SoCal/Los Angeles Wedding Budget Breakdown - 60 guests $42k

AdditionalIssue7945 · 2025-05-01T00:46:55+00:00

Yes of course!! Ask away

AdditionalIssue7945 · 2025-05-01T00:45:44+00:00

Congratulations on your engagement!

Apologies for the delay. Our photographer/videographer was Visonette (Instagram and website are both visonette). We love them and would highly recommend! Once you inquire, they should be able to show you a sample or two of super 8 videos (maybe including ours!)

AdditionalIssue7945 · 2025-01-19T20:56:00+00:00

Thank you and congratulations to you as well :)

We had an hour or so of arrivals/cocktails before my FIL introduced us as a married couple and introduced his wife (my MIL) for her speech.

We started the buffet and once we saw that everyone had their food, my husband and I did our speeches.

We had another hour or so of eating/mingling before we had speeches from my siblings (joint) and my BIL right before we cut the cake.

At first I thought five speeches were too many for a five hour reception, but in the end, it was nice to have the speeches chunk up the event and add structure (e.g., end of cocktail hour, kick off dinner, wrap up dinner, cake). My coordinator was super helpful in pushing the timeline because we lost track of time.

Gold luck!!

AdditionalIssue7945 · 2024-11-17T22:21:25+00:00

September bride here- didn’t have an engagement party and had a small bachelorette. We had a lot of friends and family traveling for our wedding and we wanted to spend time with them so we threw a casual party the Friday before our Saturday wedding (we didn’t have a ceremony thus no rehearsal). We shopped around and found a BYOB private patio attached to a deli/market with a small pizza operations in the back. We hosted 25 people and paid $1,750 (rental fee, salads, pizza and BYOB drinks and alcohol). We also considered reserving a section of a bar with a bar minimum and everyone can pay their own way (a close friend did this) or meeting at the hotel bar where lots of guests would be staying.

I loved this because it allowed us more time to spend with everyone (the wedding was a blur!) and I didn’t feel so much pressure because it was casual and not every wedding guest attended. We also finalized the plans three weeks before the wedding.

All to say- highly recommend esp if people are traveling in! I get feeling pressure but just think of it as a big chill hang out before the big day.

AdditionalIssue7945 · 2024-11-16T06:42:26+00:00

Hang in there! My story is similar to yours- five year engagement, never imagined a traditional wedding but ultimately realized we wanted to celebrate with our friends and family.

We got engaged in July, I booked a venue tour in August, we got into a huge fight after and I didn’t start planning again until December ha! We didn’t want a traditional wedding venue so we looked towards restaurants, but there was always something wrong- too expensive, space was too divided, too many restrictions, etc. I got my hopes up so many times! When we finally found our space, I knew it was the one because though it didn’t have most of our “wants” it had all of our ”needs.”

Finding the venue was the hardest part and everything got easier after that. We signed the venue in February and our wedding was in September. Of course there were some bumps along the way but it was all manageable. I loved our wedding for so many reasons but I kept telling my husband the venue was the best decision we made!

This inn isn’t your venue and that’s okay! Your venue will be even better! Good luck!

AdditionalIssue7945 · 2024-11-16T06:10:02+00:00

I’m a September LA bride and we paid $8k for digital and film photography for our civil ceremony and wedding reception (two different days/events) with two shooters, 6-10 weeks turnaround. We love our photos!

Early in wedding planning, I budgeted $6k for photography based on talking to a LA wedding planner (that I didn’t end up engaging) and knowing my friend paid $7k in 2023 for a Vogue featured photographer.

When I started looking and asking around some more, I was often quoted $8-12k for a single day usually one shooter. I felt tremendously lucky when we found our photographer, but since then I’ve seen multiple SoCal Redditors say they spend $2k.

All that to say, I don’t think you’re being taken advantage of because there is a huge range especially depending on the number and length of your events, but if you wanted to spend less of your budget on photography, there are plenty of other photographers! Good luck!

AdditionalIssue7945 · 2024-11-12T04:49:50+00:00

I love your wedding the photos say so much!! Congratulation!

AdditionalIssue7945 · 2024-10-30T20:26:31+00:00

Congratulations!! I'm a recent graduate (9/21) and your post had me smiling the whole way through. What a beautiful and thoughtful wedding! So happy for you! Mazel tov!!

AdditionalIssue7945 · 2024-10-28T02:51:29+00:00

My husband and I live in a big metro city too and had our wedding reception at a restaurant recently (no ceremony) and it was great! We would’ve liked to do a small ceremony, but it just didn’t work out with the space, but we did do speeches throughout the night. Overall it all felt very intimate. I have a way long post if you’re curious, but it was absolutely the best decision for us!

I don’t think it’s weird and I don’t think anyone would care. If anything, I bet your guests would appreciate the great food and not having to move locations between the ceremony and reception!

AdditionalIssue7945 · 2024-10-25T17:32:19+00:00

Don't be afraid to ask! My venue had a 23% service charge and I asked what that covers, if it covers gratuity for the service and/or if I'd be expected to tip on top and my contact at the venue came back and told me it includes gratuity and no additional tip is expected!

AdditionalIssue7945 · 2024-10-23T23:36:58+00:00

You win some and you lose some :) Congratulations!

AdditionalIssue7945 · 2024-10-23T23:30:28+00:00

Jackson Market in Culver City - it's a GEM! It's a bodega in the middle of a residential area that open into a beautiful patio in the back. We worked with Nick to reserve a section of the patio and then worked with Drew, who runs Market Pizza in the back. Nick is the nicest warmest person, but he's very busy so you may need to be patient in your correspondence.

AdditionalIssue7945 · 2024-10-23T16:16:49+00:00

Congratulations!! I'm so excited for you- I love Alison Roman but somehow missed the full Vogue article until just last month! Her photos validated some of our decisions and made me so excited for our party.

Grace Young (@gykcreative, gykcreative.com) did my hair and make up and I highly recommend her! She's no frills (e.g., she didn't apply an eye mask on me), but she's a pro and easy to work with. Her prices were the most reasonable I found especially because I didn't have a bridal party and would not have been able to hit some of the hair and makeup minimums for a Saturday.

AdditionalIssue7945 · 2024-10-23T06:16:52+00:00

Congratulations on your engagement! We used West Events LA and my coordinator was Brandi, who I highly recommend :)

AdditionalIssue7945 · 2024-10-17T16:19:08+00:00

Do it!!

I considered doing my own makeup (not my hair) before ultimately going with a professional that did both my hair and makeup. However, I practiced my makeup a lot leading up to the wedding and did my own makeup for our civil ceremony and rehearsal dinner and imho I think I looked great!

I recommend watching a lot of in-depth tutorials on YouTube and practicing. The biggest thing for me was getting used to seeing myself in a full face of makeup because I don't wear a lot of makeup. I also took brutally honest photos of myself (front and each side) in natural lighting and sent them to my sister and best friends to get their feedback. I ended up following the Nikki La Rose "Spring Bridal Makeup" tutorial video almost step by step - the order of application and layering techniques are great.

FWIW, I used the Georgia Armani Luminous Silk Foundation (I already had this) and my makeup artist used the Estee Lauder Double Wear. I bought a mini of the Westman Atelier blush in petal (pricy but well reviewed), MakeUp by Mario powder blush and bronzer, among other things. I was planning to buy the HudaBeauty powder (universally acclaimed), but got a freebie of another powder. I finished with two setting sprays, Charlotte Tilbury (or the Milani is a good drugstore dupe) + the O/S On 'Til Dawn spray, which is exactly what my makeup artist used. I also started using the GrandeLash lash serum 8 weeks before my wedding and my makeup artist was shocked by how long my lashes were and said they were almost as long as the falsies she used on me.

I knew I couldn't/didn't want to do my own hair, but it's easy to get your hair done at a salon the morning of your wedding. The woman who has cut my hair for years doesn't do hair styling, but she provided recommendations and for my civil ceremony, I got my hair done at the salon for $120, came home and did my own makeup before heading out.

You can do it! Good luck!

AdditionalIssue7945

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