Location, location, location… This chapter should be fairly easy to explain and understand. When booking your wedding location the cost will depend entirely upon whether you’re doing a church wedding or some other locale.

For me, the decision was easy. I’m getting married in the church I grew up in. Many of my childhood memories occurred in the church or with people I met at church. Avoiding the religion topic – I will say that it was extremely important to me that I get married in the church.

Having decided that – and due to the fact that I’m a member of my church – I was able to cut costs by opting to do the ceremony and reception there. I had already decided I didn’t want a dance and neither Brett nor I are particularly fond of alcohol, so both of those typical wedding occurances were non-issues.

Bottom line – the ceremony and reception sites are very important details that you should book as soon as you pick a date. Other related budgeting considerations include: officiant fee (who’s the minister and how you’re paying him), musicians and related fees, sound technicians, and any other location staff that may need to be paid.

My knot budgeter page says I should be paying the following based on a $10,000 budget:

• $800 Reception location
• $100 Ceremony location
• $100 Officiant
• $800 Musicians for reception and ceremony
• $150 Transportation from ceremony to reception

That’s a total of $1,950.00! We’ll be paying less than half for all of those things. (We won’t need a DJ or transportation – or a seperate location for the reception.) Talk about savings!

What are your thoughts on the reception site? Any other ways to cut costs? We’d love to hear your opinions!