Budget for decorations and wedding planner

Smart thinking on the renting aspect of décor as we did the same knowing the reselling afterwards would be hard and storing space wouldn't be possible to have for a long time at home. The work itself to set up can depend on the guest count and how much time you need the day before if the help is given from family and wedding party.

The max I spent on décor was about $250 for just the backdrop, vases, floral white balls and money box.

As for the Wedding planner, they can charge starting at $2000 depending on what needs to be done and their time included. I originally paid the deposit plus a bit and than cancelled knowing my husband and I could do it ourselves after all.

My best advise is get quotes from planners and if it fits your budget, then go for it. If not, make a list of what needs to be done and ask the venue if you can get go in a day or two before.

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My wedding is still a month away but we're having it at home so I'm not worried about putting them out. They'll also be in hurricane vases so if there's a mess it should hopefully be contained. If you need to pack them up the same night I'd probably try to put them out an hour before you leave to give them time to harden.

View quoted message Ooh I didn’t think of ikea!! There’s one a couple hours away!! Thank you 😊

View quoted message Thanks for this!

View quoted message Ooooo I second Ikea! I found this greenery with string lights for $12. You used candles on your wedding right? I'm kind of scared to use candles because it might set off the fire alarm on our venue and if that happens, our security deposit is gone lol. How was your experience with putting out tje candles? 🤣

View quoted message Ikea was the best by far. I was lucky that a coworker was heading to NS where the closest one is, but even if I had had to pay for shipping they still would have been the best price.

View quoted message IKEA is the cheapest I’ve been able to find. Floating candles are also a good alternative if you have a lot of vases or taller vases to fill.

View quoted message Did you find anywhere that has a good price for pillar candles?

We are renting or buying table cloths because we want floor length tablecloths ($18 to rent or $9 to buy I think we will buy). X 14 tables = $126 plus tax


We are buying linen napkins which are 88 cents each. X 70 = $61.60 plus tax
I already have dollar tree vases from a friend that she used at her wedding.
We are going to make small bouquets and then put a couple eye catching undecided things next to them and then the table numbers.
The bouquets will be about $300 total because we are keeping them small.
Everything will be placed inside a frame of fabric to match the wedding colours. (Frame from micheals $4 x 12 = $48
I don’t know the price of this yet, but we are going to get cardstock printed menus for everyone to look at at their dinner tables. Unnecessary but I wanna wrap them up and tie lavender to them lol
Table numbers: painted clear frames: $2 x12 = $24
Welcome sign: I’m painting a glass frame and not having the cardboard piece in so that it is clear to match our invites and table numbers. $10
At the head table I am going to recycle the wedding bouquet flowers from all the bridesmaids and have vases for our flowers up there. That way it cuts the cost of head table florals.
We are also renting silver or gold acrylic chairs which is going to be expensive - $500
I think that’s like $1200ish? I’ve not done the math to connect all those expenses together

View quoted message Thanks Margaret! I can just imagine how grand your venue will look like, I bet it'll look beautiful!

I guess it really depends on an variety of factors. For us, our decor budget is more because of the look we are going for. We are also located in the GTA and chose a higher end venue. We chose fresh flowers for our decor, renting mirror tables and chairs for our sweetheart table as well as drapery. We are spending around $5200 for flowers/decor. (I don’t trust myself with DIY, so I would rather have someone create the vision for us lol).. I also hired a wedding planner for partial planning services and the cost is $2600 (most affordable planner I had contacted) . Hope this helps!

View quoted message I had about 45 and I placed them in clusters and groups.

View quoted message Thanks Amelia! We were thinking of using greenery and glass hurricanes with candles for the aisle which then could be used for the tables on reception. How many vases did you end up using?

We were always planning a smaller wedding and we spent about $400 on decor. I kept it very simple and we had lots glass hurricanes with pillar candles. I bought some used and some new. My big splurge was our arch that I found second hand for $150. All the vases and the arch can be used again for our bigger reception in 2021, and a lot of the candles can be used next year too. I'll probably spend another $150-250 for greenery and extra decor as the space is larger next year.

View quoted message No worries. The pricing for us was dependent on the square footage needed. We were told fairy lights were cheaper but I liked the look of the Globe or Edison bulb lights better

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Good to know about the pricing of the Edison lights as we are also looking into that. Thanks Tay!

Roughly we're spending $1750 on rented decor for our ceremony and reception, including centerpieces. Of that 300$ is for set up of Edison lights, $150 for set up and tear down and $199 for delivery ( they're travelling from far). We are also buying a custom made item for $89 that I will keep afterward. The ceremony space doesn't need much decoration so we're only spending roughly $100 there, the rest is for the reception. As others have said florals, arches, Drapery, and backdrops are what can make things expensive. We do not have any of these items. The day of coordinator( really a month of coordinator) is costing me $550. I got quotes ranging from $550-$800, however the average cost when researching was $1200-$1500

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Thanks Hank! We'll be definitely stealing the idea of re-purposing the ceremony arch into a backdrop!

Costs will vary for the type of decor. Fresh flowers will cost the most, drapery will cost more depending on length and height, and lighting packages can be cheap add-ons with your DJ while giving your space some character. Centerpieces are probably the one thing you can DIY if you're not looking for massive floral pieces.

I think it also depends on the venue. The room we'll be in for the reception has two walls of floor to ceiling windows so we won't be covering them up but some spaces like generic banquet halls with four blank white walls need extra work. Because you're in the same venue for your ceremony and reception, you can do what we're doing and re-purpose ceremony decor into your reception (ie the ceremony arch will be our sweetheart backdrop). We're spending no more than $2K for reception and ceremony decor combined, which includes the labour as well as all the bouquets for bride and bridesmaids.

As for a day of/month of planner, $1500 seems to be the median price.

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Thanks Christiana! Sorry to hear about your dream venue but it's good that you are able to find another venue that you love. I was also planning on going this direction (lots of candles, string lights, and greenery). At least now I have an idea on how much we should put aside for decor and coordinator. Our guest list right now is at 50 and will go up to 80 if restrictions ease up next year. Thanks again! I can now go back to searching Facebook market place for candle, string lights, and eucalyptus garlands

I think it really depends on what sort of look you're going for, as decor prices can really vary. I didn't want to spend too much money on decor so I intentionally planned for a minimal and streamlined look (no florals, no crazy centrepieces - mostly white with lots of candles and greenery). Before covid happened I planned to DIY most of our decor and our wedding coordinator was going to do the set up and tear down. We looked for venues with this in mind and so we had sort of a combined budget for venue and decoration. If we found a venue that needed a lot of decoration, we would want it to be a lower price to compensate for extra decor and vice versa.

We ended up finding a venue that was really beautiful on its own (RIP dream venue that we will not longer use due to covid and is going to be demolished ) and so our budget for decor was relatively small. Our coordinator was roughly $1200 which included day of coordination and set up/tear down. Rentals (provided by the venue) were going to be approximately $700-800. Decoration, including greenery which I was also DIYing, would have likely rung in around $900. I planned to sell most of the decor after the wedding to recoup some of the cost (candles, signs, linens). Also keep in mind this is in the context of a roughly $20,000 budget and space for 100 people.

Hope that helps!