How to budget for my simple wedding

Do you have a venue already or do you just want your wedding in October? If your wanting to save on a wedding venue, try to have your wedding outside of peak wedding season. (Some vendors include October as off season some don’t.) Could you do a wedding early November? Also have your wedding Monday-Thursday, avoid Saturday especially. See about restaurants for catering or do a potluck. Read contracts carefully, make sure your able to hire in cheaper vendors at your venue. Also if you hire a photographer, some require hot meals. Try to do smaller time packages, like 4 hour packages for vendors like dj and photographer. Rent out outfits and purchase used or sample wedding dress. Skip on favors, guestbook and physical invitations if they aren’t that important to you. Many people do online invitations these days. Keep decor simple, I’ve seen many thift haul wedding decor that looks amazing. 😄 Good luck wedding planning!

Our budget is $5,000 with about 10-15 people. How I made it work? Destination wedding! I highly recommend. But do lots of research because of course some people might not be able to afford plane tickets/hotel rates. Good luck.

View Quoted Comment Thanks so much those are some great ideas I had not thought of.Super helpful!

I think it would be difficult to feed 50 people on that budget. Even good restaurant catering will run you at least $40 or 50 a person, that's almost half your budget right there. You'll also want a good photographer, which cost thousands. There are many horror stories about people who asked a friend to do their photos for free, and the pictures either got lost or were poor quality. I recommend reducing the size of your guest list if you want to make it work on this budget.


It also depends on where you live. For example, in my area it probably wouldn't be possible to have 50 guests for that budget. Can you use your backyard as a venue? That may help, but you would still have to rent a tent or dance floor which can be thousands of dollars.
Finally, established couples (living together, dating for several months/years, have children together) are a package deal. It is very rude to invite only half a couple no matter how small your budget. If you try to do this, some people will decline. If you can't afford a person with their significant other, then you can't afford that person at all.

There are good ideas above. The biggest way to keep costs low is to have a small guest list. Microweddings, covid-affected smaller weddings, elopements, alternative weddings are very common now. All committed couples are 1 unit (ring or no ring). You cannot ask persons to honor your commitment if you do not do so in return. It will be harder to feed 50 on this smaller budget, so i would suggest hosting at a non-meal time. Some have had lovely receptions with post-ceremony cake and punch. If a smaller wedding is not your vision, consider postponement. Many couples wait in order to save for their wedding. Best wishes.