The Rainbow Wedding Budget

In all honesty, we didn't have a budget. That's not because we had unlimited funds, quite the contrary, actually. It's just that we really didn't even discuss it. We knew we didn't want some big lavish affair, and we knew we didn't want to go into debt for it. That said, we simply booked vendors that we liked and had prices that we felt comfortable with, and that was that. We weren't aiming for a particular number, but we knew what we could afford and what we couldn't.

So how much did we spend? I have no idea. But once I'm done itemizing it for you here, well, I guess then I'll know!

Date: Saturday, 1.1.11
City: Tampa, FL
# of Guests: 17 (including ourselves!)

Ceremony: $131

Venue: $0 We had the ceremony at a local park under a big oak tree. Free!
Chairs: $65 for 16 white folding garden chairs
Decor: $66 4 tissue poms (for chairs) Party Poms $18, "love" heart $8, 20 balloons $5, helium tank $20, bubbles $15.
Music: $0 Ipod playlist on a portable player that we already owned.
Officiant: $0 Step-mom was officiated after she was ordained here.

Attire: $2315

Wedding Gown: $1171 My dress was $971 (reduced from $1700 because I bought the sample!) and alterations were $150. I also spent $50 to get it dry cleaned before the wedding.
Accessories: $30 Raw edge cathedral veil, bought here for $20. Hair flower supplies $10. My shoes were a gift from my aunt and the earrings were borrowed from Mrs. Star!
Reception Attire: $329 Reception dress was $300 and navy blue flats were $29.
The Mister: $785 New suit, tie, pocket square, and shirt. Shoes were borrowed from my dad.

Reception: $1290

Food: $850 Hors d'oeuvres, salad course, and entree, $50 per person.

Tax/Gratuity: $230 7% tax and 20% gratuity

Alcohol: $200 Neither of us like Champagne, so we opted for sparkling wine- 4 bottles.  

Venue/Music: $0 No additional cost for venue. Timpano has live music on Saturday nights, so we also had a saxaphone player and pianist for no additonal cost!

Linens/Menus: $10 No additional cost for linens, made and printed menus myself for $10.

DIY: $303

Invitations/Postage: $44 Invitation materials $25, printed at Kinkos for $10, book of stamps $9
Flowers: $125 for bouquet and reception. $100 worth of hydrangea, roses, carnations, and seeded eucalyptus.  $7 navy velvet ribbon for my bouquet. $18 for 6 vases for reception.
Hair/Makeup: $80 for extensions. Other than that, I had everything else I needed.
Cake Topper: $15 Birds, nest, moss, a few fabric scraps and voila!
Dog Accessories: $19 Navy satin ribbon $4 and assorted silk flowers $15
Favors: $20 Ingredients for french macarons $15, plus $5 for bags, ribbon, and "Thank You" tags.

Vendors: $994

Cake: $165 Round, two tier best cheesecake ever with simple navy blue beading. I believe the top was 6" and the bottom was 9".
Photographer: $749 for 5 hours of photography, a handful of prints, and full printing rights.We got lucky and booked Jessica when she was just starting. Her prices have since gone up, but she's still affordable and so, so worth it. I cannot sing her praises enough. Crazy quick turn-around, too!
Videographer: $80 We had a friend record and edit our video for free, yay! As a thank you, we took them to a fancy-pants brunch, hence the $80.
Transportation: $0 My mom and her boyfriend chauffeured us around in his white BMW.

Misc: $35 I found the cake stand for $20 at Marshalls, $10 for candles for the reception, $5 for window chalk, and mani/pedis were gifted by my mom's awesome boyfriend N.

Grand Total: $5,063

I would say probably $3,000 of that was paid for by my parents, so our personal costs were just over $2,000, which is about on par with what I expected.

Could we have spent even less? Sure. We spent almost half of the overall cost on attire, but I fell in love with the dress I fell in love with, and then I fell deeply in love with my reception dress. But how many times do you get to wear dresses like that? Exactly.

Same with Mr. Rainbow. He really wanted to wear a nice suit on his wedding day, and I don't think it would have been fair for me to be rocking these amazing (expensive) dresses and then here he is in a $150 rented tux that he's not in love with. I wanted him to feel like a million bucks, so we got him the suit that he wanted, regardless of price.

We splurged on the things that were important to us, and we skimped on things that weren't quite as important, but I'm extremely happy with the decisions we made, and at the end of the day, what more could you ask for?

What did you splurge on for your wedding? What did you save on?