One of our favorite things about Kansas City is the amount of talent here in our local wedding industry! With that talent comes a wide range of services offered, experience, and pricing options. While there are many core factors that determine your final wedding budget – guest count, season, day of the week, area of town, wedding party size, etc. – today we’ll be diving into the KC Wedding Budget Guide to see what a typical Kansas City budget breakdown might look like.

Getting started, it’s helpful to picture your wedding budget as pieces of a puzzle that fit together to create your dream wedding day versus an overall number that breaks out by percentages. While we love a good budget calculator, the percentages they provide can often be disproportionate to what a local vendor is actually charging. Within a wedding budget, there are some categories that are a fixed cost, no matter the season, date, guest count, or location.

VENDOR CATEGORIES WITH:

FIXED COSTS

  • Wedding Planner or Coordinator
  • Photographer
  • Videographer
  • Entertainment (band, dj, live music)
  • Venue – Tip: some venues offer “off-season” pricing at a discounted rate

VARIED COSTS

  • Florals
  • Stationery/Signage
  • Beauty
  • Catering
  • Bar Service
  • Dessert
  • Attire – Tip: because of the wide variance in price and emotional connection when shopping for your wedding attire, we recommend not including that cost in your total wedding budget.

In determining your budgeting needs, we recommend classifying the “type” of wedding you’re looking to host: 

Intimate ($1,000 - $10,000)

Guest counts of 5-20, with a civil ceremony or micro-wedding and small venue or restaurant booking to follow with minimal decor or personal details.

Economic ($15,000 - $35,000)

Guest counts of 25-150, where many of the services are self-provided or self-managed including beauty, bar service, dessert, catering, entertainment, and stationery/signage.

Standard ($35,000 - $60,000)

Guest counts of 100-200, hosted at a wedding venue and with fewer self-provided categories, leaning into vendor skills and expertise. 

Premium ($60,000 - $100,000)

Guest counts of 150+, hosted at a wedding venue with the majority of categories booked by a professional wedding vendor. 

Luxury ($100,000+)

Guest counts of 150+ hosted at a luxury wedding venue with all categories booked by a professional, best-in-class wedding vendor highlighting many custom specialty details and designs.

On average, for a standard wedding in downtown Kansas City with 150 guests, you can expect to allocate $50,000 for your wedding budget. Here’s a look at how that budget could possibly break down to each vendor type.

BREAKDOWN OF THE STANDARD KC WEDDING BUDGET:

  • Venue – $8,000
  • Coordinator – $2,500
  • Photographer – $6,000
  • Catering – $8,000 
  • Dessert – $1,200
  • Bar Service – $5,500
  • Entertainment/DJ – $3,500
  • Florals – $8,000 
  • Beauty (bride only) – $500
  • Officiant – $500
  • Misc. – $5,300
    • Based on priority could be videography, favors, signage, invitations, postage, wedding party hair and makeup, transportation, china/rental upgrades.
  • Fluff Fund – $1,000
    • Always leave spare money in the budget for incidentals, or to allow you to accept a quote for one of your wedding priorities and/or to cover wedding day vendor gratuity.

While figuring out your budget will help keep you on track through your planning, there are some factors and details that can quickly cause things to scale! So, be sure to consider these things early within your planning to avoid unwanted costs.

Number of wedding party members affects:

  • Beauty – hair and makeup services, plus additional artists for a larger group
  • Attire – if covering costs for your wedding party
  • Gifting 
  • Getting Ready space 
  • Transportation – larger shuttle options to fit the entire group

Number of wedding guests affects:

  • Save the Dates + Postage
  • Invitations + Postage
  • Catering + Service Staff
  • Dessert
  • Alcohol + Bar Service
  • Décor – tables, chairs, tablecloths, flowers and candles for each added guest table
  • Rentals – chargers, dinnerware, flatware, glassware, linens, and napkins

Gratuities, Taxes, Service Fees & Vendor Meals

Carefully read through your vendor proposals and contracts to best understand what the final total balance will be for the services. For example, while a caterer has a per-plate meal cost, there will also be service fees and tax included on the full event quote.

Check to see if the proposal includes a line item for gratuity, or if you’ll need to include that in your total category allocation. This is most common on food and beverage proposals. And while some proposals don’t include a gratuity clause, you may want to show your appreciation anyway and should budget appropriately to do so on or after the wedding day.

Everyone needs fuel to make it through the long wedding day – including you and your vendors. Don’t forget to include both parties in the proposed catering headcount.

Vendor Trials & Tastings

It is common that any vendor providing a hard cost good for your preview will charge for that service. The three most common categories for this are catering, dessert, and beauty.

Event Insurance

Regardless if your wedding venue requires it or not, wedding insurance is something you need to have in place as it protects you from financial impact of unforeseen scenarios. But the cost of coverage changes with the logistics of your wedding. Some questions you may be asked include the number of guests, the timing of the event, and who is purchasing alcohol and/or serving alcohol.

Execution of a Contingency Plan

No one wants their contingency plan to become a reality, but the reality is, executing a contingency plan is usually a week-of decision thats already filled will stress, so being aware of the costs ahead of time is important. If any element of your wedding is to take place outdoors – from the ceremony to photos, cocktail hour to reception – you need to walk through the Plan B alternatives and what costs you can expect to keep the celebration intact. Tents can come with a wide range of expenses including rental, sidewalls, installation fees, heating/cooling, and flooring. Research different contingency plans and their possible impact on your budget. 

Now we get to the planning! Set a goal for each category and keep track of your budget as each new vendor is booked. Once your major “must have” vendors are secured, reassess the remaining amount and prioritize your wants for the remainder of your budget. 

We hope the KC Wedding Budget Guide helped you along your wedding planning journey. Make sure to check out this website for helpful planning articles, top vendor recommendations, and free resources to get you started. We recommend investing in planning support to help make wedding planning streamlined and simplified. You can hire a wedding planner who is an expert in budgeting or you can check our favorite online tool, the Virtual Wedding Planner, but any support system is going to be helpful and give you peace of mind. Dedicate one day a week as your planning focus day, and start checking those items off the to-do list. And don’t forget to tag us in your wedding photos; we know it’s going to be an amazing wedding day!

Enjoy the KC Wedding Budget Guide?Ready to start finding vendors for your wedding? Check out our collection of Kansas City Wedding Vendors.