Wedding ‘Highway Robbery’! Wedding Budget Expectations!?

By MARCINHO SAVANT

The Fairy-Wedding Father™
(WHAAT!??? Cindy had a Godmother!®)

A recent commenter on “URGENT REALITY CHECK: Wedding Budget! Must-Have Budget Planning Information for Brides and Grooms“, posed a question that deserves an answer but, I’m afraid, the answer isn’t going to be what the poster is counting on.

Rachel on October 27th, 2009 5:07 pm
Wedding Highway Robbery! Wedding Budget Expectations!?

“Great advise! Would also love to see some advise on what we SHOULD expect to pay per person for “everything” lol $100 per person, $200 per person, $500 per person?? what’s reasonable, what is higway [sic] robbery!? ;)“


Thank you for the question, Rachel! I would love to be able to give you a personal prescription for ‘what to expect’. There are loads of sites which provide ‘average wedding costs by zip code’ and that may give you a bit of guidance and illuminate what other couples spend, on average, in the area in which you’re planning to have your ceremony and reception but many professionals find the numbers not too accurate.

That said, I need to be sure you understand that your question is a complex one and WHY.

Creating a budget for “everything” either takes the expertise of a wedding professional who is aware of typical costs on a number of price points based on client event creation. For the DIY couple, it will require that they do the ‘homework’ of pricing their needs with vendors, getting several quotes, contrasting the cost -vs- service rendered among them and the add-ons that vendors can provide to customize your event, menu, decor or the like.

Then you need to add together all of your desired ‘bells & whistles”, essentials and wants, determine the total for them all and divide that figure by the total number of invitees or confirmed guests, depending on your stage of planning. Don’t forget to factor in gratuities, taxes, service charges, fees, postage, favors, bridal party gifts, et cetera.

I recommend formulating TWO wedding budgets:

1. The costs of items related only to the couple (rings, honeymoon, attire, personal items, treatments and such). Budget “A”
2. The costs of everything related to the ceremony and reception ONLY. Budget “B“

This will give DIY couples a firm and complete picture of their entire event as opposed to lumping everything all together in one FRUSTRATING mass! You will be able to take off something from “B” to compensate or cover something important from “A” or vice versa.

What a couple can ‘expect’ is directly rooted to, and controlled by, what the couple’s overall budget is AND what they see as the ‘perfect’ touches with which to compose their dream event. For example, wanting to serve Almas caviar in a 24-karat gold tin for £16,000, or about $25,000, due to it’s rarity and difficulty to locate, clearly costs more than than the salmon roe one can find on the shelf in a grocery store.

As a dear friend of The Fairy-Wedding Father™, and fellow wedding connoisseur, Christine Boulton said: “BBQ in the backyard is not going to relate to lobster at the Plaza. What is reasonable for one is highway robbery for another.”

Plainly stated, one cannot want a Rolls Royce and expect to pay the price of a Pinto. One cannot expect to purchase a signed, first-edition Noël Coward for the cost of a current edition periodical on newsstands this morning.

I wrote an interesting and well-received post about our company’s “F.R.C. Formula”™ called “All Weddings Lead to Bankruptcy!” which helps couples to learn how to use our formula to create reasonable and accurate budgets for their weddings.

Christine wrote a feature called: “Why Can’t I Get Lobster for the Price of Cheeseburgers?” which is pretty straight-forward.

Bottom line: I may be being a little tough on you, dearest reader. I call it ‘tough love’ because it’s my nature, duty, privilege and obligation to, respectfully, play straight pool with our clients, readers and friends.

Most every true wedding professional wants only what is BEST for and produces the best RESULTS for our clients. You’ll find the many ways we work hard to save clients money.



NOTE: The opinions expressed here do not necessarily represent those of savvyplanners.com, its affiliates, principals, management or any other party and are the stated opinion of the author. Though in this case we agree entirely. Whether or not we agree with the opinion, the ideas recommendations and concepts herein expressed are not offered as specific advice or direction to any couple. Thereby, savvyplanners.com , its affiliates, principals, management or any other party with which we are professionally associated, shall be and remain held harmless from any blame, and assumes no responsibility or accountability, as this opinion has not been tailored to the personal circumstances of any individual couple or contracted client. Couples enacting concepts or ideas represented in this post do so at their on risk and responsibility.