How Much Does The Average Couple Spend On A Wedding
So how much does a wedding cost? As of 2020, our annual survey of 4,000+ couples confirms that the Australian couple spent an average of $27,228 on their wedding day. However, when it comes to starting their budget they actually set the bar much lower. In previous years, this average has been around 15% higher at $32,000, and the average has been lowered by smaller weddings occurring throughout 2020.
Most couples begin their wedding budget at around $25,931.
Of course, your budget is always going to depend on you and your own personal circumstances. But it is a good guide to see what couples in the past have done for their weddings. 60% of couples will receive financial assistance from their parents while 39% will fund their wedding on their own. 8% of couples will also take out a wedding loan for their big day.
Its worth noting that 2020 was an exceptional year in which many of the average costs fluctuated due to guest list restrictions and an increase in outdoor weddings. Where possible, weve identified these fluctuations to help you plan your wedding in 2021 or 2022.
However, couples can expect to save up to $5,000 by booking a wedding package! Our exclusive packages include your top 5 essentials: a celebrant, music, photographer, videographer, and a wedding planner, which are all discounted when booked together as a package.
Civil Wedding In The Philippines: Requirements And Cost
Civil wedding expenses and requirements will definitely be less compared to those of a church wedding. This is why couples opt for a civil wedding ceremony when they just want to get married and have their union legally recognized.
If youre planning to have a simple wedding, heres a look at civil wedding costs and requirements.
Get Your Own Wedding Caterer
I hate typical wedding reception food. You get a choice of one or two plates of generic bland food usually pre-made by a mediocre chef at best. And the couple will usually end up paying $40, 50, or 60 a head for that, plus another $10 or so for silverware plates and linen. No thanks!
We went outside the box again on this one in order to keep our wedding cheap.
We were friends with the owner of a Middle Eastern restaurant that we frequented while in school. We asked them if they catered and they did. Not only did this restaurant make great food, but it was astonishingly cheap. For less than $7, you would eat like a king.
We decided on a few different salads, veggies, kibbeh, hummus and pita, spinach pie, lentil soup, and a few offerings for more conservative eaters chicken and rice. Everyone ate well and loved the food. And it cost us only $14 per head ! We paid an additional $50 for them to clean up everything and gave them a nice tip. Not only did we love the food, but we felt great about giving the money to our favorite restaurant.
For 100 guests, you would normally expect to pay $5,000 or more. For 25 guests, at $14 a head, we only paid $350!
It pays to think outside the box. If you go with the reception halls catering service, youre likely going to get gouged. And the food will probably suck.
The food was great. And super cheap!
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Wedding Venue And Catering
Where do you want to get married? On a farm? Beach? Or maybe you want a destination wedding? You can spend as little or as much on your venue, depending on what you want.
Having the wedding ceremony and reception at the same venue can save you time, effort, and money. The cost depends on the number of people attending. On average, the typical wedding budget in the Philippines for this type of set-up is around PHP 50,000 to PHP 300,000 for 100 pax.
For example, you want a garden wedding and have picked Hacienda Solange in Tagaytay as the venue. As of date, it would cost you PHP 169,000, including the rent, catering for 100 pax, lights and sound, emcee, bubble and fog machine, flower arrangement and styling, and overnight stay for 15 people.
Pare Down The Cake Extras
Order a small, fabulous wedding cake that’s exactly what you want and, in the kitchen, have several sheet cakes of the same flavor cut for your guests. And stay away from tiers and handmade sugar flowers, fancy fillings and special molded shapes. Have your caterer decorate each plate with a flavored sauce instead. Buttercream frosting is also tastier and less expensive than fondant.
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How Much Does A Wedding Planner Cost
With so many moving parts to make up a perfect wedding, many couples turn to a professional for help planning it all. An estimated 30% of couples hire a wedding planner to take care of some or all of the logistics, according to Wedding Wire.
While the average cost of this professional help comes at a price of around $1,500, the price tag depends what type of assistance your planner provides.
Couples have the option of choosing
- a full-service planner
- a day-of coordinator
- a wedding-weekend or destination-wedding coordinator or
- a professional who offers a-la-carte services and assists with only a specific aspect of wedding preparations.
Obviously, the less assistance a planner provides, the lower the price will be.
How Can You Save Money On Your Wedding Venue
Yes, your wedding venue will likely be one of the most expensive things you pay for during your wedding planning journeyso every bit of money you can save on your wedding venue cost is a good thing! Here are a few ways to save money on your wedding venue:
- Cut the guest list: As mentioned, the more guests you invite, the more youll pay. Cutting even just 10 guests from your list can save you major bucks!
- Be smart about setting a date: Saturday night weddings during peak season will cost more than weekday weddings during the off-peak season.
- Look for tax-deductible sites: Certain venues that are affiliated with nonprofit organizations may have tax-deductible site fees.
- Read all contracts closely: Be open and honest with your venue about your budget, and be sure you completely understand your venue contract. There may be some fees that your venue can waive if you ask politely.
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Psa: Please Don’t Go Into Debt To Say I Do
Here Comes The Guide offers this Public Service Announcement: If you want a harmonious marriage , don’t start out drowning in debt. Think beyond the “big day” to your “big life” and smarten up. We all know what the #1 cause of divorce is, right? Right….
If you can’t afford it, chances are you don’t need it. And trust us when we say, you can totally have a champagne wedding on a beer budget . You just need to get a bit creative and focus on the feeling of the event rather than the price tag.
- Sensible Spending Tip 1: Start putting aside some savings as soon as you get engaged.
- Sensible Spending Tip 2: Use your credit cards responsibly. It’s tempting to rack up credit card points during wedding planning, but try to pay off the balance immediately so that you don’t accrue interest!
- Sensible Spending Tip 3: Open up a separate wedding checking account so it’s easy to see exactly where the money is going.
- Sensible Spending Tip 4: Be on the lookout for wedding deals and discounts! These may include off-season or off-peak prices, military discounts, all-inclusive packages, etc.
And, again, remember that it’s not about how much money you spend, it’s how much joy you feel: At the end of the day, even if you get married for $50 at City Hall in a simple white dress , we bet our bottom dollar it will be an incredibly beautiful, memorable, and meaningful wedding.
Plus, you’ll be able to afford that sweet honeymoon. Win-win!
Wedding Dcor Prices: Tips On Saving Money
The easiest way to cut back on your wedding decor prices is by procuring cheap wedding decorations.
Beyond that, talk to your decorator about their service structure. They may be able to cut you a financial break if you can take on some of the work yourself.
In some cases, you can be left in charge of buying and renting. In others, you can be responsible for tear down and clean up. This can cause conflicts so it doesnt happen often, but its worth a shot when trying to save money.
The most common cut back tactic is to opt for the initial consultation. Pay your professional decorator for their ideas and a documented plan. Then, make it happen!
When it comes to hiring an event decorator, the most important tip is to hire someone who gets you. Some professionals have been in the game so long that they just immediately think they know what you want without actually listening. Others arent very flexible with how they structure their services. Some just lack experience.
For the best results, follow these tips:
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Products: Albums And Client Gifts
Products such as albums and prints differ in price ranges. This would depend on the quality, size and amount of the product that needs to be ordered. As a rule, I emphasize the client experience and tend to spend about 3-5% of the client’s budget on gifts and products to any products I offer in the packages.
Tips To Keep Your Wedding Budget In Control
The wedding is a very important moment in the life of the brides and grooms. It is something that the couple may treasure for the rest of their lives. The wedding is also a very special moment for women. Most of women are dreaming to have a special wedding.
Wedding may sounds costly but you can still achieve the wedding that you dreamed of. Here are some of the tips that may help you to make your special day memorable yet budget friendly.
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Local Wedding Photographers Prices By Region
Prices vary greatly within local regions for wedding photographers. Your Perfect Wedding Photographer has cited from their 2020 survey some of the differences in regions throughout the UK. YPWP stated that the cheapest region is the North East at £1100 and the most expensive region was the South West.
I took a closer look at different wedding photographers to get a regional average and found some discrepancies that produced. I looked at different wedding photographers in all of the regions of the UK and took an average of each regions local prices of the photographers that had them listed on their site for all day wedding packages. Here is what I found.
Make Friends Paparazzi For The Day
Many of your guests will record the day for posterity, so why not ask them for a copy of their photos and videos?
You can encourage this further by leaving disposable cameras on the tables at the reception .
Even though they’re not pros, if they take enough shots, hopefully some of them will be good ones. Use our Free Digital Prints guide for free prints and cheap photo books.
If you want a professional photographer, get your haggling hat on, like forumite Tiger_greeneyes.
We went to a wedding show last week and got chatting to a photographer. She charged £575, which we couldn’t afford. So I asked if she would charge less for a weekday and she said she’d discount £50. It still wasn’t great for us, so we mentioned that we’d only want a dozen or so photos. She said “make me an offer”. I replied “£250 cash” and she accepted! Don’t ask, don’t get. – Tiger_greeneyes
This is what former MSE Dan managed to get, after using some charm and chutzpah:
The photographer can be tricky to haggle with, as they sit you down, give you tea and biscuits and put you at ease. But that doesn’t mean it’s impossible.
We wanted a pre-wedding shoot, plus the photographer to stay for an extra couple of hours to catch speeches and cake cutting, but this added a fair whack to the overall cost.
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Your Big Day Will Almost Assuredly Come With A Substantial Wedding Budget
No matter how you add it up, the cost of a wedding is likely to be several thousand dollars at a minimum, even for a small affair.
Couples would be well-advised to consider their budgets carefully and make sound decisions during the entirety of the wedding planning process, including setting limits up front — and sticking to them.
Those who are involved in the wedding planning process should likely also aim to pay for as much of the wedding in cash as possible, rather than relying on credit cards that can carry high interest rates. Charging wedding costs can sometimes add hundreds or even thousands of dollars to the final price tag depending on how long the couple pays finance charges.
Plan Your Big Day With Free Spreadsheets Tools & Apps
Do a spreadsheet to keep tabs on estimated costs versus actual costs.
Google templates help you organise the seating plan, guest list, menu and music playlist . You can also share documents, so two people can edit it at the same time. All you need to do is create an account and log in when you want to edit info.Hitched offers similar tools, but also includes ideas on decoration, dresses and more. Nifty little app Wedding Happy lets you be your own wedding planner, tracking deadlines and ticking off tasks. You can also track your spending against an overall budget.
is another great website for ideas. Use it for inspiration for everything from invites to lighting, then do it yourself for a fraction of the cost.
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Look Ravishing With Free Makeovers
While some brides go DIY, it may save a lot of stress if you get make-up done by a pro. Before you start wincing at the fees, there are sneaky ways around this.
Get your make-up done at a beauty counter in a department store, then simply buy the lipstick to ‘touch up’ .
Department stores also run beauty courses that you could attend. You can learn a new skill, do your own make-up on the day, and even help out at your friends’ weddings.
Alternatively, check out local beauty training schools. They may do your hair and make-up free on the day as part of their training. Check Beautyfinder for a directory of training schools and colleges in your area.
