With the dreaded price of wedding planning sometimes brings hidden costs. Prepare for that now so you aren’t blindsided. This post will go over some costs brides tend to forget when planning their wedding to help you better plan for yours.
1. Stamps
With so much wedding stationary to mail, this is a cost that creeps up. Save the Dates, invitations and thank you notes will all add up. Remember, you’re buying for the number of couples, not per guest. A book of 20 stamps costs $13.
2. Hotel Cost
Even if your wedding isn’t a destination wedding you will likely be staying in a hotel before your wedding. Having a place to get ready the day of your wedding is essential and having a close place to sleep on your first night as husband and wife is highly recommended. If you are being traditional and don’t want to see your future hubby the day of the wedding you’ll need two rooms the night before. Last minute hotel costs might sneak up on you if you don’t account for this early enough. It’s your wedding, definitely treat yourself.
3. Pet Care
All of your favorite people will be at your wedding. Who is going to watch your furry family members? You’ll have to factor that cost into your budget.
If you want them to be a part of your day there are services that will watch your dogs and bring them to your venue for photos.
4. Hair & Makeup Trials
Getting pampered with hair and makeup on the morning of your wedding is a must. What brides tend to not think of is that those trials are not free, or cheap for that matter. This is your wedding day and you want your look to be perfect. A trial run of how it’ll look is necessary to let them know what you like and don’t like so that you get the exact look you’re going for.
To get an idea of how much you’re looking at, my hair and makeup trial was $360.
5. Service Charges & Taxes
Just about everything in life is taxed, so while it’s no surprise your wedding reception bill is taxed it’s something I didn’t think of when I was quoted for our venue. Our reception had a 7% tax and 24% service charge. This is probably the biggest of the costs that brides tend to forget.
6. Dress Alterations
When budgeting for a wedding dress many brides don’t consider the cost of alterations. Make sure you factor this in your budget when you are wedding dress shopping. The cost of alterations ranges anywhere from $150-700 with an average of $450.
7. Vendor Meals
Did you know that you have to pay for your vendors to eat at your wedding? Do you happen to know which vendors? They are spending the whole day with you, so it makes sense but it is another expense to factor in.
The vendor meal price isn’t as much as the cost of your guests since they will not be attending cocktail hour or open bar. To give you an idea, our vendor meals were $40 a person.
Any vendors that are present during your reception get a meal which includes photographers, videographers, DJ, and photo booth attendants. It will be stated in their contract if they require a meal as well as how many and any dietary restrictions they may have.
8. Vendor Tips
Tipping is not required but it is a nice gesture and yet another added expense. If your vendors were anything like mine, they came together to make sure that our day was absolutely perfect. You’ll want to show them how much you appreciate them. Tipping might seem like a last minute expense so factor it into your budget now.
Pro tip: some vendors might include gratuity in their final bill. My hair and makeup vendor did as well as the bartenders and servers at the venue
9. Setup & Breakdown Costs
Someone is in charge of all the labor for setting up your venue and flowers. Your venue or coordinator may charge for you setting up your ballroom or cleaning up at the end of the night.
Your florist may charge a relocation fee, for example our florist charged for moving our arch from the ceremony into the ballroom behind our sweetheart table and to break down some of the arch flowers for our head table florals. Our relocation and breakdown fees were $200.
10. Delivery Fees
Your florist, caterer, cake vendor and rental company may charge a delivery fee.
Our rental company charged a $150 delivery fee. Sometimes these are flat fees regardless of how much you are renting. Whether we were getting just 100 napkins or 100 napkins, 100 chairs, 100 utensils and a hedge wall the delivery fee was still the same.
11. Rentals
First find out if there is anything your venue has to offer. Things to consider are: tablecloths, napkins, silverware, a cake stand, a cake serving utensil, a welcome sign easel and chairs, not to mention any other reception decorations to make your vision.
I hope this list of costs brides tend to forget about is helpful so that you can factor it into your budget. For more wedding budgeting tips check out my article about wedding budgeting.