So our social is done and over with. We didn't have as large of a turn out as I would have hoped for what the size of our venue but we still had over 250 people attend and they all seemed to enjoy themselves, which is what I term as a success.
That, and we made a very nice profit!
I know most people don't talk about what they make at their socials but then most people also don't talk about how much they spend on their wedding, and since my goal is to show what I did in hopes that it will help someone else come up with ideas or NOT make the same mistakes as me, I guess it makes sense that I share our social budget breakdown.
To start, I wasn't organized enough to track my revenue streams so I don't know exactly which portions grossed us the most but at the end of the night, after all the ticket sales for admittance ($10/person), alcohol ($2.50/drink), silent auction prizes & 50/50 draw were in we had $8500 approximately.
Then we had to pay for our expenses, here's a breakdown:
- Hall Rental + Tip for bartenders = $1675
- DJ + Tip = $575
- Food for late snack (Winnipeg Old Country) = $312 (We ordered for 200 people and we have A LOT left over, luckily we have a deep freeze so my Mr will not need to go grocery shopping for sandwich ingredients for 2 months! I strongly recommend this company. They don't platter the meat on fancy trays, just Styrofoam sheets, but they pack a lot on them and it was really nice quality.)
- Alcohol = $1065 (We ordered for 375, the capacity of the hall, so the original bill was $2345 but we returned all the unopened alcohol and empty beer bottles to bring that expense down. The open beer cases that we have will be stored for the wedding weekend as we aren't huge beer drinkers...well I'm not a huge beer drinker, my Mr doesn't drink at all.)
- Ice = $75 (This was one of the only downsides of the hall we rented. They didn't have an ice maker so we had to supply our own. We bought 25 bags but only used 15. I don't think that is really a returnable item so we just gave them to my Mr's brother and his girlfriend.)
- Regular Silent Auction Tickets = $42.50 (I bought these at Labelle's bridal as all of the other brides to be that I talked to did the same and said they were the cheapest at $18.99/pack. They come in plastic wrapped packages and I bought 4 but only used two and since I instructed everyone never to open anything unless the previous container/package was empty, I was able to return 2 packages.)
- Drink tickets & raffle tickets, + plastic table sheeting = $35(I chose not to get the rest of my supplies at Labelle's as they seemed pretty pricey, rather I went to BJ Super Toys and found them a few dollars cheaper a role. They also take returns so I was able to take back my left over rolls of tickets that weren't used + the plastic wrap for basket that I didn't have to use since another bride gave me her left over stuff.)
- Dollarama for miscellaneous decoration supplies = $58 (I picked up plastic containers for the tables to put chips and munchies in, as well as the gift bags for the prize tickets to go in. I went with blue, yellow and white for colors. They aren't exactly my wedding colors but close and I figure I can reuse the containers for future events.)
- Costco for cups & drink mix = $174 (This is another place that will take returns. And I didn't even have my reciept! Love them, they just looked up my member number and found the purchases. Our bartenders put up a sign that encouraged people to reuse their cups so I was able to return half of my cups plus some drink mix that didn't get used)
- Party Stuff - Balloons = $97 (I said I wasn't going to use balloons for decorations but we didn't have time to do anything fancier like I had wanted and balloons are quick and easy.)
- Vista Print - Admittance Tickets =$20
- Grand Prize - Recliner = $335 (Last year I agreed to buy a recliner when there was a buy one get one free deal at one of the furniture stores and my future MIL wanted one. I paid 50% of the bill and thought it would be a good grand prize...which it was...but I didn't know then that I would have THREE other awesome grand prizes donated. I would suggest to hold off making big purchases like this until closer to your social, when you have a better idea of who is donating what. This could have been $335 more towards our wedding. Oh well, it was still a really nice prize!)
Total Expenses $4462.50
Which leaves us with approximately $4000 to put towards our wedding! This is twice as much as I was hoping for so I am really happy and feel that all of the hard work was definitely worth it!
If you live in Manitoba are you having a social?
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