Pricing for Elopements & Microweddings

We did a ceremony at a waterfall last year when we were legally married (3 guests). We spent around $700 for the photographer, officiant/permit, and attire (not including the rings). Just the two of us went to dinner afterwards, and because we were regulars at the restaurant, they surprised us by saying it was on the house! It was such a perfect day that I might have canceled the full wedding if we had not put down all of those deposits.

Last week, we did the ceremony and reception we had originally envisioned with ~35 people in a pavilion by a lake. It was fun and low-stress, and I got to spend time with everyone. That was about $8000 with the major costs being food, rentals, photographer, musician, flowers/decor, and venue, in that order. We definitely could have done it for less, but we splurged on a few things that were important to us (especially food) and I don't regret it-- it made the day extra special and I took a lot of pride in planning it. I am glad we did not spend more on things like decor and favors.

I feel like photography is the biggest challenge when budgeting for smaller weddings, as it's not a "per person" cost. I did hours and hours of research and emailing before I found someone within our budget. She was a talented, experienced professional and I have no idea why her fee was so low relative to the others, but even with a large tip I feel like we lucked out.

Wow you guys need to give me some tips. I am planning about 50 people. So far we are at about $3000 for the food and venue. $500 for the alcohol. $1000 for the photographer. $750 for the DJ. So we are budgeting just $5 -6000 for the ceremony and reception.

We are having a sort-of glamping microwedding with around 25 people and I think total we are looking at around 9-10K. This was about what I was prepared to spend but I was still a bit surprised that it was so much. Our venue is cheap (only about $300 for the whole weekend) as well as our food as we are just going with a deluxe charcuterie spread for about $800. Most of the cost for me was the photographer ($1,800) and the decor/planner/rentals/florals which is all being done by one company for about $3500. The hard part for me was that a lot of vendors didn't want to work with our wedding because it was so small and on a saturday, so I had less options to choose from. Nevertheless, I am so happy that we are having an intimate wedding and a number of guests will actually be camping with us there all weekend, so it gives us extra time to celebrate together. Really looking forward to it despite some unique planning hurdles.

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Monica - not sure if I went out to dinner for four under three hundred bucks in a long time. Can you please share where you purchase your dress?

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Paige - awesome saving and planning!!

View Quoted Comment Oh don't worry... The big wedding we had this year cost a lot more 😬🤦‍♀️. I think the fact that we just did cupcakes and weren't allowed to do a real reception due to covid rules at the time really helped keep costs down for the smaller wedding!


I got my dress from coedition. It's an online only store and I'd never heard of it before I ordered but the dress was well made and I thought super cute. It looks a little yellow in this picture but that's because it's ivory and the lace was white. I just checked my receipt and it was $113! Totally a steal. Best of luck to you on your wedding! 😁