The plan
Three days, two officiants, one guest list
A Hindu ceremony on Saturday morning, an Episcopal blessing that afternoon, and a reception that had to work for both grandmothers: 220 guests, two officiants, and a budget that finished at $78,400. The line that surprised them was not the venue; it was feeding the same 220 people three times.
The mandap build and the church slot were booked before anything else, because both had fixed dates that nothing else could move around. Everything after that was scheduled backwards from those two bookings.
Where the money went
$78,400, by category
Split on the calculator’s Indian and South Asian weighting, where catering across four or five events leads. At 220 guests over three days, that is the line that decided the total.
Figures are this couple’s total split on the calculator’s weighting for their tradition.
In hindsight
What they would do differently
What they would do differently: set the guest list per event from the start, book the mandap build and the church slot before anything else, and give both mothers a seat in the plan early enough that the guest list arguments happened in month two instead of month eight.
