Could you share what was your wedding/honeymoon budget breakdown like?

Hi Yixuan,

First of all, congratulations!

My husband and I got married in late 2018 and when we first started looking at the finances for the wedding / honeymoon / house, we wanted to prioritize what was most important to us.

We sat down and decided the most important items were in this order:

1. House - because we will be spending A LOT of time here (evident in the CB period)

2. Wedding - and have the mindset that it is only for a day

3. Honeymoon - our last priority and decided that we can always go for a long-trip when we are at a better place financially since we were also renovating the house at the same time.

As the wedding is priority #2, we allocated lesser money to things that were a one-time thing (e.g. a gown rental because I do not want to keep a gown, a suit for my husband and misc wedding stuff from taobao) and more money on rings (as we will be wearing it everyday).

We also enlisted help from our friends like borrowing GDL items from couples who still had them or purchase from carousell as we did not want to spend too much on a 2 hour "tradition", and getting the talented ones to be our emcees and wedding band! (of course we gave them an angbao - I'm sure that your friends would be happy to help out!)

Pro-tip: my engagement ring and our wedding bands were from jewerly stores that are lesser known and located in industrial parks. The "branded" stores usually mark up their stuffs to pay for marketing/rental etc.

Just remember - invest in your marriage (which will last WAY LONGER) instead of investing in your wedding (which will only be for a day)!

Hope this helps! :)​​​

Hi Yixuan,

I got married last year. My wife joined the BTB forums and sussed out a lot of info. Too much to share but I will provide a breakdown and some tips.

Here's the breakdown (I won't provide vendor names unless you need it)

• Banquet: This was held at a local hotel, 16 tables and we added some food stations for guests before the ceremony began. ~$28K and this was saved for a year from our salaries. I would say that having a good wedding coordinator would help you a lot, our coordinator helped us from things like chasing the wedding card printing vendor to helping us take care of all the nitty gritty details. Banquet manager was also important to keep the timetable running smoothly

• Emcee: Highlight of the show. He was fantastic and friends who were getting married after us asked for his contact, so that says a lot. A professional Emcee works the event at a very different level. We had a meet up 6 months before to discuss and set expectations. ~$1K. Saved up. His wife also does table deco so we added on for $250 and were blown away.Ani

• MUA: From an old contact of mine. <$1K, saved up. Important: Go for your trail make up. You will see how MUA's style works for you and discuss changes accordingly before actual day.

• Photographer: We reviewed portfolios and found one. He'd been shooting for 5 years. $1.2K, saved up. Same as emcee, had a meeting to discuss and lay out expectations

• Videographer: Same as photog. We reviewed portfolios and shortlisted. $1.7K, saved up. Same as emcee, had a meeting to discuss and lay out expectations

• Bridal Gown and Groom Suit Package: <$4K. Saved up. Came with pre-wedd shoot. BMW chauffer driven car on that day. Photo album. 2nd suit and dinner gown. Dad and brother also got a suit. I got to take home my tailored suit (for 1st March in). Very budget friendly considering. Some places were charging $3K for just one gown and suit with nothing else. We found them in a very unexpected way. Was going around bridal shops and booked a few appointments, then when on the way to one vendor, we keyed in this vendor by mistake since their names were very very similar and ended up at this vendor instead. We had an awesome coordinator who helped my wife with her gown selections and her experience really shone through. This is also a very important thing.

• Ring: <$1.2K. Saved up. I went back to the vendor that helped me with my engagement ring.

• Guo Da Li: <$1K including the items and the liquor. This really depends. Sit down with the opposite side and discuss what is expected.

• Animation video: We didn't have a gate crash so we commissioned a MY based animator to make a short 3 minute video about our story. Very worth it. Guests loved it. $1.2K

• Honeymoon: SQ J to Tokyo via Aegean Miles, so only really spent on hotels and expenditure. ~$176 EUR in taxes, but who cares when you're flying J?

I wish you best of luck!​​​

Hi Yixuan,

Had my ROM 3yrs back and wedding 2 years here's my breakdown (warning WOT ahead):

• Proposal aka diamond ring: est $5-6k ( he refuse to tell me how much)

• Wedding band: $2.3k. I thought he wasn't going to get the diamond ring (becuase I told him I don't need one), hence we spent abit more here

• ROM: abt $300 (ROM:$50; Lunch with immediate family: $200; Others:$50. I got a dress & a pair of heels which I subsequently used as office wear). I had to ROM first because we were purchasing resale HDB and taking grant

• Prewedding shoot (4days) cum 1st honeymoon(10 days): est $9k. We had our prewedding shoot in taiwan and had a short holiday thereafter. PWS package $3.2k (NT$ 68k) for 2D1N shoot(full outdoor), transport, 1N accom for us + staff, 4gowns, 4 suits, 20pic & misc; top up of photos (40+ 10 free), ampoules & admission fee $2k (NT42,000 budgeted before hand); Old England manor shoot + stay $750 (NT16,000); honeymoon incl air tix $3k. This is the most important part to us so we allocated more budget/ willing to spurge on this. For PWS make sure that everything they promise you is in black and white. Also the more photo you top up, the cheaper per photo cost. We knew they will pressure us to top up (they didn't actually), so we were okay with the initial package only having 20 photos. During the photo selection stage, they offered us 2 package 20pic (I can't rmb how much) & 40pic+10 free at $2k ( which work out to $40 per pic). You should have a rough idea how you want your PWS album to look like, so that it will be easier for you to pick the location (esp overseas) and the gown you going to wear.

• Guo Dali: Settled by both mums. Told them to settle everything if they insist on having this.

• Actual Day gown+suit+MUA+ photography: est $3.5k. Gown+suit+father suitX2+MUA $2.4k. Top up for inhouse photographer (10hrs) $800. My mum's gown rental + MUA (same as mine) $300. This is the cheapest I can find in SG after visiting a few bridal shop. No videographer as I didn't see the need to have 1.

• Banquet (Restaurant, Lunch): $0. Basically the angbao covered everything and we had some excess left. Cost: $800 per table (25 tables). My inlaws wanted the banquet hence the target audience are mainly family members (elderly). We had 4 table of friends and no colleague. We didnt want to spent too much on the banquet hence we decided to hold it at a restaurant with excellent food. Free food tasting(10pax), free wedding invite, free wedding gift for all attendees( because we opt not to have any beer or alcoholic drink). Emcee were our friends ( we gave them a small token of appreciation).

• 2nd honeymoon (22days): est $13k. We went UK (London & Manchester), Belgium, Netherlands, Austria (Vienna, Salzburg, Hallstatt) and Germany (Munich). Air tix cost us abt $4k (SIA to and from Europe, budget between Amsterdam & Vienna) Europe. A 2D1N trip to Manchester to catch a ManU match cost us $1.8k for match tix, accom and transport to and from London (Oh well Mr is a big ManU fan, and it's really once a lifetime experience for us). We saved quite abit for London accom (stayed with my uncle who live just outside london). Only had instant noodle once (and thats because I am craving for soupy food) and the rest of the time we just ate what we want/feel like eating.

We had a joint expense account and paid for almost everything (except the diamond ring) through this account. We started contributing to this account monthly abt 6mths before we ROM and chip in more when the account has insufficient fund for big ticket items. We also had a separate saving account initially for renovation and now for emergency funds.

I think the most import thing is to know what is important to you (and hence you are willing to spend more) and what is not as important to you (where you can omit and spend as little as possible). Always have a budget for big ticket items so you won't over spend.

Hi Yixuan, Im getting married this coming October. We budgeted a total of $15k including our mini honeymoon, Guo Da Li items and dowry etc.. Till date, we're still in budget. Even if we factor in some last min loose items, it shouldn't go above $17k :)

Most importantly is for you and your partner to first know what kind of wedding you guys are going for - small and intimate, or? About how many pax do you guys estimate to have?

If you're like us, don't want to spend too much on a wedding cos we want to save up more for our house and to start off our journey together, you can use our budgeting tip.

Alot of times, couples like to say that their budget is eg. $30k, but a mistake they fail to take note of is to budget each different item. For example. How much you willing to spend on gown etc.. When you dont know what's your budget, you'll have the tendency to think "oh yeah this amt sounds right, my friends paid this.. etc" but you and your friends can have different budgets, you both can also be prioritising different things!

Remember that the wedding day is just 1 day. A marriage is for a lifetime. We like to dream and achieve our dream wedding day, but sometimes it is also good to know what is practical for both your wallets. Ofc you want to enjoy your day, so if you have the capability to, spend. But also note to spend within your means, don't swipe multiple credit cards just to pay things off!

I have a wedding budget excel sheet that I can send over to you if you'd like to take a look :) Ofcourse we'll probably have different budget, but that should help you get started!

PS. If you're looking for a smaller budget wedding, i'll be happy to share with you the vendors that we are working with - Whom are affordable and good!❤️🥳 Cheers babe!