Last Updated on 01/06/2022 by Above Diamond
Often people will say, in the topic of love there is no money involved. But in having a life together, financial planning and family starting funds are just as important as the topic of love. Did you know that the financial planning of married life starts from planning for the “Wedding Costs”.
Many couples desire to be with each other forever, but let us not forget that other than the sweet love we share in our married life, we must also plan well for that life. Even when you and your partner fell in love, and the subject matter of financials was not in the picture, once you are starting your marriage – planning for financials is important, not just in the daily life of the marriage but it is teamwork that must start from planning the “Wedding Costs”. This is so that the wedding may come out to the liking of both the bride and groom as well as being within their budget.
Wedding sizes can be separated into 3 sizes, it entirely depends on what the bride and groom feel comfortable with. They are as follows.
- Mini-Sized Wedding: Is a small but warm wedding. The guests attending are between 10-50 with only close friends and families being invited. It is suitable for couples who do not want to spend a tremendous amount of money on the wedding but instead choose to organize a small and fair wedding so that they may truly celebrate with their closest friends. The leftover budget can be spent on traveling or it can also be reserved as a family starting fund for when the marriage begins.
- Medium-Sized Wedding: This size of the wedding is most often seen. The guests attending are between 50-150. It is suitable for couples with an adequate “Wedding Costs” budget. The invited guests can be friends, families and relatives – depending on the appropriateness of the invitation. The options for the wedding are also increased with the number of guests attending.
- Large-Sized Wedding: The large-sized wedding will have over 200 guests attending or it will have esteemed guests attending to honor the event. It is suitable for couples of high status or if the couple is supported by their families, enabling them to invite many esteemed guests to attend their wedding, making the event appropriate to their families’ statuses. This size of wedding will have high “Wedding Costs” but the couple will be able to select the theme and format of the wedding to be as extravagant as they please.
Before you decide on your wedding’s size, let us take a look at the different initial wedding costs for each size, to see which type may suit you and your budget best. The details are as follows.
1. Wedding Attires, Makeup, Hairdo, the Bride and the Groom, and the Best Man and the Bridesmaid
This section of the wedding costs will help enhance the look of both the bride and the groom to look as outstanding as possible in their wedding. The methods in finding the wedding attires will differ in accordance with the budget size and they are as follows below.
Mini-Sized Wedding: If the couple is not set on having wedding outfits for themselves, renting them is a good option because this wedding will only happen once and that means that you will only be wearing these outfits once. If some couples do not want to keep these outfits for sentimental values, renting them is an appropriate idea. The wedding costs for this part will start somewhere in the thousands. You can rent the wedding outfits directly from the wedding studio with the costs being only around THB 1,500 – 2,000 per outfit.
And if there will be both the engagement and wedding ceremonies, or if the wedding will happen twice, for example, a Thai wedding and Chinese wedding or Western wedding, you only need to multiply the number of events to see the costs of the wedding outfits.
As for the makeup costs, if the bride is already skilled in this area, to save money, there might not be a need to hire a makeup artist. But if you want to make sure that you have a complete look without the fear of messing up, hiring a makeup artist will not have a high cost as it will around the THB 1,000 – 2000 range per person.
As for the best man and the bridesmaid, if you want to save the wedding costs of this section, you can set a theme for them to find a similar outfit that fits the theme so that you may all look the part. If you want the colors to be an exact match, the couple could buy raw fabric for their friends to tailor themselves. The starting costs for this is around THB 200 per yard (~91 centimeters) of fabric.
Another option is to buy ready-made clothes that are of high quality and low price from wholesale clothing stores in the Phahurat or the Platinum area. The starting costs per outfit are only around THB 400, as for the total costs it will depend on how many best men and bridesmaid you have.
Medium-Sized Wedding: As for the wedding costs of medium-sized weddings where the couple will have a higher budget, they may start to think about tailoring their attires instead of renting out outfits which may be redundant with others. The starting costs of tailoring wedding attires is THB 5,000 up to five digits-figure. It depends on the chosen style. As for the groom’s attire, the cost will not be comparable to the bride’s dress as there are many little details and costs which will all add up to be more costly than the groom’s attire. The average wedding costs for this part will be around THB 20,000 – 30,000.
As for the best men and bridesmaids, if you want to tailor outfits for them as well, the costs will be around THB 1,500 per person. If you had a total of 10 best men and bridesmaids, the cost for this part will be around THB 15,000.
Large-Sized Wedding: This size of weddings may come with a higher level of formality and so the wedding attires will need to be made to match the luxurious nature of the wedding. The attires can be tailored from a dressing room or it can be bought on a designer level if there is a budget for it. The starting costs could begin from the tens to hundreds of thousands.
The wedding gown many brides desire may be from the designer brand, Vera Wang, which has sleek cutting and beautiful seam details which is like no other brands. The starting price is around USD 7,000 or almost THB 300,000. As for the suit of the groom, the costs may be moderate with the starting price of a high-quality suit worthy of the occasion being around THB 30,000 – 50,000.
As for the best men and bridesmaids, the popular norm is to select a high-quality fabric and send them out to be tailored by the best men and bridesmaids with the end product following the same direction as the attires of the bride and groom. The costs for the fabric could start from around THB 20,000, with this being said, it also depends on the amount of the best men and bridesmaids.
2. Pre-Wedding Shoot and Wedding Presentation
The wedding costs of this part is considered an important component of the wedding’s mood and tone, it will create an atmosphere of romantic beauty that fits the theme of your wedding. It is used to show the softer side of the couple, displaying their love for guests to see. The costs will depend on the size of the wedding and they are as follows.
Mini-Sized Wedding: As for mini-sized weddings, the shoot could happen at a location that allows free photograph shootings such as a public park or tourism spots. The costs for the photographer could start around THB 2,000 but this cost may not include the outfits, makeup, and hairdo that the couple must prepare by themselves. If it is fine with the couple, they could wear ordinary or chic clothes that they already own. They could also take care of the makeup and hairdo by themselves to save more costs but if there is a budget for it, hiring a make-up artist or renting the outfits are both possible options.
In this part, the couple could save more budget if there are friends who are happy to help with the pre-wedding shoot as well as friends who can make presentation slides for the wedding. Another option is to use photographed pictures from the past as a part of the presentation.
Medium-Sized Wedding: As for this size of weddings, the couple could select photographers or different pre-wedding packages that differ with each studio. This will make the wedding appear more formal. The package could cover both outdoor and studio shoots with the starting price being in the thousands or the ten-thousands range. The wedding costs for this section will generally be around THB 8,000 to 30,000.
Usually, in the studio package, you will receive the photos, the videos as well as a photo album which you can reminisce about on a later date. The better option to make sure the value you receive at this part is equal to the wedding cost you are spending, before the date of your wedding, you could take a stroll around a wedding fair to find a pre-wedding package that suits you and your lover best so that you may find the best deal for your wedding.
Larger-Sized Wedding: If you are hosting a formal and luxurious wedding, the pre-wedding photoshoot is an important aspect of bringing the overall look of the wedding together. Some couples may spend as much as they want to on the pre-wedding shoot, hiring renowned portrait photographers. They could also book a plane ticket to foreign exotic locations. The costs for the photographer could be in the five-digits amount per day, not including the travel costs. With everything considered, the wedding costs for this part will be in the tens of thousands to over THB 100,000 range.
3. Location
The wedding costs of the location are considered a large chunk of the budget which will set the tone of how luxurious the wedding will be. If the location is not set at home, there will usually be a wedding package that includes drinks, food, and decorations costs. You can select the location of your wedding following the budget and the theme of your wedding.
Mini-Sized Wedding: You can reduce a lot of wedding costs by hosting the wedding at your own home. Another idea to reduce this cost is to reserve a large government meeting hall where the cost will range between the four or early five digits figure. In numbers, that is around THB 5,000 – 20,000 but if the location is set in outer provinces, the couple will often set their wedding at their own home or meeting halls of different schools.
Medium-Sized Wedding: Starting from this size of the wedding, the location preferences will start to shift to hotels with large ballrooms that can accommodate a large number of guests. Upon contacting the hotel, there will already be wedding packages or room prices which will start around THB 50,000 to 200,000. There may be some decorations included in the package as well, for example, flower decorations, wedding backdrops, reception desks, and more.
But if you want to host a more private medium-sized wedding, good looking meeting halls with reasonable pricing are also popularly used in hosting weddings. For example, military meeting halls and university clubs to start with. The costs for this will vary in the range of THB 30,000 – 70,000, depending on the size of the room.
Large-Sized Wedding: You can select premium hotels or locations as you please. For example, some 5-stars hotels may have location costs of over THB 200,000 to 600,000 or it could even be in the millions. Other than this, many luxury hotels will have wedding packages that include per head fee of over THB 1,000 or over THB 3,000 per table. The costs will vary with the number of guests attending the wedding.
4. Wedding Cards and Gifts
The wedding costs in this part are considered relatively low when compared to other wedding costs, but it is still adjustable to the size of the wedding we want.
Mini-Sized Wedding: If the wedding card design is simple without any difficult printing patterns, the average will be around THB 10 per card. They can be ordered at general printeries that provide designing and producing packages. Or if you have a small number of guests with only close friends and relatives, you could invite them in person, or you could even send them online invitation cards which will help you reduce the costs of this section.
As for the wedding gifts, you can purchase them from wholesalers with each piece starting around THB 15. You will have the option to package or wrap them yourself which can help you reduce the costs as well.
Medium-Sized Weddings: The couple will be able to purchase both the cards and envelopes that are more intricate in detail with the costs starting at THB 14 – 20 per set. You can also purchase them from wedding studios that include this service in their package or you could order them straight from the printeries.
Larger-Sized Wedding: If the wedding is one of luxury and the budget for the wedding card design is unlimited, the couple can choose to use specially designed wedding cards with many details and features. The cards could go as high as THB 40 – 60 per card but in turn, you will receive a card that is exclusive to your wedding and designed to your liking.
As for the wedding gifts, if many esteemed guests are attending, the couple may have to find gifts that are valuable with a higher cost per piece. The cost could start around the later two digits, from THB 80 – 90 to somewhere well over the hundreds. The gifts could be a set of cutlery or unique items specially made for this wedding such as a custom made glasses or scented candles with the symbol of the couple on them.
5. The Food
The food is an important part of the wedding costs. It will ensure that the guests attending will enjoy the wedding and that they will return home with a full stomach. This wedding cost will also make up a large chunk of the overall budget, there are packages that can be selected with the location or you can also hire a catering service.
Mini-Sized Wedding: The same goes for this wedding cost as it did for other wedding costs, if you plan to host a simple at-home wedding, you could hire cooks to help provide the food. This will give you more control over every part of the costs, or if your relatives could each give a helping hand, helping you cook or bringing food to the wedding themselves – the overall cost for this part may not exceed THB 1,000 or it could even be 0. For the cost of the ingredients, it will mainly depend on the number of guests attending.
The costs could range somewhere from the THB 10,000 – 30,000 range, the food served is completely up to your preferences. It could also be an auspicious menu that brings good fortune and meaning to your wedding day.
Medium-Sized Wedding: Food catering services or wedding packages that come with the location are available. If the food is served as a buffet, it can be calculated as a per person cost, starting at THB 500-600 up to THB 1,000. If the costs are per table, it will start around THB 2,000.
Large-Sized Wedding: If the wedding is large, the wedding costs for the food will increase with its size but the food served will be of great quality. Usually, the hotels will provide food services with the venue as well – if it is a cocktail event, the starting costs could start around THB 1,000 – 2,500 per person and THB 10,000 per table.
6. Engagement Rings or Wedding Rings
Engagement rings or wedding rings will also make up a large chunk of the wedding costs. Buying an engagement ring or a wedding ring does not depend on the wedding size per se, but it depends on the budget you feel is acceptable and reasonable. You can observe different factors in your life including the financials to calculate your purchasing ability for the rings. The faster you can make back the amount you spent on your ring, the better – ideally, this process should take less than 1 year.
The costs of the diamond rings will depend on the style of the ring, the carat of the diamond, and the quality of the diamond. For further information on this topic, you can refer to the guide provided by Above Diamond down below.
| Total Expenses | Small 10-50 Guests |
Medium 50-200 Guests |
Large 200+ Guests |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Costume, Hair & Makeup | |||
| – Wedding Dress | 3,000-4,000 | 10,000-20,000 | 50,000-350,000 |
| – Bridesmate | 4000-6,000 | 15,000-20,000 | 20,000-30,000 |
| – Makeup & Hair | 2,000-4,000 | 3,000-5,000 | 5,000-10,000 |
| 2. Photography | |||
| – Pre-wedding | 2,000-3,000 | 8,000-30,000 | 30,000-50,000 |
| – Travel | – | – | 10,000-30,000 |
| 3. Venue | 5,000-20,000 | 50,000-200,000 | 200,000-600,000 |
| 4. Misc | |||
| – Invitation Cards | 100-500 | 600-4,000 | 8,000-12,000 |
| – Gifts | 150-750 | 1,000-8,000 | 16,000-18,000 |
| 5. Food | 10,000-30,000 | 25,000-40,000 | 200,000-400,000 |
| Total | 26,250-68,250 | 112,600-316,200 | 539,000-1,500,000 |
Planning for your wedding costs is an important step towards married life
Buying an engagement ring or a wedding ring is also an important element of that step. Above Diamond is proud to have helped countless couples find their engagement rings and wedding rings that are filled with meaning, to their liking with qualities well worth their price. And if you and your partner want consultation on the topic of selecting a wedding ring or an engagement ring, you can always contact Above Diamond.
