How much was your small wedding or elopement?

All I can say wow well for me and my FH we had a buffet because we wanted to buy a home next year so I calculated trust we spend less than a thousand so far for a courthouse wedding and dinner afterwards
$912.45 Total some expenses that are decent price was the photographer $250 hair & makeup $95 dress $69.99 both rings $180 then I got us personalized champagne glasses with personalized t shirts nails and feet, hair pins shoes, veil, accessories, bouquet etc.. not including his tux, dinner his hair cut etc..

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Yeah I know, right?! This was supposed to be the cheap route. I went a little overboard.

The rings and photos are forever - so that doesn't feel like a wasted expense. The dress got out of hand really quickly, particularly those alterations. I ordered so many in a lower price range and just wasn't happy, it started to consume me so I just settled on something I liked at a higher price.

My husband and I found an all inclusive venue that literally takes care of everything, from the food to the dj, down to the cake,photographer and videographer among other things. The ceremony, cocktail hr and reception will cost us around 15g for 100 guests. We can add more people for an additional fee per person. I have a 4g budget for my dress and am getting help from family with other things like, favors, photobooth etc. All and all it'll cost us around 25g for the entire wedding celebration.

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That's a good price for ALL of that and for so many guests!!

Mhm that sounds about right. Paid 1150 for our photographer, 374 for my dress, 30 for my shoes, 200 for his suit, 60 for my hair, 10 for my bouquet, 360 catered food, 100 alcohol, 30 shoprite cake, 250 elopement package, 30 for marriage license, 50 for reception plates/forks/knives/napkins/cups. 2000 total for both our rings

Our’s is coming under $1800...

We’re getting married at a park so to reserve the “wedding site” I.e. gazebo & gardens it’s a 3 hour rate. Our photographer is reasonable since she’s only going to be working an hour and a half for the ceremony and photos afterwards. We’re just having the ceremony, no dinner/party afterwards. I am wearing my original dress I picked out, so if I factor that in for what it cost then we’re up to $2600

Park/Gazebo $90

Photographer $450

Officiant $100 (tip)

Musician. $275

Florist. $300-400

Rentals (Chairs, table). $53

Makeup. $250

Hair. $175

My elopement was maybe $500 but I didn’t get my hair or make up done by someone, didn’t hire a photographer (thought about it but chose not to), I wore a dress I had bought for a wedding event anyway, and my MOH made my bouquet so I don’t know how much she spent. Rings I didn’t count only because they’re counted for in my big wedding budget and our elopement / legalmony was meant to be small and cheap.

My minimony for nine people total is at about $4800 now, but will probably end up around $5200 when it's all said and done. The largest expenses are the ceremony venue at $1300, rings at $1200, $500 for backyard table/chair/etc rentals, and $500 photographer.


But if we add in all the things I'm not counting (including things I'm reusing for the big ceremony and are part of that budget) it'll be closer to $10k. Those are my dress, alterations, and accessories; tux rental for FH, FOB, and M(an)OH; rental car and gas to drive to my parents; hotel nights outside of the wedding night; and probably a lot of other little things, lol.
But this is a cheap wedding for us. Everyone's financial situation is different.

It's cheaper if you do the research and work yourself. Ours will cost less than $2,000 including airbnb in washington dc. Photography will only cost $500 bc we found a great deal. No one should be paying $2,000 for only 30 minutes or less worth of pics. That sounds like an 8 hour day of pics. And Washington DC has self officiating marriages where the couple doesn't need a minister/officiant. So no cost for us there.

View Quoted Comment Our vision definitely required a unique photographer. She is joining us for an 8 mile round trip hike and camping with us overnight. Believe it or not she was the cheapest option. Other “adventure elopement” photographers charge at least double.


We have a friend officiating (free ordination) and he is traveling in from out of town so we bought him a gift like you would do for a groomsman.
For awhile I was considering doing my own hair and makeup but I thought it would be a fun splurge and help ensure that the photos look good too. Something I’ve never done before. The spray tan is definitely an unnecessary indulgence but those of us in Seattle don’t get a lot of sun!!! Lol.

Rings were from a friend who owns a local jewelry store that we got a good discount on.
Bouquet is dried flowers from Etsy so assuming they don’t get rustled around too much I can reuse them as decor at home.

My boots were from Poshmark and can be reworn (in fact I’ve already worn them a couple times already).

View Quoted Comment Oh wow that is crazy. I could not pay $2,000! Nor do a hike like that for my wedding. I certainly would do it for my honeymoon though 😊😊😊😊😊😊
I'm glad you're implementing your vision for your big day. Please post pics up and share about it after it's happened.

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We did the hike last weekend to scope things out and I'll tell you - I haven't worked out like that in so long so hopefully I'm not in over my head. It was harder than I remember! Lol.

Our is going to come in around $6-7k for 7 people including us. The biggest expense was the Airbnb ($2k), but it’s the ceremony/reception venue and is a really special property so we felt it was worth it. We also have it for three nights so it’s a mini-honeymoon. I also ended up paying $900 for my dress (original plan was a Catholic Church wedding) and we are paying $950 for the officiant (for a catholic priest to come to us). Other costs include catering for dinner, cake ($200), photography ($635 for 3 hours), bouquet and bout ($150), hair ($75), veil ($125), his ring ($200-I’m saving my wedding band for one year vow renewal), marriage license ($86). We wanted to make sure this one was special in case something happened to our one year vow renewal party as we won’t postpone past 2021 for a party.

Our wedding by itself is about 12k for 130 guests. We were planning on eloping awhile back. We were going to go through this company called Simply Eloped and they offer beaches, parks and mountain sites. Their price includes a photographer which is nice. Since plans changed, we'll probably use them for our renewal.

View Quoted Comment It gets pricey when you want people to come to a less traditional spot! Our Airbnb is 2 hours from a big enough town to have hair and makeup artists so I’m paying $100 just for them to travel to me.


I hear you on having nice accommodations. That’s something that will be memorable. We went for a more basic Airbnb than still has a few fun amenities. Though the hot tub is looking less appealing these days...
At this point I’m thinking we won’t have a party a year later. Family still wants us to do that, but I feel like we’ve spent enough and the moment will have passed a year from now.

For our small wedding we're inviting about 22-25 people now, which really saved us a lot of money. Our venue is a small restaurant, all inclusive, with an outdoor ceremony site. The only thing they don't provide are the ceremony chairs, which are pretty affordable. Our total will be about $5,000 for everything, not counting little things like decorations and signs, since I know I can resell those haha.

Venue: $1800 (3pm-10pm)

Food: $700

Photographer: $1000

Officiant: Free (my FH grandfather will be officiating)

Musicians: $400

Dress: $400 (not counting alterations, haven't done that yet)

Flowers: $300

Chair Rentals: $300

Hair/Makeup: $185

I'm also located in northern CA so it totally depends on your region!

I fully support your decision to invest in photography even for your elopement. Just because it’s an elopement doesn’t mean you have to go cheap or skimp on the important parts. I hope you have the day you dreamed of!