How Much My 1995 Wedding Cost (And What it Would Be Today)
Taking a break from the dance floor on my wedding day.
Just like everything else, weddings seem to be getting more and more expensive. There’s lots of advice to save money, but does it actually work? Can you still save by planning a daytime wedding or is it an outdated idea?
I was thinking about this when I found the pictures from the very first wedding I ever planned: my own! In 1995 planned a DIY, outdoor wedding on a Sunday. Some of the ideas are definitely outdated and our playlist did not stand the test of time.
But we did save a lot of money by using a non traditional venue and booking a wedding lunch instead of dinner. I checked today’s prices in the same city where I’d had my wedding, and the verdict is in: weddings are a lot more expensive!
But the good news is that you can still save money by using alternative venues, serving different food and doing DIY decorations.
Please note: this article contains affiliate links. That means that I may earn a commission if you decide to buy something.
How Much The Wedding Cost
TLDR: This post turned out super long. If you just want to know the numbers, here they are:
My 1995 wedding: $12,909
The exact same wedding today: $26,551
The Wedding Budget Breakdown
I’m a huge fan of Money Diaries from Refinery29, so in that spirit I’m going to share our finances at the time, too. I was working full time as an electrician’s helper and earning $12 per hour. My fiancé was working on an assembly line and earning $18 per hour.
We had just bought a 3 bedroom house and the mortgage payments were $895 per month. We had both bought used cars, so we didn’t have to make monthly payments. Neither of us had any debt.
Neither set of parents offered us any cash and we had decided to pay for the wedding ourselves. Along the way, though, both sets of parents offered to pay for certain things. As payments came due, they would write checks to cover the invoices.
Trying to Find an Affordable Wedding Venue: $500
We had planned a $10,000 budget and thought that sounded good. We didn’t want anything fancy - just a nice normal wedding with some food and some dancing. So I booked a few venue tours and found one I liked. It was a brand name hotel in our downtown area.
We had started to realize that our 10k wouldn’t go as far as we thought. So we followed the common advice and cut our guest list.
Package Prices
The menu and bar packages at the hotel I liked would add up to just under $100 per person. If we invited 75 people, it should cost around $7,500. I knew that would make it hard to stay under ten thousand, but I figured we could just DIY a bunch of stuff.
On the day of the tour, I told the co-ordinator we’d be inviting 75 people and she showed us the room that was the right size. It was really nice and it had a great view. We said yes, signed the contract and put down a deposit.
Guaranteed Minimums
The next day I was updating my budget and I read the contract a bit more closely. I couldn’t believe what I was reading. I had to call the lady and ask her “What does this mean? What is a Guaranteed Minimum?”
It means that I had promised to pay for at least 125 guests. Regardless of how many actually attended. That doubled the budget and put this hotel out of reach for us. I had to cut my losses and cancel the venue. I lost the $500 deposit.
How Much This Would Cost Today: $0
I was only shocked because that was the very first time I’d planned a wedding. Guaranteed minimums are actually a common practice that a lot of venues still use today. Nowadays, my first question for a venue is always about their minimum numbers, so no more deposits will be lost.
If you’re trying to save money by cutting your guest list, remember to ask your venue about guaranteed minimums. And don’t be like me - read the contract carefully before you sign it!
We booked this gorgeous Bed and Breakfast for our outdoor wedding venue.
Our B&B Wedding Venue: $1,575
After the hotel fiasco, we knew we would have to find an alternative wedding venue. We had gone to a big wedding show and I had a pile of booklets and brochures. When I was going through them I noticed one for a Bed and Breakfast, just outside of town. The house was beautiful. The brochure was only for guest rooms, not events. But they had an apple orchard that looked like the perfect spot for a wedding.
It was the olden days, so I had to call them on the phone. The owners were very friendly and seemed excited about hosting our wedding. They had just started their business and they were open to ideas.
To settle on a price, we agreed to rent all three of their rooms for the Friday, Saturday and Sunday night of our wedding weekend. The two standard rooms were $150 each and the master suite was $225. All together we paid $1,575 and they gave us the run of the house for the entire three days.
A B&B Venue Today: $2,850
Even in 1995 money, that was a great deal for a wedding venue. Part of the reason was that the owners of the B&B were just starting out and didn’t have a lot of bookings. When we booked it, it was January and we were planning a June wedding.
Since Airbnb does not allow events, it's hard to find a property like this now. Currently, I can find a private cottage for rent with lots of space and a nice lake view. It would be perfect for a wedding and it costs $950 per night. If we could get the same 3 night deal, it would still be good price for a wedding venue.
Tips For Finding Affordable Venues
When you're looking for an inexpensive wedding venue, you'll need to do some detective work. Look beyond the hotels and ballrooms and investigate any place where people can meet. Even if a spot's not advertised as a wedding venue, it won't hurt to call and ask.
Look for non traditional wedding venues, like community centers, civic buildings, veteran halls or local clubs. If you have your own property, you could even plan a backyard wedding.
Luckily, the weather was perfect all weekend and we didn’t need to put walls on the tent.
Our Ceremony and Reception Rentals: $1,725
Because the venue wasn’t an actual event space, we had to rent everything, from the tent to the table settings. We found a rental company that offered everything we needed and booked the date.
I’m not sure about all the individual prices, but I paid $500 for the deposit, then my mother wrote a check for $1,275 for the final payment. Here’s what we rented:
Tent with sides that had clear windows. The weather was beautiful, so we left the sides off. But we did have them on hand, just in case.
Dance floor (12’ x 12’).
12 round dinner tables.
1 round table for the cake.
9 rectangular tables for the head table, the gift table, the DJ and the DIY bar.
Chairs for 120 people.
Table skirts, tablecloths and napkins.
China, glassware and silverware for 120 table settings.
Glassware for the bar.
Wedding Rentals Today Would Cost: $3,920
The company I rented from is still in business. And the price list is online, so I can see exactly how much this setup would cost today:
$900 Tent (20’ x 60’).
$320 Sidewalls with windows (160' x $2 per foot).
$600 Dance floor (12 sections x $50).
$234 Round 72" tables (13 x $18).
$126 Rectangular 8' tables (9 x $14).
$222 Chairs (120 x $1.85).
$195 Round tablecloths (13 x $15).
$72 Rectangular tablecloths (9 x $8).
$180 Table skirting for the head tables (6 x $30).
$83 Napkins (120 x $0.69).
$234 China (120 guests x 3 pieces x $0.65).
$120 Glasses (120 guests x 2 pieces x $0.50).
$104 Flatware (120 guests x 3 pieces x $0.29).
$110 Glassware for the bar (220 glasses x $0.50).
Grand Total: $3,500 + 12% tax
Planning For Wedding Rentals
Rentals will add up faster than you expect. If you'll need to rent tables, chairs or dishes, make sure you get a quote before you make your final decision on the wedding venue.
Be sure the quote includes any set up fees, delivery fees and taxes. If you’re renting dishes, check if there’s a cleaning fee.
You'll also need to co-ordinate the schedule between your venue and your rental company. Find out how much time they’ll need to set up and clear away afterwards. Make sure the timing will work with your venue.
This photo makes me laugh - it was before there were smartphones everywhere, but we still managed to have tons of cameras. I love the paparazzi hiding behind the tree!
Our Catering Cost For a Wedding Lunch: $2,500
We originally booked the rentals and a cake baker for a Saturday night. But we slowly started to realize that we were going to need a lot more things than we first thought. We had chosen a spot behind the house for the ceremony and someone mentioned that it might be getting dark. Did we have a plan for lighting?
Plus, we live in Canada. There was no guarantee that it would be warm enough for an outdoor wedding in June. We would need heaters, too. So we started to consider a daytime wedding instead.
When we contacted a caterer we liked, she offered to make us a Sunday lunch for an amazing price. She had no minimums, but her prices were so good that we could afford a 120 person guest list.
The meal was chicken, pasta, salad and rolls, served family style. Plus coffee and tea. The contract included servers and a bartender. The final price was $2,500 after fees and taxes.
Luckily, the the rental company and the baker were able to switch our Saturday night reservation to Sunday morning.
Cost For a Wedding Lunch Today: $7,980
A caterer with the same style currently offers a similar meal and service for $50 per person. We had signed a contract for 120 guests, so today it would cost $6,000 for the food, plus 13% tax and 20% gratuity.
Does This Still Work Today?
Even for 1995, twenty five hundred dollars was a great deal for wedding catering. If you’re trying to find affordable wedding food today, a lot will depend on where you live and the type of reception you’re planning.
If you need to save money on your wedding catering, consider planning a lunch wedding, like we did. Another way to save is by choosing breakfast food instead. Breakfast food is cheaper to make, so you can find less expensive catering if you plan a brunch wedding.
If you have family and friends to help, you can save even more by not hiring a full service caterer. You could plan to DIY your wedding food, instead.
Lots of couples order platters and trays from their favorite restaurant and set it up buffet style. Or if you’re good in the kitchen, you could even prepare all the food yourselves.
I don’t have any detail photos, but you can kind of see what’s going on with the table decorations. The little wedding favors looked super cute. And the wine! Those bottles look huge - I’m pretty sure they were one liter each. No wonder we had so much left over.
Our DIY Wedding Alcohol: $800
Since the caterer included a certified bartender, we set up a DIY bar with our own alcohol. The groom’s parents paid for all the ice, mixers, garnishes, beer and liquor. All together, it probably cost $300.
We also ordered cases of wine with personalized labels from the grocery store. When we were trying to figure out how much alcohol to order, we did a ton of math, then realized there was a 50 bottle minimum.
The labels had a little bride and groom and were printed with our names and wedding date. I was in love with those labels, so we went ahead and ordered the 50 bottles.
The wine was middle of the road - not great, but not terrible. The guests drank a lot of it, so it couldn’t have been too bad. We put two bottles of white and one bottle of red on each table.
We spent $500 on the wine. It looked super cute with our names on the labels, so I still think it was worth it.
How Much DIY Alcohol Costs Today: $1,141
If I was setting up my own wedding alcohol today, I’d start by using a wedding alcohol calculator. When I planned my wedding, I just used a pen and paper and I wildly overestimated how much alcohol we would need. We had a lot left over!
Using the alcohol calculator shows me that we’d only need 360 drinks for a 3 hour lunch. That breaks down to:
$540 for 36 Bottles of Wine (750mL)
$296 for 72 Bottles or Cans of Beer
$242 for 7 Bottles of Liquor (750mL)
$63 for 21 Bottles of Mixers (1L)
How To Save With DIY Wedding Alcohol
You can save a ton of money with a DIY wedding bar. If you decide to do one, ask your caterer if they can supply a trained and certified bartender.
Some traditional wedding venues and caterers will require that you book a bar package through them. If you’re thinking of setting up your own bar, check with them first, to make sure it’ll be allowed.
I’m talking my dad’s ear off here. But you can see the wedding cake in the background. It was massive. One good thing though - it really filled the space. It looked beautiful, so that helped distract from the fact that we had nearly no other decorations.
Our Wedding Cake: $285
We had originally planned a much bigger wedding and I fell in love with a five tier cake. I ordered it ASAP. After we downsized, the baker wouldn’t let us change the order, so we had to go along with it. The cake was big enough to serve 220 people. We had 109.
Funny enough though, we never got any leftovers. The caterers were supposed to wrap up the top layer, but I think they took it with them. The groom and I had one slice each and it cost us $285.
This Wedding Cake Would Now Cost: $900
Even though we didn’t need that much, we did end up paying for a huge cake. A similar style with 5 tiers now has a price tag of $899.99.
What I Would Do Differently Now
If I was planning my own wedding today, I would absolutely do DIY for my wedding cake. You can order a plain white cake from any grocery store or big box store.
Choose some food safe silk flowers, sugar flowers or a cute cake topper. On the day of your wedding, just pop the decorations onto your store bought cake. The cake will be tasty and it’ll look very pretty. And it’ll be so much less expensive.
The single ladies actually wanted me to throw my bouquet, so I obliged. But the garter toss was already going out of style - we skipped that tradition completely.
How Much I Spent On My Wedding Outfit: $1,115
Once we’d decided on an outdoor wedding I knew I wanted a wedding dress without a train. In fact, I knew exactly what kind of dress I wanted.
I was out with my sisters one day when we drove past a bridal salon. They started asking when I was getting my dress. We knew we should make an appointment, but we thought we’d just go in and look around.
The shop wasn’t busy, so the consultant asked if I wanted to try some on. Yes! I told her I wanted a ball gown, but not too big. No train and I wanted sleeves. Plus some sparkle. And I only wanted to spend $500.
She brought out two dresses. I put the first one on and it was perfect. It was everything I’d asked for. I showed my sisters and they loved it. So I said “ok, I’ll take it”.
Everyone just stared at me. My sisters jaws dropped and the consultant started laughing. Apparently I was supposed to try on a whole bunch of dresses!
I wanted to make the crowd happy, so I tried on the second dress. But we all agreed the first dress was perfect. So I bought the dress and called it done.
$500 for my wedding dress.
$175 for dress alterations.
$120 for a specialty bra.
$120 for a rented crinoline.
$130 for my veil.
$70 for my shoes.
A Similar Outfit Today Would Cost: $2,036
It’s hard to put an exact dollar amount on a similar dress. Back in the nineties, a bridal salon was the only place to get a dress. Now you can just check the internet and find gorgeous dresses in every price range. This similar dress from Etsy has a lace bodice and a satin skirt and costs $1,160:
Ball Gown Wedding Dress with sleeves and a lace bodice. By: WeddingBeautifulDay
The rest of the outfit would probably cost:
$350 for dress alterations.
$120 for a long line bra with a low back.
$100 for an a line wedding dress crinoline.
$106 for a two tier veil with beaded edge.
The Groom’s Wedding Outfit Cost: $225
My fiancé wanted to wear a British morning suit, so it was a bit more expensive than the groomsmen suits. But it looked fantastic, so it was worth the extra dollars.
The Groom’s Outfit Now: $305
Not to go on a rant here, but grooms have it so easy. A few weeks before the wedding, he goes to a tuxedo shop. He pays a few hundred dollars and they give him everything. Right down to the shoes and cufflinks. If he wanted to go all out, I guess he could buy himself a new pair of socks!
Price For Our Bouquets and Boutonnières: $315
We didn't have the budget to hire a full service florist or decorator. I figured out how to DIY the centerpieces, but I didn't want to make my own bouquets.
One day at the grocery store I noticed the floral shop had a sign with wedding flowers on it. I stopped and asked the lady at the counter. I was pretty surprised when she said they do wedding flowers.
She showed me a binder of pretty bouquets, boutonnières and corsages with fantastic prices. When she told me they deliver, I was sold.
The bouquets arrived on time, fresh and beautiful on my wedding day. No regrets about ordering from the grocery store.
$50 for my bridal bouquet.
$100 for 4 bridesmaid bouquets.
$75 for 5 groom & groomsmen boutonnières.
$45 for 3 moms & grandma corsages.
$45 for 3 dads & grandpa boutonnières.
Price For Wedding Bouquets and Boutonnieres Today: $349
Lots of grocery stores and big box stores offer wedding flowers that are a lot more affordable than traditional florists. You can check your local stores, or go online and order ready made bouquets. Or you can order bulk flowers and DIY all your centerpieces, bouquets and boutonnieres.
This collection from Sam’s Club includes nearly all the flowers for the bridal party and parents for only $325. I’d need to add two extra boutonnieres for $12 each:
Pink bouquet, boutonnière and corsage collection. By Sam’s Club.
Making Our DIY Table Decorations: $289
By the time we got to the decor, our budget was getting tight. So we decided to DIY all the wedding decorations. We had 12 round tables for guests, plus 5 rectangular tables for the head table, so we needed 17 centerpieces.
We ended up using bowls from the dollar store. We were planning to put these flowers called the king protea in each one. The store scared us into buying them on Tuesday and promised they’d still be good by the weekend. They were not still good.
On the morning of the wedding, the groom and the best man were returning rotten flowers to the store we’d bought them from. The men did a good job of getting us new ones. In exchange for the protea, the store gave us an assortment of pink and white roses, carnations, greenery and baby’s breath. The B&B owners saved the day by actually arranging all the flowers into the bowls for us.
Luckily, the venue was so gorgeous that the lack of decorations didn’t really matter. We spent $34 for the bowls and $255 for the flowers.
How Much For Table Decorations Now: $365
I checked my local dollar store and the price of cheap bowls has gone up! I found similar sizes for $5 each. If I was doing DIY today, I’d include bulk flowers with my bouquet order just to keep it simple.
Sam’s Club has a great deal on flowers that match their bouquets and boutonnieres. You can get 10 bunches for $140. I’d order 2 sets of 10 and that would be plenty of flowers for the tables:
Pretty in Pink Mixed Farm Bunches. By: Sam’s Club.
Making Our DIY Wedding Favors: $420
Knick knack wedding favors were really important in the nineties, so we spent a lot of time on them. My mom was into ceramics, so she made 120 little ceramic baskets. They were pale green with pink flowers. They were super cute and they looked perfect on the tables.
Me and my sisters got a ton of chocolate mint candies from the Bulk Barn. We picked them because they were delicious. And also the wrappers had a love quote or saying printed on each one. We tied little bundles of tulle with 4 chocolates in each one and stuck them into the little ceramic baskets.
I’m not sure about all the prices, but I do remember that it cost a lot more than we expected. We kept running out of chocolate and had to go back to the store a couple times.
$180 for the ceramic baskets.
$240 for the chocolates.
Buying Wedding Favors Today: $99
Most people like more practical wedding favors today, so I’d probably skip the little baskets and save the money. But chocolate or candy would still work. These personalized chocolates from Etsy are perfect because they’re decorative enough to add to the look of the table settings:
Personalized wedding chocolate favors. By: LilacSwanShop.
Our Wedding Invitations: $285
There wasn’t very many options at the time for DIY or cheap wedding invitations. So we went to a traditional printer and ordered 75 invitations with matching RSVP cards.
Similar Invitations Now: $456
Our set was similar to this foil design from Minted, except ours had two pink hearts instead of the flowers. These ones cost $264 for 75 invitations and $191 for 75 RSVP cards:
Glittery Wreath Wedding Invitations. By: Minted.
Our Wedding License and Officiant: $300
Neither of us were religious, so we didn’t want a traditional wedding ceremony. But we did want it to be romantic and meaningful. We found a non-denominational officiant in the yellow pages. (If we wanted to find people in the time before the internet we had to use a big book full of phone numbers - we called it the yellow pages lol.)
At $250, it seemed expensive, but the price included a meeting, a rehearsal, the ceremony and all the paperwork. Since the ceremony is the most important part, I felt like it would be stingy to shop around for the cheapest one. Our ceremony was perfect, so it was worth the money. We also paid $50 for a marriage license from city hall.
Cost For a License and Officiant Now: $610
The marriage license is now $135. And a similar service from an officiant that includes meetings and the rehearsal costs $475.
We had our wedding ceremony in a natural spot behind the house.
Our Wedding Photographer: $1,000
I had found a photographer that looked ok for $800. She wasn't great, but the package included a bride and groom wedding album, plus two parent albums.
Then my mother-in-law told me that she was going to take care of the photographer. That sounded great to me, so I let her figure it out. Big mistake. On the wedding day the photographer showed up and we spent a few hours taking pictures.
After the wedding the photographer sent over a sample album and asked me how many I wanted to order. It turned out the package did not include any photos. Each photo cost $125.
My mother-in-law had signed a contract promising to spend $1,000 on photos. I had no money left because I'd spent it all on the wedding. Since she had signed the contract, I guess she spent the thousand dollars and now she has my wedding photos.
How Much For a Wedding Photographer Today: $2,500
If I'd known what was going to happen, I would've stuck with the average photographer. At the very least I would have double checked the contract. A low priced photographer today starts at about $2,500.
Our Disposable Cameras and Developing: $600
We bought wedding themed disposable cameras and put them out on the tables. The guests used them all, so we had tons of snapshots. It cost a few hundred dollars to develop them all, but it was totally worth it. Since I didn't get anything from the photographer, these are the only wedding photos I have.
I’m not completely sure about the price, but I remember the cameras came in packs of 10. I think we bought 2 packs for $50 each. Developing each film probably cost $25 each. So all together, the snapshots cost $600.
Buying Disposable Cameras Today: $840
This is one of those things that’s so retro it’s considered fun again. Most of your guests will have smart phones, so if you’ve got a tight budget, skip the physical cameras and choose a hashtag for sharing instead. You’ll get lots of great snapshots without the extra expense.
Developing photos still only costs around $25 each. The disposable cameras are more expensive, though. If there’s room in your budget, you can buy a few sets from Amazon:
Our Wedding DJ: $175
The DJ we got was awesome. Or maybe my family just loves to dance. I was worried that no one would want to dance because it was daytime. But as soon as the DJ put on Kool and the Gang, everyone jumped up!
Average Price For a DJ Today: $700
The price range for a DJ in my hometown now ranges from $400 to $2,500. Ours really got people dancing, so I'd pay more than the bare minimum for him. We had 2 hours of music, and he provided one microphone for speeches. Today we'd probably pay $700 for a decent DJ.
We did a traditional bridal party dance to start the party.
Our Bridal Party Gifts Cost: $300
For bridal party gifts we gave out more knick knacks. We had a small budget, so we went with classic gifts. The bridesmaid thank you gifts were crystal perfume bottles. For the groomsmen thank you gifts we bought engraved flasks. For our parents gifts, we bought picture frames. I’m pretty sure we spent $25 per person for 4 bridesmaids, 4 groomsmen, my nephew and our singer. Plus $50 for each set of parents.
Buying Bridal Party Gifts Today: $600
When you’re choosing thank you gifts for your bridal party, take into account how much you’ve asked them to spend. If they’ve bought designer dresses or planned over the top bachelor and bachelorette parties, you’ll probably want to spend a bit more.
But most couples today are careful with how much they ask of their bridal party. If you’ve had traditional bridal showers and parties, most couples spend $50 per person, plus $100 for each set of parents.
Our Bridal Party Dresses and Suits
Everyone in our bridal party bought their own outfits and agreed to wear whatever I picked. In the end, I didn’t actually choose a wedding theme. Everything was just based on my favorite color: pink! Once the men agreed to wear pink roses for their boutonnieres, I decided to make my wedding colors ivory and pink.
For the men I picked ivory colored dinner jackets, bow ties and cummerbunds with black pants. The dads wore traditional black tuxes. Once it was decided, the men went straight out and ordered their suits.
The women were a little tougher to wrangle together, so I ended up going with mismatched bridesmaid dresses. I chose an ivory colored fabric and everyone got their own dresses made. One woman wore a sheath dress, two wore a-lines, and one wore a pants suit. Once everyone was together it looked pretty fantastic.
I don’t have a photo of the bridal party together, but here’s one with my family - I loved how the pink flowers stood out against the ivory and white:
Yes, I do have a lot of brothers and sisters. I have 2 sisters and 3 brothers, so the entire bridal party was pretty big!
Adding My Nephew to the Bridal Party
My nephew brings absolute joy wherever he goes. So when I found out he was willing to play a role in my bridal party, I was thrilled. He wanted to wear his cadets uniform, so we thought it would be cool if he rolled out a red carpet. But the ceremony was outdoors, so a carpet wouldn’t work.
To make an altar area we had set up two short pillars with cherub statues. We ended up adding two long, white ribbons. At the start of the ceremony, my nephew walked up, pulled out the ribbons and arranged them into an aisle for the bridal party to walk down.
My nephew waited in the house with me while the guests arrived for the ceremony. I was thirsty so he got me a glass of water. Then he stood there holding it. He said “just in case you need another drink”. Best bridal attendant ever.
Cost For Our Rehearsal Dinner: $500
The groom’s parents were generous enough to host the rehearsal dinner for us. They did all the planning and it was a really great dinner. I didn’t have to do anything but enjoy the night.
Since we had the B&B for the entire weekend, we had the ceremony rehearsal and dinner there. The venue was free, and a caterer brought all the food. It was dropped off and the B&B owners heated it up and set it out as a buffet for us. My best estimate would be $25 per person.
Our guest list included 20 people:
Bride and groom.
4 Bridesmaids.
4 Groomsmen.
4 Parents.
Nephew who was in the wedding party.
Friend who was singing for our ceremony.
Officiant and his wife.
Both owners of the B&B.
Cost For The Same Dinner Today: $900
I don't remember all the dishes, but I do remember it was a whole lot of food. Including appetizers and shrimp cocktail. The same menu today would probably be at least $45 per person.
Planning a Wedding Rehearsal
We had a full bridal party with my nephew, a singer, four bridesmaids and four groomsmen. It seems straightforward - you just walk up the aisle. So we were tempted to skip it.
But we ended up trying a few different spots for the procession and the ceremony. Having a wedding rehearsal turned out to be really important. If you’re having a bridal party, make sure to give everyone time to practice.
If you ask your bridal party to come to a rehearsal, you’ll need to plan a dinner afterwards. If you’ve got a tight budget, don’t worry - the dinner doesn’t have to be elaborate. There’s lots of options for an inexpensive rehearsal dinner, from hosting at a restaurant to planning an I Do BBQ at home.
The wedding processional was super fun and it went off perfectly. Making time for the rehearsal was worth it.
The Grand Total For My 1995 Wedding: $12,909
Drum roll please! We ended up spending a bit more than our $10,000 budget. But since our parents helped out so much, it didn’t cause us any problems. Plus, I loved pretty much everything about our day so it was worth every penny in the end.
How Much The Same Wedding Would Cost Today: $26,551
I’m not too surprised that the total is a lot more today. Rising prices and a different cost of living could account for some of the difference.
But I am surprised by the fact that this was a bare bones, DIY wedding in a small town. To plan this kind of a wedding today costs over $25,000. That is a lot of money, especially when you consider that it’s not fancy or elaborate in any way.
Planning an Affordable Wedding Today
Luckily, alternative and non traditional weddings are getting more common now. If you’re trying to save money, there’s a lot more options to choose from. Once you decide how much you want to spend, search for a venue and menu that suit your style and your budget.
Don’t worry if it doesn’t end up being in a ballroom. You can plan a fantastic wedding anywhere - a B&B, a community center or even a local park. As long as your family and friends come to celebrate, it’ll be a fabulous day!
Want to share your own wedding budget and photos? We’re currently looking for Real Weddings to share with our readers. If you’ve got a story to tell, send us a message on the Real Weddings Submissions page.
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Pinterest pin of me at my outdoor wedding.
