Ready to give up

I know! Can you share your ideal budget (don’t include attire, honeymoon, rings, etc)? And what’s your vision? We’ll try to help!

FYI, you can save 30-50% off site fees for a weekday wedding and/off-season. That helps a lot!

I'm feeling the same way. We have 103 days, and so many things to pay for still. It makes me want to run to the courthouse instead.

I can only imagine! That's why my fh and a chose a destination wedding. It's not not expensive by any means but we are skipping the traditional stuff and as far as decor goes...we'll be on a terrace in Mexico, so not much to be done there. Don't give up, your wedding will be filled with love from family and friends, and most importantly, your partner!

View Quoted Comment Well, my original plan was $5k for everything. Which would have been feasible, until the venue....

I'm planning in March. Which is off season. But, that puts out any outside venues. I have to do weekend, because his family is out of state, but we've even been looking at Sundays.

Everything is still coming to $5k for venue/food alone. :'(

I love finding deals. I'll be glad to help if I can. I just said to FH that even though our venue is in our budget for a Saturday that I may look at our small guest list and see if a weekend would be a problem for anyone and see if it would be less expensive then.

I have 92 days and I feel the same.. I’ve spend so much already and still have more to pay off. Is just my fiancé and I and we have kids and bills but I wanted to make this nice since I’ve dreamed of this day since I was a kid. I’ve done a lot but is so overwhelming I just want to cry and give up but it’s almost there and I’ve cane this far I can do this and so can you

View Quoted Comment

It's doable! But something's gotta give. Assuming 50% of your budget is for the venue/catering, that leaves $2,500 for venue/catering. Here are a few options...

1) If you want a bigger guest list, that might mean a community center or hall for the reception at $500 or less and $2K for food--at $20 per person for catered Mexican, Italian or BBQ that's a max of 100 guests. But even with DIY decor, a hall might not have the ideal wedding look.

2) You mentioned wanting a "nice" wedding. A zoo, aquarium, or museum will be a stunning unique venue! Site fees may run $750-$1500 but will likely include chairs, tables and maybe basic linen choices. Assuming $1K for the fee, if food is around $50/person you could have an amazing experience for 30 guests. Or if outside catering is allowed, you could still offer Mexican, Italian or BBQ and invite more guests...but probably not 100.

3) If your FH's family is from out of state, can you keep your local wedding smaller (invite his immediate family & BFFs) and then host a "cake & punch" reception in his hometown sometime after your wedding?

View Quoted Comment You can get a photographer for just two hours. Also Shutterfly for music cake and punch wedding. Either make flowers or get them if Etsy. Keep it short I have saved about 2000 just doing a 5 hour wedding. Also a 1000 or more for not getting a florists. Look at community centers or fire halls they may be cheaper. Keeping guest list small helps. Buy dress off rack my dress was 250.

I totally understand! My first wedding was so much more affordable!! Everything is expensive. I had to set a budget and figure out ways to stick to it. I ordered my invites and save the dates from Vista Print. Save the date, invites, response card, envelopes, and address stickers were maybe $150 max. They are beautiful too. I juts detaches for deals on the things I wanted. I got a lot of Etsy. So much to pick from and all sorts of prices. That helped to keep cost down.

Don’t get discouraged Kara, the ladies mentioned some great money saving ideas. Vistaprint is an amazing resour

How many guests?

I did A LOT of venue searching. Online, phone calls, and tours. I highly recommend looking into parks and recs of all local towns/counties within 30 minutes. There are beautiful buildings and community centers that don't look like crap and are reasonably priced. Hourly or by the day.

There may be some venues that will give you space, chairs and tables, linens, event staff, bar option, but still control over your catering. It may be a bit pricier to go that way but less stressful. You'll still be able to choose inexpensive but delicious food.

Don't splurge on flowers. You can get bouquets from the store, cut them, and arrange them in vases from the dollar store. It will cost less than $15 if not $10 per table.

Cake is cake in most cases. A simple 2 tier cake is fine to cut and an extra sheet cake to serve.

Do as much DIY as you can without causing too much stress. See who will be reliably willing to help.

Your budget may seem small but certainly not extremely small.

As I was saying before I hit send too early... vistaprint is an amazing resource. If it helps look at things in small chunks. I get overwhelmed if I keep thinking about the combined total. This site is pretty good with tips and tricks. People are always sharing discounts and ideas on how they saved a little money. Good luck, and stay positive!

We doubled our original budget. I honestly has no idea how expensive it would be. Luckily we have help and wiggle room to have the wedding we want, in spite of going over budget.

View Quoted Comment Keep in mind you don't have to pay the 5k all at once. If you can keep saving to pay the venue in installments as well. That may be a more realistic approach. Seeing that you're putting out $5k at once is overwhelming.