Wedding on a budget?

Reece1337

Reece1337

Active Member
Hello Ladies......yesterday was my birthday and my boyfriend of 5 years proposed! I knew that he was building up to this - he encouraged me to quit my job so that I could go back to college full time and pursue my pharmacy degree, so the funds are pretty tight right now. He's holding down the fort, sts. Details aside, I'm wondering if any you have suggestions about planning a not-so-lavish wedding, decent but not extravagant. The only thing that definite is the music and food for the ceremony, because my mother is a musician and caterer (yes, I'm very fortunate b/c I realize those aspects of the wedding can be very pricey). Any ideas about dresses/suits, decoration and/or cake? I'm seeking methods or short cuts taken to save money on the overall costs of the wedding. All suggestions or personal experiences would be greatly appreaciated. TIA!
 
Reece1337 said:
Hello Ladies......yesterday was my birthday and my boyfriend of 5 years proposed! I knew that he was building up to this - he encouraged me to quit my job so that I could go back to college full time and pursue my pharmacy degree, so the funds are pretty tight right now. He's holding down the fort, sts. Details aside, I'm wondering if any you have suggestions about planning a not-so-lavish wedding, decent but not extravagant. The only thing that definite is the music and food for the ceremony, because my mother is a musician and caterer (yes, I'm very fortunate b/c I realize those aspects of the wedding can be very pricey). Any ideas about dresses/suits, decoration and/or cake? I'm seeking methods or short cuts taken to save money on the overall costs of the wedding. All suggestions or personal experiences would be greatly appreaciated. TIA!
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Hey Girl!! Congrads!!

My sister just got married and we saved a WHOLE lot of money by doing as much as we could ourselves. The key to having a nice wedding on a budget is keeping your decor simple and being hands on. Since the food is taken care of, you will save alot of money right away. The food and the venue tends to cost the most. Where were you planning on having the wedding? We had it my parents house to save money. Keep in mind that if a place gives you a nice price, they usually have other stipulations like you have to use their caterer, corkage fees, cake cutting fees etc... That stuff quickly adds up. For cakes, go ahead and scheldule tastings now to get a feel for what you like. Fondant cakes usually cost more off gate but they give a smoother look. Go to websites like the knot and martha stewart and look at cakes. Print out pics. of the things you like. The more you can vocalize what you like, the better off you will be in finding someone that can make what you like for the price that you need.

As far as dresses go, try consignment stores. They sometimes have a nice selection of dresses. Pick out styles that you like and will look good on your body. Go to a store and pull all of the styles you like. Ask about semi annual sales, discounts, etc...

For decor, what did you have in mind. For my sisters wedding, my oldest sister made the wreaths. On the tables we bought gold chargers from TJMaxx for 5 bucks a piece. We put 3 pillar candles (again a couple of dollars from a place like Garden Ridge) on the charger and surrounded it with river stones (again cheap from Lowes). We put sharpie pens on the tables and had people write a wedding wish on them. The stones were later give to my sister. Some tables had a mason jar on the charger that had roses in it. We ordered all of our flowers wholesale from Sams. If you have a Sams in your area, you can order what ever flowers you want online and pick them up at the store. The morning of the wedding, we all helped put them together. That saved us nearly 3k just in flowers and labor. Some of the best decorations are the most basic.

For favors, we did a candy bar. We bought big glass containers fromTJmaxx and for around 10-13 bucks a piece. We printed out pretty labels for the candy and set it all on a table. We got chinese takeout boxes from Micheals for around 30 bucks and printed out a label that had their names on it, sort of like the label we used for their wedding announcements. Their theme was the perfect "pear" so filled all the containers with green, cream, chocolate, and gold wrapped candies. We got most of the candy from Sams and Walmart.

I posted some of the pics here in the OT room. If you want more specific pics, just pm me and I will give you more detailed ones of the decor.

When you think of the look you are going for and what not, pm me. My oldest sister (the one who planned everything and made just about everything) has tons of material that we can send you for more ideas and step by step instructions.
 
Reece1337 said:
Hello Ladies......yesterday was my birthday and my boyfriend of 5 years proposed! I knew that he was building up to this - he encouraged me to quit my job so that I could go back to college full time and pursue my pharmacy degree, so the funds are pretty tight right now. He's holding down the fort, sts. Details aside, I'm wondering if any you have suggestions about planning a not-so-lavish wedding, decent but not extravagant. The only thing that definite is the music and food for the ceremony, because my mother is a musician and caterer (yes, I'm very fortunate b/c I realize those aspects of the wedding can be very pricey). Any ideas about dresses/suits, decoration and/or cake? I'm seeking methods or short cuts taken to save money on the overall costs of the wedding. All suggestions or personal experiences would be greatly appreaciated. TIA!
Click to expand...


For a venue, try a bed and breakfast for a smaller wedding, they are typically not too expensive and make for very beautiful wedding photos.

For flowers try to use less expensive, less popular flowers. You pay out the wazoo for roses and such, try to keep flowers in season for your area as well, the cuts on cost.
 
Try and have the ceremony and reception in the same place so you only have to decorate one place.

if you don't mind my asking, about how much do you wanna spend? You can PM me if you dont wanna say it on here. It'll give me a better idea on tips to give you.
 
I agree with everyone else. Do it yourself and buy everything fake. (i.e. fake flowers) I could have saved more money that way.
 
also check out this website

www.chocolatebrides.com

The ladies there are whizzes at doing things yourself, in an elegant tasteful way. They are full of ideas and eager to help...and there are millions of ideas already embedded in the threads. You can even find people from your area to ask how they did it and what it costed them.
 
I got married June 9th, and it didn't cost much, (justice of the peace, ya know?) so my husband and I are going to do the "real thing" in March. To save funds, we're buying silk flowers vs real ones, having the wedding at the botanical gardens (they throw in a kitchen to prepare meals, tables and chairs, and a garden setting for a low low price) and I'm buying a dress online pretty reasonable. Also, I've recruited family members and friends who are willing to use their talents instead of giving us gifts. Small chapels make great weddings too, and you can usually get them pretty inexpensive.
 
Congratulations!!! Okay I don't have any suggestions other than doing some of the labor yourself (ie. the invites and whatnot).
 
Congratulations!!! They always have floral arrangements and wedding planning courses at some colleges at night. They may be helpful and cheaper than paying someone.
 
I soo agree. I think its soo rude to make your guests pay for anything while attending your wedding. Especially when they are probably bringing a gift.

However, I'm currently planning my wedding and hating every moment of it! The wedding industry is simply outrageous! I was able to cut our budget down to about $7k for about 150 people.

1. I'm doing my own invitations. Doing means ordering my own speciality, yet cheap paper from www.paperandmore.com and having a printer, or myself (undecided) do the printing.
2. I'm having it outside. We have a HUGE backyard. I still have to rent tents, chairs, and tables though. However it allows me to personalize it more.
3. I'm getting catering from the best soul food place in town.
4. I'm going to have a caterer provide someone to dish out the food and serve drinks.
5. Going to Sams for both the cake and alcohol and various supplies.
6. I'm paying to have some clean up afterwards. They are really reasonable, like $100 or so.

However I'm still even debating on doing that at all considering how we're going to Hawaii for the honeymoon. That alone is expensive so I'd almost rather have something just with the parents, go on our honeymoon, then have a casual bbq later on next summer to "merge" the familes.
 
Congrat's and you can definantly have a wedding on a budget. The PP's have some wonderful ideas. I agree do as much as you can yourself to cut down on cost. Also, a biggie is keeping your guest list small. Stick to close friends and family only. When you think about it, 1 extra guest even adds alot of cost. Each person needs food, drink, invite, favor, place setting, etc.
 
Doing a lot of the planning and preparation yourself can save alot of money. I found a neat way to actually make wedding invitations here:

http://yumsugar.com/212400

They were doing a wedding special during the month of June, I don't know if they still have some of the stuff still on the site, but you can try.

HTH
 
Make alot of things yourself, i.e. monogrammed banners, centerpieces, etc. yourself.
Go to a fabric store and flip through the pattern books, then hire a tailor to make your wedding dress. Get married out of season (like October-April). Keep the guest list small. If you or a relative have a decent sized house or backyard you can even do the wedding and/or reception there, and you can really go nuts on decor with the money you spend. Have a lunch reception instead of a dinner reception.
 
:congrats: here's to a lifetime of love!!


A few tips I learned from my own wedding:
(I haven't read the whole thread, so my apologies if anything has been repeated)

Using facilities on "off" days (Like Friday as opposed to Saturday or Sunday)can save you a ton of cash.

If you want real flowers on the cheap...order arrangements from your local supermarket floral section...at least for things like centerpieces, bridesmaids bouquets and groomsmen's boutonnieres. They're at least half the cost of florists and still make some resonably decent arrangements. Also, see if your town has a wholesale flower mart and you make your own arrangements...even cheaper.

The smaller amount of people in the wedding, the cheaper the stress and cost for you. Keep the bridemaids/groomsmen/attendants to a minimum.

If you are getting married in a church/temple...many alters have flowers or plant arrangements on them already. Ask to see if they can leave behind any floral arrangements left over from worship services.

Fresh flower decorations on a cake are waaaay cheaper then flowers or decorations made of icing...way less labor.

Consider hiring a photography/videography/music student from your local college for services. Be careful though...ask for work samples first.

Don't go the limo route, rent a nice full size car for the day. Black is always elegant, regardless of the type of car. You may even be able to get it on a weekend rate.

Remember...most chain tuxedo rental places will give you the grooms tux rental free if you rent the other groomsmens tuxes there.

Reherasal dinner? Have a family style potluck at the church after practice (if youre getting married at one) or have a barbecue at the park or over a relatives house...less stress and more fun!


Make your own invitations...or don't sleep on Kinko's. They have a really nice selection of invitations for every budget imagineable.


I'll be back if I think of more:grin:
 
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