Before you dive into this article; it's fair to clarify that your wedding budget will depend on you and your couple's vision. What you'll read here is to get an idea of the overall services that hosting a wedding entails and cost. Nothing is set in stone...
My best advice before signing contracts is ALWAYS consulting with a wedding planner; this will help you understand the budget distribution based on your vision and help you avoid blowing your money on just one vendor without considering everything else you are still missing.
The average wedding cost in Manhattan for a 100-guest wedding is around 80K (rate per person: $800)
Here's how you break the 80K budget down (or any budget; if you use the percentages values) for a 5 hour wedding (with Ceremony In-house):
Venue 22% $17K
Caterer 20% (Including Open-Bar) $16K
Photo & Video 10% $8K
Florals & Decor 9% $7K
Wedding Planner 10% $8K
Rentals 7% $6K
DJ 4.5% $4K
Stationary 4.5% $3K
Hair & Make up 4.5% (4ppl) $3K
Photo-booth 1.5% $1K
Cake 1.5% $1K
Ceremony Live Music 1.5% $1K
Transportation 0.7% $1K
Just-in-case Fund 4.3% $2500
I'm leaving out all personal costs: Attires, Rings, Hotel, Legal Paperwork, Rehearsal Dinners, After- Parties...
Last but not least, I want to let you know about the things that will impact your overall wedding cost the most and will help you save:
Guest count
Day of the week (Peak/ Off-Peak)
Overall Hours of event
Like I mentioned at the beginning; nothing is set in stone and soooo many different things have to be consider for each wedding; none of my weddings are ever the same cost since each couple have different priorities and the investment varies per vendor...
Work with Wedding-Pros that will stay real and down to earth with your investment and most importantly that are willing to work with your budget to make the most out of your money!
Happy Planning
-D