What a Vietnamese wedding costs, and where budgets break

The big items: 70–80% of everything

• The banquet. A mid-range restaurant charges 3,500,000–7,000,000₫ per table of ten (about $135–270); a four or five star hotel 8,000,000–15,000,000₫ (about $310–580). At 30 tables this single line is usually 50–60% of the whole wedding.
• The lễ ăn hỏi, the engagement ceremony where the groom’s family brings gifts to the bride’s home. Gift trays run 5,000,000–15,000,000₫, and the lễ đen — a red envelope of cash the groom’s family presents to the bride’s — runs 5,000,000–30,000,000₫, agreed between the families in advance.
• Photography. A pre-wedding shoot on location is 8,000,000–30,000,000₫; documentary coverage on the day 6,000,000–20,000,000₫; video 10,000,000–30,000,000₫.
• Clothing. Renting a wedding dress costs 5,000,000–20,000,000₫ and buying one 15,000,000–60,000,000₫. Add 2,000,000–8,000,000₫ for the áo dài — the long silk tunic worn over trousers at the engagement ceremony — and 3,000,000–10,000,000₫ for the groom’s suit.
• Rings: 10,000,000–40,000,000₫ a pair, depending on whether you buy plain gold or set stones.
• Decoration: a flower arch, a backdrop, the gallery table and table flowers together run 8,000,000–30,000,000₫.

The small items that add up

• Bridal hair and make-up: 3,000,000–10,000,000₫ for a package covering the engagement ceremony, the photo shoot and the wedding day.
• The bridal car and transport for relatives: 2,000,000–8,000,000₫ for the day.
• MC, band, sound and lighting: 3,000,000–15,000,000₫.
• Invitations. Printed cards are 8,000–25,000₫ each before you count name printing and the evenings spent delivering them. An online invitation is a few hundred thousand đồng, paid once.
• Red envelopes for the tray carriers: 100,000–200,000₫ per person, usually 10–18 people on each side.
• Favours for guests: 20,000–80,000₫ each.
• The honeymoon: 15,000,000–80,000,000₫, which many couples keep outside the wedding budget entirely.

Six places budgets break

1. More tables than planned. The largest and most common overrun. An extra table is not just extra food; it drags drinks, favours and sometimes flowers along with it.
2. Drinks billed separately. Many venues quote a per-table price excluding beer, spirits and soft drinks, then bill by the bottle opened. A 30-table wedding can add 15,000,000–40,000,000₫ on drinks alone. Ask: per bottle opened or per head, can you bring your own, and what is the corkage.
3. Tax and service charge. Quotes usually exclude VAT and a 5% service charge. On a 200,000,000₫ bill that is over 25,000,000₫ — roughly $960 appearing out of nowhere. Ask the exact question: “Does this price already include tax and service charge?”
4. Last-minute decoration upgrades. The quoted package is always the basic one. Fresh flowers instead of silk, a larger backdrop, extra lighting — each upgrade is a few million đồng, and it is offered exactly when you are tired and inclined to agree.
5. Cash spent on the day. Tips, transport, meals for the crew, parking, small ceremonial expenses. Put 5,000,000–10,000,000₫ in cash aside and give it to exactly one person to hold.
6. Extra prints and albums. A photo package includes a fixed number of edited images. Good shots outside the package, enlargements, a second album for the other family — this routinely adds 3,000,000–8,000,000₫.

Build the budget in one evening

1. Fix the expected guest count first. Every other number depends on it.
2. List every item above with three columns: estimate, real quote, paid.
3. Write down which family pays for which item. Many Vietnamese families still follow the custom that each side hosts its own banquet, but putting it in writing is what prevents the misunderstanding.
4. Total it, then add 10% contingency. If you do not spend it, that is honeymoon money.
5. Update the “paid” column once a week. It takes five minutes.

The order to put deposits down

The venue and the date are the scarcest things, so book six to nine months ahead — and in Vietnam the date is often picked by an elder consulting the lunar calendar, which narrows the options further. Good photographers and make-up artists fill their season four to six months out. Dresses and suits need two to three months for alterations. Decoration and cars are fine at one to two months. Invitations come last, once the venue and times are genuinely certain — skipping that order is why so many couples reprint paper cards.

A note about gift money

Guests at a Vietnamese wedding give cash in a red envelope, and it often covers a large share of the cost. Do not put it in the budget as reliable income. It arrives on the day, while most bills are due before: venue deposits of 30–50%, plus dresses, photography and decoration paid up front. If your plan only balances once the envelopes arrive, you are lending to yourself at considerable risk. Build a budget you could pay without it, and treat the gift money as reimbursement afterwards.

One number worth remembering: nearly all of the gap between a 150,000,000₫ wedding and a 400,000,000₫ one sits in the banquet and the clothes. Guests remember the atmosphere. Almost nobody remembers what the backdrop was made of.