By: One of the hardest parts of planning a wedding is to stay within your budget, make sure you’ve factored in everything, including some costs you may not have thought of.
We saw this blog post 10 Hidden Wedding Costs You Should Budget For in the Brides section of The Huffington Post that brings up a few good hidden expenses you may not have considered.
Postage for the invitations AND for the RSVPs. We’ve found that when brides & grooms put postage on the RSVPs, they get better response. Plus, it’s easier for you to track who is coming when you have all the RSVPs in one place, and not in several e-mai. boxes. Not only does the number of guests affect the facility and catering, but also the DJ who wants to have the right sound system for you.
Taxes and gratuities are sometimes never considered. While we don’t expect you to tip your DJ, some companies add this charge to your bill. Most vendors–of any kind, not just DJs–will include the gratuities in their bill you pay before you even get their service. When asked how much our DJs should be tipped, we often leave that to the client, however 15-20% is typical.
Plating, cake-cutting, and corkage fees can add an extra dent to your bank account for what seems like nothing. You may also need to obtain an ABC license or provide your own liquor and wine. So, that $25 bottle of pinot you want to share, could wind up costing much more because someone has to pull the cork.
Extra staff, shipping fees, and rentals are all based on your guests needs. Will you need to order more invitations or favors because you forgot to invite some people? Will you have 120 or 150 people showing up, or even more? Are you going to need to add more tables and chairs? Even adding one or two chairs on the day of can cause your bill to go up.
Guest parking or guest transportation can be an issue if your event is at a site that charges for parking, or you’re concerned with the amount of alcohol your guests are going to enjoy and want to make sure they get home safely.
Set-up and breakdown fees to us, are part of doing business. There are some DJ, and non-DJ, companies who charge you for the time they’re setting up and breaking down because they have to pay staff to be there. We’ve heard of some companies who charge you for the time it takes for them to drive to your wedding. Most companies who have been professionals in the wedding industry for quite some time, will already have all these details figured out.
Digital access or Wi-Fi, while photographers may charge you to view your photos online, some facilities will even charge you just for getting online. Yes, even in 2015, Wi-Fi isn’t free everywhere, and it seems the more you pay for a facility, the less likely you get free Wi-Fi. We had one situation a few years ago in which we found a free hotel connection and were able to sign on. The hotel, however, was able to locate which computer was online and charged the couple $4.95/minute for each minute we were online. We use the internet on occasion to connect to a home server or to quickly purchase a song if we don’t have it. We were online for over five hours, but only purchased one song during that time. After working it out with the hotel, the couple was not charged.
Song purchases, yes even in this day of digital downloads via record pools, there are still some DJs who will charge you for purchasing new music. They’ll typically charge you more than what you would pay on iTunes or Amazon.com, and then use the song several times over. We’ve even heard of some DJs who will charge each time that song is requested at other events. If your DJ has to purchase music AND charges you, ask for the receipt. Typically, this is the cost of doing business.
Sound equipment rental is not something a DJ should be worried about unless you have them travel to your wedding. There have been some instances where you can find a $25-$50/hour DJ for your reception, but then you have to rent the sound system and equipment from that DJ, or another company that just happens to work with that DJ. A few years ago, we had a corporate function pulled right from underneath us by something like this. The planner found a DJ on Craigslist for $25/hour, which was 10% our rate at the time. After signing the contract for $100, they realized they were on the hook now to “rent” equipment for the DJ, and it wasn’t good equipment either. The planner told us what happened after, and they wound up spending nearly $1,600 for a $100 DJ. One of the guests, who had experience as a DJ, even appraised the equipment rented at around $800. Sad, as that’s the cost of one of our speakers.
Film developing is not something people think about when they try to go a little light on hiring a photographer. Yes, you can purchase disposable cameras and let your guests have some fun, but printing out all those pictures before you get a chance to see them, or having them put all onto a disc to view later, will cost you. Plus, you’ll have the added fees of printing the pictures you want, which is why we recommend to all of our brides, hire a professional photographer.
Bridal party gifts can easily be forgotten. They can be simple tokens of appreciation, or can be extravagant (like front row seats to a baseball game, dugout passes and a trip to a club after the game). But they do cost you more. When choosing, always think of the person you’re buying for and don’t just order a mass quantity to satisfy all.
