(Closed) Anyone who had VERY low budget weddings, how did you do it?

• cmbr
• 6 years ago

• Wedding: August 2013

How many people are you planning to invite? That’s typically the limiting factor.

• MexiPino
• 6 years ago

• Wedding: October 2015

@freshflowers:  You can basically plan a backyard BBQ (something any of us can throw together in a couple weeks) for cheap. Rent some tables and chairs, cook yourself or get catered to-go from a local place. Buy some big ice buckets and throw drinks in. Hook up your i-pod to some speakers and you’re done! As for the ceremony- there is NO reason it has to cost anything othr than the license fee. Have someone you love and respect get ordained online. Set up a beautiful corner in the backyard to exchange vows. You can make it as long or short as you wish. My ceremony space (with chairs & archway) costs $600. But if we didn’t have to pay that fee and were using chairs we would then cart over to the reception, it could very well be totally free. 

• canarydiamond
• 6 years ago

• Wedding: December 2013

Ours was around $2,000… but we only had four guests. That’s the biggest factor you can manipulate to get costs down. Venue – $500, ceremony $275, dinner $700, flowers $300, dress $100… we didn’t count rings or my husband’s suit in there since he bought a new suit for work and the first time he wore it was at the wedding.

• KeeganWynne
• 6 years ago

• Wedding: August 2013

My entire wedding and honeymoon cost 4.5 grand. I got a low price dress, we rented a room in the top of a movie theater to use as our venue for both our wedding and reception, we DIY-d EVERYTHING and we made cheap catering choices. 

• LorensAngel
• 6 years ago

• Wedding: August 2013

Ours came out between $2500 and $3000. Several family members helped with a lot of DIY projects. All the flowers (silk) came from Hobby Lobby and we had a local catering business handle the food. They were super cheap…like $9 per plate and the food was amazing! Our venue cost $300. The DJ was free as he was one of DH’s college friends who works in radio and just wanted to help us out. We ended up having roughly 100 guests. The thing that saved us was Hobby Lobby for most of the decor. They frequently have 50% off a lot of their wedding supplies, so we took advantage of that! My dress was $500 and Darling Husband rented a tux for around $120. The cake was from Walmart and it was only $125…I was pleasantly surprised with how it turned out!

• DJones69
• 6 years ago

• Wedding: March 2008

@freshflowers:  We decided we weren’t trying to impress anyone. We got married in our church who married us for free. We had a desert reception in the fellowship hall of the church. No limos, no expensive dinner, uplighting, cheesy favors that end up in the trash or anything. We took it back to a time where a wedding was an event when your friends and loved ones witnessed your union, did a little celebrating and we went home.

Total cost? A little over $3,000 and that money we had in the bank. 

• OkieHeart
• 6 years ago

• Wedding: February 2014

Ours will be under $2000. Best tip I can give you is do your research.   I finally found a state park with a community building for $350 for an all day rental. After trying on dresses and finding one I liked, I hopped online and found someone selling it for less than half the price of new. Friends have come out of the woodwork to offer assistance,  and have been recruited for cooking the food, doing hair and makeup, helping set up, clean up, and do photos. The main thing with budget weddings is to decide what’s most important,  what means nothing to you, and prioritize everything. Because of that, my wedding may not be the party event of the year, but my guests will go him knowing how much we appreciate them being there for us.

• creativeplannertobee
• 6 years ago

@freshflowers:  Yes, my daughter’s wedding was $5K.  If you’d like to ask me specific questions, I’d be happy to help-just send me a Private Message.