It is almost our one year anniversary! I wanted to post this budget breakdown with the hope of helping other brides with planning. We felt that we did well with optimizing our budget that we had, and that we had some unique ways of affording to host this wedding, so I do hope someone else finds this helpful. For context, we live in Portland, OR and our wedding was in Marquette MI (we met/went to college in the area). We had 14 wedding party members total; mixed gender wedding party.

BUDGET BREAKDOWN (approximate; does not include travel or honeymoon costs, strictly direct wedding costs only).

Dress: 1500$ (1/2 paid for by parent): Volles Bridal! Good experience shopping at the store, no complaints.

Tuxes (200$ for groom): Mens Warehouse. Our experience was definitely not the best which seems to be pretty common, unfortunately. We felt that using this corporate chain was logistically easiest, as ALL our groomsmen lived in different towns. We also had the unique conundrum of getting married in a rural area where there wasn’t a Men’s Warehouse closer than 3 hours away. Had it not been for this, I think it would have been fine, however, EVERY single store seemed to have a different policy for the pickup window for the suits. Some of our groomsmen were told they couldn’t get them until like the Thursday or Friday before, which wasn’t going to work since we were all arriving to town on Thursday. So a few of them really had to advocate at their stores to get them, while others had no problem. It all did work out in the end.

Reception venue (1900$): Marquette Regional History Center — We actually chose the reception site first, as Marquette being a small town doesn’t have a ton of options. Besides being a beautiful venue, we liked that we could basically supply everything ourselves for this venue, and it was also really centrally located in town near hotels/downtown area. The venue fee included use of the space and 200 chairs, as well as optional use of a green space, and you could choose all your own vendors. It was lovely and I think allowed us a lot of flexibility for our day.

Ceremony and rehearsal dinner venue: (350$- 200$ for beach use+150 for private event insurance) Thunder Bay Inn/ Inn beachfront. — - Our ceremony venue was a really neat and lucky find. I had been searching all throughout the town (Marquette, MI) that we were having our reception at, trying to find a beachfront venue. The one thing I really wanted was to get married on Lake Superior. However, nowhere in the town proper really had a good option for a reservable space for us. After doing some research, I found this inn which I was familiar with from my college days, that happened to be right by the water. I spoke with the owners of the inn, who said we could use their family owned beach space for our ceremony, which was amazing!! They were so so incredibly kind. As such, we decided we’d stay the night before the wedding at the inn, have our rehearsal there, and get ready there in the morning. Of course 200$ is such a wonderful bargain, and so I was happy that we were able to generate additional business to the inn by having folks there the day before. The hospitality of the upper peninsula is really unmatched. This was a PERFECT ceremony location and it could not have been a better choice. The only real downside was that it was 35ish mins from our reception site, but that seemed to be fine for everyone. It’s super vintage and historical (was owned by Henry Ford at one point, and was also featured in the movie Anatomy of a Murder) which made for some cool photos.

Lodging: (1500$ total, 600$ish for two airbnbs in town for our wedding party for Thursday night; 250$ for two rooms at the TB inn the night before; 200$ for night of the wedding at bnb for bride and groom) — We all decided early on that we wanted to celebrate together for the bachelor/bachelorette parties, so we asked our wedding party if they wanted to just come up to Marquette two nights prior to the wedding to do stuff. This was a really good option because everyone was kinda scattered around the US and this way we were not asking anyone to travel twice for parties. So we covered lodging for Thursday night (night of our parties), which we were happy to do for our friends. Most of the bridesmaids actually reserved the Airbnb for the rest of the time and split the cost between them. Only downside to this was just me and the groom being in a different spot every night, (Thursday with our friends at the party; Friday at the inn, Saturday at our own spot for wedding night), but honestly there wasn’t really a better way to do it.

Photography: (3500$): Sabrina Leigh Studios — I actually knew of this photographer going into wedding planning, since she’s a well known local photographer in the college town we got married in. I remember questioning spending (what I thought) was a lot for photography at the beginning, but oh my god, she was so good. So so good. Easily the best vendor and I’m really happy we chose her. She was also super fun and nice to be around the directed the family photos seamlessly.

Catering: 3K for full service Italian buffet (16.50 a person approx, plus some add ones (200 mini pasties for cocktail hour apps and GF pasta). Mamma Russos Catering — Our catering was a really budget friendly choice and the food was quite good IMO! We got a lot for what we paid (several entree choices + salad, rolls, and meat and cheese platters). They have a strong reputation in the town; a local staple. Plus mini pasties were a unique appetizer to be able to offer! Was it the absolute fanciest food in the entire world of weddings? Nah. Was it full of carbs? Yeah. Did this make my family and friends happy? I think so.

Hair/Makeup: Embrace Salon and Spa (160$ combined for bridal hair/makeup; 60$ for hair and makeup (each) for bridesmaids+30 for travel) — It was a little hard finding both a hair/makeup artist who was willing to travel, since our ceremony site was in such a rural area, but they did a good job. They were very on time and professional. I told my bridesmaids they could choose if they wanted hair, makeup, or both done which worked out well.

Alcohol/Bartenders: (1,900; 1000$ liquor/wine, 300$ for beer, and 600$ for two hired bartenders. — I have heard since the beginning of wedding planning that supplying your own alcohol is a super great way to keep it budget friendly, so that’s what we did! Total Wine and More makes it pretty easy since you can place a bulk order for pickup. My MIL picked it up for us and drove it up to the wedding since we were flying, which was super nice. With beer, we didn’t know how to keep it cold since MIL was getting into town early, so we opted to have it supplied and delivered from a local grocery store. I think the only thing that was tricky about our method was estimating how much to get (even with alcohol calculators this is hard), and general organization/setup without much oversight at the venue was a little rocky. BUT, in terms of what ultimately mattered… our guests had plenty to drink all night.

Transportation: (900$, paid by parent, + and 150$ for cab service for guests at the end of the evening) — Checker Transit: Since our ceremony and reception venue were 35 mins apart, I didn’t want the wedding party to have to all drive back and forth separately before and after the ceremony, so we arranged transportation (“party bus”) from where they were staying in town to the ceremony site, and then we all took the bus back into town for the reception. I thought this was really helpful and ultimately made it easier on everyone, there was some arrangement of carpooling for folks who wanted to come to the ceremony site for getting ready earlier vs later but it all worked out just fine in the end.

Setup/breakdown, decor rental, florals (3K~ total): Mandala Events — Since we were planning a wedding from across the country and didn’t want to have a ton of different vendors, we figured we’d condense as many things as we could. We supplied some small DIY stuff like signage (in large thanks to my mom who does art), but largely wanted most of the supplies and to be taken care of for us even if it meant paying a bit more for our sanity. So this led us to Mandala Events! They are a day of coordination business, but had the option of hiring them just for rentals and setup/takedown. We felt like with a DJ we didn’t really need actual DOC (which, I will say, maybe we did in retrospect, more on that later haha). Mandala events was able to coordinate basically everything, including all the chairs for the ceremony/arch and ambience, as well as the table rentals and decor for the reception. We thought our spaces looked lovely and we were really glad we didn’t need to worry about setup or breakdown day of. She also was able to do our florals and I believe they consisted of about 1K of our total cost which is REALLY quite good for florals, especially considering we had 14 people in our wedding party and multiple parents with corsage/boutineer needs. I wasn’t someone who cared a ton about florals but I actually really ended up being happy we did real ones through her because it added a lot.

DJ: (900$) Evening Star Entertainment — We had such a lovely lady DJ and she worked with us so well, especially considering our ceremony being on a beach and requiring a generator. She kept the party going all night and definitely was worth every cent!

Rings: 1,000~ for both combined — My wedding ring (small diamond band) was from Malka Diamonds and Jewelry in PDX and my husbands (rose gold/black band) from an Etsy artist (unsure of name). We were happy with what we got and didn’t feel like we needed to spend a ton on them as long as they were good quality, which they both are.

**Dessert: (400$, covered by parent) Midtown Bakery and Cafe — **Cake! We went with various flavors/cakes with filling, my husband honestly did most of this since I’m gluten free, but it looked good! We had just a small GF cake for cutting and sheet cakes for the guests. We wanted to keep it simple. The cake was delivered to our venue; but this did not include cutting or materials for that, so my bridesmaid and her husband did it for us! Luckily we thought to ask. I wish they had given us something to label the flavors and had the option for take home boxes or additional silverware, but I think our guests enjoyed it and I liked our little cake.

Random self-supplied decor: (200$) —

This included things like cups, random pieces of decoration, and last minute items that Mandala events didn’t supply. As much as I disagree with Amazons business practices, most of it was from there.

Things that could have gone better:

• A few minor hiccups in ceremony (e.g., microphones not working)
• Some confusion about where to go/what to do seemingly from vendors when we arrived at cocktail hour. Bartenders didn’t seem to locate/use some of the supplies we got them, and we no one was there to sign for the beer when delivered. This is kinda the piece where I’d say a Day of Coordinator (in addition to the setup crew who were done by then and not present), may have been helpful. If you’re able to budget for it and sorta have a DIY venue situation like we did, I’d probably recommend having a point person to greet the vendors and make sure they know where and what to do. I underestimated the need for this.
• We bought champagne for a toast but never did it since we didn’t have a designated person to do it. Again, kinda the downside of a more bare bones venue situation. We could’ve probably had a family member do it but just didn’t think of it.
• Our cake was delivered without any designated silverware or carry out boxes for extras. I guess I just figured those things were relatively basic and would be included, but they weren’t. And our caterers stopped distributing silverware after the meal and were taking stuff down by the time we realized we needed additional silverware. I guess if I could do it again, I’d have been sure those things were in place.
• A few things were not set up as discussed at the reception (tablecloths/head table setup), but this also may have been due to last minute guest count changes week of, so I’m honestly not sure the event setup people are really to blame for that.
• We had a pretty good party going and 11PM kinda felt like an early ish end time for a reception, but maybe I’m just hardcore partier and I’m not sure what’s typical! There was a robust after party at one of our airbnbs though so certainly our guests were well cared for.

Things I’m super glad we did/things that went well:

• Loved doing a first look and would totally recommend both for “aww” factor and photo logistics
• I’m happy I followed my gut and got the photographer I liked best, even if it cost a bit more
• I’m absolutely thrilled we chose and stood by having the wedding party in various pastels (girls in five different shades of pastel/guys with ties alternating in corresponding pastel shades). It ended up looking so cool in the photos, and my girls getting to pick dresses in a style and color that they liked and felt good in was so important to me. I’m also really happy we had a mixed gender wedding party and didn’t get hung up on what looked traditional or anything like that. Our people were AWESOME, every one of them made our day what it was. I would recommend to anyone to not worry too much about uniformity and just surround yourselves with people who make you feel good
• On a similar note, I think everyone coming up two nights early (again, so grateful for our people for doing so, we knew it required time off work and such) was a really nice way to spend a long weekend and get to know people better, and allowed us to get a chance to have our parties, graciously thrown by our friends and include everyone. We also invited friends not in the wedding party to the bachelorette and I’m really happy that they got to celebrate with me too.
• Supplying our own alcohol did save a lot of money and I’m glad we found a venue that allowed us to do that
• We did kind of a unique thing where we made a trivia game and each table guessed the answers, then we scored it and the winning table got to pick the first song of the night (they chose “Rain on Me”!). This was super fun and I’m glad we did it.
• I attribute in such large part the fun, loving, and energetic demographic of our guests to our dance party at the reception, but also, our DJ helped with that a lot. I also did more upbeat dancing songs both for our first dance (Fresh Eyes by Andy Grammar) and for the dance with my dad (End of the Line by the Traveling Wilburys), and then I also danced with my stepdad too (My Wish) which was really lovely.
• Transit was also a good investment given the distance between our ceremony/reception sites.

That is all! I wish all my fellow wedding planners peace, good luck, and I hope this helps at least one person. I would highly recommend the book “A Practical Wedding” and their corresponding spreadsheets on their website for planning.