If you are looking for a low-cost wedding budget breakdown example where the couple spent N700k in Nigeria, this post is for you – it is an example of how to plan a Nigerian wedding with less than N700k budget (seven hundred thousand Naira). Feel free to incorporate ideas from this sample budget into the plans of your own small wedding.
Summary: Wedding Budget Breakdown for 70 Guests, that Cost N700k
Number of Guests: 70
Total Cost of the Wedding: N668,400.00 – actually less than N700k (seven hundred thousand Naira)
Bride and Groom’s attire N124,500
Wedding Venue and Decoration N110,000.00
Stationery + Souvenirs N60,000.00
Food + Drinks N202,500.00
Entertainment + Visuals N60,000.00
Miscellaneous N111,400.00
MORE WEDDING BUDGET ARTICLES:
- Two Million Naira (N2m) Wedding Budget Example
- Wedding Reception Coordination Planning Checklist
- Nigerian Traditional Wedding Planning Checklist
- Nigerian White Wedding Checklist
- How to Plan a Nigerian Wedding in 3 Months or Less (Checklist)
Breakdown and Details of the N700k Nigerian Wedding
Bride & Groom’s Attire
- Rent a used or pre-owned wedding gown N25,000
- Bride’s shoes N7,500
- Bridal Accessories: bouquet, veil, headpiece; earrings, necklace etc N10,000
- Bridal beauty: Hair/ Nails/ Makeup N15,000
- Wedding rings (bride + groom) – GL (gold plated) N20,000
- Groom’s Shoes N15,000.00
- Groom’s wedding suit N15,000
- Groom’s Accessories (e.g cuff links, belt, flower boutonniere/ handkerchief) N15,000
- Groom’s Grooming (e.g haircut, beard shaving) N2,000
Stationery & Souvenirs
- Invitation cards & program printing N15,000
- Souvenirs to gift guests N45,000
Reception Venue & Decoration
- Venue + Rentals(canopy tents, chairs, tables etc) N100,000
- Decoration: venue, bride and groom’s wedding day transportation, venue décor N10,000
Reception Food & Drinks
- Wedding Cake (cost at about N300/ guest count) N22,500
- Food (cost at N2,000/ plate serving) N150,000
- Drinks/ Juice/ Water (cost at N400/ person) N30,000
Reception Entertainment & Visuals
- Photography (No videos; only photos) N40,000
- Master of Ceremony (MC) – by friend/ family member N0
- DJ only (No Music Band) N20,000
- Miscellaneous N111,400
>>Related: How to make a Nigerian wedding budget
Cost Basis for this 70-Guests Nigerian Wedding
- The venue was a cheap place – town hall or garden or open field
- There was no music band, only a DJ was hired
- No money was spent to hire a MC – a friend was asked to do it
- The bride rented a used/ pre-owned wedding gown
- The couple purchased GL (gold plated) wedding rings, instead of the more expensive gold or silver rings
- No other pre-wedding or day-of-wedding task was hired to paid vendors, instead, friends and family members helped out with every other task
- A wedding planner was not hired because there were lots of willing friends and family members to help in one or more areas of the wedding planning
Disclaimer: The above sample wedding budget breakdown was for a real-life event that took place in Nigeria, and so the above costs/ prices of things represent what obtained in the Nigerian market as at the time of writing this article. Ensure to check the market and wedding vendors if you want to customize this budget breakdown for your own Naija wedding.
- RELATED: Many Practical Ways to reduce cost of a wedding – read this and also read this.
- SEE: Yoruba Engagement List for Grooms
Your Thoughts on N700k Wedding Budget
This is part 2 in our series of examples of small, low-cost wedding budgets in Nigeria – part 1 is here.
There you have it, on our example of what a N700k Nigerian wedding budget expenses looks like, and an example of how to organize a 70-guest Nigerian wedding without spending more. Hopefully, you’ve picked one or more ideas from that budget, to use in estimating your wedding cost.
Update: The initial sample budget we featured here was a N700k wedding that had 150 guests. It is no longer feasible to host that number of guests at that cost, due to the high increase in cost of everything, and so the sample wedding budget above has been updated to reflect the current reality. Food and drinks cost, is determined by the number of guests that will be fed.
So, presently, the way to have a N700k wedding today is to have a few number of guests. It’s a fact that very large number of guests is the number 1 reason why Nigerian weddings are expensive. If you can be okay with having fewer guests, you can have a budget-friendly wedding.
Now, it’s your turn to say something. Let’s say, you were planning a low-cost wedding and cannot spend more than N700k, what would you do differently? Tell me in the comments below.
Am budgeting the Sum of 500,000 for only Igbo traditional marriage ceremony.please help me with the break down on how to manage it.
Hi Chidimma. I made an automatic budget calculator (click) for you – just go there, enter your budget amount (500000) and the breakdown will immediately display for you.
Please go to that page and let me know how it goes. Many of our readers are already using it.
Well done!
Good day ma… Thanks for all you’re doing.
Ma’am, do you think 1m or 1.5m will be enough for both traditional and white wedding
How do i go about this without hiring event planner.
Thanks.
Hi Amos, thanks for the feedback.
It can be enough if you don’t invite many people, and also either host your trad and white wedding on same day OR do a family-only small traditional wedding.
As long as you invite a few people, you will be okay.
PLANNING TIPS:
1) For the planning, start by doing your budget breakdown before spending a Kobo. That will give you an idea of how much max to spend on what – so that you won’t overspend or run out of money. *Use my Free Wedding Budget Calculator here – just type in your budget amount and it will show you your breakdown.
2) Use a Wedding Planning Checklist (aka To-Do List): This is a breakdown of activities to do in the right order, towards the wedding. I created a Nigerian Traditional Wedding Planning Checklist, and also a White Wedding Planning Checklist that you can just use.
3) Get a Day-of-Wedding Coordination Plan Checklist, and assign that role and your closest friend or relative you want to oversee things on your behalf on the wedding day, while you are having fun. This person will be “your eyes’ and be in the background to coordinate vendors and other things during your wedding event. *Just print this Coordination checklist and give to the person you assign as your Wedding day coordinator, so they know what to do.
4) Don’t hire the wrong vendors. use my guide to know where and how to find the best wedding vendors for your budget; the ones that will know underperform and/ or disappoint you. The best vendors are not necessarily the most expensive.
5) Use this Nigerian wedding venue checklist when looking for and inspecting wedding venues, to know what to avoid and what are must-haves.
*If you want to have a 2-in-1 wedding (traditional and white wedding on same day, check out this Checklist of To-Dos.
Hope that helps.
Having a budget of 700k for my traditional wedding.
Hi Oluyemi, that’s okay. To get an idea of how to spend that amount on your wedding, go to our automatic wedding budget calculator and type in that amount.
Further Tips:
-Keep the number of guests down to a classy small size (it’s not classy to have many guests and give out not-enough food and meat portions). I had written tips and guides on how to make a perfect guest list and how to know the number of guests that your budget can accommodate (use the search button here to find the posts);
-Get a few close friends and/ or family to help you in the planning, and involve them early;
-Do things that can save you money without making you look cheap. I had written some guides and tips on that. Search here on this blog for small wedding ideas and cost-saving tips.
Hope those tips (and articles I pointed you to) help you.
Also, let me know how you find our automatic budget calculator which many brides and grooms have told me was a life-saver.
Hello Good evening
Please am planning a combined wedding both white and traditional.Please can u give me a guide in how 600,000 would be sufficient for 200 guests.
Hello Geraldine, congrats on your upcoming wedding. The truth is that N600k is not going to be sufficient for that many guests – below is my reason why, what you can do, and a breakdown guide for how to spend your N600k wedding budget.
N600k can only be possible if it is strictly for the food and drinks (and not for the entire wedding). N600k breaks down to N3k per guest for food and drinks. Even if you are able to find a very affordable caterer or have relatives do your wedding-day cooking in-house, you could squeeze spending between N450k and N500k on food and drinks for your guests. And that leaves you with N100k to spend on other wedding things, and that would not be enough.
Given that the price of everything in the country has seriously increased, it would be impractical to do a N600k wedding for so many guests, like 200 people. Besides, most couples are cutting down their guest size – to comply with the Government’s COVID-19 regulation and also to keep celebrants and guests safe.
Summary:
-If you are bent on 200 guests, consider increasing your budget to match the cost of food and drinks for that number of people. Ask caterers near you for an idea of how much they will charge to cook for 200 guests – that’s how you’ll know your food budget.
-If you cannot increase your budget above N600k, consider reducing your guest count by half or even more.
*A sample breakdown for how to spend N600k on your wedding:
228,000 – food, drinks, wedding cake [you need to go to a caterer to find out how many people this can feed, and that should be your possible number of guests].
120,000 – venue hire & décoration
72,000 – rings and couple’s outfits
30,000 – invitation cards, reception programme, souvenirs
120,000 – DJ/ live music band, MC, photographer, video
30,000 – Miscellaneous/ anything that comes up, or that you forgot
That’s my thoughts. Hope it helps you.
Thanks so much I really appreciate, God bless you.
I will invite about 50 to 70 people
You’re welcome, Sandra.
That’s cool. I wish you all the best, and I know you’ll both look pretty and have the most fun at your wedding.
Be sure to let us know how it went down, and if you like the wedding photos and love story to be featured here on this blog, we’re here for you. Cheers!
600k for the white wedding
Hi Sandra, okay. That should be enough IF you follow the tips in my reply to your previous comment. Just invite few people so that you would not overspend on food and drinks, and also have enough change for the other wedding things. A quality smaller wedding is better than a large crowded wedding where the food is being managed.
That’s my small advice. Hope it helps you.
Please, I’m planning my wedding is taking place in abeokuta we have already bought the bride dress and the groom suite and shoes. Is 600k going be enough?
Hello Sandra. You did not say if the N600k budget is for the white wedding only or for both the traditional wedding and white. It can be enough for a white wedding IF you only invite the right number of guests so that you won’t have to overspend on food and drinks. Too many guests will cost more.
With about 50 to 100 guests and an affordable venue, it should be enough.
Hi, I am budgeting 1,300,000 for both traditional and white wedding can you please help me with the budget breakdown
Hello Precious, here’s an idea of how to spend or break-down N1.3 million Naira for a wedding:
494,000 – wedding cake, food & drinks, optional small chops
260,000 – venue hire & decoration, rental of canopy Tents, chair & tables, ushers
156,000 – couple’s outfits and rings, bride’s makeup.
65,000 – invitation cards, reception programme, souvenirs
260,000 – DJ and/ or live music band, MC, photographer, video coverage, wedding day coordinator
65,000 – Miscellaneous/ any other thing that comes up, or that you forgot
Hope that helps.
Thanks very much for the beautiful work you are doing.
I recently found your platform. its amazing.I want to ask you to help me out in breaking down 1m for a wedding in Asaba we would like a hall around GRA. I live in warri and i have gotten a dj i am taking to asaba for 50K.
Thanks
Hello Bryan, here’s a N1m Nigerian wedding budget breakdown (click). Feel free to tweak it/ change things around as suits you, as that is only a suggestion breakdown.
>Additional Note: Once you find a suitable hall, deduct the cost from your N1m. After that, divide up the rest of your spendings on the remaining wedding things.
>However, ensure that you invite the right number of guests that your budget can afford.
>Event caterers often quote costs on a per plate basis. You should find the catering breakdown budget in the N1m wedding budget breakdown link (I above).
>An idea to know how many guests are best for your wedding budget is to take your food and drinks budget and then divide it by the per-plate price of food your caterer gave you.
Hope that helps.
Thanks for taking the time to post this information
I want to ask you to help me out in breaking down 1.5m for a wedding in Lagos including hall in mainland excluding Ikeja. I live at Alagabado.
Thanks
Hi Raymond, thanks for your feedback – we’re glad you loved our Nigerian wedding budget breakdown tips.
Here’s one way (below) to spend N1.5 million (Naira) on a Lagos mainland wedding:
570,000 — food/ drinks/ cake
300,000 — venue hire & & décoration, Canopy Tents, chair n table rentals | bouncers/ security, ushers
180,000 — couple’s outfits/ beauty/ fashion, rings (for a higher budget wedding, couple may spend less on outfit/ fashion, and use the savings to splurge on other areas like entetainment, venue and/ or other areas, depending on their priorities.
75,000 — invitation cards, reception programme, souvenirs
345,000 — entertainment & photography & coordination – DJ/ live music band, MC, photographer, video coverage, D-day coordinator (for
low cost weddings, couple must not use all listed vendors here BUT instead on the most essentials like (photography, MC, DJ)
and ignore the nice to haves (like live band, videography). However, if money is not an issue or couple has a bigger
budget, they would be able to afford every wedding entertainment services.
30,000 — Miscellaneous/ anything that comes up, or that you forgot
Hope that helps.
Thanks for the breakdown. Please how much does live band cost in Lagos and in the south
My pleasure, Metro. I’m happy to know that our sample Nigerian wedding budgets were helpful to you.
On how much a live band costs in Lagos, it varies. Some charge low and some charge moderately; some charge high, some charge very high. How they charge depends on how popular or big the music band is, and what part of the state/ city they are located. Even within any part of a town, some are cheaper or more expensive than others.
If you’re planning a low budget Nigerian wedding, it’s better to look for the not-so-big live bands. Last year, someone I know paid N80k for a live band that performed at their wedding. I also heard some charge less.
The best way to find a suitable, affordable live band for a Nigerian wedding is to ask friends and family members who live near you. You can also visit some bars/ pubs/ night clubs where live bands perform to talk directly with the band members or staff of the bar/ club to ask how much the music band charges to play at an event.
Hope that helps.
Thank you so much for that wonderful guide into wedding planning.
I want to ask you to help me out in breaking down 500k for a wedding. At Enugu, a venue that need little decor has been marked out for 30k., it’s a hall with nice chairs with stage that needs decor. Now can this 500k fit in the budget and kindly help me out in the planning.
Thanks
Hello Godswill, thanks for the feedback. It’s my pleasure that our wedding budget guide was of help.
Here’s an example of how to spend your N500k budget for your Nigerian wedding:
200,000 food/ drinks/ cake
60,000 venue hire & décoration
115,000 couple’s outfits, rings
30,000 invites, prog, souvenirs
75,000 entertainment & photography – DJ/ live band, MC, photographer, video coverage
20,000 Miscellaneous/ anything that comes up, or that you forgot
Note that this is just a guide, so that you won’t overspend.
Hope that helps. We wish you all the best!
Hello gud day, thank you for this piece.i want to know if 500k will be enough for a wedding in Victoria island, lagos
Hello Eniola and thanks for reading. A rough guide is to set aside half of that amount for your wedding catering (food and drinks), and the other half for the rest of the things. >>You can use our percentage guide (click here) to get a detailed breakdown.
Hi Eniola. It can, if that amount does not include the wedding hall/ venue – because some Victoria Island (Lagos) event halls cost as much as N500k to be rented.
I and my fiancee budgeting #500,000 for both Traditional and Wedding. Please can you brake it down for me bcoz l’m confused. I don’t know what to do before I come across this site
Hi Morayo. A rough breakdown is to reserve half for food and drinks (catering), take out your venue rental (after pricing and picking a place), and use the balance for the remaining wedding things (your outfits, paying vendors for things like decoration, MC, DJ etc). >>You can use our wedding budget percentage guide (click here) to get a further break-down.
Hello, Good day. I love this site. Thanks for the good work.
My Girlfriend and i have decided to get married next year after 2 years of dating. Financially, i’m not it yet. But i trust i can raise enough funds ranging from 800k to 1.2M. My question is, can this take care of everything including traditional and White Wedding?
Warm Regards.
Hi Christopher, thanks for your feedback, and congratulations for deciding o take your relationship to the next level, and especially for starting with a wedding financial plan (which most men fail to do).
That amount is a sweet spot, and I believe it should be enough for a decent, yet classy wedding (trad and white). However, that is ONLY IF you ensure that you have the size of wedding that is realistically within that amount – that would mean determining in advance how much of that you want to spend on your trad; how much of that you want to spend on your white wedding. AND how much of that you can afford for venue; how many guests (plates of food/ drinks) that amount can cater for.
Once you intentionally block off portions of that amount for those spending, and kind of stick to it, you should be fine. Know that if you invite every single person you know, that amount would not be enough – and so you should keep your wedding guests as small or as big as your money can afford. Any wedding size is okay, as long as you keep it classy.
Hope that helps. I wish you all the best as you save towards your wedding. Cheers!
Am Budgeting the some of 500,000. How can i break it down?
Hi Cecilia, you can find the breakdown of N500k wedding budget here. Please note that it is just a guide, and you’re free to change it up as you like. Thanks.
I am budgeting 600k…i need your help
I have 600k….i am really scared…. Pls break it down for me
Hello Wale, don’t fret – you can have a lovely wedding with that amount. Times are hard, and every Saturday we’re seeing couples who used less than N600k to organize a great wedding. ONCE YOU KEEP IT SIMPLE, ignore/ eliminate the unnecessary and focus on the main things, the money will be enough.
=> This is a N600k wedding breakdown that you can start with, but feel free to change things up to suit you, or as you negotiate with venue and vendors/ rentals/ suppliers people:
-Venue + venue decoration + chair rentals + other rentals –18% (N108,000)
-Wedding attire + wedding rings: 24% (N144,000)
-Souvenirs, Invitation cards etc – 6% (36,000)
-Reception (food/ catering, drink, wedding cake) – 21% (126,000)
-Entertainment + visuals (MC, DJ/ Live band, photography/ video coverage) – 14% (N84,000)
-Any other things that come up: 17% (102,000)
-Here’s a typical wedding expenses list to start with (click)
*The key is to keep things very simple. Don’t invite more people than your food budget – ask the caterers how many plates of food and drinks that amount can cater for (use that to know how many people to invite). NOTE: If you want to invite more people, add extra money to your wedding budget OR reduce money from other areas to make up for this.
>> By the way, I used our (NaijaGlamWedding’s) wedding budget percentage calculator to arrive at that breakdown – it’s here (click).
Am budgeting the some of 800,000 how do I break it down
Hi Nancy, use our formula/ guide below to break it down (this is just a guide, not compulsory to be in those percentages):
21% – food and drinks
18% – venue and decor
24% – couple’s outfits + rings (Mr. & Mrs.)
14% – Photography/ Video coverage, DJ/ Live Band
Souvenirs & Invitation Cards – 6%
Miscelaneous (any other things) – 17%
You can see a list of typical wedding expenses here (click) to help you start off quickly – AND later include or remove whatever you want/ don’t want.
To learn more: go here NaijaGlamWedding’s Nigerian Wedding Budget Calculator
ALSO: How to Make a Wedding Budget from Scratch
*Let me know how it goes. All the best.
PLS, I have just #500,000 to plan for both traditional and wedding.Pls can you help me to brake it down ? I’m confused.
Hello Morayo. A rough guide is to reserve half of that amount for wedding food and drinks (catering). Then, take out your venue rentals amount (which you will know from doing market research and pricing around), and then the rest is for your attires and paying vendors (cake baker, hall decoration, DJ, MC and so on). >>You can use our ready-made percentages (click here) to do a further break-down.