget. Thankfully it worked out looking pretty great and only needed a little assistance from fashion tape to keep it in place

Accessories: ~$250 for two pairs of shoes (used one for engagement shoot as well), $300 for tennis bracelet and earrings, borrowed another bracelet (that took care of “old”, “gold”, “borrowed” and “blue” in one object)

Groom: $750 custom suit, $150 shoes, ~$50 for tie, pocket square etc.

Groomsmen and Bridesmaid gifts:

$660 ( 85 taxes) for 6 pairs of moccasins (2 groomsmen, 3 bridesmaids and flower girl/dog walker)

$80 for getting ready robes for the girls

$150 for 5 pairs of sapphire earrings for the girls – got an extra pair for the friend helping with day-of coordination (protip: black Friday is a great time to get bridesmaids gifts, got 5mm sapphires for $30)

$100 for groomsman ties and pocket squares

Décor (note, almost entirely DIY to save money)

$400-$600 total for materials, hundreds of hours of labour. If you include the tools I bought and/or used add another ~$5000 (laser cutter and die-cutter)

2 large paintings for fireplace mantels, 10 table numbers and centerpieces (potted plants and pillar candles with flower candle holder), guest book, lights for dance floor, draping and lanterns for the room, low-poly papercraft hearts, gems, roses.

Rings

$3000 for my set ($2600 engagement ring, $400 wedding band), $1200 for his ring (7mm platinum).

Hotel

$1200 for night before and night of hotel rooms (paid for accommodations of bridal party, travel involved for them)

Incidentals/Misc.

Probably about $500-800 for things like instax film, day-of food, paying for rehearsal dinner (just bridal party), and some other odds and ends.