So, the fiancée kept bugging me to write on this blog.
Here's my contribution.
I believe this is the concern for any couple about to walk down the aisle, be it at a church, or throwing a lavish dinner for family and friends.
But that is just the one big sum that could possibly be covered by red packets.
What about other things that require money? Note, I didn't say miscellaneous stuff. I meant there's a whole lot more than the wedding reception.
First of all, the engagement ring aka proposal ring, which the fiancée have been harping on. Thankfully, it's been omitted to lessen the budget. Estimated two to three grand, depending on the rock.
Besides the abovementioned ring, of course, there's the wedding bands. Rock optional. Works out to another two to three grand for a pair. We've decided on rose gold Cartier bands. Costs about 3.5k for the pair.
Then, comes the bridal shots. There are many choices for this. Whether to have it done locally (the in thing lately is the Marina Bay and Marina Barrage area. The old school ones are Botanical Gardens, *insert name here* Gardens, Sentosa etc.) or overseas (Asian countries like Malaysia, Taiwan, Japan. Europe is romantic too, if you have the budget.) Well, thanks to the package we signed, that's 2k for the shoot in Taiwan (air tickets, accommodation etc. excluded).
To finish up phase one of the planning/spending, is finding a venue for the actual day reception. Tables should range from $800 plus (restaurants) to well over $1,000 (hotels' ballroom). The number of tables is dependent on the number of guest invited. We've managed to keep the number of invited guest low, mainly family members and at most 3 tables of close friends cum colleagues. Still, the number came up to 12 tables. At $1,088++ per table, that works out to a little more than $15k, less alcohol and corkage charges.
Phase one costs: $20.5k
More to come.