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Well. I hope the idea about charging $5 a head was a joke. That is definitely NOT a good idea.
Do you have a venue yet? If not, could you look for a place that would allow you and your FI to bring in your own alcohol? Sometimes that can cut costs. Or serve only beer and wine. Or only have wine available on the tables.
Also, think outside the box. Could you rent a picnic area in a park for an afternoon, and prepare a delicious meal the day before? It might be a ton of work, but people may help out. (Help out by cooking with you, not by giving you money.)
The easiest way to cut costs is to cut your guest list.
I do NOT think asking people to pay is a good idea. It's not a keg party, it's a wedding. I also don't love the idea of a potluck, but I know other people might feel differently. There are a ton of ladies/men on this site that have had "bidget" celebrations and they were perfect. I'm not one of them, so I don't have a ton of ideas, but who says you have to get married right now? If you can't afford the wedding you want right now, why don't you push it back a bit and save the money for what you want? There are blogs that deal with weddings under 10k. I believe one is called Ten Thousand Only. Good Luck and it can be done. You're just going to have to be creative and focus on what is really important.
I agree with Grey. Renting a picnic area, some parks sometimes have covered picnic areas that can be rented, you get a permit for alcohol, and you can do one of two things. You can hire a couple of people to grill or you can do a clam bake kind of thing and have caterers bring the food precooked and they reheat and serve on site. This will allow you to have a reception with your friends. Only downside is it would have to be a daytime event as most parks have after sunset rules.
Check out 2000dollarwedding.com
I think a potluck could be awesome - charging people, not so much. I know if we chose to have a potluck, our family would totally get into it and love to see and taste all the different food between families. Very personal and cool, I think.
have your reception at a restaurant. This helped me alot cut food prices in half and saved me on location fees. We are doing Maggiano's as long as you hit the room minimumthere is no charge for the private room. Also, doing lunch vs. dinner saves alot. I'm on a 5k budget.
@Chela
We are having the wedding In Fond Du Lac most likely. That is where our venu has been reserved. Thanks tho....I will check it out.
If you've already reserved a venue, you're locked into a certain price range already.....can you tell us more about your venue so we can suggest more detailed tips? Otherwise we may give too much "big picture" advice that doesn't suit the commitment you've already made to a venue.
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Well, the ceremony will be outside in a gazebo in Lakeside Park off Lake Winnebego. It is near a fountain and covered in flowers. I knew it was the spot the first time I saw it. It was only $26.25 to book. So it wasn't a big deal for that and we will have to do very little to it to make it work for our ceremony. There is a pavillion, but I am not sure I would want to have the reception there..... I have the gazebo and lawn area reserved and we have a three hour time slot...the park has many rules on what we can and cannot do in the pavillion and we think it would put a damper on our festivities....none of the other hotels in the area are in our price range or can accomodate our group (trimmed to 175 from 250).
I would avoid charging per head, honestly. Personally I would cut out alcohol/beer/wine before going BYOB, but again that's me. We will hopefully be coming in around $7000 for our wedding and we are able to have a photog, DJ...nothing fancy but I'm super happy with what we chose. We hit sales, thrift stores and I'm pretty positive we haven't paid full price for anything- we have saved about an average of 50% on our decor.
Make a list of your top priorities. Ask for families help to set up and clean up. If you have a vendor you LOVE see if they can be flexibe with their prices. Have a morning or early afternoon wedding or on an off-day such as Friday or Sunday.
I have had a couple of brides who have found photographers and other vendors on Craigslist. They are just coming out of professional schools and were looking to build their portfolio, so they charged really cheap rates. You can get pretty cheap rates for most facilities that are run by your city's Parks & Rec dept, but you would have to do clean-up and set-up. Skip the chair rental and opt for a standing room ceremony thats 10-15 minutes in length. BBQ or other simple foods work great. Get your beer & wine from Costco to save money. Good luck!
Yeah, no reception venu, we can't find a place that has the price+capacity+food price perect for our budget. I am going out this weekend to look at a place my FMIL suggests...but it is going to be like $4500 for it....I told her it is too expensive but she wants to have me check it out anyhow. Why lol, so I fall in love with it and get depressed that we will never be able to pay for it? I have time, just not wanting to going into major debt over a meal.
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I wish our venu was $27... just to reserve the room is 550, then all the other fees.... anyways.
Dont charge per head, that sounds weird. I have personally never been to a potluck wedding so I dont know how that would work. I guess it would really depend on how many people were close by. You can always try looking into buffet style or see if your friends would be willing to help you ook a buffet for everyone.
Also, you can always do a money tree(usually done at anniversery parties) or the dollar dance to get some extra money to help offset some of the money you spent.
First off don't get discouraged! My fiance and I are setting a budget of $8K and at this point everything we've looked at has been out of budget. What we've been trying to do is compensate for the reception by altering our budget for other things. For example I really loved these invitations that would be about $600 printed with all the extras, but to save we're going with a print your own using a collection put out by Brides that you can buy through Michaels. They are literally $60 for all of our invitations with envelopes, RSVP's and reception cards. I have to make a map, but that is it.
A potluck is a good idea for a few reasons. First because it spreads the food out between people so one person isn't scrambling to make everything. Second, if you and your FI complie a list of foods you like, and have family and friends who are willing to make it, you can have all the stuff you want for minimal cost. Granted it seems a little hookey, but if it gets the job done and you enjoy your day, thats all the matters!
Mrs. Tulips gorgeous wedding has almost as small of a budget!
She had lots of great tips:
http://www.weddingbee.com/2008/07/16/the-tulips-budget-and-budget-wedding-tips/
My fiance and I are also planning a small buget wedding. I wouldn't do a pot luck because so many people are weirded out by eating things people they don't know cooked, and I DEFINITELY wouldn't charge people to come to your wedding, considering they will be bringing gifts. So keep in mind you will be getting some of what you put into the wedding back.
Check halls that allow your own caterer in and alcohol. A hall I'm very interested it is only $500 to rent. If you end up doing it in a park, you can rent huge girls for a couple hundred dollars and have BBQ food with chicken, sausage, and all the other bbq sides. Also just do beer and wine, you could have a couple kegs and a boxed wine and people would be fine. But if you are set on having liquor as well, just have vodka, rum, and whiskey. If you want to check your local colleges for photographers, djs, someone to make your cake, and what not. Students are always looking to update their portfolios and they will do it for CHEAP! For hair and nails and make up, if you aren't picky, go to cosmetology schools. Even if you don't want to get your hair done there, you can at least save a bit of money by getting a mani and pedi there. Also, skip out on favors. We aren't having them because people just end up leaving them at the reception most of the time. When you get your alterations, check around for people who do it out of their homes and have smaller businesses. If you go through the bridal store you're likely to pay tons and tons more. There are websites that you can rent cakes through, and you can just have sheet cakes that will be served to the guest. Hope those few things helped!
Good luck with your budget.
do a lot yourself. flowers, invitations... do you have friends/ family that can help with things? bakers? photographers? musicians? etc.
Something you could consider if you don't want to do a potluck would be to order the main entree from a catering company and then make the rest of the food yourself (have mothers, aunts, etc help with this).
Here are links to two weddings where they made their own food and saved a lot of money:
http://www.thisyounghouse.com/wedding-album/
http://abackyardwedding.blogspot.com/search/label/food
In terms of alcohol if you have a place like a Costco or Sam's club near you, you could always buy wine and beer from there and just put it on ice. You could hire a friend of a friend to help "bartend."
Instead of a wedding cake you could always buy a few different cakes and set them up on cake stands. Here is an example of that: http://www.stylemepretty.com/2008/12/31/a-look-back-ii/
I would say overall, if you have good relationships with friends and family, is to call on them and use their individual talents to get stuff done/made.
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It can be done! We are doing our wedding for about 12 with 80geusts
Just think outside the box. Have someone make the food and bring your own booze.
You also don't have to serve dinner. You could serve "hearty appitizers" and that is much cheaper to do. You don't have to do open bar...you can choose to just serve wine and beer.
We are saving money by:
Printing my own invitations that I bought at Target. Doing my own flowers that I buy at the farmer's market. Borrowing other people's vases or buying them at thrift stores and ross. We are buying our own beer and wine at cosco.
I put an add on cragislist and got my video for only $300. I came up with the idea after Miss Joey got her photog that way. Think outside the box. Be willing to hire students or people who are not pros.
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If you still want to do potluck/BYOB, maybe you could state: In lieu of gifts, we would like you to bring your favorite menu item and/or drink to help us celebrate!
I went to a wedding about 2 years ago that did BYOB (there were at least 500 guests at the reception) and it was fine. The bride and goom served a dessert buffet and no dinner was served (reception started later in the evening). However, this was probably a common custom for their culture... so if you think your guests will be offended, don't do it. You could also serve just the main course and dessert and invite everyone to bring their favorite side dish.
Have you thought about having it on a Sunday and/or doing a brunch or lunch instead of dinner? Or you can do a cocktail party with appetizers instead of a full meal...use an MP3 player instead of a DJ/band...
Yeah, don't charge people. That really won't go over well.
Potluck could work...it just depends on your guest list. I know I could never do that with mine. It would be a disaster.
Okay, here are some ideas in no particular order:
1. Have a morning or afternoon wedding and reception.
2. Find a location that you can bringin your own wine bottles, but don't have the guests bring wine.
3. Have a dessert reception. If you can, have a 2 pm wedding, and 3pm reception and serve things like cookies and cake, but no meal.
4. As someone already said, lower the guest list!
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Ok ladies, here is my situation (I am sure everyone deals with this)
My fiance and I are trying to plan a wedding on a small Budget (about $7000 for everythign) without skimping on the festivities. I have been asking friends what they think would be a good idea to have a good time and not blow the entire budget. I have gotten suggestions that I charge say $5 a head to help cover costs of the reception, do a pot luck? or even have it be BYOB. I have been to a few weddings and never had to pay or Bring my own drinks. Does anyone have a suggestion as to what I can do or if any of these suggestions are a good idea?
Thanks for any help.