I love the wintery elegance of this wedding! Tons of candlelight with black and red details- so romantic! Lindsay and Keith were married near Cincinnati, Ohio. Here’s the breakdown:
Couple: Lindsay & Keith
Wedding Date: January 10, 2009
Number of Guests: 150
Initial Budget: $12,000
Wedding Day Costs
Ceremony: $100 (cost of use of facility and cleanup) Since the bride is a member of the church, no additional fees were incurred.
Officiant: $75 (gift at our own discretion)
Reception: $5,300 ($23.95 per person + 20% service fee + 6% KY sales tax)
“Since the wedding was in January (completely off-peak), the reception facility bumped us up to a much larger room for free! The price included meat, cheese, and fruit appetizers, passed wine upon guests entering the room, an upgraded buffet (at Friday night prices, even for a Saturday event!), free beer and wine, chocolate fountain, ice sculpture, chair covers, choice of napkin color, and cake cutting and plating. Having a January wedding was definitely a good decision!”
Rentals: $1,300 – Custom lighting “Uplighting on the surrounding walls, pin spot lights on each centerpiece, lighting for the cake, and a custom designed gobo on the dance floor. Lighting completely transformed the room into a warm and welcoming atmosphere. If I had to do it over, I would definitely pay the money again for custom lighting!”
Bridal Gown & Alterations: $595 (dress from David’s (475), alterations done at the home of a private seamstress – $120)
Bridal Accessories: $300 “This includes my faux fur jacket, ivory rhinestone peeptoe pumps, red satin peeptoe pumps, garters, hair fascinator, birdcage veil, chapel length veil, necklace, earrings, black crinny and satin sash. Every accessory, except for the jewelry, was purchased online.”
Hair/Makeup: $150 $0 for hair- One of Lindsay’s bridesmaids was a hair stylist and did her hair as a wedding gift.
$150- Makeup trial and day of application from the fabulous Nancy at Brideface “Worth every penny!”
Groom’s Attire & Accessories: $0 Groom got his tux for free since there were more than 4 groomsmen in the party.
Photographer: $0- Gift from the bride’s parents (retails for $2,350)
Engagement session with DVD of all e-pics, 8-10 hours with lead and assistant shooter on the day of, around 450-500 final pics (you receive 4×6 prints of every final pic!), DVD of final shots, rights release.”
Videographer: $1,800 ” We have a masterpiece DVD to watch and memories to last a lifetime! View here.
Paper: $315
$60 – Vistaprint postcards, including postage. Designed by Lindsay & Keith in Photoshop/Illustrator
$175 – 120 invitations and postage – Martha Stewart Collection from Michaels Arts and Crafts. 40% off with a coupon from their e-mail list! Printed at home.
$50 – Custom card box & Blurb.com photo guestbook
$30 – Programs – paper stock from Staples, printed at home.
DIY save the dates, DIY guestbook pages, DIY program, DIY favor tags
Transportation: $0 The couple used their own cars.
Ceremony Music: $450 Trio of musicians found via the Cincinnati knot boards
Reception Music: $850 total: ($300 for band, $550 for DJ) Keith and I visited an Irish pub in Northern Kentucky about 4 years ago. We were treated to beautiful Irish music by a local group called Dark Moll. I remember saying to Keith, “I would love for them to play when we get married.” They were a huge hit and one of hub’s uncles even said, “That is the best live music I have heard in 20 years.” Money well spent.
Flowers: $0 Paid for by bride’s parents. (retails for $2,000)
1 bridal bouquet of roses, mini black callas, ranunculus, freesia, fiddlehead fern, and white anemones
5 bridesmaid bouquets – black magic roses, mini black callas, fiddlehead ferns
6 mini calla bouts for the boys
2 Mother of the bride/groom tussy mussy’s
15 centerpieces of roses with scattered rose petals
Rose petals around the cake
Other décor: $300
“About a billion candles for the ceremony, customized napkins and matchbooks for the reception, vintage cake topper, 2 easels which held framed e-pics that were placed by the guestbook”
Favors: $60 - DIY cocoa cones (pictured above). ”Cheap to make, but they took forever to put together.”
Cake: $600 Four-tiered cake – yellow with chocolate filling, white with strawberry, chocolate with chocolate filling. Grooms cake in the shape of a snare drum (replica from Keith’s set).
Wedding Planner: $600 Day of coordinator
Gifts:$850
$500–Gifts for the bridesmaids (totaled about $100 each) – makeup application by Brideface, ivory pashmina, DIY pearl jewelry, a vintage rhinestone brooch to wear on the back of their dress, and a red satin purse.
$250–Gifts for the groomsmen ranged from drumsticks to gift cards, based on the hobby.
$100–Each parent received a custom sterling silver engraved frame
Day of Grand Total: $13,470 – Amount paid by bride and groom.
*17,820 is the total cost including the gifts of flower & photography from parents. Lindsay & Keith did not include these items in their planning budget.
OTHER COSTS
Rehearsal Dinner/Day after brunch: $0 – Rehearsal was paid for by Keith’s parents
Honeymoon: $1,200 – 7 day trip to Phoenix, Scottsdale, Carefree, Sedona and The Grand Canyon.
Wedding Bands: $4,100- “My wedding bands are a perfect match to my engagement ring, and both are Hearts on Fire so they cost and arm and a leg to get that perfect match!”
FINAL GRAND TOTAL: $19,070
All photos by Bluebird Photography.
Thank you so much Lindsay for sharing and congratulation to you and Keith! I’ll leave you with some of her advice, as always. 
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Best cost-saving advice: Have you wedding in the off-season! That alone saved us literally THOUSANDS! Our pp cost for food at the reception would have been about $13 more (which would have added $2,500 overall to the reception cost) had we gotten married from between March-October.
If you can splurge, do it here: Brides, for the love of all that is holy, hire a great photographer! None of this “my-cousin-said-he’ll-shoot-the-wedding-for-$500″ deal. Shell out the extra bucks to have an awesome photographer, no matter what your style may be. Yes, even if that means you have to scrap your fantasy of pearl-studded stephanotis or a $5,000 Reem Acra. *Snort* And one more thing! None of these massive “must-have shots” list. If you hire a photographer that you can trust, allow them the creative freedom of coming up with shots on their own. They will appreciate it!
Also, consider hiring a great videographer. Again, it is a decision your will not regret! Simply put, you cannot get those moments back – the first dance with hubs and your father, the way your hubs is looking at you when you walk down the aisle (trust me, you won’t remember unless you have this on film), etc. This is definitely an area where your money will be well spent.
Don’t bother with: Transportation costs, a full bar with liquor (we only had beer and wine only and got no complaints!) and expensive paper products.
Other Advice: Make sure your vendors understand your “vision.” The major communication breakdowns that occurred between me and my vendors is because the vendors could not connect with my vision. Florist and grooms cake are the two that come to mind. In the end, everything worked out, but the added stress of trying to explain your vision to people over and over was unnecessary and stressful. Enjoy the planning process as much as possible and personalize your wedding to suit your and hub’s personalities! Don’t be afraid to take risks!
Lindsay’s Married Bio, here.
