So You're Getting Married for under $5000

My biggest advice: eBay. You can find cheap wedding dresses, bridesmaid dresses, craft supplies for the DIY minded, and veils for insanely cheap. I bought a cathedral veil for $7. Amazon and Etsy are great for that too, and definitely price check between them. And for craft supplies figure the cost per item. Sticker shock for bulk pricing can be very real, but it will usually save you money.

I know it sounds tacky but party city online has ALOT of cute and cheap wedding decorations/favors/table ware.

For centerpieces. Find one you like then go on like a dollar store online to find the items to make them. Same stuff much cheaper. And they deliver to a store close to you for free. Instead of buying a card box put some lace on a nice basket and put that out. Make you're own guest book. Too many people want fancy crap for their wedding. I get it girls will be girls. But you have a wedding to get married to the one you love not to dig a financial hole.

Cut the guest list! Have you wedding at an off-meal time so you can serve apps, cake, and drinks. Consider non-traditional venues - parks, museums, etc. You can have an amazing wedding for $5000 for 15-20 people at a nice restaurant with plated meals, or something simpler for more people, but you can't do both. Keep your expectations realistic. My dress was $160, and was not marketed as a wedding dress, but it is amazing!

@Holly "girls will be girls" is an incredible offensive statement. It's up there with "boys will be boys". Gender does not dictate, explain, or justify behavior.

More tips I've found: public parks are very affordable. Outdoor weddings are cheaper in general, plus you won't have to decorate as much. I found a park that I can rent for both the ceremony and the reception (indoors for the latter) for less than $250 total for the entire time. Ask family about catering as it is cheaper to do it yourself and many meal option can be made up the day before. (My dad is making brisket, which he has experience making for up to four times my guest list so it will be no problem for him. I'll just assign someone to put it in the oven at the location before the ceremony and we'll be golden.) And if you feel up to it, DIY your bouquet. Whether you use real or fake flowers, you'll be able to get a much more luxurious look on your budget than if you were paying someone else. (Labor is free if you do it.) Also printable invitations on etsy are amazingly well priced. Just print on some cardstock or use a service like vistaprint and you're good to go.

Do not self cater it is a bad idea. Would you like to give your guests Botulism?

1- not going to touch the self catering comment

2- outdoor weddings can very likely have extra costs associated with them. Like rest rooms. Having to rent all chairs and tables. A tent. Etc

Only six comments until self-catering came up as a suggestion.

It's a terrible idea. Please do not do this.

@Lindsey it doesn't really matter if you find it offensive, because it's the truth. Girls are very picky about how everything needs to be perfect reading alot of these posts on here prove this. I simply said don't let what most people think persuade the choice to spend more then really necessary.

More on the self catering, I would recommend making sure someone knows what they're doing. To clarify, my father caters for local events all the time as an active member of both the fire department and the lions club. He's very familiar with prepping food for large groups of people safely and he knows proper food cooking and storage temperatures by heart. He's catered weddings before and he's not going to give anyone food poisoning. That being said though, I would agree that asking your mom who's never made food for more than 20 people would be a bad idea.

The best advice I've received so far is to sit down and think about what you want from the event. Is it to see family? Feel glamorous? Throw a big party? Whatever that reason is, focus on it. It's easy to get caught up in the small details (I need matching table runners, calligraphy on everything, where to buy a unity candle within our theme, etc.) but you don't actually need those to get married. It can be as traditional or unique as you want. You can do anything you want so long as you follow legal protocol for acquiring and signing the marriage license. Don't waste any of your budget of cliche wedding stuff unless you want to, and make sure you know what your priorities are. (Mine are good pictures and a rocking reception with plenty of time to talk to my loved ones. That's why both of these things are getting a third of my budget a piece and everything else is going to be done cheaply or not at all.)

The only real answer to this is cut the guest list. Yes, you can self cater, spend the next year hot glueing rhinestones to mason jars, rubber stamping cocktail napkins and spending all the money you saved on Valium.

Or you can pick your under 20 guest list, hire a great officiant, get a beautiful little restaurant in an off time of day or year, a bouquet and a bout or two of one or the other, a musician and probably have money left over.

I am always a little stumped why people would want to celebrate what is arguably one of the most important days of their life in ways they can't afford by cheaping out on everything. You CAN afford a beautiful wedding. Just not for 100 people.

I have a hunch there is a lack of comments because there have been dozens of threads about this in the last month. And they all go pretty much the same way; we want way too many people have no budget. And then the cheerleaders appear, urging the OP to get all their friends to work, go to TT and CL, not the best places to find pros, and start wiring silk flowers together.

When you could do something beautiful for the people who really matter to you. You know, the ones who won't be checking their phones two minutes after the ceremony.

And Holly? Guys can be absolutely as picky, and there are women who really don't care about what color their nails are in the case that they get a proposal. Threads here prove that too.

Never said guys aren't picky but girls are worse when it comes to a wedding. Never said ALL girls are high maintenance. No need to get all defensive.

Consider off-peak and mid-week wedding dates. Many venues chomp at the bit for a chance too book weddings during Jan, Feb, and March, and will offer big discounts. Same with other vendors. Alternately, look for "back yard" type venues. Depending on where you live, there may be some small scale venues where private folks who own scenic farm or water front property rent out their large back yards for as little as $1000. My best friend did that this past summer when she got married, and she was operating on a $5000 budget was well for a typical Saturday in June wedding.

I love Celia's everything. Especially "...and spending all the money you saved on Valium."!

Cut your list small, buy a non traditional gown. You can have a very beautiful party for $5K if you keep it small. Restaurants can be amazing and beautiful, I almost did this as I live in FL and there are tons of awesome beach restaurants. It would have made things so much easier.

Holly, you're wrong. My husband cared much more about the wedding details than I did. I originally envisioned a 10-20 person affair when he wanted his entire family. We met in the middle around 100 guests, and he cared WAY more about the small details than I did. I never had the wedding brain.

It's a shame someone who should be one of your your top VIP, your father, has to work on your wedding day.

A venue that is affordable and has linens tents if necessary and lighting included helps a great deal along with staff to handle the setup if you don't have enough hands. Also a venue that doesn't require much in terms of decor. Amazon has amazing and affordable wedding dresses, party city favors, etsy for cake toppers. I also got my invites from aliexpress they were lasercut and gorgeous for about 0.75 each. Also for invites you don't HAVE to send STD that's an additional expenses there. Online shopping helps a great deal. Just becareful to ask the seller plenty of questions and check the reviews.

MOST of these suggestions are good and realistic if you want to save money, except the self-catering. For the love of god please don't. ESPECIALLY if your guest list exceeds 20. Have it catered. There are catering places out there that charge under 20 dollars pp. Don't do it. It's asking for trouble, sick guests, and possibly lawsuits.