Budget for Wedding

[May123 0]

I don't even know where to start!

How much will a nice ceremony, reception, car, flowers, wedding bands, invitations etc (minus dress, tux and other jewellery) cost?

I know it differs for everyone but let's say a ceremony like those in magazines (garden wedding etc) and a Chinese dinner.

Thanks (or tell me what your wedding cost if you don't mind)

[apple_tea 0]

I don't even know where to start!

How much will a nice ceremony, reception, car, flowers, wedding bands, invitations etc (minus dress, tux and other jewellery) cost?

I know it differs for everyone but let's say a ceremony like those in magazines (garden wedding etc) and a Chinese dinner.

Thanks (or tell me what your wedding cost if you don't mind)

Hi May,

I am currently planning for my weding in year end 2009. Maybe i just share with u about my wedding plan for the Wedding dinner & Photo shooting.

I took a simple package from a BS, RM2k ++. Normally they will include the car deco,flowers,gown...etc. And have to prepare some budget for the make up for AD, PG on AD...tht is not include in package.

I am still searching for wedding ring. Eh... I think i will only get a simple one lo, budget about RM3k. cos after tht I think I will not wear tht so often... :P . because i don really like to wear ring...

At first I was thinking to have garden wedding also, but I found that bankers club is a more suitable place for both our parent's guest, so we just bok the place. Is about RM773++ per table(chinese food). I think this is the standard price. I think i will take about 20 tables. Bankers club is just nice for a simple wedding dinner, max also only about 23 tables.

Beside this, there may be some hidden cost, i.e. wedding shoe, buy evening dress for both mothers, ang pao for 'heng dai' & 'ji mui' or who ever tht help in yr wedding or related la...

So I think will need to prepare about RM40k in hand gua....

Hope this little info can help u lo...

apple tea

[elaineganMACLAINE 0]

Hi,

most of your wedding budget will be spent on your dinner venue, especially if it's held in a 4-5 star hotel, with yearly increasing costs per table (10 seats), it ranges from at least RM1300. So let's say you plan for 30 tables, that will be about RM40k, excluding flowers, deco, your wedding attire, make-up, photography, honyemoon,etc.

If you're on a tight budget, a chinese restaurant will be a better option, as most costs about RM700 per table (10 seats).

So it all depends on your priorities, to spend most on venue? Deco? Ambience? Honeymoon? Wedding gown?

For my wedding (jan 2008), we (more of husband's) spend overall total of RM47k for dinner at Nikko Hotel (we had 23 tables max), lunch buffet for guests at nikko, wedding attire, deco, flowers, honeymoon and photographer. Our dinner and honeymoon was our priority therefore we don't mind spending 60-70% of our budget on hotel dinner, wedding attire (my custom made gowns and groom's custom made suit) and honeymoon. The rest were budgeted photographer, flowers, free deco services, etc by friends.

At the end of the day, it boils down to you and your FH's decision to how much you both can save in time. Remember not to be in debt, it's not worth the stress and burden.

Happy planning! :)

[JoyceChan 0]

Hi May,

As u said, it's depends on what your wedding favors are. usually, a well-planned wedding need to consider the followings basic elements:

1. Pin Kin to bride's family and GDL stuffs (ard 5-10 K)

2. Pre-wedding Photos, included AD stuffs, like gowns, bouquet and car deco (ard 2k - 6K)

3. Wedding dinner venue. fyi, most of the couples will use the ang pow money collected at the night to settle their bill immediately, so pls jst prepare 2-4K to pay the balance(if any). for the lucky one, may be will get exceeds from ang pow and can recover other costs. (for me, i can recover from ang pow)

4. house renovation and decoration (if any) (depends)

5. Honeymoon. domestic trip will do if tight budget. (depends)

6. AD photography and videography ( ard 3.5 - 6 K)

7. pre wedding dinner buffet. most of the caterer will foc canopy and table/chair if above certain pax order. (ard 1 - 5K)

8. Dai Kam Jie ( ard 450 - 600)

9. Hard Liquor and wine for wedding dinner (depends on the no. of table)

10. invitation cards. most restaurant will foc 5 pc per table taken.

hope the above can help u to manage your dream wedding...

joyce

[May123 0]

Thanks for all your replies,girls.

Wow, it looks like we need to save quite a bit. I don't think my parents will ask for pin kin and I don't think I need to give ang pows to chi muis etc. but will of course need to give a v. nice gift. Lagipun, dating orang putih right..sure minum banyak 0_0 haha

I don't really want a big wedding (I prefer quality over quantity) but I think the people my parents will invite also sudah 500+...

At this rate, I think can only kahwin 4-5 years later hahaha

[meiteoh 0]

Hi May,

Like the girls said, it depends on what you're planning. HB and I went the small Chinese wedding style (unusual, actually) - 12 tables in a Chinese restaurant. Since I was moving to Switzerland, HB and I thought it best to save the money for the move and me coz I'd be out of a job once I'm in Switzerland. A hotel was out because our numbers were few and the corkage charge just wasn't worth it because we were bringing wines from France for the occasion.

Also, my parents and I had an agreement as to who would pay for what & so forth. My HB & would tackle the wine and everything else, while my parents handles the beer/hard liqour + house buffet for ALL our relatives.

Total cost?

Wedding rings (him + her) = less than 1.5K

Wedding invitations, announcement cards and wedding favours (DIY) = less than RM300

Restaurant dinner = RM800 per table (x 12)

House buffet = less than RM4K (I think - it's been a while so my brain is kinda fuzzy on this)

Wedding photography + photobook albums + prewedding photos = less than RM5K

Wine = 24 bottles from France, my HB's dad got them directly from the supplier so total cost was again less than RM500 (my dad handled the rest for our side of the family)

Ang pows for the chi muis, tai kam jei and etc = less than RM500

Misc (hotel room, make-up, outfits, shoes, etc, etc) = less than RM600

Ping Kam (yes, my mum ask for ping kam - she wasn't about to let my HB get away without "paying"; it was then banked into my French & Swiss bank accounts! LOL) = RM8K

Despite the "cheapness", we had a number of compliments about the food, the wine (which I ended up buying again when I went to France recently), the outfits, the photos and HB & my rings are still in very nice condition.

Our honeymoon? We still haven't gone on an OFFICIAL one, but the unofficial honeymoon was that trip around the Alps. XD

[May123 0]

Thanks for your reply, meiteoh.

Can you tell me if the wine you brought from France was taxed? How much did customs charge?

Ping kam.. I don't even know what to do about it man... He thinks it's ridiculous *sigh*

[meiteoh 0]

Nope, the wine didn't get taxed at all. My HB didn't even get stopped at the customs plus he split the wine between him and his family - each person brought a bottle and the remainder, he angkat. Plus he brought some before the wedding (when he came down to spend Christmas with me). :)

As for the ping kam, well, it's not my HB's culture as well and my MIL thinks it's ridiculous; initially my HB thought the same but I sat down and explain to him the true meaning of ping kam - that it's not like the Indian kind of dowry where you buy a bride but the money for the ping kam is actually used by the bride and her family to prepare for the wedding as well as give her jewelry for her own safe keeping and savings. The angmohs think that ping kam is like a buyer's price and as such, a practice that implied that the woman is property which is not the case. After that, he said he didn't mind and he explained it to my MIL. I also emailed my ILs about the various practices of a traditional Chinese wedding and the ones that we still practice today like the tea ceremony and for some, the guo dai lai.

My mum didn't want all that roast pork and stuff, just no of tables and pingkam so it was pretty easy. My ILs even did the whole Chinese tea ceremony & angpau thing; as a matter of fact, they asked for it! I remember my FIL and step-FIL telling me that it's new for them (so they were kind of excited about the whole thing) and they feel that a person's heritage is important to them so they don't mind participating in it. They particular like the idea of the tea ceremony because it's to formally introduce the person to the family and ask for blessings. Even the Chinese wedding dinner dishes and my outfits were a novel idea to them because a lot of my HB's friends and family have never been to an Asian wedding much or less a Chinese one. XD

[emilyeu 0]

I don't even know where to start!

How much will a nice ceremony, reception, car, flowers, wedding bands, invitations etc (minus dress, tux and other jewellery) cost?

I know it differs for everyone but let's say a ceremony like those in magazines (garden wedding etc) and a Chinese dinner.

Thanks (or tell me what your wedding cost if you don't mind)

me too.......... my actual day is on 31 may 2009....... but i totally have no idea where to start...a dinner will be held separately coz' FH from Muar, Johor & I live in Sepang, Selangor. Plus both of us are now in england, so really headache........ restaurant.. deco... reception... car.. flowers...new bridal room......invitation..... wedding favor....... everything will be last minute for me!! Don't know how much going to spend.......

[Pink Kitty 0]

me too.......... my actual day is on 31 may 2009....... but i totally have no idea where to start...a dinner will be held separately coz' FH from Muar, Johor & I live in Sepang, Selangor. Plus both of us are now in england, so really headache........ restaurant.. deco... reception... car.. flowers...new bridal room......invitation..... wedding favor....... everything will be last minute for me!! Don't know how much going to spend.......

Erm...let me contribute a bit of my experience here~

Proposal Ring (guy pay)---- RM5,000 ~ RM10,000 (depends on guy's budget)

Wedding Band----------------RM3,000 ~ RM6,000 (white gold cheaper)

Pre-wedding photo-----------RM3,688

Photographer-----------------RM 850

Videographer-----------------RM1,000

Make-up Artist----------------RM1,000

Invitation Cards--------------Free (hotel provided)

Dinner & liquor---------------Free (covered by ang pao)

Hotel room rental-------------RM 450 (for 'chut mun')

OD ROM expenses------------RM 500

Hubby's white shirt------------RM 300

Wedding shoes----------------RM 600 (1pair each for me&hubby)

So the above totalling to about RM20,000... but it hasn't included the misc expenses, such as new bedsheet, tea set, 'open door' ang pao for jie mui (that one given by guy side), 9-feet red cloth, 'double happiness' stickers, new clothes and new perfume or sth as 'ga zhung'...those are small money, but it will add up to another RM2k ~ RM5k.......

[jetfynn 0]

It's a very difficult to budget when there is many considerations in mind.

From our experience with so many couples that has come our way in so many years.... What we can say is that the final figure is subjective to the couple themselves.

The most economical one that we have encountered:

RM6,000 for the entire wedding AFTER deducting angpows collected.

The most expensive:

RM60,000 AFTER deducting angpows collected.

Just my 2 sen.