Sharing our wedding cost breakdown so you can get an idea of how much things cost (at least in Houston) in the wedding industry. It was hard trying to gather quotes and pricing when I was starting to plan my own wedding. Sticking to our budget was my number one priority when it came to planning our wedding. Initially, our budget was set at around $10,000 but then the world turned upside down, and our priorities changed. Our guest count was lowered dramatically from 100+ people to 25. With our guest count going down so did the total amount we were willing to spend. We definitely knew we wanted to keep it down to five or six thousand dollars. Our grand total for every single thing wedding-related was $6,373. Not too bad if I do say so myself.
Now for the details. I am breaking down all of our wedding expenses with links to anything I bought/used including services! I want this post to be a helpful resource to all you fellow budget brides (or grooms!). We got married in Houston, Texas so things like venue/vendors/services will only apply here.
Wedding Dress and Bridal Accessories
Dress: I got mine at David’s Bridal in Uptown. I went in to try on dresses once and bought the one I liked online during a sale! The dress itself was $300 and for alterations, I only needed the bottom hemmed which was $100.
Bridal Veil: I found mine on Etsy for $39.
Shoes: I found the sparkliest heels at DSW for $54!
Necklace: $9 I got mine from Olive + Piper. It’s no longer available but they have tons of cute options on their site!
Groom’s Details
Tux Rental: My husband went to a local tux rental shop called Bravo Suit and Tux and rented his suit for $120. He just rented the suit jacket and trousers since he already owned the shirt and shoes.
Venue Details
We got married at Brenner’s On The Bayou, a steakhouse near the River Oaks area. Even though it’s generally a more expensive restaurant, as a wedding venue it was pretty budget-friendly. We only had to meet a food and beverage minimum spend of $2500 for the area of the restaurant that we wanted to hold the event in. There were different minimums for different areas of the restaurant depending on capacity. There was no venue rental fee or ceremony fee for holding the ceremony on the restaurant grounds. There was only a banquet fee of 20% of the final bill. We were able to have appetizers out for guests while we took our couple portraits, and they had a three-course meal complete with dessert so we didn’t have to purchase a wedding cake which was not a big deal for us! Our guests were also able to enjoy an open bar, which they were definitely happy about. In the end, we were about $200 short on meeting the minimum so they just tacked that on at the end as another “fee”, which was expected.
Through the restaurant’s event coordinator we were also able to rent chairs for both the ceremony ($3 each) and the seated reception afterward ($10 each). I also opted to rent white napkins as they only provided black ones (65 cents each). Brenner’s works with a rental company directly, making it easy to rent all of this extra stuff and Brenner’s just added it to our final bill.
I did end up renting champagne-colored charger plates from another local vendor, Linens and Events, since their plate prices were way less expensive than what Brenner’s could get me. We paid 75 cents for each plate.
Venue Decor
We took full advantage of having an outdoor ceremony and reception filled with nature and beautiful landscaping! With that type of setting, we honestly didn’t need much. We did rent faux florals from Something Borrowed Blooms. Our order included two garlands for the gazebo banisters, floral aisle markers, another garland for our sweetheart table, floral centerpieces, a bridal bouquet, and a boutonniere for my husband’s suit. Everything I got was from the Jane collection.
The total for everything was $425. The great thing was we only had to pay half up front and the rest was automatically charged at the time of delivery! SB Blooms includes a shipping label in the box you receive the order in making it super easy to take to UPS the next business day. Quick and painless! Couldn’t recommend them more.
DIY Projects
Custom Hand Sanitizer Bottles
We got married during a pandemic so we wanted to be sure that we were being as safe as possible to help everyone there feel comfortable. A big part of that was making sure everyone had access to hand sanitizer. For us, this doubled as a party favor so I wanted to make it as cute as I could! I found 8 oz. plastic amber bottles that I filled up with hand sanitizer myself and added text on each one myself with vinyl sticker sheets. Thanks to the Silhouette cutting machine I already owned, I was able to design what I wanted, cut it out, and stick it on each bottle with the help of transfer tape.
Acrylic Name Cards
So mad I didn’t get any good pictures of these name cards! I followed the same process as the sanitizer bottles with these acrylic nameplates (Also doubled as a wedding favor!). I bought the Acrylic hexagons off Amazon, put everyone’s name in the design I wanted, cut it out using my Silhouette, and stuck it on each hexagon using transfer tape. If you’re doing any kind of project with sticker vinyl, transfer tape will be your best friend! It just helps keep every part of the design in place and exactly where you want it.
Welcome Sign
This welcome sign was the same process as the other two projects, except this one required a little more work since it was a bigger project. I had my husband help me spray-paint the edge of this old frame we had from black to a champagne gold color. Then I distributed the design amongst two separate vinyl sticker sheets since the word “Welcome” had to be much bigger than the sheets. I was able to transfer it onto the front of the frame with transfer tape one half of the word at a time. It worked out perfectly!
That’s it! I truly hope this budget breakdown was helpful to you. Deciding what to spend on your wedding is 100% a personal choice and it depends on a ton of factors. For us, this was what we felt comfortable spending and we only spent on things we absolutely wanted. Our budget may have been too much or too little for your personal situation, and that’s okay! I wanted this to be more informational as to how much things actually cost when having a similar type of wedding as mine (small, intimate, and not at a traditional wedding venue).
