Low budget weddings

I think im doing well for mine considering I'll have a lot more people , both come from big families so guessing around 175 , fake flowers on sale from Michael's and joanns under 100 bucks , 855 for room rental we get it from 10 am until midnight everything is there , food is 19 per adult and 10 per kid, dress was 175 , photo booth is 800 , photographer is 1500 , dj unsure of price right now and all my decor is from people who had weddings and didn't need it anymore. That's where I'm at in planning , wedding is Sept 8th.

Honestly, I'd reduce the amount/style/expense of flowers, decor, and centerpieces if you're looking to save money. Skipping basic unnecessary things like save the dates, programs, favors, having less flowers, having less decor, etc. can save you money without cutting into important things or comfort for guests.

We are budgeted at 5000 firm for 86 people. The biggest thing for us was grog out buffet meal for 7.99 per person. Also my dress was on saddle during the 99 dollar saddle at David's bridal. We are renting a lodge from a county park, and we bought all the linens during a sale. I'm doing my cake from Wal-Mart. I went worn game flowers, and my centerpieces are just over a dollar each to make... We also are undecided about a dj...

Our wedding was approximately $4665. 2nd marriage to each other (Yay!) so I kept it very low key. Invited 90 guests and about 75 showed up. We don't drink due to religious beliefs and we only invited those really close to us so they know what's up with the drinks. That saved a lot of money. We had a few "friendors" which can be good and bad depending on how professional they are.

Hair/Makeup - $100, Cupcake centerpieces - $265, Catering - $1,160 (professional caterer - but my son went to school with his kids so he gave me a $12/head comfort food menu of fried chicken, baked chicken, roast beef, baked mac & cheese, southern green beans, warm rolls, sweet tea and lemonade - so good), DJ - $50 (friendor), Dress/Attire $832, Flowers - $470, Invitations $203, Jewelery - $223 (does not include engagement ring), Officiant/Planner (best friend and pastor) - $245, Other - $348, Photos-$100 (cousin - okay, but would have rather had professional. I wanted to use that $ for a honeymoon instead), venue - $500 - (we had to set up and tear down though). We had a wonderful time. A beautiful day.

View Quoted Comment That's awesome!

It seems like the common theme here is invite very few guests. We decided to invite more than a few and have 230 people attending. We still maintained a $15k budget with about half being catering and alcohol costs.

This is a very good thread. Following as well, it's nice to see how people are managing to pull off their weddings while staying under budget. This thread is a big help to me. Congratulations ladies.

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Thank you Kelsey! As someone who got married in a "budget wedding" last October I can say that I would do it all again in the exact same way. No regrets on my under $3000 for 42 people wedding.

View Quoted Comment I'm assuming you are having more than Polaroids for your photos. Those really fade overtime

Not an extremely small budget, but we should come in around $7000 or less for our riverboat wedding in northern Kentucky! The venue includes food, a DJ, and a coordinator for the ceremony. We can choose bar packages or run a tab. We have a guest list of about 60 and the all inclusive venue costs us about $4500 for that amount!

View Quoted Comment Which part of CA did you have your wedding in? I live in San Jose, and will be getting married in Los Gatos.

I have close to the same budget as you, but we have 42 guests. I didn't include rings or honeymoon costs.

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It's doable. I specifically looked for venues where I could bring in my own caterer so that I could shop around. Found a woman in Maine who owns a restaurant and does hundreds of weddings a year - she had a "pick your own price" style where I gave her a budget and she worked a menu around it.

I paid $1,200 (not including tip) total to feed 100 people + my vendors (enough food for seconds and thirds too) a wide variety of options. This also included the heavy duty plastic plates/silverware, napkins, serving, cake cutting, her staff, and cleanup. This did not include drinks or alcohol, we provided all that separately.

Sandra - I'm still curious how you're providing food and alcohol for about $33/pp! I am familiar with the Milwaukee area. Where are you holding the reception?

I was trying to keep our wedding budget around $5,000, but one thing I’ve learned through all this planning is that when you use a “venue” that isn’t normally a venue, you have to spend more money on things, like tables, chairs, linens, decor, because they aren’t provided. I think we will come in around $9,000 with 75-100 guests. We are very lucky to have family helping with some of the expenses. FH and I are currently renovating our new home and don’t have a lot of cash to spare. So far the venue and reception are $1500, DJ $650, photographer $1200, catering $800, coordinator $1850, officiant is free. So we aren’t really low budget like we planned, but I’m still very excited

We are having a small wedding of 40 guests. For the ceremony, wedding and buffet dinner our budget is at $3,000. Found some good options the pics I included is one place and the package offers a DJ. My flowers are all coming from Sams Club. They have really great prices on wedding flowers. I’m doing the centerpieces myself and the garland for the ceremony arbor

Our budget is $8,000, including the honeymoon. So we are catering the wedding ourselves. To save us the stress of having to worry about the food on our wedding day, we are having the reception on a different weekend from our wedding. The wedding itself is going to be small, only about 50 people, and then the reception is where everyone is invited and there will be a big party. We are not sending out save the dates, and we are doing a taco bar because it's really affordable. Also, I'm fortunate to have a baker for a mother and she's making our cake, and my father is ordained and so he's marrying us. We chose a local park for our ceremony venue, and it only cost us $60 to rent it for the day. We also made sure our reception venue included tables and chairs, so we don't have to rent any. I am still in the planning process, but so far I've saved myself quite a bit of money just from what I've said above. How far away is your wedding? If you have the time, my advice is to really shop around and find the best bang for your buck! We are also doing fake flowers, partly to save money, but my FH has severe allergies too, and I bought all the flowers at Michaels for about $120. I waited until they were running some really good coupons and then loaded up.

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So much wrong with these plans. So much......................

That's still pretty pricey compared to mine. We're gonna walk away spending about 1500

View Quoted Comment Well, it's my wedding and that's how we are going to do it. I wasn't asking for critique, I was just sharing some tips on how I've been saving money.