Where are my fellow low budget brides ($10k or under)?

My budget is super not set in stone but I'm paying for it all out of my own pocket so I'm being frugal in the ways I can be. I'm having a fairly large wedding, 185-200, 5 bridesmaids and 5 groomsmen. I already paid $2200 for my photography(very important to me!) and my reception venue is $650 as well as a bargain on my dream dress for $450. I'm making my decorations by hand (flowers made out of books for the most part!), and my fiance's sister is making our cake. The last expensive piece is food, but we are doing appetizers/snacks instead of a real meal with the reception being at 4pm, there's no need for real food. My budget is $600-800 on food so we can make a lot of it ourselves (fruit kabobs, pinwheels, cookies, veggie trays) and still get some catering if need be. Last big expensive thing is the ceremony spot, but we're looking for a church that will let us do it for under $750

Our budget was 5k... and now its 10k.
We're flexible. We felt this was a number we could deal with with a 1 year engagement.
We splurged on photography, party bus, venue.
We skrimped on photobooth, DJ, catering, and florals.
DIY our centerpieces.

View Quoted Comment

I'd be interested to see your book flowers.

View Quoted Comment

What kind of centerpieces are you making?

Book page flowers so far!

View Quoted Comment Tin can candle holders.
Not exactly sure what they will look like yet.

1. What is your budget? Is it strict or flexible?

It started at $4k but then for Christmas we received a $1k gift from his parents and decided to put it in our joint wedding only account, so $5k to include the honeymoon. Not flexible at all. When it’s gone it’s gone.

2. Why did you choose that budget?

We both felt we could do what we wanted for $4k and were comfortable each pulling half of that out of our personal savings. The gift was just a bonus we’ll use as a cushion if things somehow get more expensive than anticipated.

3. What are you doing to save money on wedding expenses?

Our wedding attire and rings comes out of personal funds, not the wedding account. That includes my HMU. We’re getting married on the beach and only had to pay for the pavilion for the reception, which was $85. Found a great photographer for only $400 (she’s raised her prices considerably since I did my contract with her), no engagement session but we may pay for one separately. Catering from our local predominant BBQ chain, least expensive option we found. Should come in under $600 including a server staying during the meal. Guest list of about 30, expect a pretty high RSVP yes rate. No favors (mints on the table though). No DJ. Flowers-just bouquet for me and minimal bouquets for my (2) maids. No corsages, no bouts, non floral centerpieces, $200 total for flowers. Centerpieces are partially put together and will be finished on site, less than $35 for 8 tables. MOH is making a card box for us. No alcohol. I’m sure there’s more I’m not thinking of. Basically we’re having a very casual small beach wedding for as little as possible.

We want plenty to spend on the honeymoon! We’re doing a seven day Caribbean cruise! We’ve paid our deposit, paid for the unlimited soda plan and paid for our excursions. The balance will come out of the account in September. By my current estimate, we’re going to spend more on the honeymoon than the wedding. I’ve been told on here that that’s selfish. Maybe it is, I dunno, but I don’t really care. We’re having the wedding we want.

View Quoted Comment

I don't find spending more on the honeymoon than the wedding/reception selfish. Of course, I care nothing about tradition and societal expectations and neither does my group friends. I tend not to keep relationships with people who are into "keeping up with the Jones'" or people who default to societal norms just because they don't want to be seen as non-conforming.

I totally understand! While I would love to have everything I dream of, it's absolutely not feasible to spend thousands upon thousands of dollars. We are saving for a new house and don't feel like spending everything we have on one day, a special day but one day nonetheless. Our initial budget was $5000 but things tend to add up very quickly. My FMIL gave us a gift of $3000 but we're still out of pocket around $6000. Our guest count is around 75 and we're getting married at a country club that handles pretty much everything including food. We did hire a photographer, we found her on Thumbtack and she's amazing and around $750 and our DJ was only $550 but we only got him for 4 hours so will miss out on the last hour of the reception, which is fine. I will only have my sister as matron of honor and his brother will be his best man. No flowers other than our bouquets & boutonnieres, and no party favors.

My budget started at 7k, but now is now more like 9k. My parents have jumped in to help with more of it than initially planned though, so my FH and I really aren't spending more than about 3k-4k together. His parents chipped in also. Because of that we've been able to have a more flexible budget with a month of coordinator.

We got an amazing deal on a venue, which helped us save so much money. I made deals with vendors (signed contracts during sales periods) and I'm printing all my own invites and other paper products. I have bought most of our decor on yard sale sites, and have DIYed a lot of other items. My bridesmaid is in cosmetology school so she is doing hair and makeup. My friend is a baker and gave us a good deal on cake. My FH has a friend who does wedding dress alterations and will do mine for free.

View Quoted Comment

That's our thing too. There are other things that money is better spent on.

View Quoted Comment

It's nice that people offer to help you out.

Our buget is 2k to 4k... we wanted a large window to play with that way if we change something we have some money to do it with.

The wedding attire takes half of the 2k budget.

We are saving money by doing the ceremony and reception at the same place. Also the place is outside on a family members large property.
Also we are doing a few professional pictures but im also supply disposable cameras for guest to take pictures of from the wedding and reception to leave for us, the bride and groom.

We are using the natural advantages in nature to help with decorations and for our wedding arch.

View Quoted Comment

We plan on putting out disposable cameras too.

We are at 8k right now. Our goal is under 10, but I'm hoping to cut down to 7.5ish. Ours is obviously a range. 10 is pushing it to the max.

We just decided based on what we thought we could save with help my family had already discussed with us.

We are shopping a lot of clearance and sales. We just got a large picture for our guest book alternative at Hobby Lobby for 15 dollars. Table runners for .80 cents each from CV linens.

We're also doing alot of DIY. I've put together the spheres I'm using for centerpieces from embroidery hoops, the floral arrangements inside the sphere, flower candle rings, our card holder bird cage, and our aisle chair decor. I still have to figure out our altar area, decor for the head tables, dividers for room, some plant stands and our welcome signs.

It's a lot of researching but even cutting the smaller costs is helping in the bigger picture.

View Quoted Comment

You found some good deals!

Our budget is $5000 which definitely enough for an 80 person wedding in rural Maine. It is fairly flexible because as we were saving up, my future in laws gifted us our entire budget. If we want anything extra, we pay for it but everything else is covered by them which is an amazing gift that I definitely was not expecting.

We chose the $5k budget because we are very broke college students and still trying to finish our degrees. I don't work due to school being so intensive (finishing in 3 years with a double major, and a minor) but my FH works and makes most of the money. It's what we could do with one paycheck and only 6 months to save up. We initially had planned for $7k-$8k in 2020 but my aunt got sick so we moved it up by 6 months.

To save money, we are couponing EVERYTHING. I am not buying anything full price even if it is perfect. I am also DIYing almost everything with things I have in my house or can buy for cheap. Our centerpieces are wine bottles with glitter bands on them and flowers in mason jars that I already owned. My sister is also doing our catering for 80 people for only $700 which is amazing. Our photographer is a family friend who agreed if I pay for 4 hours ($350) she will gift the another four hours which was a heaven sent. We are being very thrifty and we want it to be a celebration of our love and not our wealth. I love my FH and all I want it present my love of him to my family and friends! Best of luck with your budget!! I'm glad to see other couples doing a smaller budget too!

I set the budget at 3k and FH said we could go up to 5k.

We wanted to be reasonable about what we were spending because we have 3 kids, bills and want to buy a house soon.

We have 60 something days left until the wedding and we have spent close to 3k including engagement ring and wedding bands. Our wedding wire budget has us right at 5k but I think we will come in around 4k.

Our venue is an outdoor chapel in a state park. Just $15 for 4 hours.

Our reception is in a big pavilion at the same park. $100 for a full day rental.

FH got a linen suit from Macy’s during a sale for less than $100. I got a dress and veil online for less than $150. We’ve spent $400 on decor by buying used online and during sales and with coupons . Tons of DIY included in that price such as my bouquet, centerpieces and anything else floral.

Our favors are personalized 5oz stadium cups. It was $65 for 100 cups. We will fill the cups with trail mix because our wedding is on National trail mix day.

I found a plant stand for $25 that im working on attaching florals to and I’ll use it for cake. The flowers are taped on in the picture but I’ll be gluing them in place.

For cupcakes and other desserts, I made 4 stands from candle sticks and plates I bought at the dollar tree.

With some e6000 glue the total to make all 4 of these was just $13.

We won’t have a bridal party or any extra expenses related to that. We just have to dress our kids in khaki pants and white shirts.

Our guest list is about 75 but it could go up or down. We suspect maybe 50 people. The food is being done by the women from FH’s family church and my family. Which is the tradition in his culture. We budgeted 1k for food and beverages. It’s all Guatemalan food (grilled meats, beans, rice, grilled corn, tortillas etc) for photography we cut a deal for just 3 hours of photography for $380 dollars. So we will have photos of the ceremony, decor, family photos, bridal photos and part of the reception. We will probably do the first dance and cake cutting right away to get it photographed. For music we are making a playlist on Spotify and buying or renting speakers. Our officiant is $300 but she is doing a bilingual ceremony for us. Our engagement pics were free from an up and coming photographer but we gave him a $40 tip. I made our invitations online using a free template from the wedding chicks website. I also made a picture collage with the engagement pics. Then I uploaded it all to vista print as a two sided 5x7 postcard. Rsvp cards I made the same way but with smaller postcards. I printed 50 of each on vista print during a sale and paid $25. Bought envelopes on amazon and with stamps I had 50 invitations for about $45.

We are sticking to a budget of about $5,000. We are a little flexible. We originally wanted to elope (which was actually going to cost more). Our mothers wanted us to plan an actual wedding which is the only real reason we are doing it.
We are saving money in a few ways.
1. We are getting married on a Wednesday.
2. We are using the same photographer from our engagement photos for a discount (he’s wonderful)
3. We invited 32 people and only expect 25. If we don’t talk regularly there is no need for you to be there.
4. I got my dress online from cocomelody. It’s absolutely beautiful and it was only $399!
5. We are having a cocktail hour with appetizers instead of a formal reception. We will go out to eat afterwards for anyone that wants to join us.
6. My cousin went to culinary school and will make the appetizers that we serve.
7. No flowers. Simple decorations. We are getting married in a castle and I love the natural beauty of it.
we don’t want to worry about this large bill. It’s one day. Yes, it’s a very important day but it’s still just one. I’d rather keep our savings to put towards our new home

I believe once it's all said and done, we will be between the 4 and 5 thousand mark. I was able to find a free venue, which helps a lot. My budget isn't strict. My mom is paying, and we are just trying to keep it as low cost as we can.