Balance - Wedding Budget Blues

Let's think about what goes into your wedding budget. Your caterer/banquet facility will get the lion's share of it. If you are having 150 guests (an average number) and the banquet facility charges $100 pp. (typical high-end facility in New England area - including gratuity, tax, hidden fees) - that works out to $15,000 right off the top. If you have it and want to spend it - great. If you are trying to stretch your wedding dollars, then you really need to step back. Many couples get so caught up in the facility that they spend all their budget on it and don't have enough left over for quality entertainment or wedding photos.

If you took that same 150 guests and found a facility that only cost $75 pp, you now have an additional $4,000 that you can spend on your photographer and disc jockey. Why? When you walk away from your reception - if the music was a disaster - the entire event is a disaster. If you don't have quality wedding photos to cherish for years to come, it will just fade in your memory. The reality is - if the view wasn't so great at the facility and the food was just ok - people will not care as long as they had a great time. Think about that before you spend your entire wedding budget on the facility and run out of money for everything else. There needs to be a balance in your wedding budget.

In the New England Area average pricing for a quality disc jockey ranges between $1000-$1500. For a quality professional photographer, you should expect to spend at least $2,500-$4,000. Believe me, you will know the difference if you hire below this range.

Rob Alberti
After Hours DJ Service
http://www.afterhoursdj.net

In The News:

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Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, December 1, 2008. (Brendan McDermid/Reuters)AP - Wall Street headed toward a higher open Tuesday, following a now-familiar pattern of snapping back after a huge selloff. Investors, while looking for bargains, are focusing on the health of retailers and automakers.



Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., speaks during a meeting in her office on Capitol Hill in Washington, Monday, Dec. 1,  2008. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)AP - Detroit's automakers, making a second bid for $25 billion in funding, are presenting Congress with plans Tuesday to restructure their ailing companies and provide assurances that the funding will help them survive and thrive.



Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke speaks during a luncheon of the Austin Chamber of Commerce Monday, Dec. 1, 2008, in Austin, Texas. He said  that further interest-rate cuts are 'certainly feasible,' but he warned there are limits to how much such action would revive an economy likely to stay weak well into next year.   (AP Photo/Harry Cabluck)AP - Walloped by the recession, automakers' U.S. sales are plummeting as hard-to-get credit, job losses and other stresses make many Americans wary of taking on big-ticket financial commitments.



An anti-goverment protester reacts to the news that Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat's ruling People's Power Party must disband at Suvarnabhumi Airport Tuesday, Dec. 2, 2008 in Bangkok Thailand. Somchai says he has accepted a court ruling to step down because of electoral fraud committed by his political party. (AP Photo/Ed Wray)AP - Thailand's prime minister resigned on Tuesday after weeks of protests that paralyzed his government and closed the capital's airports. Cargo flights resumed and protesters promised to lift their siege by Wednesday.



Saddam Hussein's cousin Ali Hassan al-Majid, known as 'Chemical Ali,' for his alleged use of chemical weapons against Iraqi Kurds, listens to prosecution evidence during the Operation Anfal trial, in Baghdad, Iraq, in this, Jan. 8, 2007, file photo.  A  special Iraqi court sentenced  'Chemical Ali' Hassan al-Majid, to death Tuesday, Dec. 2, 2008,  after convicting him of crimes against humanity for his part in crushing the 1991 Shiite uprising in southern Iraq. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic, File)AP - A special Iraqi court sentenced Saddam Hussein's notorious cousin, "Chemical Ali" Hassan al-Majid, to death Tuesday after convicting him of crimes against humanity for his part in crushing the 1991 Shiite uprising in southern Iraq.



Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate Jim Martin, right, thanks hip hop artists T.I., left, Jeezy, second from left, and Ludacris for their support during an election rally held on the capitol steps  Monday, Dec. 1, in Atlanta. Martin is facing Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga, in a runoff for a U.S. Senate seat tomorrow. (AP Photo/John Amis)AP - Georgia voters had their hands on the balance of power in the next U.S. Senate as polls opened Tuesday for a runoff election, one of two unresolved races that Democrats need to win to get a 60-seat majority impervious to GOP filibusters.



Tape covers bullet holes in the windows of the newly-reopened Refresh Cafe in the landmark Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus train station, in Mumbai, India, Monday Dec. 1, 2008.  This scarred and traumatized city struggled back to its feet Monday, reopening schools and businesses, as residents tried to come to terms with the string of terror attacks that brought bloodshed to the heart of Mumbai. The owner of the cafe said he had little choice but to reopen the fast food restaurant in the station, even though its glass wall is scarred with bullet holes, half his staff refused to come back and his brother is on a ventilator in the intensive care unit after being shot in the abdomen by the attackers. (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis)AP - India picked up intelligence in recent months that terrorists were plotting attacks against Mumbai targets, an official said Tuesday, as the government demanded that Islamabad hand over suspected terrorists believed living in Pakistan.



Karolinska Institute student Andrew Ketterer, left, faces a mannequin in 'body-swap' illusion test, a method whereby people can experience the illusion that either a mannequin or another person's body is their own body Monday Dec. 1, 2008 in Stockholm. In a study presented Tuesday, neuroscientists at Stockholm's renowned Karolinska Institute show how they got volunteers wearing virtual reality goggles to experience the illusion of swapping bodies with a mannequin and a real person. (AP Photo/Niklas Larsson)AP - Shaking hands with yourself is an amusing out-of-body experience. The illusion of having your stomach slashed with a kitchen knife, not so much.



Pop star Britney Spears leaves Fountain Studios in Wembley, London, after her X Factor performance on Saturday November 29, 2008. (AP Photo/PA, Carl Court)AP - She did it again: Britney Spears was the most popular search term on Yahoo for the fourth year in a row — her seventh time topping the list.



Golden State Warriors guard Jamal Crawford (6) dribbles past Miami Heat forward Michael Beasley (30) during the first half of an NBA basketball game in Oakland, Calif., Monday, Dec. 1, 2008.(AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)AP - Chris Quinn hit a tying 3-pointer with 7.1 seconds left in overtime, Michael Beasley stole the ensuing inbounds pass and made the decisive free throw, and the Miami Heat pulled off a wild 130-129 comeback win over the Golden State Warriors on Monday night.



Anti-government protesters celebrate as they hold flowers during a rally at Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi international airport, December 2, 2008. (Chaiwat Subprasom/Reuters)Reuters - Thai Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat was banned from politics for five years and his party disbanded on Tuesday, plunging the country deeper into chaos and raising fears of a violent backlash by government supporters.



Women walk near a currency exchange bureau in St. Petersburg, December 1, 2008. (Alexander Demianchuk/Reuters)Reuters - The European Commission on Tuesday promised measures to get state-aided banks to start lending to the real economy but EU finance ministers squabbled over ways to push back against the global financial crisis.



Incumbent Senator Saxby Chambliss reacts as Alaska Governor Sarah Palin addresses the crowd during a rally in Duluth, Georgia December 1, 2008. (Tami Chappell/Reuters)Reuters - The U.S. state of Georgia votes in a run-off election for U.S. Senate on Tuesday that will help decide whether Democrats gain a big enough majority in the chamber to ram through legislation virtually at will.



David Roseboro fills up his pickup truck at a gas station in Charlotte, North Carolina September 29, 2008. (Chris Keane/Reuters)Reuters - Oil pared losses on Tuesday after an earlier fall to a new 3-1/2-year low below $48 a barrel, weighed down by heavy losses in global stock markets after confirmation that the United States was in recession.



Reuters - Two U.S. soldiers serving in Afghanistan have been charged with the abuse of Afghan detainees, the U.S. military said Tuesday.

A Seattle police officer helps a person injured after a mock nuclear 'dirty bomb' explosion in a 2003 terrorism response exercise. (Robert Sorbo/Reuters)Reuters - The chances of a terror attack on a major city somewhere in the world using weapons of mass destruction are better than even, according to a task force mandated by the U.S. Congress, The Washington Post reported in its Tuesday edition.



Hindu saints offer prayers at a temple for the victims of the Mumbai attacks in the western Indian city of Ahmedabad, November 30, 2008. (Amit Dave/Reuters)Reuters - India demanded Pakistan hand over 20 of its most wanted fugitives as a sign of good faith on Tuesday, while both sides tried to cool tensions over the Mumbai attacks that have threatened improving ties.



Visitors try out new software for Microsoft's video game console Xbox 360 at the Tokyo Game Show 2008 in Chiba, east of Tokyo, October 11, 2008. (Yuriko Nakao/Reuters)Reuters - Spending a lot of time watching TV, playing video games and surfing the Web makes children more prone to a range of health problems including obesity and smoking, U.S. researchers said on Tuesday.



Anti-government protesters inspect the site of a grenade attack at Don Mueang airport in Bangkok. One anti-government protester was killed and 22 wounded in the attack(AFP/Str)AFP - A Thai court stripped Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat of his post and outlawed the ruling party on Tuesday, prompting jubilant anti-government protesters to lift a blockade of Bangkok's main airport.



Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi has said that Islamabad has suggested setting up a AFP - Pakistan offered on Tuesday to work hand-in-hand with India to track down those responsible for the Mumbai attacks but declined to respond immediately to a demand that it hand over 20 terrorist suspects.




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