My wife and I got married at a petting zoo in September of 2021 in Frederick, Maryland. Using a giant Google Sheet, a Google Doc, a custom website, dozens of hours of research, and the help of friends and family, we planned a beautiful wedding and then executed on that plan. It all went off without a hitch, and everyone had a fantastic time.
This post is the first of two posts which comprise a guide to planning your own wedding. In this first post, I’ll break down the cost of our 75-guest wedding.
Full Cost Breakdown
| Line Item | Cost | Comments |
|---|---|---|
| Venue: Green Meadows Petting Farm, Urbana MD | $5,200 | |
| Food: Moe’s Southwest Grill | $1,776.77 | Moe’s was a great choice – relatively inexpensive, and everyone loved it. We actually ended up with way too much food and had leftovers for days. |
| Liv’s Dress & Tailoring & Shoes & Veil: Anthropologie Chapel & Court Tailoring Jimmy Choo Amazon | $1,757.90 | |
| Videography: Elsewhere Wedding Films | $1,500 | The owner of Elsewhere Wedding Films is a close friend of mine. |
| Alcohol & Non-Alcoholic Beverages: Viniferous, Frederick, MD ($674.74) Costco ($272.29) | $947.03 | – 18x Bottles Babbo Prosecco – 12x Bottles Barco Viejo Chardonnay – 12x Bottles Pierres Blanches Cabernet – 3x Cases (72 Cans) Avery Sparkles – 1x Case (24 Cans) Jacks Cider – 1x Case (24 Cans) Great Lakes IPA – 1x Case (24 Bottles) Great Lakes Edmund Fitzgerald Porter – Soft Drinks & Bottled Water |
| Bridesmaids’ Dresses: BHLDN | $944.95 | As a gift to the bridesmaids, we bought their matching wedding dresses. |
| Bridesmaids & Family Spa Appointment: Modern Chic Day Spa, Frederick, MD | $747 | As a gift to the bridesmaids and some family members, we paid for a nail and spa appointment a couple of days before the wedding. |
| Other Food & Drinks: Lazy Fish ($239.44) Wegmans ($162.18) May’s Seafood Restaurant ($159.85) Pumpernickel & Rye, Frederick, MD ($77.82) Orion Wine & Spirits ($38.13) | $677.42 | Unshared costs for food and drinks for meals during the days some of our guests stayed in our home. |
| Decor: At Home ($162.07) Michaels ($237.96) Sola Wood Flowers ($52.89) Amazon ($79.45) Etsy ($137.88) | $670.25 | Flowers, cake topper, and other various decorations for use on the wedding day. |
| Wedding Bands: Blue Nile (Zach’s) Brilliant Earth (Liv’s) | $668.86 | |
| Audio Equipment: Mr. Video, Silver Spring, MD | $540.60 | We rented the following audio equipment: 2x ZLX-15p speakers w/ stands, Shure SM58 wired mic, Mackie 1202 Mixer |
| Zach’s Suit & Tailoring, Tie, Shoes, Socks: Macy’s (Private Tailor) Amazon DSW Bold Socks | $404.26 | |
| Wedding Celebration Dinner: Isabella’s, Frederick, MD | $400 | Thirteen people attended a dinner on the day we signed our marriage certificate. |
| Makeup: Sephora | $375.24 | |
| Tablecloths: tableclothsfactory.com | $267.93 | Tablecloths for the picnic tables provided by the venue. |
| Hot Sauce Wedding Favors: Mike’s Fine Brines Marie Sharp’s | $248.37 | We love hot sauce, so our wedding favors were tiny bottles of our favorite hot sauces. |
| Chest Freezer: Home Depot | $242.74 | Instead of renting or buying coolers, we bought a chest freezer and set it to its lowest setting to cool our drinks on the wedding day. We used the chest freezer for the next several months, and then sold it on Facebook Marketplace. |
| Wedding Day Server: GravyWork | $230 | Includes tip. |
| Bachelor Party Lodging & Food | $210 | Three friends and I went to Shenandoah for a couple of days to hike and explore. It was great. |
| Cups, water containers, wine buckets etc.: The Webstaurant Store | $202.05 | |
| Wedding Party Additional Lodging: Amazon | $186.53 | Additional air mattresses & sheet sets. |
| Wedding Day Popcorn: The Original Popcorn House, Frederick, MD | $179.24 | |
| Event Insurance: The Event Helper | $99.99 | Required by our venue. |
| Liv’s Hair: Art of Beauty Salon, Frederick, MD | $80.40 | |
| Save the Dates, Thank You Cards & Shipping: Vistaprint Amazon USPS | $77.08 | |
| MD Marriage License | $75 | |
| Groomspeople Bowties: Azazie | $55.65 | |
| Cake Tasting: The Red Bandana Bakery, Bethesda, MD | $30 | We didn’t go with this bakery; Liv made our wedding cake instead! |
| Photography: Zach’s Dad Other Photographer Guests | $0 | It was so meaningful to have photos taken by my dad (and various other wedding guests), which I then edited. It’s nice having photographer friends and family! |
| Uncategorized Various Costs: Target ($173.51) Swarovski ($94.34) CVS ($68.34) Marshalls ($23.26) Website Domain & Hosting ($30) | $389.45 | |
| Approximate Total Cost | $19,184.71 | – “Approximate” because this table is missing some small cash transactions and may be missing other small credit transactions. – Be mindful of the fact that this table includes transactions besides what are relevant to just the wedding day itself; I want to give you a full picture of what “the full wedding experience” costs. – My family paid for the rehearsal dinner food and desserts. |