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We're trying to keep our budget under $7000, but with our ever expanding guest list, I don't know if i'll happen. Under $10,000 is completely possible with what we're working with. I don't want my wedding to be a financial burden on my parents. We found a venue that gives a huge discount for a wedding on a Sunday, so we're moving our date to a Sunday to save $. We're not having a ton of flowers, or a big wedding party, and we're just trying to overall be concious of where our money is going for that day. After all, it's a very important day that we'll remember forever, but it shouldn't break the bank!
Good luck! I'd love to hear other bride's opinions/ways you're saving money!
Our budget was $5-7K and we stayed within it by:
Those were just a few of the things off the top of my head I can think of, and we still had the gorgeous day we imagined. And that budget, we stuck with it, and that INCLUDED honeymoon! We took a 7 night cruise, booked last minute, so that was our good deal, too!
We're shooting for under $6,000 for about 50 people. The hard part is that we are having a weekend-long wedding, so the venue rental is more expensive and we are feeding people for three days. We are making it work by:
DIYing the food (just hiring servers to heat it up and serve it out on the day of the party, and getting our friends to help us barbecue the rest of the weekend).
DIYing the invitations, and no fancy embossing or anything - just ink on paper.
Buying a cheap dress ($250 all in).
Using shoes and jewelry I already own, and wearing a suit my husband already has.
Buying almost no flowers - making a bouquet and centerpieces out of bunches of chili peppers, which are $1 each, and sticking them in mason jars I already own (I can things).
Skipping extraneous paper goods (programs, menus, etc)
Only using the decorations, plates, etc that our venue already owns (which, luckily, should pretty much cover it). I might make some bunting if I have time, from scrap fabric.
Ipod for music.
Venue lets us bring in our own wine and beer, and we are going for $5 wine (there's decent stuff if you hunt for it) and kegs.
DIYing hair and makeup (although I'll spend some money buying better makeup than I already own).
Aside from the venue, we're spending most of our money on photography (although even here, we are going with a pretty cheap person, at least for our area) and on the ingredients for all the food we're making.
Obviously, this works because we are OK with a casual vibe. It would be harder if we wanted something more formal, although that would have been doable as well - we would have had to sacrifice the weekend-long party, though. It also works because we are having a small party. Although it wouldn't actually cost loads more to have more people, (the actual variable per-person cost is probably about $40-50), I wouldn't want to be DIYing so much with a larger group, and I would have wanted some more professional help on the day.
We're staying under budget so far! The biggest expense has been my dress, which might be a bit fancy for our plans, but I don't really care if it matches. :) Some of the things we're doing:
- we're having an outdoor picnic reception
- DIY decor, flowers from the garden and farmer's market
- no big wedding cake, but 3-4 small, delicious, gorgeous cakes from local bakeries, plus lots of homemade desserts on the side
- iPod music
- only a MOH and best man
- designing and printing our own invitations
*raises hand*
We set our budget at 5k. Everything is going to be as DIY and financially 'creative' as possible! We're early in the planning stages but I think we can do it :) Thanks for the ideas krissy and historienne.
We are trying to keep ours under $8,000. We initially planned on having an evening wedding and an open bar. We cut that down to a lunch reception bc it makes it about $10-15 cheaper per person. We also found a reception site and were able to get a great deal of only $40 per person but that price included my FI and I's room for the night, the table linens, hurricane vase centerpeices, the wedding cake, plated dinner, champagne toast and 2 bottles of wine for each table during the meal. Also by doing this we did not feel so obligated to have an open bar because it is a lunch reception so we opted for a cash bar. I am also doing some DIY stuff, such as making our STD's via Photoshop so they were only $26 to print off and they are postcards so that saves on envelopes. The bridesmaids bouquets are also going to be done by 2 of my bridesmaids and I. One other thing I did to cut costs it I purchased my dress from www.dressilyme.com (which I know is out of the question for some brides but I am not above anything); I understand they are a knock-off and what not but I am perfectly fine with only paying $150 for them to recreate the dress I love and I have seen hundreds of great reviews ( I searched for about 2 months before choosing them). I understand it will not look exactly the same as the original dress but since I am only wearing it for about 5-6 hours and I am going to be the only one who knows that but thats fine with me. I have a friend who is great at photography and is almost done with school and all he is charging is a flight to Vegas for 2 and the hotel.
We're aiming for 5k and asking a lot of people to help out. We have a friends who edits pictures, someone who takes pictures for a hobby, FI's parents are doing our cake, we DIY'd our invites, and we are getting married in FBIL's backyard. We're cutting in all sort of places. My dress was less than 400 with the undergarments. If we didn't have a lot of people doing things for us we would have to hold off for awhile since we are paying for everything ourselves.
totally going for under 3k! so far going good. I just know that i can't do anything extravagant, which isn't me anyways. not doing fresh flowers, only having my bouquet, its small stuff like that.
Woooohooo! Love this thread. 5K wedding here, so far we haven't laid down any money yet, our venue is free 'cuz it's my parents backyard and we are still 8 months out. Buuut the estimates I've been looking at make me think we can do it. A lot of DIY, a lot of prioritizing on what matters and what's not so important. The chiavari chairs I desperately want for the paper plates, that kind of thing. And a lot of ideas already mentioned like:
-iPod music for ambiance (no dancing/dance floor)
-Virtually no flowers except for what's already in the garden. Our centerpieces are tissue paper flowers on branches in mason jars.
-I think I'm baking cakes!
-50 people max
Our splurges are the infamous chairs, catered food, and maybe a videographer for FH's parents who aren't willing to cross the pond.
I love the hive but sometimes I feel like I can't do this on our budget, especially because I swoon over the blogger Bees posts everday. Refreshing thread, looking good ladies!
We are paying for everything ourselves and knew that we did not want to go over so that we would have to be in debt for any of our wedding.
We actually set our budget at $3,000... far below what most people have set... but i must admit we actually had a $6,000 budget for our honeymoon.
I honestly dont think that we will go over the $3k mark we are not even close yet. Here is things i done. I live in a small town though so i notice the price differences are HUGE with most of the other peoples areas.
Keep the guest list small only invite those who you care come... we are having around 80-90 people
The first thing i did was Prioritize everything... I splurged where it was more impotant and I skipped what wasnt
I am splurging on Photographer which is still a good deal.... $800 & it includes a man and wife team and engagement session & we negotiated with them by cutting out the bridal session and replacing it with prints and other things we wanted.
I bought an off rack on sale simple dress below $100 & had it altered & dressed up to be what i wanted by a private Seamstress for an additional $100
A simple but pretty outdoor venue a score at only $195 plus $100 damage deposit(local historical spot infront of their pond and using a renovated barn into a picnic pavillion as reception spot... picnic tables included .... so nixed out the need for table and chair rentals for reception)
Renting chairs through our venue for ceremony only $1 each
DIY EVERYTHING
Fake flowers... I bought all my flowers from a store called Ben Franklin & for all the flowers to do my centerpieces & bouquets & bouts the glassware to put my centerpieces in I have $300 invested
Using Jewlery my sister had
Made My Hair fascinator .. grand total $6.00
Only spent $45 on my wedding shoes
(Bridesmaids & Groomsmen providing their own attire) I provide flowers & bought GM ties (so they all match bought on sale at JCPenny buy one get one $1)& BM hair fascinators ($4 each Burlington Coat Factory)
DIY Invitations.. bought a Wiltons kit for $20 dressing them up with $15 worth of cardstock & ribbon... $35 dollars total for 40 invites & RSVP cards
Cutting out things like Programs, menus etc.... unnecessary paper goods
Since my Venue has picnic tables ... I didnt see the need for linens I am doing nicer paper tablescloths with Plastic Tablecloth runners.... (GASP) yes you heard me right lol $45 for all my 16 tables
Using private in home cake decorator who only does it on the side as a hobby vs as a Buisness $100... for our 3 tier fondant cake
DIY my cake topper's ( Clay Bride & Fireman Groom) $30ish dollars for supplies(definately didnt save time but on round 3 of my bride i was pleased)
Lining my aisle with less expensive things... I am using Shepards Hooks & hanging Paper Lanterns with ribbons
Since my Venue has picnic tables ... I didnt see the need for linens I am doing nicer paper tablescloths with Plastic Tablecloth runners.... (GASP) yes you heard me right lol.. I am also doing Paper napkin & silverware as well as the sturdy clear plastic plates & Cups
Found a DJ to cut us a good deal for a sunday wedding... $350 for 6 hrs including playing music for our ceremony
Having a friend sing at our wedding
Bought a used garter & toss Garter... $10 for both
Bought ALOT OF SECOND HAND WEDDING ITEMS FROM HERE AND ANOTHER wedding site
DIY CATERING.... well with loads of family help & since my wedding is in the heat of the summer we are keeping it simple and we havent made a definately decision but are either doing finger foods... OR a Build your own sandwich type thing with everything put out on platters.
We might not provide alcohol at all or if we do we will probably do... Beer (via Kegs) & maybe wine.. or a Signature Drink we could Make ahead
My fiance's mom originally thought we (she) could do our ceremony and reception for around $6000...for 250 people. Thankfully, she later realized this is an absurd budget for a wedding with 250 guests.
Sometimes I wish that we could have a small wedding, about 50-80 people, not only to reduce the budget but to make it a more intimate occasion, but then again, Indian weddings are supposed to be big and over-the-top!
Good luck with your plans everyone!
We are planning the ceremony and reception for around $7,000.
It has been a little difficult, but we have been able to utilize a lot of personal connections.
The dress we got for half off since it was discontinued
The DJ is a friend and I got him for about half price, same with the photographer so that saved us around 1,000.
A family member owns the reception site so we have been able to get really cheap alcohol and food prices.
We chose to do fake flowers for the reception and buy the decorations off of ebay and we hae been able to save a lot of money that way. Plus we ordered the cake and the flowers through a local grocery store and that was way cheaper.
We also aren't doing a limo or any special transportation.
Honestly, it has been a little difficult but I have been just searching for the best deal possible, and so its all on track.
If you have any good ideas, let me know!
I wanted something in that budget.. the issue is too much fam. 200!
so it gets hard.. were still keeping it pretty close though by eliminating a lot of things that go into a wedding.
& finding an all inclusive hall.
We started out with a $5000 budget when we didn't know our guest list and didn't know how much things cost. Then we realized we have 150 close family/friends, and my parents wanted to pay for a lot of things, and didn't like some of my ideas. So the budget is going to be somewhere between $5K and $10K now, I hope on the lower side. Around $1500 for the venue and rentals (I'm not counting the $5K that my dad will spend to finally finish the patio if we have it at their house), $4K for catering (heavy hors d'oeuvres), probably $1K for attire (my dress is $250 but with alterations and buying ties and jewelry for the gm and bms...), $1K for photography, invitations, programs. I hate that we're spending so much, but some of it is non-negotiable - in our area, you need a rain plan in August, and indoor places/tents are expensive. Even public venues for 150 are thousands! And you can't really skip the tables or chairs or food if you want to be a good host. I'm hoping to wear my shoes and maybe even my dress again, if I get it altered.
Giving yourself a lot of time- to stalk sales, prioritize etc. is the best possible thing you can do. Good Luck!
We planned on spending around $5K... but we ended up spending $3500 that includes dress and rings. We just got a super good deal on the church and venue. I also made everything for decor, favors, etc.
We're doing ours for 5k I believe! We picked a reception place where the rental is fee and you only pay for food. Our next most expensive thing was the photographerp $2200! So expensive but my FI and mum won out. You just have to prioritize. We're having about 80 people coming so that makes a difference. I am also not having a bunch of fresh flowers. Since I'm doing a peacock theme the centerpieces are having them instead of flowers. My brothers doing the music and we're probably making our own cake! We aren't doing an open bar at all, personal preference for us but some of our guests would totally take advantage of that and I'd rather if they want alcohol they can purchase it themselves. We're going to DIY the save the dates and invitations. Hm my dress was $250, probably another $100 for alterations. My mum is making my veil (since they're outrageously priced) and the bridesmaids and groomsmen are buying their own attire. You can do it! Just prioritize and stick to the budget. Good luck! Let me know if you have any other questions I'd be happy to help :)
wow there are some great tips! heres how i'm doing mine for around 5000.
-we both really wanted to do the traditional dinner, dancing, alchol reception...which made it hard to say the least but we are attempting to do it. ooo and were having about 80 ppl.
-our venue for our ceremony and reception at a bed and breakfast that we have for 2 days for 500. plus 2 rooms for 115 each.
-renting are tent, chairs, tables for around 950 (tip we ddi plain brown chairs for .60 cents compared to white chairs for 3.25, saving us a bundle!!) bought table cloth (white linen ones from big lots for 6 bucks, cheaper then renting!)
-were doing bbq food for around 11 a head. were doing a cnady buffet and appertizers ourselves, gonna go to sams club for that.
alcohol is gonna be budgeted for 500, if we run out, theres nothing we can do since were having our wedding outside and will be providing our own bar.
- my friend is a dj so were just paying for a hotel room for him. my other friend is a stylist who will be doing my hair.
my dress, shoes, purse and undergartments-were 530. (if i wouldnt of rushed out to buy my dress, i could of prob found a cheaper one, but i love it so it was worth it)
-my wedding band i got for 75 bucks at bon ton. fiance found his lol. thats sounds horrible doesnt it? lol well its saving us money though
-decorations/invites/programs are costing around 300. in this is our flowers, were doing them ourselves.
- got my centerpieces glasses for a 1 at the dollor store. got my vases for the candy buffet at the salvation army.
100 bucks for bridesmaid and groomens gifts (we onlt have 3 each)
got a DOC for free, shes just starting out and asked that in return i give her a good recommendation and let her use some of my pictures... shes been great so far!!
the only thing i am having troubling finding is a photogrpaher in our budget. we want to spend about 600 but thats nearly impossible around where we live.
I am saving huge money by making my own crepe paper day lily flower!!! They cost a whopping $8 a bouquet!!!! Also look for things that don't say "wedding" on them. I got Chinese take out containers for my favors and they were .09cents a piece from papermart.com I got 350 take out containers and all of the ribbon of my wedding for under $100!!! They wanted 1.00 a piece or more on the wedding sites! Oh and use Poly ribbon instead of satin where ever you can, it's a fraction of the cost!
@maemejo- i've been looking for chinese take out containers for cheap! im def going to check out that site!! thanks! 
We started w/a $5000 budget...I added $2000 when we got our taxes done...these are some of the ways we are saving $$
small guest list (65-70p).. earlier/shorter reception time (4-8pm) ...all inclusive pkg @ Embassy Suites- 3 hr open bar, hors d'oeurves, dinner, desserts, wedding cake, centerpieces, overnight suite for bride/groom, and all taxes and gratuities all for $65 pp...Photographer for ceremony and formals only($220)( 20% off for booking 8mths in advance...DIY bouquets,corsages,.etc - in silk($250)... DIY invitations as well...wedding dress was a gift from my dad.. also rehearsal dinner @ mom's house
I am loving this thread and all of this insight!
Thank you all for your inspirations! I am also trying to plan a wedding for $5-7,000. My folks are giving us $5,000 so I ideally would like not to go over that. My biggest piece of advice, don't take the first deal you get! Shop around! I seriously talked to about 10 (no joke!) caterers before I decided and got a price I could live with. Also, check out local cake places, where people work out of their kitchens. I found mine, she is just starting out and makes AMAZING cake and for uber cheap! Since she doesn't have any crazy overhead costs she is super affordable. Good luck to all!
Love this Tread. Staying under $8,000.
Includes a 7 day cruise for family of 5! Flights from Ca to Fl and Cruise from FL to Carribean. Flights for 5 round trip on $1,000 Paying for parents flights another $600
Wedding in Grand Cayman Ceremony, cake etc. $2300 and private dinner for 20 on cruise ship in private steak house only $600.
Reception on boat with 2 hour open bar under $2,000 Dress $500 max....
No having the wedding on the date we planned after my 2 best friends just annonced they are pregnant and cannot attend. Priceless Problem..
Wedding planned for 10-5-10 Wanted 10-10-10 but date didn't work. LOL
When we started our wedding planning, I ran a general estimate based on speaking with a few vendors that I liked near our home. I was stunned how quickly the costs mushroomed into the 40k range. We sat down and did some talking. We are both debt free and were both loathe to take that kind of chunk out of our house fund. After about 15 minutes we came up with 5k as an amount that we felt to be reasonable to spend on an event.
We wanted a beautiful wedding and marvelous honeymoon that didn't break the bank. We got it. Here is how it worked.
Much of what we did took advantage of family resources and talents. We made many choices early on to maximize these opportunities.
Now as you know, strategy is your overarching plan of action designed to achieve a particular goal and tactics are the particular action that you choose to utilize to implement your strategy.
Example: Goal: Reasonable wedding without incurring debt or dipping into house fund Strategy: Make and stick to budget. Distinguish Want vs Need. Tactics: small guest list, reasonably priced dress etc.
Wants vs Needs. These will be different for everyone and it is worth spending the time thrashing them out, because once they are clear every decision is much easier. This is the moment to address those pernicious pictures of “wedding” that everybody has. Make sure you distinguish between your pictures and your parents/friends pictures. Whittle them down; aim for about 5 “needs”.
For us essential ingredients included: marriage license, rings, peonies, great food, beautiful natural setting, and family.
Notice what is not on this list: big white dress, church, band, tent, bridesmaids, honeymoon, chair sashes, favors, photography etc. Now this doesn’t mean that I didn’t have a dress, just that it wasn’t the focus of the budget and was certainly an area that I was willing to cut funding to make sure that the essentials were in place.
So. 5k. On the one hand: a huge amount to drop on a six hour party. On the other hand, as we all know, a lot less than some folks spend on their dress.
Tactics:
Picking the date: Peonies bloom in mid to late June in New England, to take advantage of the banks of peonies in the family gardens we picked our wedding date based on their bloom: June 21st. We were drowning in peonies; it was fantastic!
Picking the general location: We decided to have the wedding where most of my enormous family lives rather than where we live. We knew that this would be a win-win. My siblings and cousins could stay with parents rather than having to spend on hotels and we were able to utilize resources that already existed on hand, rather than purchasing or renting. Our food was laid out on beautiful mismatched Deruta platters borrowed from my Aunt and the cake stand and knife were right out my mother’s silver drawer. Being able to draw on 4 separate households made the logistics easy: Silver bowls for the flowers? Check. Sound system? Check. Tables? Check. Tablecloths? Check. Punchbowls? Check. Samovar? Check! The overall effect was lovely and simple and easy on our budget.
Picking the venue: Grandparent’s house and gardens: 0$
Picking the time/tone: Afternoon wedding with cocktail party following. Enabled us to skip sit down dinner. Food was endless hors’de vors: Alaskan smoked salmon with cream fraiche and capers. Local, organic, melt in your mouth Roquefort, double crème brie, goat cheese, and Jarlesberg with fig and guava preserves. Organic medjool dates, grapes, cherries, strawberries (love June!) Fresh local olive / rosemary bread with olive oil, garlic and goat cheese dip. Roasted organic ham with a variety of mustards and fresh local French bread. Watercress sandwiches. Drinks: Family Punch (very alcoholic!). Lemonade. Champagne. Coffee. Cake: the chocolate nemesis from my favorite bakery – unbelievable! Mango sorbet from Ciao Bella to go with cake. Total cost: 700$ or 16$/person (I bought way too much of everything; there were heaps of leftovers and almost everyone took something home.)
Dress: This one was hard. My original dress was pale pale pink and short. It was beautiful and fun and cost 80$ (super-duper sale) Perfect! My mother vetoed it. My family wanted the standard numbers: long white dress, church, gobs of flowers, little bridesmaids all in a row etc. They gave in on the church; I gave in on the dress. I ended up with J.Crew’s Celeste Pique Dot. Great dress for more than I wanted to spend, but I was sure (and I was right) that I could recoup the budget difference with a post wedding sale.
Guest List: This was the hardest. In the end, we went with family only as the only possible way to achieve the intimate tone we wanted. We had 45 guests. It was just right. We knew and loved everyone there. We did have a great party with our friends a few months later. To this day I am very happy that we separated these two events. Strangely separating the events made huge financial sense too. Now you would think that having everything together would be cheaper, but wrong wrong wrong. It turned out that for us to have everything together QUADRUPLED the price and the reason was that with the small numbers I could borrow materials (china, silver, tables, tablecloths, venue etc) effectively. Once I went over a certain number I needed to rent. The other issue that helped us to separate these parties was that my family wanted a wedding; elegant and formal in an old-fashioned sort of way, while my friends just wanted to celebrate with us. So really two different parties. Total cost of fantastic (non-wedding) dance party with friends 500$.
Paper: STD & Invitations: 0$ Email! with a little help from PowerPoint and Photoshop. Wedding Programs: 20$ for paper; thanks Microsoft Publisher! Thank You Notes to all 40$.
Officiant: Grandfather. He was tickled pink to be asked. We knew that he would set the perfect tone and that it would stop him from lobbying to have the ceremony in the local church.
Music: Bagpiper for ceremony in beautiful meadow, ipod for cocktail reception.
Rehearsal Dinner: Sunset picnic / cookout on the mountain. Potluck. Perfect.
Favors: skip
Transportation: My Auntie offered us her horse drawn carriage, but in the end the weather looked threatening and we picked my usual trusty VW steed.
Rings: We had mine made by a local goldsmith with some stones from his family. It is a stunner but since we were only paying for the setting it was really quite reasonable. His was a plain gold band.
Bridal Party: skipped it. It was too hard to choose. In the end, not having a wedding party allowed everyone the freedom to be as involved as they pleased, without feeling obligated or as if they were butting in. The result: lots of enthusiastic volunteers. My sister altered my dress / helped with hair/make-up. My auntie, who does wedding flowers professionally, did bouquet, bouts, centerpieces and hair flowers. The list goes on… Which brings us to the subject of talented amateurs: If people ask if they can help, say yes! If you let people volunteer for things they are interested in and then avoid micromanaging, some amazing results occur. Remember that everyone is thrilled to pitch in and help out.
Photography: We got really lucky here. Semi-professional friend of family. 600$ included all images on disk unedited. We had all of our pictures by the time we got back from our honeymoon. We were extraordinarily lucky to have a terrific photographer whose work needed virtually no editing. We had albums for our parents and grandparents out within weeks. Note: Though the photography was something that I gave very little thought to prior to the wedding, we were VERY fortunate to have what turned out to be a terrific photographer. After recently seeing some real photography disasters at friend’s weddings since, this is something that I should have researched carefully and probably spent a bit more on.
Honeymoon: We have both traveled. A lot. So we decided to skip the airport/logistical nightmares and focus just spending time together. Our original honeymoon plan had been to spend 14 days on an extended canoe trip in Canada, as we both enjoy wilderness paddling. When it became clear, a few weeks before the wedding, that the weather was likely to be consistently wet and cold, offers of alternatives poured in from friends and family. In the end, we decided to go sailing instead. We were happy to snuggle up next to the woodstove on the boat on wet days and otherwise we had long walks on deserted beaches, cooked some incredible meals, stayed up late drinking dark & stormys and swing dancing on deck and generally had a marvelous time. It was a perfect honeymoon. Though I am sure that we would have had fun paddling as well, it was great to be able to change our plans to suit the changing circumstances. Total cost: Boat: 0$ (family) Food: 270$ Diesel: 60$. Travel time to boat from our house: 20 min. Not having to show up 2 hrs early and sit in airports for a day or so: priceless.
When all was said and sifted the cost of our wedding + honeymoon + afterparty with friends, was 5520.00$. Soup to nuts.
My advice to all brides is: Make sure your goals, strategies and tactics are clear and aligned. Distinguish Wants from Needs. Keep it small. Keep it simple. Make use of available resources. Spend only on what really matters to YOU. Save your money for the house down payment. Don't get carried away by the fantasy. Stand up straight, smile, and don’t stress – it will all come out fine!
We're trying to do a wedding for about $6000 as well, for various reasons. Neither one of us wants to go into debt, we want to take a honeymoon in Scotland in the next year, we want to start saving for a house, etc etc. We're also super lucky that neither set of parents has any expectations on us at all - they just said for us to do what we wanted. That has helped tremendously since I haven't heard a peep about the "you shoulds" or the "you musts." This is great for our budget, but it's also been great for my sanity, and I wish every couple was so lucky!
I should note that the $6000 does not include rings or honeymoon - we each purchased each other's rings as gifts. Our Scotland trip would be our honeymoon, but we need to save up a bit for that, and it wouldn't occur right after the wedding.
Guestlist: we decided that we're only inviting 50 people, max. I know this goes against the tradition of inviting all the friends, family members, etc, but it's the right decision for us. This, of course, helps to cut down on costs, but it also means that we'll have a lovely, intimate wedding, and that on this day, we'll be surrounded by the people who mean the most to us. It also means we'll have time to socialize with them all!
Ceremony: We knew we wanted to get married outside, and we knew that wherever our location was, it needed to be close to parking and wheel chair accessible. We both have elderly and disabled family members who wouldn't be able to trek out into the wilderness, so finding something that worked was a bit of a challenge. We lucked out and found a small public park about 45 minutes from our hometown. It has a lovely gazebo in it that just so happens to be close to the parking lot and accessible! And, it's only $50 for the day use permit. Score!
Reception: We decided to go for a family dinner vibe for our reception, so we're holding it at a restaurant across the street from the park. This restaurant is fairly well-known in the area for its fantastic steaks, and they have an absolutely stunning banquet room with queen anne-style chairs, brick walls, etc. The food there isn't cheap (I think we'll be paying about $50/person for dinner), but it is extremely good - and by going with a restaurant we won't have to pay for linens, silverware, plate/glass rental, etc. It was $400 on top of the cost of food to reserve the room, but it seemed like a good deal to us. As a bonus, the room is so gorgeous that we don't need to do any decorating! So I'm not having to DIY centerpieces or room decor. I will need to do placecards to let the waitstaff know what folks have ordered, but I'm looking forward to that.
Flowers: We're going to order regular roses and spray roses from fiftyflowers.com, and then arrange them ourselves. My sister (the MOH) and I did a trial run with flowers just from the grocery store to see if we were crazy, and I was stunned with our results - they turned out so well! So, for about $220, we'll have more than enough to make my bouquet, her bouqet, and all the bouts and corsages.
Wedding party: We're still hammering this out - my sister will be the MOH, as I mentioned, and my finace hasn't decided if he'll have a best man or not.
Dress: I bought my dress from David's Bridal. I didn't have the great "dress shopping experience" but I *love* my dress. It's tea length, so that will save on alterations as it won't need to be hemmed or bustled. I will need some alterations on the top, but I expected that. As a bonus, it will show off my fabulous red shoes! I'm buying my hair flowers, brooch, etc, from etsy since they have better prices than DB.
Photographer: We still haven't booked someone for this, but I've been looking for folks who charge less than $1000 - I've found some good options by looking at craigslist.
Cake: we did go with a fairly expensive bakery, but their cakes are fantastic!! We chose a simple round design with buttercream, so there were no extra charges for fondant, different shapes, extra fancy design, etc. Basically, taste was more important to us than having an extravagant design, so that's what we went with. Our cake will still be pretty, but it won't make the cover of Martha Stewart - ok by me since it will taste great! They are charging us a $100 delivery fee on top of the cost of the cake, but again, it's worth it to us.
Mostly, for us, sticking to this budget required us to think about what we wanted - we want an intimate event, and we don't care about limos, dancing, big bridal party, etc. Other people might care about those things, and that's fine - it's just all about priorities. I can't wait to see how it all comes together!
@treepeony
Your wedding sounds like it was beautiful. We're doing something sort of similar. I think my parents would've paid for the big shindig had we wanted it, but I'm too proud to ask them for tens of thousand, and we didn't want a big wedding where we don't get to spend time with our friends (we went to one of those...paid lots of money to travel there, and barely said hi to bride and groom). Sooo, we're having a friends party the weekend before, and then a tiny ceremony the next weekend. Tiny = 15 ppl! Immediate family only, parents, grandparents, siblings, aunts and uncles (who can make it).
Sometimes I wonder if we should just do the big thing---just one event to plan, right? But then I think about catering, and renting tables, and cocktail hour and reception and am glad we're doing it this way!
budget-wise, it looks like the ceremony thing will be about 4-5k including nice dinner post-ceremony. A lot of this is the dress (900), makeup (500 for day of...), photography (haven't found one yet!) but other than that, maybe a bouquet for me, and a suit for FI. Costs really come down when it's so small, but we are fortunate that our families are ok with it too! We're spending a weekend at a B&B in the redwoods near Santa Cruz, so we're hoping it'll be nice and relaxing for our guests too =). I bet there are a lot of little costs that I'm missing though...we're not very organized and haven't really gotten our act together haha.
For the friend party, we figure it should have lots of alcohol, music, rockband on a projector screen, and other fun stuff we and our friends like to do. Photobooth, chocolate fountain, etc. (diy--not renting a photobooth or chocolate fountain attendant =P). I have no idea what that will cost, but we want to get someone to come grill burgers onsite, but since it's not a "WEDDING", we're expecting a few thousand to throw a pretty kickass party. But what do we know haha.
In the end, we're not doing it to save a few tens of thousands (though we are, thankfully), but having a big wedding just isn't important to either of us. I feel more comfortable with it just being family.
Our budget is $5,000. We are accomplishing this by:
*getting married on a sunday afternoon - prices per person at our brazilian steakhouse are $20; 80 guests
*no dj, ipod music
*Etsy invitations and other paper products, no save the date
*free wedding website at www.mywedding.com - using it for rsvps and directions
*$500 wedding dress at a sample dress store
*no wedding party
*DIY photobooth
*creative and functional guest favors
*flowers only for centerpieces, may do fake flowers or farmers market flowers
*$1 vases at dollar tree
LOVE THIS THREAD! @Briar rose, 250 ppl for $5k IS absurd! I know because that is what I am doing 
-Our venue is a huge barn with 250 capacity, includes tables/chairs & ceremony site for $800
-We can bring our own alcohol, so we are doing vodka lemonade in punch bowls (8th grade dance style!) and kegs.
-I am attempting to grow my own flowers, but if I kill them, I'm using 50flowers.com
-DB wedding dress was $300
-Catering is only $10 per person for lasagna, bread, salad
-For dishes, silverware, cups, I am using smartyhadaparty.com plastic stuff
-I am skipping tablecloths, using old booze bottles, glass bottles, and garage sale vases for centerpieces
-Making our own cupcakes for dessert.
-Photographer is a fam member, we are paying him $200
-Luckily, FI is in bands and has hired his friends to play music for $200
$6k takes some creativity and planning, but it is doable! Good Luck everyone!
We are doing ours for less than 4k. I made beautiful invites on my home printer. I bought all the supplies from cards and pockets.com and used microsoft word. My dress was the most expensive thing but it is Maggie Sottero. We are having the wedding in my Aunt's yard and I am renting all the chairs, tables, etc for under $500. I got stuff to make favors from factory direct craft. com, they are little metal buckets and watering cans that will have real sunflower seeds and planting intructions. Our colors are ivory, black, and burgundy and my main flower is sunflowers most of which my family is growing in their gardens. We are spending $900 on a photographer. Both sides are mostly Italian so we are having the food made by my favorite Italian resturant and it will be served buffet style. My mom is a bartender and is getting all the alcohol through the bar at wholsale prices. My Mom and Aunt are making all my table linen and I found cool plastic plates that are square and not cheap looking a reasonable price. You just have to shop around for good prices. Chose a few things that are important and put the bulk of your money in them. It is not easy but it can be done...especially when you are paying for everything yourself.
I am a 5K bride and the biggest budget saver for me was getting married in a small town! Originally I wanted to get married where I live now, but it was just too expensive and I'm now getting married in my tiny home town two hours away. One example of how we are saving is the cake. If we would've gotten married in the city a 3 tier cake, 1 sheet cake, and 300 cream cheese mints would have been close to $700 (not including delivery and cake cutting fee) but my small town cake price is $200 and no delivery of cake cutting fee with this baker!
Best of luck!
We've invited 225 people and the budget is $5000. Yes. it really depends on your area if it's possible or not, and for us it's been really hard BUT if you do your research, and we have, it's possible. For instance, the average cake slice around here is $2.50 for plain butter cream. I was able to find it for $1.0 from someone an hour and a half away. Yes, we have to pay a delivery charge but that STILL brings us under.
I've also been DIYing as much as I can. My veil, the paper stuff etc. But we've had a long engagement, so that really has made it easier to be able to DIY stuff.
Hi, This is a very interesting post. I am saving much more by having my wedding out of town. I live in Atlanta, where the least expensive venues are $3000. I am estimating guests at about 100. Also, it's a country/rustic wedding and not designed to be super elegant.
- Venue is $868. It's a 1930's civilian conservation corps lodge at a state park on the Sunday before Labor day. It's at Table Rock State Park in South Carolina.
- Food will be around $800. I am ordering from a southern-style restaurant. The food will be served family style in bowls, etc.
- Cake - I haven't gotten it yet, but I am thinking Publix. $300, or just getting several cakes. Honestly, I think my guests would prefer to choose their flavor.
- Dress - I am ordering online from vendor asapbay. http://myworld.ebay.com/asapbay/ $250 I bought some undies for the dress $50. May need a crinoline - $50. Shoes from Target - $25 Total- $375
- Bridesmaid dresses - Again, I am thinking target - Around $70 for two.
- MOTB dress - $70 from JcPenny.
- Groom and best man are wearing suits that they already own.
- Flowers - I am trying to grow my own or go fifty flowers .com.
- Photographer - About $1500 - I am picky about this item.
-Officiant - will be a friend - I will pay for her stay at the state park - $250.
-Invitations - DIY invitations from Office Depot - about $150 - Postage $92.
- Flower vases - $15 for 15 tables. From the thrift store! + paper doilies to go underneath $10.
-Honeymoon - I am thinking of asking my guests to help pay for honeymoon in leiu of gifts.
Total = about 4500 and my parents agreed to pay photographer ! ;-)
Issues
Decorations - I am wondering if I really need decorations. I am totally confused about this issue. I am thinking paper poms or lanterns from the ceiling. Frankly, I don't think that the venue really needs decoration other than flowers.
Plates and Servingware and Silverware and Glasses - I think I want real stuff, but the rental places are a rip-off.
Alcohol - My place doesn't allow free-pour alcohol or byob, so I think I will have to get a bartender/staff.
DIY hair and makeup - Not really sure if I want someone to do hair and makeup.
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hey everyone. just wondering how you brides are keeping within your budget? How are you able to have a wedding in taht price range? and if you can offer tips for other brides!