Last October, I decided to take the plunge and ask my girlfriend to marry me.
She said yes, and just two weeks ago, we threw a lavish (at least that’s how I would describe it) wedding in New Jersey.
As if the day wasn’t already filled with joy, PT and his lovely wife were able to attend!
For those who haven’t been married before, there’s a lot that goes into planning a wedding.
There’s even more that goes into planning a wedding 1,300 miles from where you live and I thought it would be cool to have everyone take a look at every penny we spent; to better prepare you for what you can expect.
Keep in mind this budget (spend report) was for 75 adult guests that included an open bar.
My Wedding Costs
Allow me to break down a few wedding costs you may think are unnecessary or are just confused about.
- Grooms Attire – I bough the ties, shirts, pocket silks and cufflinks for all three of my groomsmen. Orginially I allowed Mens Warehouse to sell me on $60 ties and $50 shirts but I later returned them to find much more reasonable prices elsewhere. A purple tie is a purple tie, I really don’t care what it’s made of and neither did the bride.
- Cake Topper – Yea yea, a $122 cake topper is ridiculous but you should have seen this thing. We had it custom made as a bobble head and was designed to look like a characture my wife and I had done at Navy Pier while attending FinCon11. It’s one of the few keepsakes we have of the wedding and we love it, so definitely worth the added cost.
- Friends Travel – An expense we decided to take on was helping with the cost of travel for some of the wedding party. Many of our friends live in Miami and really couldn’t afford to take a trip to New Jersey. Very understandable, so we decided to give three couples $350 each. Only five of the six ended up attending, that’s why you see one of the costs at $175.
- Flower Girl and Ring Bearer Gifts – Didn’t know this was part of the costs but I bought our five year old ring bearer (my cousin) a rapid fire Nerf gun fully loaded with refills. My Aunt and Uncle probably hate me now.
- Our Travel – Since we drove from Miami, our expenses consisted of gas, gas and more gas. I tracked our mileage to the T and found our Kia Forte got 31 miles to the gallon (very thrilled with that). When we arrived in NJ, we had a lot of driving around to do in terms of meeting vendors so there was some added expense.
The decision was made the day we were engaged to have a fairly expensive wedding and do it in New Jersey rather than Miami. Both of our families live in the northeast and while we’re inconvenienced slightly, it really wasn’t too bad.
Our expenses increased as a result of our “destination wedding” but our initial $20,000 budget only ended up being 25% off the mark, which as far as wedding budgets go isn’t too bad.
So for those planning to get married soon, I advise you to take a hard long look at your budget and compare to our budget above. My wife and I saved for years to throw this wedding and even though I would say this event was 100% anti-frugal, we had an absolute blast.
Yes, saving money is important however I would argue that the biggest priority when it comes to your wedding is having a good time because if you’re lucky, you’ll only get to do it once.
One final editor’s tip: We used TheKnot.com for almost everything. From planning the wedding to creating the seating charts and tracking the gifts received. 100% free, it’s a must use for anyone getting married.
About Michael Pruser
Hi, I'm Philip Taylor. I'm a husband, father, blogger, and entrepreneur. I love learning to do more with my money and sharing it all here with you. Join in on the conversation and start improving your financial life today.