Saori and I tracked carefully what we spent on the wedding, and we have some rough ideas on what other people spent on the wedding. So here is a pie chart of what the wedding cost by percentage of the total. According to one source, the average cost of a US wedding is around $26,000. Tallying up all the totals, not just ours, I think we can say we had a extremely low-budget wedding.
This chart includes only direct wedding and reception costs: sparklers, food, wedding photography, tent rentals, bus transportation for guests, etc. Not included:
- hotel
- the rehearsal dinner
- other transportation
- wedding rings, since I got mine from Saori who made it, and I bought Saori's for an amount which would not even be visible on this graph.
- possibly things (please forgive me) that other people contributed to the wedding but that I failed to recognize or remember. For example, I know someone, possibly aunt Kim, bought more flowers, but I don't know how much.
- cleanup costs outside of the scope of the tent and catering people
- bridesmaids and groomsmen attire and accessories
- gifts to family and attendants
We paid nothing for the venue, we had no real wedding favors apart from the fans, and uncle Tracy played DJ (you can blame me for the playlist though), so we avoided these major wedding costs. We also got a really lowball photographer.
Some surprises from the chart- my outfit (shoes, suit, tailoring, accessories) cost more than Saori's. (But only when you discount the hair and makeup!) Flowers ended up being a relatively minor expense in the scheme of things, considering how much emphasis we put on them at the beginning, but everything really paled in comparison to the cost of the caterers. To be fair, we wanted to pay a premium for amazing food and catering, and most of our other wedding costs were either really low or non-existent. Had we shelled out for a ballroom, DJ, or not-so-popular historic plantation, the percentages would have looked a lot different.
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