What does a PEI Wedding cost?
BUDGET TALK
I know budget is a gross word and many couples don’t like having that conversation. It can be a point of contention when partners can’t come to an agreement, or have different priorities or expectations. I don’t love the topic either - because budgets are so subjective and what is like a lot of money to one person may not be a lot to the next. I often wonder if couples sometimes downplay their budget for fear or being judged or criticized for their expenditures. Many people also love to talk about the deals they have snagged, so I feel like sometimes there is this competition to say, “I had the wedding of my dreams on a shoestring budget!” Let’s face it - weddings are expensive, and people who aren’t in the thick of planning one often don’t realize just how costs add up.
At least once a week I’m asked, “What does the average wedding cost?” I have such a hard time answering this because budgets vary so widely. Truthfully, I understand that I’m an accessory vendor and a luxury that I know doesn’t fit in all budgets, so don’t tend to see enough of a range to give you a true average. I feel guilty giving a number when there are many factors at play that goes into how far your budget can take you. But, I’ll get to that - I promise!
PEI is a completely unique wedding market in so many ways, and budgets are no exception. Yes, your dollars tend to go further on a wedding in PEI vs larger cities like Toronto or Vancouver. However, the market has changed significantly over the last five years and as demand increases, costs have gone up as well. What was a healthy budget in 2016 or 2019 is not going to go as far in 2023, especially when we’re considering the wedding boom we are currently facing.
As a disclaimer, everything I’ve written here is based on my opinions and experience, having worked with almost 200 couples on weddings of all scales. Please don’t come at me telling me that I’m wrong - everyone has different experiences and approaches, and the numbers within are based on real weddings and real couples that we have worked with. Is it possible to get married with any budget? Absolutely. But you can’t have it all with any budget.
Where do we start?
Part of the problem is that when you’re planning a wedding, it’s usually your first time, and most couples have no idea where to begin with a budget. You get engaged, and excitedly start getting prices and you often don’t know what you can afford. You might google “wedding costs” and find some generic answers, but how do you know if that stacks up in relation to the PEI market?
The most common mistake I see couples making is rushing to book a venue or vendors without actually looking at how those commitments fit within their budget as a whole. So often, couples come to me saying their overall budget is $X, they’ve booked A, B + C vendors, and have already exhausted 80% of their budget without even considering the half dozen other very important elements of their wedding. It leaves me wondering - do they just not know what other expenses they’ve missed, are they intentionally not doing the math because they don’t want to know the real number, or are they downplaying their actual budget for some reason or another? If you are in this boat - don’t be embarrassed, it’s SO common and that’s why I’m bringing it up.
The next mistake I see is not setting a budget at all. This can go one of two ways - either you don’t actually have a ceiling and you’re going to evaluate each line item and determine its value to you, OR you’re going to start signing contracts and quickly realize that you do in fact have a ceiling and you’re quickly maxing out, because you haven’t planned appropriately.
At the very least, setting a preliminary number you are comfortable with will help you determine where you fall on the spectrum. This will help you determine what sort of price range you should try to stick within for each category. I’ll go into percentage break downs later on. Once you set your preliminary budget, you can still evaluate each item and see if it’s worth it to you to splurge or save. If you want to stay within budget, you NEED to keep track of your spending.
Let’s be realistic
Much like when we talk about making wedding timelines, I think a lot of couples fall victim to writing a budget with no real basis for what is realistic. Just like setting your household budget, you can’t just say, “This is the maximum amount I can spend on this,” and will that into happening - sometimes, it’s just not possible, or not without making some major concessions that you may not be prepared to make. Setting a realistic budget comes down to the event’s size & complexity, and your wedding priorities.
The first thing I always talk about when it comes to budgeting is prioritizing. If you can pinpoint what is most important to you, then you can concentrate your time, money and efforts on those aspects and save on the ones that aren’t as important to you. BUT - if everything is your top priority, or you’re not willing to compromise, then expect to need to scale your budget to accommodate. Once you have your priorities figured out, start making some inquiries and see where your first choice vendors fit into your budget. If they don’t fit, you need to decide if they’re important enough for you to re-evaluate your budget, or if you can be happy with someone who does.
The bottom line
Here’s where it gets uncomfortable, and I know a lot of people are going to be upset by this. (My big city planner friends are going to laugh at this though!) On average, our clients are spending around $30-35k to get married in PEI for weddings averaging 125 guests. Some couples initially plan to spend less and find they have too many top priorities and end up spending more, some tell themselves they’re spending less and stop tracking their costs, and some budget meticulously, track every penny, ask for help when they need to work on priorities to make it all fit.
If you’ve read this far, you’re probably feeling pretty overwhelmed and maybe a little discouraged. Please understand that I’m NOT saying that you have to spend that much money to get married - I’m just being realistic in saying that the majority of our couples find that in order to have the wedding they want, that’s what they’re spending. These are not exorbitant or luxury weddings, these couples are often still having to make difficult decisions on what they can cut to be able to splurge elsewhere.
Category breakdowns
When I do a budget breakdown with my couples, we start with a high level look at the general categories and rough industry standard percentages to give us a price range to look at. Here’s what that looks like:
Transportation 2-3%
Ceremony 1-2%
Stationery 1-2%
Gifts 1-2%
Flowers + Decor 4-8%
Entertainment 4-8%
Attire + Beauty 6-10%
Photo + Video 10-15%
Reception (including venue, rentals, food, alcohol, etc.) 40-60%
Management or Planning 8-15%
Then, if they have already committed to some vendors, I will add in the actual costs they have committed to, and try to work the rest around to fit within their budget, to the best of my abilities. If not, I start with the lowest percentage, and then we alter based on their priorities.
Actual costs
I hesitate to say “average costs” because I know these may not be a true industry average, but the costs below would be an average of what our couples are spending on each.
Transportation: Depending on what you are looking for, many transportation options range from $100-$150+ per hour and often will come at a 3-4 hour minimum. We tend to see this falling around $600-$800, but a party bus or full day transportation can run $1200-$1500+.
Ceremony: This ranges widely as many couples are now getting married at the same venue where the reception is held, so we account for any venue fees within the reception cost. A marriage commissioner on PEI can range in price from $200-$600+. If you need to rent seating for your ceremony, expect to pay anywhere from $3-$8 per person.
Stationery: With many couples now moving towards digital stationery, stationery has generally come down as a priority. Take note that this also includes things like signage, menus, programs, etc. in addition to your save the dates and invitations. If you are sending physical cards, remember to account for your stamps as well. You only need to send one per household rather than one per guest, but a single stamp is $1.07 to send within Canada currently. Depending on whether you are printing your own invitations, ordering them from a stationer, having them professionally designed and printed, etc. this is a very wide range. On the extreme low end, you can print invitations for as low as $0.50 each, or on the high end… well, it can get pricy.
Gifts: This would include gifts for your wedding party, family, and anyone else who might play a special role in the day. I have a hard time setting boundaries for this for my couples because I can’t set a value on what their key people mean to them.
Flowers + Decor: Floral costs are on the rise due to supply chain shortages caused by COVID-19. Even at the wholesale level, flowers are expensive, so please don’t take it out on your florist if your quote comes back higher than you anticipated! The good news is, you can really scale this based on how important flowers are to you. Florists in PEI generally don’t have an order minimum to work with you, so if all you can afford is a bridal bouquet, then you can work with a florist to design your dream bouquet to be your focal point. With flower costs rapidly changing, please note that this pricing could very quickly be outdated and depends wildly on what type of flowers you want and the size of the arrangements:
Bridal bouquet $190+
Bridesmaids bouquets $65+
Boutonnieres $20+
Arch sprays $250+
Altar arrangements $175+
Garlands $25+/foot
Centrepieces (very size dependant) $50+/ea
Entertainment: At the very basic level, most couples are looking for entertainment for their dance. A DJ can range in price from $400-$1200+ depending on what sort of equipment and effects they have and how long their package is, but most start out with a 4-hour dance. Consider that for a band, you’re usually paying for 4-5 musicians instead of one, so the cost is scaled to match. A beginner band might start pricing around $1800, while we see more experienced and mature professional groups in the $3000-$4000 range.
Attire + Beauty: This is again an area where I struggle to set a cap, as a wedding dress is often a high priority and I am not the one who should be putting a cap on that. We generally start somewhere in the middle of the industry standard and work on it from there. For hair and make up, expect to see pricing around $80-$100+ per head for bridesmaid hair and make up, and $125-$150 each for bridal hair and make up.
Photo + Video: PEI has an abundance of photographers of all levels of experience, so again please keep in mind that the average here is for the photographers we work with most often. When you are comparing photographers, be sure you are comparing apples to apples. Meaning, the number of hours in the package, whether or not the package includes one shooter or two, and what else might be included such as engagement session, heirloom album, prints, etc. Most of our clients find that an 8-9 hour package is the perfect fit for full wedding coverage, and we typically see packages ranging from $3500-$4500+. If photography is a high priority for you, please also note that there is so much more to consider than cost when you’re booking your photographer! We have much fewer videographers than photographers with wildly ranging experience levels as well. For an experienced videographer, couples are usually spending $2500-$3500, up to $5000-$6000+ on the higher end.
Reception: This is a huge portion of your budget and obviously encompasses a lot, so I’m trying to keep to the basics here.
Venue fees: Venue fees range from $1000-$6000 and some operate on a sliding scale depending on how many guests you have. When comparing, be sure you take note of what is included: are you going to be paying extra for your tables, chairs, linens, chair covers, plates, etc.? Be sure you understand what the venue fee covers before you make any commitments. Also take note of any food and beverage minimum spends, and make sure those will fit in your budget as well.
Food: The largest portion of this is typically your food. On average, we see couples spending $40-50+ per head for a 3-course meal. Cocktail hour and late night snack food also adds up fast, and if your venue has an in-house caterer, they will likely need to be supplying these as well so your cost per head will typically be higher than just ordering pizza or having burgers delivered. F+B minimums tend to range from $2500-$5000+.
Alcohol: PEI is entirely consumption based, so if you’re looking at having an open bar, you will pay for every single drink that gets ordered. In contrast, if you go to a wedding in Toronto, you would be more likely to see an open bar because couples are typically charged a flat fee for each guest for the night to cover both food and alcohol. For this reason, PEI rarely sees open bars. I typically advise couples to set a number they are comfortable with spending and from there we can evaluate how best to spend this - drink tickets, table wine, host bar until it runs out, subsidized bar, etc. Most venues have their drink pricing online, but expect an average of ~$7/drink. If you’re trying to price out an open bar, the general rule of thumb is one drink per guest per hour. So for a 100 person wedding starting at 6pm and ending at 2am, I would budget: 100 guests x 8 hours x $7 = $5600 x 1.15 (grat) x 1.15 (tax) = $7406
Planning + Management: In the US, many planners are percentage based so they will actually take a cut of your budget as their fee. We do not operate on this model, most Canadian planners operate on a flat fee or hourly basis. Our packages are set based on the scope of support you need. However, the reason I set a limit on where we should fall in your budget is because I personally don’t feel comfortable if I know that you are having to make sacrifices elsewhere to make our services fit. This is not an area that I typically advise stretching too far, even if having a planner or coordinator is a priority for you. For me, I never want to be a source of stress for my couples, and that includes financially! If you’re considering working with a planner or coordinator that falls outside of this range for your budget, then consider a package that offers a lower scope as a compromise, or a planner that offers a different scope of services altogether.
Expense checklist
While I do want to keep my actual detailed budget tracking spreadsheet exclusive to my clients, I’ve attached a list of many line item expenses that you may run into through the process of planning a wedding. Will every wedding have all of these expenses? No, but it’s still good to be aware of them so you can be informed!
I know this was A LOT but as always, I’d rather see people over-informed than in the dark. I hope this was helpful!
xo Kristina