David's Bridal

What Should a Wedding Cost?
BY CATEY HILL

Almost every future bride has a moment when she wonders: How can my wedding be costing this much?! Don’t worry, that’s totally normal — and it’s true, weddings can be pricey.  So what’s “normal” for a wedding to cost?

Estimates on what the average wedding in America costs usually range from about $25,000 – $28,000, not including the honeymoon.  Here’s a breakdown of how the average bride likely spends that money (based on a $25,000 wedding):

• $13,250 on the reception.
  This may include the venue, catering, bar, cake or dessert, lighting and music.
• $3,000 on photos and video.
  This includes not only the photographer and videographers fees but also prints and albums.
• $2,500 on attire.
  This may include the dress, alterations, veil, accessories, hair, makeup, and tux.
• $2,000 on flowers.
  This includes flowers for both the ceremony and reception.
• $1,500 on the ceremony.
  This may include the venue, officiant, marriage license, ring pillow and musician.
• $750 on stationary.
  This may include save-the-date cards, invitations, RSVP cards, programs, seating name cards, thank-you notes, postage and menu cards. Definitely check out David’s Bridal’s line of invitations and stationary- they have just about any theme you’re looking for and are reasonably priced!
• $750 on rings.
  This includes the wedding bands for the bride and groom.
• $750 on favors and gifts.
  This may include favors for wedding guests, welcome bags for guests in their hotel rooms and gifts for the wedding party.  If you’re looking for inexpensive but cute favors from photo albums and sweets to note pads and bottle stoppers, be sure to check out the assortment from David’s Bridal- the more you buy the more you save!
• $500 on transportation.
  This may include transportation for guests to and from the venue, valet parking, car rental or limo for bride and groom and limo for the wedding party.

Of course, every bride is different, and her wedding could cost far less or more than average.  Some of that will depend on where you have the wedding.  It tends to be more expensive to get married in the Northeast — New York City is usually the priciest place, but Boston isn’t too far behind — than most other areas of the country.  It’s also expensive to get married in California, especially popular spots like Santa Barbara and Los Angeles, as well as in cities like Chicago and Philadelphia.  If you’re looking to save money, head to the Midwest or South and to smaller cities or rural areas (doesn’t a quaint country wedding sound nice!).

Surprisingly, it’s often less expensive to do a destination wedding than to get married in or near your hometown.  Part of that is that fewer guests tend to come to destination weddings, so you’re paying for a lot less food and alcohol that you might otherwise.  Plus, if you go somewhere like the Riviera Maya or Jamaica, you can find great deals on beautiful beachside hotel venues.  Grab your flip flops, ladies!

Even if your wedding is going to cost a lot less – or a lot more – than average, don’t worry.  As long as you can afford it (no credit card debt, please!), go for it!

New Year’s (Wedding) Resolutions Every Bride-to-Be Should Make
BY CATEY HILL

If you’re getting married in 2013, you already have a lot to think about — the dress! the flowers! the music! — but you need to add one more thing to the list: money.  Specifically, brides have to start planning now how they’ll plan their dream wedding in an affordable way.

OK, I know money is the last thing you probably want to think about, especially when it comes to your big day, and it’s tempting just to put it on your credit card and worry about it later.  But that’s a big mistake, as you and your hubby will face a big, fat, stress-inducing bill just when you’re trying to enjoy your first year of wedded bliss. Ick!

Instead, make — and stick to — these three, simple wedding new years’ resolutions, so you can have a budget-friendly, but still amazing, wedding.

1.  Make a wedding budget
I know budgets get a bad name — ew, who wants to think about restrictions on spending! — but I swear they’re easy to make and follow.  First, you have to figure out how much you can afford to spend on your wedding.  To do that, ask yourselves:  How much have you and your soon-to-be hubby saved for the wedding, and how much will you have saved by the big day? How much will your families chip in?  Add that up, as well as any other money you’ll get (could you host a yard sale to earn some extra cash or pick up a side job using a site like TaskRabbit.com?), and you have the amount you can spend on your wedding.

Then, you’ll need to figure out what your wedding will cost.  Don’t worry, this sounds scary, but it’s totally not.  To make this super easy for you guys, I’ve created a wedding budget that you can print out and use to help yourselves figure out cost.

TOTAL BUDGET: $____________________________

2. Ask for deals on almost everything
As women, we often find it hard to ask for what we want, especially when it comes to money.  But here’s the thing: Asking can pay off in a big way, especially when it comes to scoring deals on wedding stuff.  (And really, why should the sometimes-more-assertive opposite sex get the better deals?!)  You can often get significantly lower prices on catering, the venue, photography, flowers, the band and more by negotiating.  And it’s actually pretty simple to do.  Get at least three quotes from vendors and then use those quotes to start a negotiation with the vendor you’d like to use. You can say something like “I’d love to use your services, but X other company is actually offering X price.  Do you think you can match that price?”  You might not always get a better deal – especially if you’re negotiating for something that’s in high demand like a hot wedding venue or a sought-after caterer – but it’s worth a shot!

3.  Focus on what’s important
Most likely, you’re not going to be able to afford everything you want for your wedding.  After all, not everyone can get married in June at the boathouse in Central Park or don a vintage Vera Wang.  But that doesn’t mean you can’t have most everything you want.  To make sure you get the things you want most for your wedding, you’ll need to create a priority list that ranks all the things that make up a wedding — venue, photography, dress, band, flowers, etc. (you can use the budget above to help you figure this out) — from most important to least important. You should spend more on the items you ranked higher on the list, while spending less on those that are lower down.  You may decide to splurge on the perfect dress and an amazing photographer while just serving beer and wine or passing around one less appetizer during the reception.