what is reasonable budget?

My budget is about 1000. site is free preacher is free. weddding dress was an great deal.

I know someone who got permission to block off her street and had a street party reception. They ordered barbecued beef from the restaurant where they had their first date - so saved a lot of money there - and ordered decorated ice cream cakes for the cake - a big hit with guests. Her brother paid for the liquor as a wedding gift so the entire wedding was under $3000.

Here's a post that lists nine good websites for brides on a budget for other ideas: http://blog.amigram.com/a-wedding-in-the-family/10-best-websites-for-wedding-savings-ideas/

I want it to look fancy without the 'fancy' price. and i think i pretty much have that covered with my decorations. my mom keeps making it sound like everything is going to cost SO much money that its not even going to be feasible within my lifetime! her wedding was super cheap, and her honeymoon was going to a theme park and sleeping in the car.... i just dont want that! i want a little better. but my guest list is about 250 as it stands. i only expect about 150 at the most, because some of them live out of state, dont wanna take too much time off work... etc. i read somewhere to expect about 25% not to show, but im thinking that mine will be a lot higher because its the weekend after the 4th of july and i figure most people wont be able to get both weekends off.

I think it depends on what you want and how much you have to spend. My fiance and I are having our wedding and reception at the same place. They decorate everything, take everything down, and everything is included in their $44 a person price except a $60 bartender tip (I mean everything, tips, gratuity, alcohol, etc.). They do have things you can add for certain upcharges and the total cost for the wedding and reception site is going to be about $6500 for us for about 140 people. My dress was under $600 (and I feel that I payed WAY TOO MUCH, but I loved it), my sister is making my wedding cake, my aunt is helping with flowers, my sister in law offered to take our pictures. This is more than I ever dreamed I'd spend on a wedding, but we also will have a little bit of help in my fiance's dad and my parents. I think if you work it right, you can do it way cheaper than I am.

Also, if you're not afraid to book your cruise at last minute, a women I used to teach with would go on cruises every summer with her husband for literally a few hundred dollars each for her and her husband. The cruise lines want their rooms filled, so they go really cheap at the last minute. Keep that in mind. And if things start to get a little more expensive, you can always take a cheaper honeymoon or even do a nice night in a nice hotel and take your honeymoon later...that's what we may be doing.

Vacationstogo.com has last minute cruise deals that are generally pretty good. 2 things that really affect your budget are food and ## of guests (which dictates venue as well). We are planning a small wedding (50guests) with the ceremony and reception in the same place. Instead of a meal, we are doing late evening with drinks and light, cocktail type food, uncatered. My mom and MIL are handling all food prep, and with lots of DIY decor & favors, and 2 photography students rather than "prfessionals" our budget is 3500 as well.

I feel you on planning wedding on budget. We trying to plan our wedding on a limited income. Me & my fiance is paying for eveything ourself. I work & hes on unemployment. He's been looking for work for 8 months now. So I'm glad that our wedding isn't until next October 2011.We only want to spend $4000.00 for the wedding that includes the ceremony reception invitations. I'm sitting aside 2600.00 for our honeymoon. I did find a good deal through bookit.com 7 days in San Cabo San Lucas Mexico all inclusive air faire & hotel. So I don't want to go over total $7000 for everything wedding dress, tuxel for groom, wedding cake everything. So if you have any ideals let me. We live in Northern California. GOOD LUCK!!!!!!

Cassie, I am doing my wedding for under 4K and that includes my dress, food, reception hall everything. I have spent about 3400 and I have everything done except cooking the food. I have a few of my friends helping me with the food. I am getting married in Des Moines and if you look hard enough you can have a fancy wedding without the price tag. Do you have your photographer yet, and are you going to have a dj or a band. I might be able to help you with both of those the people I am using do travel and are reasonable in pricing.

I too have a budget that's not as high as many. My total is $5000 but most likely we will spend around $3500.

Park was $100

Reception hall is about $850 includes table cloths,napkins, bartender, servers, dance floor, tables, chairs, centerpieces.

Photographer is $700

Flowers, My MOH, mom, and I are DIYing, buying bulk fresh flowers offline and making the bouquets

DJ haven't booked them yet but he is $500

Food we are estimating to be about $500, my FMIL, and FH many aunts have volunteered to make all of our food, we are doing late afternoon/early evening time so we are just doing appetizers, not a full meal.

The only thing not included is alcohol, we buy what we want and the bartender serves it until it is gone.

If you look high and low, you can find a lot of things, call around. I found my photographer on Craigslist, she's not a pro but I like her style and she knows what I want.

I am not sure if anyone else has mentioned this, but the way I am keeping my prices down is by networking. I am not a DIY person, I wish I was, but it is impossible. So, I find capable friends and family instead. For example, my cousin is in pastry school, so she is going to make my cake for only the costs of ingredients.

I made some priorities with my wedding and decided what was important. Seriously, make a list about what is most important to you. I want the aesthetics to be top notch, so that is where all my money is going. Having gorgeous flowers is better than hiring a live band, imho.