Budget for Wedding Attire, Makeup, Hair & Flowers

I personally didn't have a budget for my upcoming wedding. Just tried finding bargains as much as possible,

Dress - $2500 + 400 - 500 for alterations

Veil - $150

Hair And Makeup - My Aunt is a hair stylist so she's doing my hair for free. My Makeup artist is $225 that's with trail

Shoes - $80

Nails - $75

And My Bouquet - $150

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Thanks so much! I'll look into those suggestions

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Ya! The ladies I found from Mississauga/ Milton have a flat fee of $50 for travel/set up or $0 if you pick up?

Really well-priced florals in the west end:
https://www.weddingwire.ca/wedding-flowers
-> Liza / Mississauga

https://www.instagram.com/flowers_and_florist/
-> Alona / Milton

If you don't mind rentals, check out Jamilah Florals
https://www.instagram.com/jamilahflorals/
https://jamilahflorals.com/

I think one of the other things you'll realize is that a lot of Toronto/GTA places are charging $18ish for a boutonniere. Alona charges $10 for the groom's boutonniere & $7 for the groomsmen/other boutonnieres. The rental with Jamilah was $7 & $5 respectively.

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Oh no way! It's because I've been looking at decor + florals included since I don't want to pay extra travel and setting up fees. Or would it just be overall cheaper if I separate decor and florals? Also do you mind sending me recommendations of these vendors? Thanks

Ooo fun. I spent roughly $680 on my dress - bought it off the rack at a pop up sale. Alterations could obviously drive this up quite a bit haha.
My bouquet is $150. I think my four bridesmaids’ bouquets are around $75 apiece.
Shoes were $180. This was definitely more than I wanted to spend but I had something pretty specific in mind.I’m spending $180 on my own day of makeup/trial and $100 on my hair. But the total hair/makeup budget is in the neighbourhood of $1100 as I’m treating my girls as well. Have not given any real thought to jewelry yet but plan to keep it fairly minimal!Bottom line - definitely the most I’ve ever invested (at once) in my own appearance but I think the glam session will be so much fun and totally worth it.

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Hey Deborah!
The average bouquet in the Toronto/GTA is indeed pricey>
i found better pricing for bridal bouquets that are $100-130 for full bouquets with cascading greenery for about $120-130 in Mississauga/Milton & bridesmaid bouquet's for $65-85. Check pricing outside of the GTA & they will be cheaper & if you rent a faux floral arrangement, it'll be $65 for the bride!

Wedding dress: $1k. I bought a brand new, unaltered Stella York dress on Facebook marketplace and ended up saving $650!

Shoes: $50. I haven't bought it yet, but I plan on buying used.

Bouquet: $150. I haven't reserved my florist yet, but from what I've seen, that is the average price in the GTA/Toronto.

Hair and makeup: $650 for the hair and makeup trial + day of wedding. It is a little pricey, but I definitely saw much more expensive HMUAs. Toronto is expensive!

Here's what I budgeted vs here's what I'll be spending:

Wedding Dress: $2K (budgeted) ; $700 (actual)
I tried on a bunch of great dresses at boutiques & I even found custom for $1800 which would be made to my size, but ultimately I found a previously loved dress that I fell in love with that will cost me only $700!

Florals: $4K budget ; $2K actual
Aside from my bouquets that will be fresh florals; planning to rent centerpieces which will help bring down costs! (FYI a rented faux floral centrepiece is $25-$55; huge savings vs a real centerpiece that can cost $85-150)

Makeup: $250 budget vs $600-700 actual
This was the huge shocker. I thought that $600-700 will include the entire bridal party but because I'd like to keep the makeup artist there for the whole day for makeup changes & touch ups, this will cost be approx $600-700 for a mid-range artist (It was $900-1200 for a full day service from a premium makeupartist/ hair stylist!). I will be doing 1 makeup/hair style for a Chinese tea ceremony, then 2nd makeup/hair for the first look photos in my wedding gown, then a 3rd touch up pre-ceremony, and the hair makeup/artist will make sure my hair/makeup stays intact post ceremony for our first dance/cake cutting/ etc. My bridesmaid will do their own hair/make up.

I'm having my dress made by a family friend. It's not a traditional dress but she said it will only cost $50 for her time plus the cost of materials but I'm budgeting $300 so I have room to tip her (She could be charging me way more and isn't so I want her to know how grateful I am).


I never wear make up and could not justify the cost of a make up artist (cheapest around here was $75 + $60 for a trial), so my friend who is great with make up is going to do it for me. I know someone who runs a salon and she said she would do my hair for $50 which is awesome! (The average around here was $80 or more and I don't even want anything fancy).
My bouquet is fake flowers that I bought online. I think it cost me $120 for all the supplies to do a bouquet, piece for my hair and a boutonniere for my fiance. Jewelry I'm just wearing what I have and am waiting for a quote back for a simple anklet I want engraved; I imagine it will be well under $100 for what I want. I think if you are creative/resourceful you can save money; the sky is the limit for how much you could spend.

View quoted message Thank you!! This is very helpful 🙂

I spent about 1000 on my dress and the designer is pnina tornai i got it at a sample sale for dirt cheap it was regular over 10k. MUA and hair is 300 including trial with lashes for full face coverage and flowers i spent $40 on my bouquet and the BMs bouqets. and mine looks something like the below. remember any vendor you need to book email a bunch of them and price shop around. dont take the first vendor at whatever price they tell you!!! i searched hihgh and low and found amazing vendors all within my budget

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32657179715.html?spm=a2g0o.productlist.0.0.2a502f0aQxtIwt&algo_pvid=c147fd1d-ad38-4787-a368-b6dde52b4c97&algo_expid=c147fd1d-ad38-4787-a368-b6dde52b4c97-4&btsid=0ab6f82215864634354508468e1737&ws_ab_test=searchweb0_0,searchweb201602_,searchweb201603_

View quoted message Yeah, completely custom. He had a very specific look he wanted and wasn't finding it anywhere so we changed some things to make an allowance for him to go custom.

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Just curious, what drove your FH's budget up? Did he get a custom suit?

So I didn't really want to stick to a budget going in, just to avoid the stress of staying below it. Instead I looked for the cheapest options.

Dress: $1500 + $600 Alterations (This was my gift from my parents)

Hair and Makeup: $120 for the day of, Trial was $90.

Hair Piece: $100 ( Also a gift)

Nails: $100 (Dip mani, and shellac pedi)

Shoes: $50

Jewelry: Majority of it was gifts. My sister bought me a pair of earrings, borrowed necklace from her, and my Husband bought me a bracelet for a wedding gift.

Bouquet: $ 60

Undergarments : Didn't buy anything special, just wore what I had. Dress had cups sewn in, so no need to worry about a bra

So total approx $2600, I really ended up paying $400 and had saved up everything I needed prior to!

Try to borrow as much as possible if you can for jewelry, it makes things so much easier, and It was one less thing I had to worry about buying.

Budgeting is great to know how much is the maximum you want to pay. Dress and accessories can add up easily knowing what style, material and cut best suits you going over pictures and getting assistance to show something similar or exact of your choice. Floral balls were rented opposed to buying real due to the higher price range of non-seasonal than seasonal. We had a small wedding and avoided space to store the vases and floral balls after the wedding day. Hair and make up is good to choose between 3 vendors to give you the best deal and your look based on the individuals service.

View quoted message That’s true too lol

View quoted message LOL!! So funny.. I guess you’re better with the budgeting on this front

View quoted message Oh yes! Totally need a pair of comfy shoes for reception lol

Had a budget at the start but then we decided to not have one . We only get married once !

September bride. Um still no dress. $1000.00

Hair and make up w/tax n tip 250

Dress was $1700 (+ probably about $200 in alterations), Hair is $110 + another $110 for trial and then tip, purchased a hair piece for $45 (although it is currently lost in the mail so we will see what happens there), Make Up will be $85, free trial (perks of having a friend MUA), and my Bouquet will be $350.

My mom paid for $1000 of my dress though, huge surprise to me! And I am boring my MoH veil. Shoes will be pricey ($250) but I am not getting them just for the wedding, I just happen to love Tieks and they have a burgundy color.

So roughly $2500 for all of that? Sounds like a lot when added up ha!

Dress: $100 (it's not a "traditional" wedding dress)

Makeup & hair: $220

Jewellery: $125

Bouquet: $60

Shoes: $80

All in all $585. It was actually FH that broke the bank with his outfit🤣

I budgeted $2000 for my dress but fell in love with one that was a smidge over that and alterations should be in the $300 ballpark. I'm saving on accessories since I'm not wearing a veil (just a few fresh flowers that my florist is putting together), my earrings were a gift from FH's aunt, and my shoes were a whopping $34 (although I'll get some white vans for the reception that I can wear afterward the wedding). Including trials, hair will come to $180 and makeup $120.

I wanted to stay under $1k for my dress (I foolishly forgot to budget for tax so I went a tad over once the alterations were done). I've got $200 budgeted for jewelry and accessories, and hair and makeup should be about $250 for the day of and trials.

For dress for myself I was comfortable paying up to $2000 (thought it was a reasonable) ended up getting my veil also for that amount. Hair and make up came to $130 & $115.

Didn’t really have a budget to be honest... just went with the vendor I liked best