How to spend a $15,000 wedding budget
For about 40 guests, that is $375 a head. Here is where each dollar should go — and the 23 line items to cap so the money lands where people notice.
| Where it goes | Share | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Food | 22% | $3,250 |
| Venue — the bones of the room | 21% | $3,150 |
| Photography | 10% | $1,550 |
| Bar — quality and openness | 9% | $1,300 |
| Focal florals | 8% | $1,150 |
| Music & entertainment | 8% | $1,150 |
| Attire | 7% | $1,000 |
| Lighting | 6% | $850 |
| Paper & typography | 3% | $450 |
| Everything else — 23 items, capped | 8% | $1,200 |
| Total | $15,000 |
What this budget can and cannot carry
At $375 a head, the binding constraint is headcount, not taste. Catering, bar, rentals, stationery and favours all scale per person; the venue largely does not. Cutting 6 guests frees roughly $2,300 — more than most couples find by trimming a whole category.
The largest line here is food at $3,250. That is deliberate: it is the thing guests stand in and photograph. The smallest allocations go to paper and the capped items, because nobody has ever described a wedding by its menu cards.
Before you sign anything
A $15,000 budget is usually quoted against, not planned to. Venue packages routinely exclude 11 costs that together add about $9,795 on a 150-guest wedding — service charge, tax on the service charge, cake cutting, corkage, vendor meals, overtime. Against $15,000 that is roughly 65% of everything you have, appearing after the contract is signed.