40k budget!!

I think it's very easy for budgets to grow bigger than expected. I initially thought £10k would do it, but then when we sat down and worked out how much we could afford (with family help etc), my priorities started to change. Suddenly, all the things that I thought were unimportant began to look like..."well why should I not have that.."

If you do have £40k, you don't have to treat it as a target, i.e. automatically picking the most expensive of everything. Shop around and book the things you like. As all the other ladies have said, £40k is plenty to play around with, my own budget (including honeymoon) is just under £20k, and we've got over 100 day guests.

Wow you guys are quite harsh lol

For everyone wondering yes i am being serious about our 40k budget, my fiance is a professional sports player and we are extremely lucky and blessed!

I actually did not realize that 40k was a huge budget for a wedding of 200+ people but i guess it is

We are not ostentatious people however our wedding will be the only day in our life when were able to go over the top and make sure everyone has an amazing time!

PS:thanks to the people who actually took there time out to give me some decent advice & NO I don't have issues!!!

As said previous an excel sheet with breakdowns will be your friend and as other posters have said shop around - my best buy to date came from a car boot sale - Royal Doulton teaset for £2!

I don't think most mean to be harsh but on the flip side your budget is bigger then the deposit we paid for our house and to many it's a lot but it's different horses for different courses ?

^ its the budget we are looking at to BUY a house lol

too the OP not to be nasty but you are seriously out of touch with 'common' reality if you thought £40,000 is average.... the average I know of is £1000-£5000 (never heard of anyone paying more until joining here and seeing the Londoners budgets)

Didn't Andy Murray recently get engaged? I'm gonna play guess the professional sports person...

You should be able to do it with 40k budget but it does depend on what you want as to whether its enough, as everyone has said its the breakdown! Whether you have £400 or £40k, its how you and you fiance want to spend it and the vision you have for your day, as for the other comments, that's what the forums for, opinions, so you will get a bit of stick!! lol (interesting that nobody says anything when the budgets are very small)!!?

Its a big budget for many but not for some, thats what makes all this wedding stuff so interesting! Seeing how folk pull their days together.

why are you so bothered at how much i want to spend on MY wedding day? Like i don't understand why it's such a problem, my fiance has worked extremely hard to get to where he is in his career, so i would appreciate it if you stop judging me. I totally understand how privileged i am to be able to afford a 40k wedding after reading everyone's opinions on here but its our money and we will spend it as we please ?

I personally hope you stay on the site as I'd love to see your pics and what you do with your budget! X

Your original post come across quite boastful and a bit crass.... You don't need to apologise for having a big budget and I don't agree with budget bashing either way but you could have worded things better.

Where budgets are cconcerned its all relative. If you want an exclusive use venue including accommodation, free bar and lots of food that's going to cost at least half if not more of your budget. You may be the sort of bride that is ok to spent 5k on a dress and another 3k on a photographer ... Then add videography ... Well you are getting close to your 40k budget. so just list exactly what you are wanting in order of importance and what you are willing to pay ... For example I'm not having chair covers because I don't like them and even though I do have money for them if I wanted them I'm not willing to pay £4.50 a chair! ! You can look to top end suppliers but don't over pay on things just because you can.

hopefully you have not been put off by a bit of banter as it would be nice to see your plans and wedding report! !!

Thanks guys, i do apologise for my wording it was not meant to sound boastful. I have got a budget planner and started budgeting in order of importance.

Yes the dresses that i have seen are quite expensive and other things i was interested in hiring were expensive too, that's why i was a bit worried that i wouldn't be able to afford everything i wanted.

I will definitely keep you guys posted

Everyone's budgets are different same with buying a house - depends what you want, where you want it and how you want it. To many where I live my 6K budget (10K if including honeymoon) is very cheap to others its not, same with my house to many we got a bargin as most 1 bedroom flats go for over 130K and I'm definately not in London.

As said different horses for different courses we should all be more open minded ?

I personally hope you stay on the site as I'd love to see your pics and what you do with your budget! X

OP thanks for clarifying. Makes more sense now.

Unfortunately you'll never be able to have all you want. But you'll be able to put on a really good day with that budget but make sure you stay on top of things. Maybe one of the dresses could be a sample, you could ask guests to contribute a bit to the rooms etc

my friend is a wedding planner and has arranged weddings for £100,000. The couples don't get all they want because it's an expensive business especially with a large guest list.

think about what you can't live without and what makes it special to you and go from there.

I look forward to the pics too I love seeing the big budget weddings as well as the smaller budgets!! Variety is the spice of life after all, it is up to you both how much money you want to spend and how you want to spend it!

I'm really looking forward to seeing what you do with your budget and living my dreams through your posts ;-) we have a 12k budget and when I first came on here and asked for tips about saving money I had a few unhelpful comments about the cost of our venue and catering (it's half our budget) but the majority of comments have been really helpful and I've seen some great ideas. Unfortunately there's always going to be strong opinions about budgets as people's priorities are different. Stick with hitched though! A budget planner and the Internet will be your best friends during the planning :-) xx

OP don't be put off by comments or "banter" on here (hate that word!).

This site is great and really useful, and everyone being different is what makes the world go round.

I personally can't wait to see what you do with your budget. Our venues exclusive use was £35k. I hasten to add we did not opt for that, and we are in the South where things are SO much more expensive than our beloved North. We too have a very fortunate, healthy budget but have shopped around and haggled at every opportunity and like many others haven't opted for certain things (chair covers are a rip off down here).

Dont spend the money just because you have it. Think about what you DO want, not what you think other people might want. It's your day.

Differnt strokes for different folks.

It's great to have a benchmark budget in mind. You need to start somewhere and you'll get a feel for all the extras suppliers provide...perhaps if you want to push the boat out, start a spreadsheet with a budget breakdown. Will help with visualising where the money is going! Enjoy the ride x

I agree with others. Prioritise what you want first. Definitely use the budget planner. It's a great help. My budget is around 12,000 and i have sacrificed venue and gone for a village hall (I'm from the south and venues aren't cheap here) Let's face it if we had the money each and every one of us could easily spend it. We all know how things keep adding to the list. I think if you set yourself a budget of 25000 you'll end up adding to it to reach 40000. If you start at 40k your just likely to raise that budget. Maybe some of the comments come out of jealousy. But just remember the more you've got the more you want so thing can easily spiral out of control. I think if you have that budget your wedding is going to look stunning. Maybe get a wedding planner if you have that budget. It would help a lot.

I think you may be a bit out of touch as well, average wedding cost in the UK is £20,000.

Plus where I live (Manchester city centre) you'd maybe get a garage lock-up for 40k. The point being, it's all relative to your circumstances, upbringing, class, world view etc. Yes assuming that 40k isn't a lot to spend on a wedding may be a touch naïve, but if that's the worst sin the OP has committed, she's doing okay. Need I remind anyone of the girl who was angry at her BM for getting pregnant cos it ruined HER day? Or the one freaking out cos her BM wanted to wear false lashes and she was afraid of being upstaged?

OP I also hope you stick around as I look forward to seeing your pictures. 230 is a huge guest list, and lots of venues where I live would be upwards of your venue budget for half of those guests, so for what it is worth I don't think you are being naive.

As everyone else has already said, write a list of priorities, get lots of different prices, and as you are in position to do so, don't scrimp on the things most important to you and your fiance.

Good luck!

This could be a very fun game!

Hi Toyaht,

I agree with that a budget planner and an excel spreadsheet is an excellent place to start, and as others have said have a think about what things are the most important to you and your OH and what things you could do without
(if you had to)
Don't automatically opt for the most expensive of everything ... there are bargains out there and sometimes the less expensive things turn out better
(Our TOG for example is cheaper than some of the others we've met, but he had the loveliest photos and is the nicest one of the bunch we've had meetings with!)

Hopefully you'll get everything you and your OH want out of your wedding day...please post lots of pics so I can dream about what I do if I had your budget!


x

I would have LOVED to have been around on here to see these posts!

do they even sell houses for the price of £40,000 ??? Probably can't get a one bed studio for that from where I am.

Exactly it's only double of the uk average wedding cost. When I saw this post I just knew people would make a fewcomments on it.

who here could have easily doubled their budget when they first started planning when you realised how costly weddings are!? My budget doubled straight away and could easily double again if I had the funds.

I'm really looking forward to seeing what your wedding is going to turn out like! Like someone posted similar earlier it's only what most of us can dream of! Happy planning!

I reckon I might be able to find the pregnant BM one if I dig a bit...

I just read it!! Omg what a shock!! One of my bm has told me she's pregnant I'd never react like that!!!

I found the pregnant BM one but sadly the OP deleted some of her posts. Still quite entertaining though:

https://www.hitched.co.uk/chat/forums/t/451827.aspx?PageIndex=1

Feel free to pick this apart as much as anyone feels like but we ended up spending a not too dissimilar amount and or breakdown was as follows for 90 day/ 140 evening, Manchester based

Venue (exclusive use) - 14,500

hotel rooms - 1200

tog/videographer - 2600

band - 1500

dj - 250

magician - 350

dress - 1500

bridesmaid dresses - 600

bride shoes and accessories - 800

bridesmaid shoes - 900

bridal make up and hair - 800

groom suit - 1200

groom shoes - 500

groomsmen outfits and shoes - 900

pagebuy outfits - 200

favours - 800

venue dressing - 400

florist - 1300

cake - 350

legal fees - 500

stationary - 400

Rings - 1400

that comes to about 33000 excluding honeymoon cost aswell and other bits and bobs ive forgotten. Add on an extra 100 to the day and you's be well over 40k. We didn't go out to spend anywhere near that but it just happened that the things that we liked cost that much, and we're lucky enough to be able to afford it.

Thats really helpful what venue did you get married in tooinvolvedgroom

Thank you Kharv. ?