Today we welcome Victoria (DC’s wife) to the blog. She’s got a great post about some of the unexpected costs of a wedding.
When planning out a budget for your wedding, there are things that are obvious things that are expected such as the venue, attire, food, and decor. But even budget planning guides for weddings don’t include certain things that add up and should be accounted for.
There were a number of things while planning my own wedding that I simply overlooked, even though I was organized and conscious about the budget. While this list may not be extensive and can include a number of other things, hopefully this will help those who are engaged or helping others with wedding planning to be aware of these unexpected costs.
1) Postage
The number one cost of a wedding that people seem to not to account for is postage. With the new increase for sending mail in the U.S., it will cost .49 cents for each invitation you send. That isn’t including extra charges for weight, unusual shapes or buttons/embellishments.
While it may not seem like a lot of money when you are only thinking of sending a few, if you send out 100 invitations, that is $50 in extra costs that you may have overlooked. Even if you understand that there will be things that cost more and the budget needs to be adjusted, depending on how many save the dates, invitations, and thank you cards you intend to send, the cost of postage may significant.
2) Beauty Treatments
While it is not absolutely necessary, many people getting married would love to get pampered before the big day. Grooms and brides alike usually want to look their best, and looking fantastic can come at a price. Haircuts, mani/pedis, tanning, or facials can all add up but might not be in that budget guide you have been using. To cut down on costs, look for deals on various sites, such as Groupon, to find the best value possible.
3) Non-wedding Attire
Another forgotten about wedding cost: pre-wedding attire for the bride and groom. Dresses, nice shirts, and other outfits will want to be had for these special occasions. Engagement party, bridal showers, bachelorette/bachelor party and the rehearsal dinner all include outfits that you may want to purchase special attire for. While you do not need to buy everything new, you might want to get something you will feel comfortable and look your best in for these celebratory occasions.
4) Gifts for People Involved in the Wedding
It seems like a given that people within the wedding party should get gifts for being such a big part of the wedding day. It’s the parents and the “extras” that often get overlooked. There are a number of people involved in the wedding that help to make it all happen.
Even if they have a small role in the wedding and you are only planning to get them a small gift, the last thing you want when the big day is near is to be surprised at the total costs of gifts. Include this cost when making a budget initially as to avoid added stress down the road.
5) Food and Beverages for the Day-of Events
Any budget planning guide for weddings will include the obvious of food for guests, whatever that may be for your wedding. However, it is all too often that food throughout the day is forgotten about. Your wedding party, attendants, special guests, and other family will be with you throughout the day, and most probably won’t be thinking about bringing their brown bag lunches/breakfast so they don’t pass out while standing next to you at the altar.
Keeping food/beverages simple is easy and giving the task to a family member is a great idea, but you still have to include the cost of this food based on how many people are getting ready with you.
6) Meals for Vendors
Speaking of food- vendors that are with you throughout the day or for a significant amount of time may get hungry. I have a friend who is a photographer, and she explained that at some weddings, the couple doesn’t always include her in the meal count at the reception. This makes it so vendors have to go out to get their own food when they are working for you.
While some may say that it isn’t a couples duty to pay so much money on a vendor’s meal after they have already paid them a significant amount of money for their services, in my opinion, vendors will work even harder for you if they feel appreciated. One way to do this is to feed them! This should be calculated within the budget so it is not overlooked or forgotten about.
7) Thank you cards
Most budget guides include a section in the budget for “stationary.” This can include a number of things for the wedding that are obvious, such as invitations. However, thank you cards might not be on your radar while you are in the midst of planning. Depending on what you want to do for the thank you cards, they might end up costing you more than you think. Even the postage for these can get pricey depending on how many guests attend your wedding.
If you’re married – what unexpected expenses did you run into? If you aren’t married, what’s your plan for dealing with some of these “miscellaneous” or unexpected expenses?
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Photo copyright Dana Johnson – all rights reserved
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WOW, quite a few things that have been commercialized into a big party. Having been married, maybe that is why my balances look good. What would the compounding effect on all those expenses be after 30 years?
If you skip the wedding, and put that money away, how much earlier could you retire?
When I was married last 8 years ago, even if we planned everything there are still unexpected cost like an extra visitors that not on the list. We also have thank you cards that we gave it to our principal sponsors and guests.
Wow, quite a few expenses for a one-day party, and those are the small ones. Having never been married, I wonder if that is one reason why my account balances are as strong as they are?
What would a wedding budget, put into the Market for 30 years, do for someones retirement? And then factor in the marriage tax penalty…
Welcome Victoria!!! It’s true, no matter how much you budget, there always seems to be costs that you don’t think about and they can definitely add up. For me, I budgeted beauty treatments for my bridesmaids, but neglected budgeting it for myself. I also didn’t think as much about the postage and between sending out our invites which required extra postage as well as the postage for the reply cards, it definitely added up.
I really enjoyed my wedding but I do not miss it. The expenses do just seem to get out-of-control even if you try to plan for everything. I remember one cost I forgot to budget for were tips- for the musician at our wedding, a donation to the church, bartender, etc. They did a great job so they deserve it.. but the expense totally caught me by surprise.
These are all good things to be on the lookout for Victoria! I remember when we got married it just seemed like when we mentioned the word wedding costs went up by like 25%. For us, it was the party favors that really started to add up. But, we also put one of the mothers in charge of that and they sort of went overboard. :)
I’m glad my wife and I are already married. Every time we attend a wedding, she says “Oh we should have done that!” Apparently those photo booths are all the rage at weddings, among other unnecessary stuff. Postage is pretty expensive…too bad evites might be considered too tacky =) As for meals, we had our wedding at a restaurant and fortunately their food was covered as it was charged more by table than by head count.
Wedding Dress alterations. They really rip you off on that one. I had mine done at the place I bought the dress and they didn’t even do a good job. I had to find a seamstress to fix it.
Great points. These things can add up super fast and people often overlook them.
I knew I wanted an odd shaped invitation, so my postage cost $0.64 / invitation. To save costs on other items, we sent save the date, RSVP, and thank you cards as postcards. The postage for a postcard was only $0.32, so it helped save a lot of money!
The save the date and thank you card had our engagement picture and a wedding picture respectively on the front. The RSVP front was mad libs style where you fill out a funny wedding story with items for attending/not attending, how many guests, what song they would like to hear…etc. It was really fun getting the RSVPs back and getting to see what people filled in…better than the typical yes/no response….and something we can scrapbook!
All the postcards we sent were prepared on vistaprint. We managed to get the free 100 postcards deal everytime by planning ahead or emailing them. :-P We paid to upload a picture and shipping, so they ended up costing us about $11 for 100 cards. :-)
My coworker was so surprised at the cost of postage for all her invitations. I think they were heavier, so she had to stamp them twice. It’s very easy to overlook! This is a great list of the little things that can sneak up.
Andrew LivingRichCheaply Yes it definitely seems like weddings keep adding more and more things. Photo booths are becoming standard almost, and they cost between $250 and $1k.
No Nonsense Landlord It would probably do quite a bit for one’s retirement! I really don’t regret any of the money we spent on our wedding, though, and I know I’ll look back on it the rest of my life as one of those days that were truly unforgettable.
BudgetforMore It’s the unexpected things that really make wedding budgets difficult to handle financially (and emotionally haha). It definitely seemed like we were writing checks month after month for expenses for the year or so that we were engaged. My wife lived at home and I lived in a super-cheap rental with 4 other people so I think that significantly helped us save for the wedding.
BriAg We did the same thing with our thank-you cards, though we didn’t get them quite as cheap as you. Getting them as post cards was definitely the way to go.
JourneytoSaving We spent a ton of money on postage, so easy to forget about! It’s so much more painful when an expense is unexpected versus planned.
My husband and I got married at the courthouse and I’m so glad we didn’t run into any of these additional or unexpected costs. Weddings can get expensive!
I’m not yet married, but I am engaged. Ana and I are slowly buying things piece by piece to put our wedding together…we’ve also set up an Ohh crap fund just to be safe!
debtperception They definitely can get expensive! Good thing there are always ways to cut costs though!
Joshua Rodriguez SUCH a great idea! For the last month or two of our wedding, I went to a craft store who allowed you to use a coupon for 40% off one item in the store every single day and bought one thing. I easily saved a few hundred dollars!
JourneytoSaving Stamps can definitely be the sneakiest things to end up in the budget. I ended up asking for stamps for Christmas from my family the year before we got married just to save some extra money!
Raquel@Practical Cents Alterations are KILLER on the budget! I know many friends who spent almost as much as the dress cost just for alterations! It is insane how much they can charge!
FrugalRules oh mothers will do that :) It is all the little things that seem to end up costing more than you could even imagine. The wedding industry is making BANK!
DC @ Young Adult Money No Nonsense Landlord I agree! The cost is worth it even if I look back on how much the wedding industry in general can charge and shake my head at how expensive it all is. I wouldn’t change a thing though! :)
blonde_finance Postage definitely is that one thing that nobody thinks about. It has to be added into the budget because with all those thank you cards, rsvps, invites, etc. it is crazy how much mail you are sending out!
Clarisse @ Make Money Your Way The definitely will be always something unexpected come up. Good thing we all have money set aside for these though right ;)
Nice list!. The costs definitely add up around weddings.. I remember that (in our craziness) we almost forgot about the gifts that we had to get for our wedding party until just a few days before the rehearsal dinner!
I always tell myself that I will one day start a business that aims to cash in on people that are spending money around weddings..
I’d say postage and meals for vendors were the biggest surprises for me. We had an extremely inexpensive wedding by modern standards though (less than $5000), so we did OK.
Weddings are terrible for nickle and dime charges adding up to tonnes and tonnes of money! An extra $10 in ribbon here, more postage for thank you cards there, and all of a sudden you’ve added a few hundred dollars in costs!
These are great! It’s been a few years since I got married, but I definitely forgot about tipping. The DJ walked out without a tip from me — I simply spaced it and didn’t have any cash on me. I was so embarrassed! He may have had a tip jar and my guests may have tipped him, but I honestly have no clue.