Complete Cost Breakdown of a 12K Destination Wedding in Scottsdale, AZ 🔗
Wedding planning today often hits newly engaged couples with a harsh reality - it is incredibly expensive! According to Zola, the average cost of a wedding in 2023 sits around $20,000 to $40,000, while CNN recently found the average in 2023 to be $29,000.
There is a lot I don’t know about personal finance, but I know spending 25k or more on one day did not sit right with me. Especially, when I know that money would be taken from savings for a down-payment on a house. At the same time, we still wanted to make the day special, and we wanted a step-up from a solo elopement or a courthouse wedding.
I want to add that we do not judge couples that have spent or want to spend a larger amount of money for their wedding. Weddings in all forms are beautiful, and I have had so much fun at larger weddings in the past. The intention is simply calling out the wedding industry for what it is - a consumerist industry that make it difficult for couples on a budget or those that want to stray from the traditional. The wedding planning process can make couples feel detached from what the day is really supposed to be about - their love and their journey together as a couple. I definitely had days when I felt our wedding would be inferior because it lacked certain things that I was told were needed by this industry. In the end, your wedding should be a reflection of you and your partner and that is important to keep in mind.
Why the 12K Budget? 🔗
For us, a big wedding was something that neither me nor my partner felt good about given our personalities, values, and financial goals. We thus decided to aim for a budget of $10,000 when we began planning in 2021.
We found the notion of a 10K wedding may be a bit dated due to the heavy inflation we saw these past few years, so we decided to use an inflation calculator to determine how much a ‘10K wedding’ really is in 2023. We noticed that most of the top posts from the subreddit r/weddingsunder10K were from 2019, so we chose 2019 as a reference point. Using the inflation calculator, we found that 10K in 2019 is equivalent to $11,967 today in Fall 2023. So 12K became our new goal.
Despite the increase in budget, we still went slightly over budget mostly due to some unexpected expenses (e.g., wedding insurance, storage unit since we had moved states, etc.).
When we sat down to plan our wedding, we were having trouble finding complete and accurate cost breakdowns for our area. So many cost breakdowns do not include the engagement ring, the hotels, the transportation, or every small detail purchased. I know posting about wedding expenses or finances in general can be considered taboo, but my hope is that this transparency helps out other couples!
Expense Summary: Average Cost vs. What We Spent 🔗
| Item | Average Cost | Actual Spend |
|---|---|---|
| Engagement Ring | $3,000 | $20 |
| Wedding Bands | $1600 | $150 |
| Engagement Photos | $250 | $0 |
| Save The Dates | $100 | $0 |
| Invitations | $500 | $35 |
| Officiant | $300 | $0 |
| Ceremony Venue | $350 | $1300 |
| Reception (venue and catering) | $13000 | $3100 |
| Wedding Insurance | $160 | $200 |
| Entertainment | $1000 | $470 |
| Photographer | $2500 | $2300 |
| Hair & Makeup (1 bride, 2 bridesmaids, 1 bridesman) | $1000 | $1036 |
| Wedding Attire & Accessories (bride + groom) | $2000 | $920 |
| Floral | $1500 | $350 |
| Decor | $1500+ | $355 |
| Rehearsal Event | $2000 | $350 |
| Wedding Weekend Lodging / Getting Ready Space for Bride + Groom | $1620 | $1440 |
| Wedding Day Brunch | $350 | $130 |
| Marriage License | $50 | $50 |
| Transportation | $700 | $700 |
| Welcome Gifts | $25/per couple | $5/couple |
| Groomsmen Gifts | $40/person | $66/person |
| Storage Unit Cost | – | $560 |
| Emergency Kit | – | $115 |
| Thank You Cards | $50 | $10 |
| TOTALS | $34,195+ | $13,961 |
Total Original Budgeted: $11,410 🔗
Total Gross Spent: $13,961 🔗
Total Adjusted (subtracting weekend transportation and accommodations): $11,821 🔗
Vision 🔗
With our budget in mind, we narrowed down our priorities. Our first priority was on location. Essentially, all of our guests would be coming from out of state, while we were located in Arizona at the time. We concluded that we wanted it to be in Phoenix as that is where most of our relationship had taken place. Logistically, it is also easier to plan a wedding in the city you are in.
Our second priority was making the day as comfortable as possible for us. Thus, we decided on a more intimate wedding (30-35 guests total) because we felt inviting 100+ people would make the day and planning process incredibly stressful - especially for so many people traveling from out of state. Looking back, I am so glad we did this for two reasons. For one, it can be hard fielding travel questions when everyone has different travel preferences. Second, we actually got to spend time and speak to every single guest at our wedding and that was an incredible gift.
Our third priority was good food. I knew my mom would never let me live it down if we had sub-par food, so we decided to have our reception at one of our favorite Scottsdale Restaurants in a private dining room which had a max capacity of 35 people. We were able to do this because we kept our guest list to our closest circle. Our caveat is that we would host a casual celebration near our out-of-state family after our wedding to include more of the people that we would have loved to be present on the actual day.
The extremely difficult part of our chosen priorities is that they came with serious sacrifices. There were absolutely people left out from our Arizona celebration that I would have loved to be there and felt awful about not having there. Additionally, a destination wedding comes with its own difficulties. I felt incredibly guilty leading up the wedding for making everyone travel and the inconveniences that came with that travel (financial cost, lack of sleep, travel stress, etc.).
After making these difficult decisions, we began the wedding planning process.
Expenses 🔗
DISCLOSURE: Amazon Affiliate links are below, marked with #ad.
Wedding Rings (bands + engagement ring) - $75 Budget | $150 Spent 🔗
I am not someone who wears a ton a jewelry. I also know I lose things - A LOT. Given that, I did not want Jacob spending $1,000+ on an engagement ring when perfectly suitable rings exist online for $10-$20. I’m also not a fan of diamonds and the diamond industry. Looking back, I’m so glad we did this because I’ve already lost one $15 ring to the pacific ocean. We agreed we would later invest in other quality jewelry such as a gemstone ring or a gold chain necklace as anniversary presents for each other.
We bought silicone wedding bands as those are more functional for our active lifestyles. We ended up buying the Classic Enso band (#ad) and the Thin Enso band (#ad) for $30 each during a sale. In true Gio fashion, I lost these rings a few weeks before the wedding, and we had to buy replacements for $75 total.
We spent $60 on wedding bands originally (and an extra $75 for replacements). We purchased this engagement ring (#ad) for $15 (now for only $10!).
The average cost of wedding bands for a bride and groom is $1,650 and most couples spend over $6,000 for an engagement ring.
Engagement Photos - $0 Budget | $0 Spent 🔗
We asked Jacob’s brother to take our engagement photos using his nice camera. Super happy with this decision!
We spent $0 on engagement photos.
The average cost of engagement photos is $200 - $275.
Save the Dates and Invitations - $25 budget | $35 Spent 🔗
Save the Dates were something that I created using Canva, and we sent these out electronically. For invites, I found Costco has a bundle of 25 invites for only $16.49.
We spent $35 on save the dates and invites.
The average cost of save the dates is $50-$150, and the average cost of invites is $530.
Officiant - $0 Budget | $0 Spent 🔗
As neither of us are religious, we opted to have our ceremony officiated by Jacob’s brother. We researched and wrote the wedding script/vows ourselves.
We spent $0 on an officiant.
The average cost of an officiant is $200-$450.
Ceremony Venue - $1200 Budget | $1300 Spent 🔗
We originally knew we wanted to have our ceremony at the Desert Botanical Gardens (DBG). They offer a variety of venues, but our favorites were out of our budget. We then looked at all-inclusive venues in the area that could host a ceremony and reception but those were already over 10K without key services like photography, dessert, lodging, attire, etc.
We ultimately return to DBG and decided on the Amphitheater location. This site has built in seating and is in an intimate setting. The benefit to the DBG is that it is a central location (close to hotels and airports for all of our out-of-town guests), plenty of parking, and guests get access to the gardens for the entire day of the wedding. It turned out beautifully.
The venue requires you pay for all beverages through them, so we also paid $100 for 40 water bottles and a cooler that was made available for our guests. Water was a necessity since it was 100 degrees.
We spent $1,300 on our ceremony venue.
The average cost of ceremony venue is $600.
Ceremony Wedding Insurance (Required) - $200 🔗
We are required to have a minimum of $1 million liability coverage for our ceremony venue.
We spent $200 on wedding insurance.
The average cost of wedding insurance is $160.
Entertainment (includes tip) - $400 Budget | $470 Spent 🔗
Since it is such an intimate setting, we felt some live music for the ceremony would be a nice touch. We opted for a violinist for one hour.
For the reception dinner, our venue has AV equipment where we will set up a phone to play a custom spotify playlist.
We spent $470 on a violinist.
The average cost of wedding entertainment is $780 to $2,000.
Reception Venue: Food and Drinks (includes tax/tip) - $3200 Budget | $3100 Spent 🔗
Good food was definitely not something we wanted to sacrifice, so we chose to have our reception at a centrally located highly rated restaurant that offered group dining options. We were able to reserve a private room in the restaurant and the group dining options include bread, salad, choice of entrée, dessert, and open bar. Our entrée options were Braised Short Rib, Scallops, and Sweet Potato Cannelloni.
We spent $3100 on a reception venue, food, and drinks.
The average cost of a reception venue is $12,000 - $14,000.
Photographer (includes tip) - $2000 Budget | $2300 Spent 🔗
The photographer was something I did not want to sacrifice on. We ended up hiring a highly rated photographer for 5 hours, which covered getting ready photos, a first look, the ceremony, and some portraits. He also included some polaroids.
I highly recommend splurging on a good photographer - ours contributed so positively to our wedding day.
We spent $2300 on a photographer.
The average cost of a wedding photographer ranges from $1,150 to $3,000.
Hair and Makeup (includes tip and travel to hotel) - $1000 Budget | $1036 Spent 🔗
My hair and makeup artist was another item that I was more than okay to splurge on.
This price includes hair and makeup for myself (includes a trial). I also gifted my bridal party hair and makeup if they desired, so the total also included hair and makeup for one bridesmaid, hair for another, and makeup for a bridesman.
We spent $1036 on hair and makeup for bride and bridal party.
The average cost of bride’s hair/makeup is $300-$600, while average cost of a bridesmaid hair and makeup is $50-$300.
Bride and Groom Wedding Attire & Alterations - $1000 Budget | $910 Spent 🔗
I knew that I didn’t want to spend $1000+ on a dress that I would wear once, so I set my budget at $500 max. I had bought a lot of dresses from Lulus, trying them on, and returning the ones that I did not like. Although the dress I decided on was not necessarily my dream dress, it was perfect for the price. It cost $200 (originally it is $260, but I had a discount code), had great reviews, was comfortable, and within budget! I also bought my shoes from Lulus for $40. I will need to get the dress hemmed which I anticipate costing anywhere from $100-$200.
Lulus was a great site to look for affordable dresses, but other sites I looked at included StillWhite, ASOS, David’s Bridal, and Nordstrom. Lulus ultimately had the best prices, return policy, and styles in my opinion.
I wanted a white clutch or small bag as well, which I was planning to just buy for cheap (~$20). But I got extra lucky one day. Jacob and I walked into a goodwill at Scottsdale and I saw the familiar YSL logo on a white mini bag. I bought it for $7. I later find what looks like the exact bag listed for $2400 on the YSL site. Either I struck Goodwill gold or purchased an insanely real replica. Either way, I couldn’t be happier!
I also bought a more comfortable reception dress for $40 and these earrings (#ad) when they were on sale at Nordstrom Rack. I ended up spending $200 for alterations to hem the dress and Jacob did not need alterations.
Jacob purchased a linen-cotton blend unstructured suit - his chosen color currently not available. for $400. The linen material was especially important as Phoenix weather in October can be pretty toasty. The white dress shirt, black belt, and black shoes are something Jacob already owns.
We spent $910 on wedding attire and alterations.
The average cost of a wedding dress (not including accessories or alterations) is $1,600. While the average cost of a groom’s attire is $200 - $500.
Flowers & Parasols (for ceremony and reception) - $300 Budget | $350 Spent 🔗
I was originally planning to purchase Costco flowers - Either soft grace or orange sorbet package (includes 1 Bridal Bouquet, 2 Bridesmaid Bouquets, 3 Pin-On Corsages, 3 Boutonnieres, and 1 Bag of Rose Petals); however, I saw too many reviews that mentioned the quality was not great and the flowers had wilted or turned brown. Since I didn’t want to worry about flowers dying, I decided to try another route.
I recently purchased silk flowers from Amazon including a pre-made bridal bouquet (#ad), two boutonnieres (#ad) (we didn’t end up using), extra florals (#ad) and extra greenery (#ad). I also purchased some additional greenaery (#ad), dried pampass grass (#ad) to help create two vases of florals for the ceremony backdrop.
Instead of buying bridesmaid bouquets, I opted for white nylon parasols which will be practical to block the sun in case it is hot out, but we did not end up needing these because the area was well shaded. Here is a similar find for the parasols (#ad).
I bought baby’s breath and carnations from Costco the day before the wedding for the reception tables for $20.
I purchased three parasols for $50 and florals for $300.
The average cost of wedding florals is between $700-$2,500, with most couples spending $1,500.
Other Decor (for ceremony & reception) - $300 Budget | $355 Spent 🔗
- 30 Ikea seat cushions for ceremony amphitheater seating: $165
- 6 vases for centerpieces: $15.
- 2 large vases from Goodwill for floral arrangements by arch: $10
- Table Numbers: I found frames on amazon for $10. I created the design on Canva and printed on stock paper using my home printer.
- Here are similar frames (#ad) as the ones I purchased are no longer available.
- Two panels of white fabric (#ad) and terracotta fabric (#ad) and wedding arch (arch we plan to reuse for our garden) : $50
- Photos of loved ones who have past away: $0
- 12 flameless tea lights (#ad) & candle holders (#ad): $30
- 5 Table Linens: $50
- Seating chart - $0 (Canva, use existing frame)
- Microphone with speaker (#ad) for ceremony: $25 (we did not end up using this)
We spent $355 on ceremony and reception decor.
The average cost of decor for an outdoor wedding cost around $1,000 to $15,000.
Lodging / Bridal Suite / Groom Suite - $800 Budget | $1440 Spent 🔗
I was nervous about booking lodging for the wedding weekend. I knew we needed something central (close to the venue) with plenty for space for both parties to get ready in separate areas. I also knew we needed to be cost-effective, largely because I did not want our party to be spending a ton on scottsdale hotels when they are already spending money on travel costs.
I found one resort where we could book one two story villa (900 square feet) for the bridal party and one casita (3000 square feet) for the grooms party and to act as a base if we all wanted to hang out together. The casita also had a separate king-sized bedroom that would double as our honeymoon suite for after the wedding. We were able to book these rooms for three nights (the entire wedding weekend).
As for cost, I fronted the $1500 for the villa and Jacob fronted the $1800 for the casita. We would then ask our party to assist in sharing the costs among the people who stay in each space. I had been saving credit card points on my cash-back card for about four years and had saved $600 worth. I used those acquired points to cover the cost of my share of the hotel.
The benefits we saw in sharing large suites is that everyone can stay on one property together, and it helps to keep individual lodging costs low. Other benefits to our resort is that it is 10-15 minutes away from our venues, had spaces large enough to host people getting ready, and offered a complimentary shuttle for guests.
It may not be the newest or most modern resort around, but we prioritized cost, square feet, and proximity to our venues.
After the up-front costs are settled, we spent $1440 on lodging for our wedding weekend.
The average cost of wedding lodging for three nights is $810 per person or $1620.
Wedding Day Brunch - $200 Budget | Spent $130 🔗
The day of the wedding, we purchased two dozen bagels from einsteins, champagne, fig bars, orange juice, pita, hummus, crackers, meat and cheese.
Not as many people ate at our casita as we expected, so we had a lot of leftover food that we were able to snack on the next day or give away to people that stopped to say goodbye.
We spent $130 on the wedding day brunch.
Our budget on the wedding day brunch is $200. I could not find averages for this expense.
Marriage License - $50 Budget | $50 Spent 🔗
The marriage license costs about $50.
Our budget on the marriage license is $50.
The average cost of a marriage license is between $10-$115.
Transportation - $50 Budget | $700 Spent 🔗
We were not originally planning to reserve any transportation in advance. We had planned to either rely on ride-share services.
However, the wedding had turned into a destination wedding for everyone (we had moved cross-country), so we decided renting either one 15-seat van or two minivans would be more beneficial and make things easier for our guests. We ultimately rented one mini-van and one Jeep Wagoneer for the entire weekend (three days) for $700 total.
We spent $700 on transportation.
The average cost of wedding transportation is $706.
Rehearsal Picnic - $500 Budget | $350 Spent 🔗
The day before the wedding we hosted a welcome/rehearsal brunch picnic at a local park. The reservation of a ramada was about $50.
We catered a variety of breakfast burritos from one of our favorite breakfast places in AZ (Snooze A.M Eatery) and supplemented with pastries from costco and beverages (OJ, water, cold brew coffee, and half & half creamers) from walmart.
We spent $350 on our rehearsal/welcome picnic
The average cost of a rehearsal dinner is $1,900.
Welcome Gifts - $200 Budget | $400 Spent 🔗
To welcome our guests, and thank them for traveling we hope to put together small welcome gifts. Some items we hope to include are TAZO Prickly Pear tea (#ad), snacks (#ad), paper fans (#ad) ,liquid IV (#ad) sparkling waters (#ad), and a small thank you / itinerary card that was made using Canva and printed at home on cardstock.
We also created and printed our own “Who Knows the Couple Best” Game using Canva and put those in there with some a pen. These worked as a great icebreaker for everyone.
I spent $20 on the welcome bags and tissue paper and $70 on items for the welcome bags.
This budget also includes our groomsmen and bridesman gifts. We gifted for groomsmen and bridesman each a burnt orange bow tie
Our spent $400 on welcome bags and gifts.
Our budget for welcome bags and gifts is $200.
Storage Unit (Unexpected Cost) - $560 Spent 🔗
Because we decided to move cross-country during our engagement, we had to store all the decor we had purchased in AZ. This resulted in an unexpected cost.
We spent $560 on a storage unit to store our decor for 7 months.
Emergency Kit Items (Unexpected Cost) - $115 Spent 🔗
I 10/10 recommend creating a small emergency bag - I ended up using mine quite a bit.
I had the following items in mine:
- Band-Aids (#ad) (for heels when your straps cut in)
- Fashion Tape (#ad)
- Tide To-Go Pens (#ad)
- Tissues (#ad)
- Mini Sewing Kit (#ad)
- Lip Gloss (#ad)
- boob tape (#ad)
- adhesive bra (#ad)
- nail polish (#ad)
- nail base and top coat (#ad)
- WATER BOTTLE (#ad)
- floss (#ad)
- mints (#ad)
- safety pins (#ad)
- bobby pins (#ad)
Thank You Cards - $10 Budget | $10 Spent 🔗
We spent $10 thank you cards.
The average cost of thank you cards is $50.
Final Thoughts 🔗
Is this the perfect budget? Probably not. I’m sure there are places where we could have saved even more and there are things we left out of our wedding due to budget. Would I recommend others follow the same? No, because everyone has different priorities.
If we had not moved across country, I think we could have reduced costs even further. However, having the wedding in state where we no longer lived and had no friends/family made the planning and storage of decor a little more difficult.
Overall, I’m extremely happy with our choices and our wedding weekend turned out to be magical.
If you are on a tight budget, I would make sure to keep these things in mind:
- Determine you priorities early, while remaining open to sacrifice on everything else.
- Stay flexible!!! Some things won’t go as planned and that’s okay.
- Take the time to incorporate elements into your day that make it special for you.
Some things we did to make the day special:
- We choreographed our first dance and performed it right after the first kiss.
- We wrote letters to each other and read them at our first look.
- We hosted a welcome picnic for all of our guests.
- We created the “Who Knows the Couple Best” Game to provide an ice-breaker for the guests at the picnic.
- We had some alone time after the ceremony.
If you have a wedding coming up, we wish you and your partner the best of luck planning your day! We sincerely hope this post has helped you in some way.
With Love, Gio & Jake
Future Expenses 🔗
Honeymoon 🔗
We decided to keep our honeymoon budget separate as we will not be going on our honeymoon right away.
Larger Extended Family Celebration 🔗
We hope to have our larger celebration as a backyard cookout or picnic and plan to budget about $1000 - $2000.