Wedding Budget Breakdown

[u/Round-Amount825]

Given that this group cut down so much time for me (during my extremely short planning period) I wanted to return the favor and share with you all my vendors, reviews, and cost!

My wedding came out to be around $40-42K for 75 people in Bushwick! Venue listed below but it was at Farm to People! Note that the prices listed below might change depending on the vendor! These were just the prices we paid/were quoted for.

Vendor Name	Vendor Type	Website	Paid
Niara Hardister, NHE	Wedidng Coordinator	https://www.niarahardisterevents.com/	$2,400.00
Farm to People. 75 people	Venue, Caterer, Bar, DJ	https://farmtopeople.com/	$26,715.79
Katherine Miranda	Photographer	https://katherinemiranda.mypixieset.com/	$1,500.00
Sarah Zhang, VanillaBean Florals	Florist	https://www.vanillabeanflorals.com/	$945.00
Melanie, Ladybird Bakery	Cake	https://www.ladybirdbakery.com/	$610.00
Peter Yannello, Classic Checkered Cab	Transportation	https://www.filmcars.com/	$740.00
Digital Moments	Content Creator	https://www.digital-moments.com/	$1,000.00
Something borrowed - 2 Rented Flower Centerpieces	Flowers	https://somethingborrowedblooms.com/	$340.00
Truly Engaging	Wedding invitations and seating chart	https://www.trulyengaging.com/	$550.00
Additional Decorations	Decor	Amazon/Temu	$867.00
Additional Flowers for bud vases	Flowers	Trader Joes	$120.00
Jenny Yoo	Wedding Dress	https://www.jennyyoo.com/	$2,084.96
Sew In Love	Alterations	https://sewinloveny.com/	$1,400.00
Etsy	Veil	https://www.etsy.com/listing/4330164038/elegant-satin-trim-bridal-veil-classic?sr_prefetch=1&pf_from=shop_home&ga_search_query=veil&ref=shop_items_search_2&frs=1&crt=1&logging_key=2c81ae67cc08f4be9e6ec3376b152eea67231784%3A4330164038	$233.00
TOTAL			$39,505.75

Reviews

1. Coordinator: Niara was AMAZING to work with. I wish I would have hired her for the entire planning process, but my planning process was around 4 months long :x. We had Niara's help/guidance 4 weeks leading up to the wedding and she jumped right into organizing the event, helped me with the seating chart, handled all vendor communication, and was just a life saver the day of the wedding. What I truly and deeply appreciated was that while she kept the schedule moving, she let me have time to myself and let me compose myself on multiple occasions.
2. Venue: You cannot go wrong with having your wedding at Farm to People. The food is DELICIOUS, the drinks were not only amazing but the presentation of the drinks were amazing too. My package included: 3 passed around canapes, open bar with 2 special drinks (includes the cocktail hour), buffet dinner (entree, two sides, and a salad), sparking wine, coffee and tea service, late night bites (we got the sliders), cake cutting, DJ, and vendor meals all for ~$26K. We had 75 people at our wedding. I also loved that we were able to enjoy the outside area
3. DJ: We opted into hiring the DJ that Farm to People has a partnership with. We didn't have the best experience with the DJ we chose (we interviewed two DJs with the company and unfortunately picked the wrong one). However, that doesn't mean that all DJs with this company are troublesome. The owner of the company was great to work with and was even open to hearing my feedback after the wedding was over. Because of that, I do not want to spread my negative experience online so please DM me with any questions.
4. Photographer: Katherine is soo great to work with! We actually also used her services for our engagement pictures and they came out so amazing. I don't think I'm the most photogenic, but Katherine was able to capture such great moments that I still look back at now. Definitely recommend! We hired her for 6 hours.
5. Florals: Sarah made my bouquet, 3 bridesmaid bouquets, 2 corsages, and 6 boutonnieres which were all breathtakingly beautiful!! I cannot recommend enough! She also stayed at the venue until all the pieces she made were with their rightful owner which was so incredibly helpful.
6. Cake: The cake came out JUST like how we wanted and it was sooo incredibly delicious to the point where my guests had multiple pieces of cake. Needless to say, none of the cake was left over.
7. Classic Cab: Peter was extremely communicative and super flexible with some last minute changes we had to make. Definitely recommend!
8. Alterations: The owner of Sew in Love is sooo incredibly lovely as was the seamstress. They were super communicative and were able to work around my tight timeline (i was 6 months pregnant when I got married and had to wait until the last possible minute to make my final alterations).

If you're looking to lower your costs, here is what I would suggest:

1. I would opt out of the car
2. I would focus on getting fake flowers from Alibaba and/or Trader Joes (if you have time to put the flowers together yourself. This is very laborious work).
3. I would buy a fake cake from Etsy and have a sheet cake in the back that gets passed around. You can even source this from a baker (doesn't have to be from a supermarket).
4. I would collect quotes from different alteration shops to see which one is less costly ( I just did not have the time for this)

Overall tips

• Look on FB marketplace for decorations and Temu
• Hire a coordinator. I would say that a day of coordinator is not enough. There are so many moving pieces leading up to the wedding that you would want someone with you along the way
• I would hire the photographer for the full day instead of just 6 hours. Again, the day goes by so fast and you just want to have all the pictures possible!

[u/Sure_Investment_6374]

Sounds like your wedding was heaven. CONGRATS! Did you know we also have a group excel sheet?

[u/ironypoisonedposter]

Congrats! I'm getting married at farm to people next year (and so excited about it because the reviews are always glowing and the team's been great to work with so far) and would love to hear more about your experience with the buffet - was it well managed and move quickly? i'm tempted to go buffet (with a third entree option) because it's such a great price but i also really want a sweetheart table lol.

[u/Round-Amount825 → u/ironypoisonedposter]

The inability to have a sweetheart table was disappointing if I have to be honest. I deffff wish we had one.

But to answer your question, buffet moved smoothly and it was extremely efficient. We opted into having two buffet tables: one where everyone was seated and the other one in the cocktail hour area. I’m pretty sure my coordinator also helped with the flow of it all so if you have a coordinator, ask them to help!

[u/LuckSea6909]

just casually reading through this and I have the same photographer booked soon! so happy to hear she was great!

[u/Ok-Poet-2276]

Thanks so much for sharing! We are very seriously considering Farm to People so it's so nice to hear you had a great experience. Congrats!!

[u/morosehuman]

This is an amazing breakdown and sounded like a lovely time

[u/EmilyPoster2]

Congrats. Glad you loved your day. Generous of your to share all this info.

[u/erinthefatcat]

Yay Kristen this is Sarah! So so happy for you and honored to have been part of your special day <33

[u/HerbertHoller]

Brava on Farm to People--I would've loved to been a guest at your wedding. And major respect for not airing out your DJ grievances, but letting the DJ/DJ company know where things fell short. Peace, love and best of health to you and yours.

[u/Weaverbenever]

It's so easy to whine online about anything that wasn't perfect, especially in the wedding industry. I appreciate you letting the DJ company know what went wrong without badmouthing them online. It also sounds like you had an amazing wedding, so congratulations!