Wedding Budget - How to Make One?

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This is good thank you

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How much to get married in toronto?

This by far was the best wedding budget sheet I found (from the Gov't of Canada of all places) - I like that it breaks down with percentages and is a pdf compared to a website - it also doesn't give suggestions as to HOW much you should or WHERE you should spend. So you can pick where you want to a lot money and see where you've saved and can move money forward.

I'd start with a list of importants items with the spouse, talk to family - have the hard questions of IF they are contributing and IF they are, where do they want to spend the money (i.e., we want to purchase the cake or the money should go to your dress, or do as you please, etc.) and they have fun and talk to wedding vendors.

https://www.canada.ca/en/financial-consumer-agency/services/living-as-couple/wedding-budget-worksheet.html

We don't have a hard number, but rather a general area we are trying to stay under.

My main tips would be to together pick your top three areas that you want to spend on.

For us that is My Dress, The Food, and The Bar.

Many other aspects have cheap solutions such as wholesales or DIYS.

On DIYs, lots look like great ideas, but research how much materials will cost vs. buying the product outright from someone who may make that thing, as well as how long it will take you!

I would also recommend looking at alternative spaces! Unless you have your heart set on a specific location, or have it in your top 3, there are cheaper options out there!

Nova Scotia is of course very different from Alberta, but we are getting married at one our town's parks, and having the reception at the fire hall/community centre. The rental fee is much cheaper than other options, which leaves more money in the budget for decorations to make it feel like our space.

Scour the pages here for all the help you can get! Theres also articles with things like what to ask your specific vendors about!

Best of luck and Congratulations!!

So first thing is, it costs a minimum of $3500 just to have a "nice wedding." Obviously this is hugely based on what your definition of nice is but some basic costs are broken down below:

-marriage license ($40) + marriage certificate in Alberta ($20) + whatever service fee your registry charges to do this for you (it's so weird that Alberta privatizes this service). If you change your name, it'll also cost something.

-Marriage Commissioner or Justice of the Peace to officiate your wedding ceremony and make it all legit and legal (avg $300+)

-a ceremony venue ($1000) because City Hall weddings don't exist in Alberta (so weird!) so unless you have a really nice property, you'll probably want a decent looking hotel ballroom, community hall, or church that you can actually host the ceremony in.

-a decent wedding dress for you ($500+)

-a proper suit for the gent ($300+ for the whole ensemble)

-two classic gold rings ($1500)

All of the above doesn't factor in any food for a reception. That is just the minimum for a legal wedding that "looks nice."

Things that will affect your budget will be food, the type of vendors you need and hire (decor, photography, DJ, makeup, hair, cake etc), and the season (not sure if October is still "in-season" for you since it does snow much earlier in Alberta but in Ontario, they're still considered prime dates). Are you getting married in Stony Plain or will you hit the city like Edmonton? The city will have more options but will likely cost more so you have to budget for that. Food costs can vary wildly depending on what you're looking for. If a three course sit-down meal + cocktail hour + open bar is what you're after, I would budget $150 per person. Scale accordingly.

Good luck!

Congrats on the engagement!!

It really all depends on what kind of wedding you guys want, how many people you're wanting to invite and where you want your wedding to be. Once you guys figure that out, then you can kinda budget. You can have a wedding for $5000 - $50,000. You really just need to research everything from venues to photographers, djs, cakes, ministers and find the best match when it comes to price. My fiance and I did that with all of our vendors for upcoming wedding. Which was supposed to be August 8 2020 but we've postponed until August 7 2021 because of covid.

I would start booking your venue and vendors as soon as possible! Because us brides who've had to postpone our weddings this year to next year or even into 2022. Dates fill up very fast with venues and vendors. If you can get them early enough, you sometimes can lock in a early deal (price) because prices sometimes go up the following year.

View quoted message How incredible is that! We are also looking at setting our date for July 21, 2021 (what will be our 8 year dating anniversary). Funny coincidence considering it's a Wednesday this year! Did you find you were able to find any vendor discounts picking a weekday?

We just got engaged this summer and started by using the budget provided in Wedding Wire and then did our own research and have trimmed it considerably. The size of your guest list and the type of wedding you want will really determine your budget. We both wanted a good meal and open bar and are willing to splurge on that (the venue we have decided on is $130/pp). We are ok keeping our guest list smaller (less than 100 people) to stay within our budget. I will be DIYing most decor elements, invitations (I refuse to spend over $1000 on stationary) and cake because I am crafty, enjoy doing them and have a nearly 2 year engagement planned.
Do some research and once you start finding the prices in your are it will be easier to figure out your budget.

Congrats on your engagement! I’m in Edmonton too (well Beaumont). Got engaged in February and set my date for July 21 2021.
I found the best way to start figuring out my budget was checking out venues online and their prices and then going from there. There was so many beautiful places that were 10,000 + just for the venue. Which was way more then I wanted to spend ! I read a tip to list the three most important things to you and your fiancé - food, venue, dress, location, reception etc.
But once you decide on how much you want to spend on your venue and then food (some places have a minimum spend !) you will have a better idea of your total budget from there.

Congratulations! As others mentioned the catering costs are important. Once you know how much per person it will cost, you can make a budget. Our cocktail hour, dinner, and drinks work out to aprox 155/pp. we have about 24 people, and are up around 3700.00 for food and drinks. Then the dress, the photographer and makeup artist, and flowers......add another 5600.00. Still need to pay for more decorations, rings, grooms suit, and groomsmen, welcome gifts (destination wedding) shoes, and whatever else I’m forgetting hahha

Hope that helps you a bit!

Congratulations on your engagement! And we're anniversary buddies (our wedding is October 2nd this year).


It's not as easy as spitting out a number, weddings vary so much based on what each couple wants. Knowing how many people you're having is a great first step to a budget. I really like a YouTuber named Jamie Wolfer for wedding advice https://www.youtube.com/c/jamiewolfer She has a few videos on how to build a budget based on how much the average guest costs (right down to chair and napkin rentals) People are the biggest variable in cost because that number drives food cost, booze, space, and place settings. You can find more hard costs on the average photography or dress budget, but people vary more from wedding to wedding. Shop around to a few venues to see what is included in their price and compare what you get for that amount. I would also sit down with your spouse-to-be and figure out what is most important to each of you. For me it was photos, for my fiance it was keeping it small. Neither of us wanted to do a big fancy sit down meal so we are skipping it and doing an evening reception (desert, drinks, a few appetizers) and that saved us $40-100 per person. If food or drinks are important to either of you it may add some to the budget, but if that's what makes you happy then do it. You can cut from other parts (like skip the DJ, have less flowers, get a day of planner instead of a full wedding planner etc) to make the things you want fit within the reasonable price tag once you start looking around.

I would suggest you begin with the venue/catering, because that is considerably the largest costs associated with a wedding. Google a few venues in your area and see what the cost per person is, if it includes open bar, etc. Once you have a few different things to compare, you can decide what a reasonable budget is for you. Keep in mind, April-October are popular months, and as a result more expensive.