Our Wedding Budget
Image: Glamour.com
I felt a bit hesitant writing about our wedding budget as I feel uncomfortable talking about money. However, I like reading about other people's wedding budgets and I think they can be very helpful in the early stages of wedding planning. So, to solve this conundrum, I decided to write about our budget but in percentages instead of euros. That means that if my wedding dress would cost 1000 euros and our budget were 10 000 euros, it would say: Wedding dress 10%. As everyone loves spreadsheets (?) I made a simple one with all our expenses but it's in Finnish, so nevermind! :D
You're not missing out though. Below it I've explained in a greater detail the main budget items and where we were able to save and how and where we splurged. Missing from the budget is my wedding dress, as my mom has offered to pay for it. Eerikki's suitisn't listed either, as that we're getting it through a blog collaboration.
Hääpaikka HSS Paviljong 46.7%.
We're spending almost half of our budget on the wedding venue. I was a bit worried about this but as we both really love the place Eerikki decided that it's worth it and we booked it.
What's included is a sit down dinner for about 100 people, open bar for the whole night (very important for us though expensive) and the boat fee as it's on an island. Staff, some flowers for tables (in addition to those from our florist), dishware, table linens, cleaning up afterwards and setting the tables are included. This also includes an extra fee allowing us to party a few hours past midnight. They will also let us use their wedding arch with no extra fee. The people at HSS Paviljong have been incredibly helpful throughout this process which has made our lives a lot easier. It's also a big help that we can decorate the place at least partially the day before already and pick up the decorations the day after.
Wedding ring 10.5%
My wedding ring has two parts and we had planned on getting one before the wedding and the other one a few years after. We ended up buying them both now, as they came on sale (which never happens). I'll make a post about them once they arrive :) Eerikki only wants the ring I got him as an engagement ring, which is quite typical in Finland.
Video- and photographer 7.5%
This is only an estimate as our original photographer and videographer might not be available as our wedding date has changed. So we might have to pay more at least for the video as the one we had was quite cheap. Included in our photography package were engagement pics, which you can see here. Pictures and videos are definitely something we are willing to spend money on. It seems almost silly not to when you plan a big and (to our opinion) beautiful wedding. We definitely want to have as many pictures and videos as possible to look back on the day later on. Included is also a photo book we'll get made after the wedding.
Decorations 5.7%
I knew we'd spent quite a lot on decorations but I was a bit surprised it was this much.. On the other hand, I'm quite confident we can sell most of them off after the wedding. I already made a post about our table numbers hereand there are a few posts about decorations on instagram. More are coming in the upcoming months and the rest of the decorations you'll see after the wedding :)
Entertainment 5.5%
Most of this goes to music. In our experience the best weddings have live bands, they just get people in a party mood and dancing and so I feel it's part of that taking care of our guests that we find really important. Other entertainment will remain a secret for now :)
Bride's accessories 4.8%
We definitely splurged on this, mainly with my shoes . This can eat up a lot of money, this amount wont even be enough to get me everything I need, to be honest. If you want heels for the ceremony, change of shoes for later in the night, new lingerie, Bride-robe, jacket or a scarf, sleepwear, garter, veil or some other hair decoration, new jewelry, a purse, perfume, lip gloss.... and so on, it will get expensive. What's included in our budget are my wedding shoes, robe, lingerie, wife-dress and perfume. It will leave me a little bit for a purse that I haven't purchased yet. The nightwear I got as a present to cheer me up when the wedding got postponed :) Jewelry I'm going to borrow, veil, garter and a jacket my mom will make. Change of shoes and whatever else is left I'll pay for myself.
Wedding cake 2.3%
We wanted a tiered wedding cakeand we're willing to spend a little extra to get the perfect one. I think we got a pretty good deal though.
Other 2.3%
What's included in the mysterious "other" category are the bathroom baskets, officiant, dance classes and engagement and wedding notifications on the paper (old school, I know).
Wedding night 2.2%
We have booked St George Hotel for two nights. The night before the wedding and the night of. I love the Old Church Park in Helsinki and I really wanted to have it somehow part of our wedding, so we asked for a room with a balcony to the park.
Flowers 2.2%
This includes table flowers, bouquets and boutonnieres. We're getting some flowers from HSS Paviljong so that'll save us a little.
Dresses for the bridal party 1.9%, best men accessories
We got the dresses from an online store abroad, saving some money. We wanted to pay for them, as I had quite precise requests for them. I ordered them from an American online store called Azazie. Our best men offered to buy new suits as they said they needed new ones anyways, so we only spend a small amount on their accessories.
Place setting 1.7%
This includes table linens I bought to be used with the ones HSS Paviljong has, napkins and place cards.
Hair dresser and make-up artist 0.9%
I got a deal for a collaboration with my blog with the hair stylist so we are getting that for a discounted price. My make-up will be done by my niece, who's a professional.
This budget is based on the estimates we can make right now. As you may have noticed, we are slightly over our budget, this is due to us getting both of the wedding rings now. Before that we were under the budget for a good while. The budget is for a wedding at HSS Paviljong either in the summer of 2020 or 2021. If we decide to have a wedding abroadin the winter we'll have to make a whole new budget.