Engaged in college!! How do I pay for it?

Plan to do a lot of projects yourself. I was a budget bride myself back in the day and I did everything from making my own invitations to finding a free wedding dress on Craigslist.org. Take a look at what you think is important and what you can do without.

For instance, maybe do an iPod play list instead of a DJ, or look for a DJ at a local college who is just starting up.

For a wedding cake look into a grocery store instead of a bakery as they tend to be more affordable.

USE YOUR FRIENDS AND FAMILY! You'll discover they have talent you never knew they had. My sister did my hair on my wedding day and I had no idea she had experience with hair styling until then.

There are many different cost cutting ideas out there. You can still have your dream wedding, you'll just have to do more work yourself. If you're willing to do that, I'm sure it will be great!

I'm kind of in the same boat. i'm a teenage mom and my fiance is in college, he'll be done this year tho. I only work part time and we have a VERY tight budget.

we are getting an 8" round cake and a sheet cake (the 8" one will go to me, him, mob, fob, bm, gm, etc.). the sheet cake is for everyone else. i got that advice straight from a bakery.

we also only have a Maid of Honor and a Best Man, no bridesmaids or groomsmen. and it's a very small wedding, family and very close friends. hope this helps!

Oh,another thing, we are only having a cake reception (cake and punch, no cater) and if you are part of a church chances are you can use that site for little to nothing.

it also says your wedding is in 2010, not 1009.. just a fyi. lol. best of luck!

My good friend had a very small budget of 1000. She rented an indoor facility at a local park, relied on friends for speakers and used her ipod for ceremony music. She also had family and close friends help contribute with food. Many of us brought different cassaroles, chicken fingers, sandwiches, and an uncle was even outside making a jambalaya. She had her preacher from church do the ceremony, bought a used wedding dress, only had 1 attendant each and honestly, I think she just bought a few bouquets of flowers from walmart and put them in vases. She had an aunt make a small wedding cake and had a dessert table which friends helped out with. We her guests, didn't mind helping her out. We love her and were so happy to see her so happy on her wedding day.

Sorry, typo on here. The wedding's next year in 2010.

Congrats! We too are doing this a cheap as possible. The 2 things that have made this easiest on me were the website i bought my dress from and the venue we chose to have it all take place!

1st the dress:

I bought it online from http://www.lilywedding.com/index.php It is the best I have ever seen AND it was $238 for the dress, veil, petticoat, AND SHIPPING! they were an absolute dream to work with too. The dress orignally came with blue trim and no sleeves and they switched it to baby blue trim and added sleeve's free of charge. They make the dress to your measurements, though I still had to go and get a little altering done... but only because i was picky. It would have been just fine as is.

2nd We are getting married at a city park BUT they let you reserve it for $300 dollars and it will not be open to the public at that time... Since its already planted with flowers and has cute little bridges and walkways I wont be spending more than maybe $100 on decor. ALSO it comes with a

It comes with a gazebo and bleacher seating so no having to rent an arch or chairs Here is a link to the park I found.. i realize its a long way from Gettysburg, PA but it may give you an idea of whats out there:

http://s211.photobucket.com/albums/bb158/gabby_jayne/Parkway/?albumview=grid&fullsize=DSC01242.jpg

Oh and here is my 3rd cheap idea i forgot about... we are getting married on a Friday and lucky for me the local cosmetology school will be open and i can get my hair done for $7 ... I've used them a few times already for important events and they do a great job!

You don't have to spend hours searching on the web for a cheap dress. David's Bridal has a lot of very cute wedding gowns for under $150. They also have a $99 gown sale twice a year.

The easiest way to trim cost: trim the guest list. My fiance and I are not quite in the same boat... We're 25-26 and are finished with college, but my student loan payments are really putting a huge dent in our budget. I'm finding that every time I cut an invitee I'm saving about $80. Granted, weddings in my area are expensive to begin with.

In your situation, maybe holding off on the reception (the most expensive part by far) for a few years might be a good idea too. You could easily do the ceremony for under $500. Maybe when the two of you finish college, you could throw a huge party to celebrate your wedding and your graduation?

My Fh and I are also on a tight budget and decided we (meaning me and the girls)are doing everything DIY. The invites, decor, flowers, ect. are all going to be done by us.

Im not getting a bridal gown just a white dress that looks awesome! We are having the ceremony in a park for $100 for the whole day then the reception at my parents house.

We're having wedding cupcakes which my SFIL will be making and my bro works at a grocery store/bakery so he's getting us a good price for a small cutting cake.

Also my mom's friend is good at organizing events so she's my "planner" and also the church she goes to might be able to offer us their tables and chairs for the reception for a small donation.

I took a flower arragement course in high school so ya know that's taken care of (i thought i would never use it either!!)

And every little thing for the reception is coming from antique stores(ie: vases, platters, ect.)

Use your imagination and you'll find lots of good ideas...good luck!!

Congratulations on your engagements! I am a planner in Orlando and have come across your situation a lot. My point of view is very different than those of the brides commenting on here, so just remember it's an opinion.

Though it sounds like a good idea to do a DIY wedding to save money, it is very stressful for a bride. So if you decide to do this, my suggestion is to plan very carefully, but when the big day comes, have someone else in charge so you don't have to worry about anything. Keep a binder/folder of everything you have done, what needs to be done that week before, the day of and give them a checklist. If it's in your budget, you can hire a coordinator just for the day which shouldn't cost too much.

Also, should you decide to recruit friends and family to help, make sure they are reliable and will come through for you.

Also, instead of registering for gifts, make your own registry on a website and have guests give money towards the wedding.

You could throw a "Jack and Jill" party. Basically instead of having a shower where people bring you gifts, you throw a low-key party in a park or someone's back yard with hamburgers and keg beer, but charge an entrance fee. The entrace fee is usually around $20. Sure, it's high, but that's their "gift" to you. Get friends or businesses to donate items for a raffle and have a Chinese lottery. Unlike a wedding, ask your friends to bring other people so that you have a lot of people come. You keep the money from the door fee and from the lottery. You can also invite people to the Jack and Jill party that you don't plan to invite to the wedding. I went to one last summer and I think the couple raised about $1500. I spent about $30, but I got dinner, some drinks, listened to some music and won a few prizes (lotion and board games).

I am 21, and my fiance is 24. We set our date for sometime in 2012 so we could save up the money. I am also refusing to use a wedding planner...and a ton of DIY projects. My uncle...who I happen to have an insane amount of respect for...is also able to do weddings. So, he will be marrying us. And we were thinking about having am outdoor wedding. We don't really want a long reception. We are trying to cut as many corners as we can. We know that we aren't going to have a lot of money being thrown at us for the wedding. You could also try doing it at a court house, and then when you have the money, renew your vows like it was your first wedding. That's what I am trying to convince my fiance to do. 2012 is soo far away! LOL

If you need an affordable photographer. I range from 500-3000 dollars depending on your date.

There is a lot of free places and depends on what you want to spend on...

dress

photographer

location

flowers

food is the most expensive thing...don't include that and it will be a cheap wedding thats great.

www.sarahchristinephotography.com

I'm an older, second time bride...and I am planning a small, intimate wedding ceremony with immediate family only for the ceremony. We're having it outside at a beautiful park (free) and we hired a wedding officiant I found online ($225). One thing I definately wanted was a photographer, but can't afford an expensive one so I went on Craigslist for my area...found one that was just starting out, building her portfolio. For $50 she did a bunch of enagagement photos of my FH and I...it gave us a chance to see if we liked her style.We are only having her for the ceremony...photos before, during and right after. She is charging $125 for 2 hrs of her time. A great deal! After the ceremony, we are taking everyone to a restaurant for dinner and we ordered a small wedding cake for that.

After we return from our honeymoon, we are throwing a "post wedding party" for the rest of our friends and family (about 70 people). We rented a party pavillion in same park we're getting married in.

THe party pavillion cost is $100 for the entire day. You can have a casual BBQ, or do picnic food, soup and sandwiches or potato bar...or even heavy hors d'ouvres...or if family and friends are willing to participate in a potluck, everyone can bring a dish to share.

Invitations were bought at Michael's Arts & Craft store...blank kit that has everything you need in it (50 invites to a box and I paid about $25-$30 per box and you can probably find cheaper online). If you have an Office Max near you, you can take the invitation kits to them with what you want printed and they will print it up for you very inexpensively. My DF son is getting married in May and they had 300 invites printed and it only cost them about $25. Or you can do it yourself if you have a good printer..they kit has instructions and template to do it yourself. I just prefer not to mess with it.

For flowers, try www.Afloral.com I am using silk flowers and I got 2 bridesmaid bouquets (already made up), and

My own bouquet, enough flowers for 12 centerpieces for tables, and 3 boutinaires...all for $90.00. And the quality is EXCELLENT...very high quality and realistic silk flowers. I was leary, but I am sooo happy with them! I bought 12 8" bubble bowls from Michaels's arts and craft store at their grand opening for $1.99 each to put flowers in for centerpieces.

Here is another great website for all kinds of good deals on wedding decorations... www.save-on-crafts.com I also got a bridesmaid dress for my wedding gown.

Good luck with your planning. You do have time to save money for this...I have been engaged for 3 yrs now and we have been saving and saving. I am paying for the wedding and my FH is paying for the honeymoon. I just take money from my wedding savings any time I need to pay for something and save the receipts and keep close track of what I'm spending as I go along. It helps to buy a little at a time, not such a shock to the wallet. Just keep track!

I am a wedding minister, I marry a lot of couples who are in college and on a tight budget for a wedding. I myself married my wife 3 years ago, though neither of us were in college we had a daughter so we also had a tight budget. We spent under $5000 for the entire wedding, we took 2 years to plan. Our advice to save:

1.) Do it your self projects (centerpieces, invites, ect saves a lot)

2.) From what brides have told me if you have your wedding on a Friday night or Sunday, venues are usually cheaper these nights than Saturdays since they are so popular. And they want to book more days as well (also true about slow months but you already have your month choosen)

3.) Ebay, my wife bought all of our stuff from another bride who just had her wedding, we had a western themed wedding and she got all the centerpieces, money sac, decorations, and everything for a great deal, the lady made them herself for her wedding.

4.) Shop around get the most for your $$$

Hope this helps.

1) See if you can have your wedding on campus. I know my university lets alums use its on-campus chapel for weddings for free, and I have friends who had their reception on campus as well.

2) Instead of serving catered food, which is usually at least $30 pp + service + tax (at least in our area), just order large party platters from a fave restaurant, kind of like they do at big campus events. If you're active in any student organizations, you probably already know the local vendors / who would be able to serve food you guys like at a reasonable price. Then, just serve everything buffet style, like a campus event, just dressed up. My university will only subsidize up to $1.50 pp for campus-wide events, so I planned tons of events with per person costs not much more than that. Most local restaurants can serve party platters for < $10 pp, sometimes even < $5. Pasta's usually a good bet, since it's cheap but can be fancy as well.

3) Costco is also a good bet. We were going to serve buffet-style pasta (see #2) and then have cocktail shrimp & other appetizers & dessert from Costco to supplement. We also considered having one of their $4-5 roast chickens at each table, b/c they're sooo goooood!!!

3b) Get your tableware, etc. from there as well. They sell silver-colored plastic utensils that are so "real" that they fool most people at first...and make you wonder why your fork & spoon are so darn light. They also offer invitations through einvite.com (but at a discount) so that you can get them for ~$1 each if you don't want to DIY (buying nice papers at stationery stores / Paper Mill CAN cost a lot, depending how fancy you want yours to be). And tablecloths. Although if you want real linen cloths, someone else here recommended IKEA.

4) If you want to have a DJ, just use an ipod. You can probably use the school's A/V equipment for free, especially if you're active in an organization or are friends with someone who is.