How much does it cost to have a normal wedding these days? with just a few friends & family?

Question

just curious as to how much a wedding is. nothing over the top. a small wedding with the honeymoon included in the price? and the place for the honeymoon would be las vegas. just curious. thanks...

Answer 1

I'm doing a ceremony and dinner for 50 people and its coming around $6,000. I don't know about a honeymoon though.  

Answer 2

Well if you wanted to do the wedding in Vegas with your friends and family you could probably do it for about $2000. That would include airfare (just you and hubby), lodging for honeymoon/wedding (just you and hubby), renting a nice chapel (like the one at Belagio or Venetian), and paying for a nice dinner for everyone (8-10 people).

Otherwise if you wanted to get married before Vegas and go out to dinner with the same 8-10 people I would say about $2500. Add $30 for every additional guest and add $2000 if you want to do any kind of moderate reception.  

Answer 3

What do you mean by a few friends and family? The more people that you have the more expensive it starts to get.

It truly depends on where you want to have it, how many people, etc.

If you have a friend or family member who is willing to lend their home or backyard for a reception then you don't have to pay for the venue. You can cook all the food yourself, etc. If you decide to have the reception elsewhere then it all depends on the venue, day of the wedding, time of the wedding, etc.

Weddings can get pretty extravagant - but they don't have to be.

Here is a website where you can put in where you live and they tell you how much the average wedding costs:

http://www.costofwedding.com/

As for the Las Vegas honeymoon - again a number of things to consider; where do you want to stay? Where do you live - will you have to fly or drive?  

Answer 4

Depends, what's your definition of a "few friends and family"

I'm having between 50 and 75 and the reception/ceremony is coming out to $7K.

Vegas can be cheap if you go during off season and book through expedia.  Are you going for a week or a weekend or a few days??

Answer 5

the ceremony itself can be pretty cheap regardless of # of attendees.

I'd say on average between church and officiant you would pay $300 - $500 if you aren't a member.  Most churches allow members to marry there for free or much less.

Licenses vary by state, but most are under $50.

Then you would have the cost of your rings and that is totally up to you.  Basic plain rings can be around $100 each or you may want something fancier.

What really costs the most is the reception.  If you have a small # of people, you could probably go to a nice restaurant and pay $30 - $50 per person for a nice meal and be done with it.  20 people x $50 = 1,000.

Honeymoon, depending upon your flights and where exactly you want to stay and for how long, prices will vary.  Keeping things modest, I'd say $2,000 would be a good ballpark for flights & hotel.  Maybe $500 more spending money.

All this would be under $5,000.  But you could certainly do it less expensively - if you want.

Answer 6

It depends on what you want to do. If you just want to have a courthouse ceremony with a few people present and then possibly go out to dinner, it's not gonna cost you any more than $500-$1000 (mostly the cost of the dinner). If you want to start adding on to that, the cost is obviously going to go up. Same for the honeymoon; there are a million places to stay in Vegas, thousands of things to do. A better way to approach the question is to figure out how much you are *willing* to spend, and then plan accordingly.

Answer 7

a basic wedding, all the needed itmes minus the extra thrills for about 50 poeple is average $5000 but can be done for more or less.

A honeymoon all depends on where you are coming from, when you go and where you stay 1000-6000

Answer 8

Depends on what you want or not.  Some people can have 50 guests and spend as little as $500 (I'm talking cake and punch, and nothing else), and others will spend $20,000.

My budget for 90 people was $7,500 and we only spent $6,500.  That was a casual, backyard wedding with a dinner buffet.  Honeymoon is going to be more like $5,000 (with a mini-honeymoon to Disneyland, and a week and a half in Florida for Disney World and other places).

As for how much?  You sound like you're budget-conscious, but want a fairly traditional wedding/reception.  So I would say $2,500 to $10,000.  

The biggest expense to go to Vegas will be travel, depending on where you're coming from, and how long you're staying, and at what type of establishment. You can "do Vegas" under $1,000 if you're close by, and stay cheap for a few days.  Or you can be a little more extravagant, stay a week in the honeymoon suite at the Venetian, and fly from Maine, in which it would be more like $5,000.  You know?

Good luck.    

Answer 9

It depends upon a few factors. The first one is the area that you live in. Some areas are more expensive than others. It also depends upon how many guests you're having. When you say family, that could be a lot of people (like it is for us). It also depends upon what KIND of wedding you want. Do you want it in a church? A backyard? A park? The beach? And what about the reception?

But, if I had to make a guess I'd say between 5 and 8 grand for the wedding, about about 2k on the honeymoon.  

Answer 10

Also depends on where you're having the wedding.  Relatively speaking, they are cheaper in souther US than in northern.  Vegas can be a cheap honeymoon.