Balling on a Budget

Yes! After checking out venues we had decided our budget didn't seem enough unless we cut down the number of guests on our list so we upped our budget due to that

I cried. Several times. Finally secured an amazing venue by changing our vision & getting creative. We chose a weekday night, off-season and saved over 50%. Our wedding was a dream!

Depending on how small you’re willing to go, some amazing venues (gorgeous hotels) offer weekday “elopement/small ceremony” packages for less than 10-20 guests. They’ll include an officiant, bridal bouquet, photographer. You can then treat your guests to lunch or dinner at a restaurant.

If you’re prioritizing guest list (100+) over the experience/look, then look into community centers, halls, or church/temple halls and get food catered at $10-$20 PP or have an afternoon cake & punch only reception.

My best advice is to make your event fit your budget and not the other way around! Wedding planning is definitely an area where it's VERY easy to get caught up in "competing with the Jones's".....don't fall into that trap. Set your honest budget first, then you do you. There are lots of fun ways to get creative and make your wedding personal to you and your intended.

Absolutely. Some of the venues I looked at cost as much as I wanted to spend on the whole wedding just to rent out the space. I spread out my search and ended up finding a venue that fit in my budget that was about 4 hrs away in a different state. There are several other things you can do to help budget. Cut guest list, weekday wedding, sunday wedding, morning wedding. The reception is what costs the most so find a venue that lets you bring your own alcohol and catering.

We chose to have our wedding on a Friday to help cut costs but we also were offered to use the barn on his uncle's property for free so we only had to rent a tent, tables and chairs and it saved us probably close to 10k to do it that way. Look for alternate venues like parks or fire halls that you can dress up how you like.

I found a very affordable venue that allows me to have the wedding and ceremony. The even is also byob and byo catering. So I will save alot by brings my own bar and catering.

Search widely. Sometimes parks and rec have the best locations for a lot less than the wedding venues you find on these wedding websites. They tend to be very clean, have beautiful outdoor park settings, etc.

Some of the hotels and venues here cost more than my whole wedding! More than the downpayment to buy a house! It's ridiculous.

YES! We have a very specific idea about the kind of ceremony/reception we want and I have been poring over venues to choose from. It just so happens our wedding is in a "peak" month, on a busy day and a lot of the venues I am seeing limit their spaces to Mon-Thurs. at relatively reasonable costs. Unfortunately my day isn't mon-thurs! So, I upped it by about 500 dollars due to that. I am an incredibly stubborn person and will not move the budget up, and will cut something if needed to keep costs down.

Absolutely! I didn't cry looking at the base venue prices... but I did over their caterers. I started looking at venues that didn't list themselves as wedding venues. That saved my sanity.

Restaurants may be a less expensive option than traditional wedding venues. Often, they don't charge at all for the venue, or impose just a small premium for use of a private dining room, if you are buying the food from them. They don't typically have minimums at all. And they simplify planning, because you can get food, alcohol, venue, and items that would otherwise be rentals, all from one source.

We looked at prices of venues and said no way. We rented a vfw banquet hall that over looks a river and is beautiful for super cheap!! That gives us plenty of other money to play with in other areas

Glad to know I’m not the only one who feels overwhelmed by this. I have a specific vision of what I want..hoping I find a way to obtain it without killing myself financially. Looking at a few venues this weekend so here’s to hoping.

I was starting to wonder if I would have mine at Burger King lol...seriously though, my budget it tiny so I was worried. Every place that was in my budget was booked, the places that were free on my day I couldn't afford. It was stressful. Luckily I got the venue I'd wanted all along. The community center we met at back in 1985 at a dance. Not only a very sentimental choice for us, but VERY affordable. It's only 275 bucks for 10 hours. Maybe look into that too. Most of them have really neutral decor that will go with about anything you want to have.

Yes, trying to plan my wedding has made me cry so much; it seems like I can’t even set a date because if I find something even somewhat affordable that I like, someone throws a fit about it. It’s only been a few weeks and I’m already tired of planning and fighting with everyone 😪

View Quoted Comment I completely agree with you!! I’m at an IDGAF place where I’m just going to do what makes me and the FH happy, and whoever truly cares will be there.

View Quoted Comment I keep trying to tell my mom the same thing, “the important people will be there”. Unfortunately that doesn’t stop her from trying to control everything. We’ll see what happens!

View Quoted Comment Yes to this!

Do a lot of searches on venues on different websites. Even a simple Google search of cheap or inexpensive wedding venue in (your area) can come up different ones than on ww or theknot.
Call them about pricing first if it's not on their site.
The venue search took 3 months for me.