how do i plan a wedding and not spend a fourtune?

Answer 1

Do as much of the decorations and food yourself. Get friends to help you.

Answer 2

Find a hall that doesn't have a liquor license. It's much cheaper to bring in your own, typically they mark up liquor 100%. Also, to really save money, only serve beer and wine and soft drinks. A buffet is usually cheaper than a sit down dinner and it's nicer. Everyone can pick what they want to eat instead of getting whatever shows up on the plate. I usually starve at sit down dinners, because they're usually something I won't eat.

Don't let the florist talk you into $50 centerpieces. Not necessary, there are lots of centerpieces that can be done for less than $10. Go to your local arts and crafts store, buy a glass bowl, fill part way with water and float some blooms in the water. Much less than a typical florist arrangement. If the bowl is shallow enough you can also put a pillar candle in it. Check out the neat centerpieces they did on Design on a Dime wedding, link below.l

Don't buy a four figure wedding gown. I have seen a $5000 gown up close and personal and I'm here to tell you, it doesn't look that much better than a $500 gown from Davids. You can't tell the difference at all in the pictures or on the video.

Don't rent limos or any other kind of transport, they're a very expensive, waste of money. I went to my wedding in my dad's pickup (it looked nice, not a beater). We left the church in my mom's car, she has a nice Cadillac.

I will say that you should spend as much as you can on a photographer. This is the only part of your wedding that is permanent. Go with the best person you can afford.

Don't buy really expensive invitations, no one but you and maybe your mom, will keep them. I ordered mine from one of the companies that advertises in the wedding magazines. Send away for all those catalogs and order from one that you like.

Order a small tiered wedding cake to cut, instead of a cake that will serve everyone, and have sheet cakes in the back that the caterer can serve to guests. Also, a good place to get a cake that's not too expensive is a grocery store with a good bakery.

Skip favors all together or go with something simple and inexpensive. Wrap up some Hershey kisses in tulle and your good to go.

I hope this was helpful, have a good wedding. Another course of action you might want to consider is a destination wedding on a cruise or at an all inclusive resort. You get your wedding and honeymoon all in one, plus you can invite whoever you want but you don't have to pay for a reception because it's all inclusive. Friends of ours did this in December, it was fun and about 40 people were there. We got a 4 day vacation and a great wedding on a beautiful island. I don't remember how much it cost us, but it wasn't bad, since we got a vacation out of it. Not everyone will come if you do this, but I'll bet the people who would complain the most (parents and siblings) will come. Good luck

Answer 3

I just planned a wedding for 150 people for under $8000. It is very do-able.
Cut back on the transportation. Find somewhere you'd like to get married at followed by the reception at the same spot.
Cut back on decorations. A nice $5 fluted vase (available at Targets) and a candle is enough.
Have a small cake. You can buy sheet cakes and serve those instead of purchasing a huge wedding cake.
Make your own invitations. Wal-mart has a set of 40 (includes everything) for only $14.95. People throw them out anyway.
Make it an evening event. Have a cocktail only reception and purchase a small chocolate fountain ($50) and 1 family member in charge of it.
Have family make the cookies, too, which is actually a tradition in PA.

Answer 4

My wedding was done for less that $2,000. We had it at a local park (outside) and the park had a small ampitheatre with benches. We went down the day of the wedding and moved the benches around to create an aisle and swept up. My mother bought a white archway for $25 and some fake flowers and attached them to the archway. I bought a gown at David's Bridal on sale. Hubby bought his suit on sale at Burlington. I ordered a small cake (with only two tiers) that was a little over $100 and our reception was at a local chinese restaurant and we had a buffet. The owner charged us $14 per person for dinner. We honeymooned at a Marriot Suites that was only 20 miles away from home, but had a king-size bed and a jacuzzi in the room so we didn't care where we were!

I went to BigLots and bought clear votives and white votive candles (didn't spend $25 total) for decorations at the restaurant.

We bought Asti Spumonti at the liquor store (on sale) and plastic champagne flutes at a candy distributor that were beautiful. *About the Asti.....I don't remember how many bottles we purchased but the manager at the liquor store said that any bottles that we didn't open we could take back and we returned 2 bottles!

My husband downloaded and burned our own music off the internet. We had music for when people were getting seated (Ava Marie, Celine Dion, Clair DeLune, etc), music for the bride coming down the aisle, for after the ceremony when people were taking pictures and for the background music at the restaurant.

We were thrifty and maybe a little cheap, but our wedding was wonderful. I received so many compliments from people saying how nice it was.

Aside from having my son, it was my best day!

Take Care and Good Luck,



Joyce

Answer 5

I plan weddings, do everything yourself. Gather friends and family they will most likely be more than happy to help. Make the wedding date at least six months in the future to give you time to collect the decorations, invitations, etc....You want to have your reception the best and not the actual wedding. Go to the court house and have a judge marry you, then have a nice reception. Call around to different recreational halls(such as parks) or party halls. Just go through the wedding books to get ideas or ask a creative person.

Answer 6

If you don't want to elope, believe it or not, hire a wedding planner is the best way to not spend a fortune. Wedding planner's have contacts in every area associated with a wedding that can get you really good deals that you won't get otherwise. And, where they don't have contacts, they have really helpful suggestions. For example, you can buy invitation sets from local stationary stores and print them off yourself rather than having an invitation company do it. I'm not sure where you are located but check out my website below and if you're not in Ontario Canada, check out The Knot for local vendors.

Answer 7

Use a lot of on line resource. Buy in bulk and not Brand name (no one is going to see the packages anyway). Ask friends and family to help. Don't get a photographer use your own camera and ask everyone to give you the negatives or the 2ND set. Use a your own stereo and someone to do the music for you. Premake the disc one for when you enter the hall, one for dinner, one for all your special dances then all your most requested dances(chicken,slide,and mambo #5) then one with a mix of fast and slow dances. When it come to the cake price around even your little pastry shops. Flowers do it yourself. Or go to eBay. Also get married outside or in the same hall as your reception. Or if you do get married outside have the reception there also. Remember all that matters is that your happy. Because if the bride is happy then everyone is happy.

Answer 8

You make a budget and stick to it. You figure out where you can cut costs, like florists putting bouquest/arrangements together vs. you and your party doing it etc...Just because it's a wedding doesn't mean it has to suck up your savings and your parents. It's a celebration for the exchanging of vows and too many people lose sight of that and make it as elaborate as possible to be the talk of the town, and keep up with 'the jones''

You can plan the day of your dreams if you focus on what your dreams really are and allocate funds appropriately.

Answer 9

Do most of it yourself, enlist friends and family to help. Decide on your budget and stick with it. Decide what you want to spend the most money on: the wedding cerimony, the reception, or the honeymoon. Be prepared to compromise what you want to what you can afford. Ask for suggestions from friends and family. Make your own bouquets, food, etc. If you really just want to get married and don't want anything fancy and formal, consider having a justice of the peace marry you or have your minister come to your house and marry you in your own back yard.

Answer 10

Get married at the justice of peace and have a bbq wedding reception at a park or someones home that can accommodate. This will save you money for things that are more important than the big too expensive wedding and catering costs.

Answer 11

Have people bring one food dish to the reception. I had a friend make our cakes for $115. Buy napkins, plates etc. from the dollar store. I did and it didn't look cheap. Buy bird seed at walmart its like $3. You can rent your dress and tuxedo for really cheap. I borrowed a veil which saved about $100. The in-laws are supposed to pay for the rehearsal dinner so if they won't or can't then just don't have one. I wasn't going to but my in-laws decided to pay for one at the last minute. Get cheap invitations at like Office Depot and have them printed up at Kinko's. I bought $200 invitations and they were nice but i wish i would have spent that money elsewhere. Have it at your home church so that you don't have to pay the fee at another church unless you don't have a hom church. But definitely shop around on that one. Borrow nice dishes for the reception, rent your unity candle holder (that shouldn't be more than $30) and just go as cheap as you can on the bridesmaids and groomsmens gifts. That's about it. If you want some more tips I would try looking them up online.