Share your budget?

And let's not forget invitations, dressing the bride, robes, hair & make up for four, tips, champagne, some goodies for the room, some things we are bringing down for the wedding. Gifts for everyone........

It's funny that many brides, years after the wedding, will say how all that money could have been used for a house/towards a house/purchasing/renovating and would probably do it all different. BUT every bride to be wants her day.....we all plan it for as long as we can remember.

I think my cousin's daughter recently did it best. She had her beautiful wedding dress, photographer at the house and was married at city hall. Her immediately family attended and then out to eat they all went.

I know my daughter would not want it any other way. It's all good. It will definitely be a memorable and special day. It will definitely be out of the "norm" for us.

Wishing all the couples - including mine - God's blessing, a happy, healthy, peaceful and successful life.
 
We are having a Wishes wedding in a few months for my daughter - estimated at 50 people. We will definitely go over the numbers I will give you. These numbers are rounded off too.

Floral - $6,000
Food & Beverage $21,000
Photo & Video $12,000
Entertainment $10,000
Transportation $2,100
Surprise $2,000 -

This does not include the Reverend/license fees, the obvious hair and make up in the room, extra tips & goodies (food & some decorations) for the room while we get ready.

Just started looking but food/beverage at $21K for 50 people is $430 per person. Curious as to what the menu is for that price?
 
I wrote these numbers down from the front page we were given. Each page has a more detailed break down. I think the food and beverage has the venue location prices in there. From a quick estimate in my head , food and beverage is about $15,000. Another instance - Vintage car is under "Entertainment". Our total cost in the end will be between $54k-$56k - and keeping fingers crossed :rolleyes2

Just started looking but food/beverage at $21K for 50 people is $430 per person. Curious as to what the menu is for that price?


WDWFan4Ever......okay, all of a sudden I don't know how to do multi quotes anymore.

Babysitting my grandson.....I had a follow-up post as you can see :)

Off the top of my head, you are not too far off....we do have a plated luncheon w/two entrees. We also went with 6 appetizers instead of three. We also have a 5 hour open Premium or Signature Bar for the pre-reception and reception and also have the Dessert Party and Same Premium/Signature open bar (can't remember which/the top one). A few bottles of champagne for the toast.....I am sure there are other things lol. These come to mind right now without looking at the contract.

I had to ask after our planning session if bread and butter was included :guilty: - never know...- it is :)
 
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LOL on the bread and butter! Thanks for the quick reply. We were expecting around $200 per person for food but probably need to bump that up a bit,
 


LOL on the bread and butter! Thanks for the quick reply. We were expecting around $200 per person for food but probably need to bump that up a bit,

Buffett is less. It can definitely be done for much less. It all depends on what you want/like, are used to, etc. etc. Once you start adding things, price just keep going up :) Same as with everything else. Floral, etc. My dd wanted the vintage car........hundreds of dollars for a photo prop.......literally.........
 
My daughter originally wanted to do an escape wedding as she and her fiance wanted to pay for it. Their plan was $7500 for the Epcot wedding venue and then an add on for Epcot photoshoot the following day. I told her I felt that we should have a meal of some kind for all that attend, as they are travelling from Canada and Greece to be there... that seems like the least we can do.
Soooooo.... when I start looking into food cost for a brunch/lunch and add that onto the budget.... it seems like maybe a small Wishes wedding is a better option for a similar price.
She is planning to get married on a Wednesday morning, and we were thinking a buffet brunch at a Boardwalk, Beach Club or Yacht Club venue. She is quite ok with the type of ceremony offered in the escape package... and promises to not get crazy with adding more details to a Wishes ceremony. To be honest, that is one of the things she hates about the Wishes wedding... she loved the idea of just picking details from a simple list of 5 affordable options and being done with it.
From others experiences with enhancement prices etc. Do you think it is possible to hold this type of simple ceremony and brunch... budget of 12,000??

Thank you in advance.
 
If she hates the idea of planning and wants to just pick from a list, she'll probably be happier with an Escape Collection event. And there's no way to do Wishes for the flat $12,000 minimum with 20 people because you'll also be paying a 25% service charge (up from 24%, starting in April 2020) on food and beverage and tax on basically everything.

At the moment, the Escape Collection includes tax and service charge, so all you'd pay that on would be the catered meal you add to the Escape package (I suggest The Attic or Ariel's). This post talks about pricing for catered events added to Disney Weddings (it says dessert parties, but the info applies to all types of catered events): https://fairytaleweddingsguide.com/dessert-party-how-to/

This episode of the Disney Wedding Podcast talks about how to choose between Escape & Wishes: https://disneyweddingpodcast.com/escape-collection-overview-faq-2019/
 


I had a Wishes Event in July 2018. We had a 9:30 ceremony at the Wedding Pavilion, followed by a reception at Cali Grill. We also had a dessert party at Italy Isola West and a Farewell Breakfast the the Whitehall Room & Patio. We had 49 adults (including my husband and I) and two infants.

Ceremony Costs - ~15K (we had Cinderella's carriage, ceremony musicians, rose petal cannon, major domo, this also includes like 4k in floral costs)
Reception Costs - ~15K (Catalina Brunch menu at Cali Grill with a sushi addition, 4 Disney characters, a DJ)
Dessert Party Costs - ~5K (menu was $42pp and we also did a Soarin' ride mix-in)
Farewell Breakfast - ~2k (menu was $36pp)

We also had a dance floor, 1 mini motor coach, and a wedding cake so roughly $3k in additional expenses there. We also did outside photography (~4k) and videography (~3k). Then probably a million little other expenses (dress, invitations, etc.) that added up along the way.

Ahhh, it's stressful to write that out, but I know I was constantly looking for pricing information when I was planning so I hope it helps someone. We definitely did a lot of extras which drove the cost up, but Disney food is definitely $$$ and the taxes/service charges add up quickly too!
 
If she hates the idea of planning and wants to just pick from a list, she'll probably be happier with an Escape Collection event. And there's no way to do Wishes for the flat $12,000 minimum with 20 people because you'll also be paying a 25% service charge (up from 24%, starting in April 2020) on food and beverage and tax on basically everything.

At the moment, the Escape Collection includes tax and service charge, so all you'd pay that on would be the catered meal you add to the Escape package (I suggest The Attic or Ariel's). This post talks about pricing for catered events added to Disney Weddings (it says dessert parties, but the info applies to all types of catered events): https://fairytaleweddingsguide.com/dessert-party-how-to/

This episode of the Disney Wedding Podcast talks about how to choose between Escape & Wishes: https://disneyweddingpodcast.com/escape-collection-overview-faq-2019/
I will go to those links that you provided. We just received your wedding guide book and it was so informative... but it also is what got me thinking that the Wishes wedding would be a better option. What do you think the cheapest budget would realistically be for a small and simple wishes wedding on a Wednesday?
 
I will go to those links that you provided. We just received your wedding guide book and it was so informative... but it also is what got me thinking that the Wishes wedding would be a better option. What do you think the cheapest budget would realistically be for a small and simple wishes wedding on a Wednesday?

Oh, great!

Well, it definitely is possible to have a Wishes wedding for the minimum expenditure (check out this episode for tips: https://disneyweddingpodcast.com/stick-to-wishes-minimums/), so for a 20-person brunch with a resort ceremony on a Wednesday, you're looking at $11,800 + tax and service charge just to Disney. But then you have all the other things that you don't buy from Disney on top of that: travel, formalwear, invitations, rings, etc.

If you have the eBook version of the guide, the Wishes budget worksheet on pp. 251-255 will calculate exactly how much tax and service charge will cost based on the prices you enter for the various components you want. There are also spaces to add the prices for things you don't buy from Disney, and the last page breaks out how much you owe Disney, how much is tax and service charge, and how much is non-Disney costs.
 
Oh, great!

Well, it definitely is possible to have a Wishes wedding for the minimum expenditure (check out this episode for tips: https://disneyweddingpodcast.com/stick-to-wishes-minimums/), so for a 20-person brunch with a resort ceremony on a Wednesday, you're looking at $11,800 + tax and service charge just to Disney. But then you have all the other things that you don't buy from Disney on top of that: travel, formalwear, invitations, rings, etc.

If you have the eBook version of the guide, the Wishes budget worksheet on pp. 251-255 will calculate exactly how much tax and service charge will cost based on the prices you enter for the various components you want. There are also spaces to add the prices for things you don't buy from Disney, and the last page breaks out how much you owe Disney, how much is tax and service charge, and how much is non-Disney costs.
I bought the print book for my daughter, as I thought it would be a nice way for her to keep track of what she wants as well as be a keepsake. I had to read the entire thing cover to cover before I gave it to her, as I may never see it again. lol

I just talked to my daughter again and she is on board with the original plan of an Escape wedding with a catered brunch added on right after.
 

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