How do people decide their wedding budget?
Hello!
We’ve started our venue search and research online on budget, etc., about a few weeks ago.
The more we look into it, the more we realize how expensive things are!
For context, we’re planning on having ~80 guests in the VHCOL area.
Very initially (before any research), we thought 120k would be enough. Very soon enough, we realized it won’t be, and upped our budget to 150k. Now, we’re considering going higher after looking at some nice venues we really liked (apparently 200k for 80 people will just be “comfortable” per a planner that we talked to recently as a first call). To be fair, we are looking at nice hotel venues with high F&B and room block requirements.
My partner and I are fortunate enough to have good income and savings. We can comfortably pay for our wedding with our combined annual bonus on a post-tax basis, with some left for us to save. So we wouldn’t have to dip into savings or anything. Which is what I’m telling myself to justify the evermore increasing budget.
Both of our parents said they will help out, but we don’t expect it to be a huge amount / we don’t want to rely on that when we’re budgeting, since we don’t know the exact amount. So for now, we’re operating as if we won’t be getting any help, and budgeting an amount that if we were to pay the full amount ourselves, we’ll still be okay with it.
HOWEVER, I personally never thought I would ever spend this much on a wedding. Just because we CAN doesn’t mean we SHOULD. But because we CAN and we want a nice wedding, I’m like “why not - this is a once in a lifetime thing”. And then I’m like “is it right to spend this much on a single day?” I’m constantly going back and forth internally.
For context, I never was one of those people who grew up dreaming about weddings, and things like that. It’s a very different story now though, now that I’m in the weeds and I have all these ideas and venues we like. I am particular about aesthetics and niceness of things in general / day-to-day.
So my question is - how do couples decide what they’re comfortable spending on their wedding? Has anyone regretted spending more than they initially thought they would (but not a financial dent, but still)? Or is it worth it? Would appreciate any insights!!!