Can I do a wedding for $9,000.00 and still invite 100 guest?

Question

I want to know If I can invite 100 guest to a wedding for $9,000.00 and still have a wonderfull wedding?And also should I walk down the aisle to Beginnings by Chicago?thank you

Answer 1

I think you have a good amount of money to work with. I just got married on June 10 and we spent $6,500 with 110 guests. Get family and friends to help you with everything. You can make a lot of things that will save you money. Don't go overboard on flowers, find them cheap at a flea market or do something different for centerpieces (like floating candles). And you could even put together your own bouquets for cheaper. For pictures, a good idea that I've seen on here is to take the bridal party to Glamour Shots before the ceremony, it's a lot cheaper. And then just have someone take pics of the ceremony and the reception with a good digital camera. You could also get a friend to videotape it and make that their gift to you. For food, go with a buffet. This will be your most costly thing. Get some quotes from caterers, tell them your budget and they'll tell you what foods they can serve for that price. If it's still out of your price change, get party platters from restaurants. You could do stuff like wings, eggrolls, chicken fingers, ribs, mashed potatoes, salad, Italian, just about anything. They'll supply you with huge servings of whatever food you want. You would still want to hire some servers to clean up and set up the food. You don't want to worry about that on the big day. And if you're serving alcohol, get a bartender. Letting guests serve themselves can cause a big mess. Buy your alcohol and sodas when they're on sale. You could even serve only beer and wine to save more money. Get your cake from Publix, they're reasonable and it's good. For wedding favors, shop around on the internet, then check out Ebay for the same items and compare prices. I found the same exact stuff on there for cheaper than other websites. They also sell wedding invitations which is how I found mine. You could also have the ceremony and reception at someone's house or a park. We did ours at a park overlooking the water, and they had a hall that we rented for the reception. You can also check out VFW halls and places like that, they tend to be cheaper. If you do decide to do it at someone's house, you can get away with setting up a stereo for entertainment. But if you go with a bigger place, you may want to spend money on a DJ. We paid $900 for 4.5 hours, but I'm in Florida and it seems like everything costs more down here. Also, David's bridal has cheap wedding dresses. I got mine at Dillard's, but we had an informal wedding. And always ask around, you never know what someone knows how to do, or if they know someone that will hook you up with a better price (like a DJ, photographer, caterer, bartender, etc.). We scored our photographer and our caterer that way and we saved a bunch of money. Good luck!
Oh, if you like the song "Beginnings" then walk down the aisle to it. It's all about what you like.

Answer 2

Congratulations and best wishes!

Yes.

I am getting married in just a month and 9000 is exactly our budget. We are having about 175. St. Louis is pretty expensive and the Catholics do love their wedding extravaganzas. We didn't know it would end up so inexpensive.

We really cut down by having a small wedding party (we paid for all dresses and tuxes) and planning a brunch with a champagne toast at a local banquet hall.

It was about a third the cost (or less!) of having an evening reception AND the cake was included in the cost, they have a relationship with a bakery. We originally were going to do a catered affair, but after all the costs and efforts, it made more sense to do the banquet hall where everything is taken care of.

The hall has satellite radio for background music and ambience. Since it's a brunch, we won't have dancing. It's also nice as we won't absorb people's whole day. Everyone was excited about the brunch as it is somewhat unusual and they loved that they wouldn't have to spend all day at the wedding, then a break and then the reception. Especially since we're a little older (35) and lots of kids.

I also ordered invites from Costco online and saved HUNDREDS. Bought my veil on ebay and a friend picked up a great tiara on a trip to chinatown in San Fran.

I chose a photographer sans album. He charges a huge amount for all day, but has an extremely reasonable 4 hour charge. He also gives the photos on a disc instead of doing an album, so I can use a cheaper company to reproduce. Great idea! Will save me tons and I can use my sister-in-law's scrapbooking skill.

Our church has floral decorations that the auxiliary does every season, so we are just leaving those up. Flowers from the local florist were very inexpensive. A rose bouquet cost only about $40 for me. I talked to him about being on a strict budget and he really worked the numbers. They WANT business. I benefitted by choosing a smaller local florist, rather than one of the big ones.

Those are some of our tips. We did tons of research online.

Good luck.

Answer 3

My wedding cost less than $3000.00 and 350 guests were invited. I chose a personal location and bought everything myself. Food, decor, dresses, tux rentals, all accessories, the cake, etc and had people in my family do what needed done. Mom made my florals and bouquets and all that, aunt made all the decorations, we all made the food, etc. A little team work can drastically reduce the cost of any wedding as long as you know where to go to get what you need. A little creativity helps too. Want some inexpensive corner cutting, cost reducing advie and ideas, e-mail me or reply to this message. I've got tons of ideas for you, based on how I did things. I'd be glad to help if I can!
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As for the song....not sure. I'd have to hear it to give my opinion. I'm sure I have heard it but do not recall it.

Answer 4

Any thing can happen. What is a great wedding in your eyes. Fancy everything or just having everyone you love there to share the moment with you. I got married 4 years ago I had about 50 people. Yes it was small but the whole thing cost less than $1000. That included the reception.
Beginnings would be great.

Answer 5

yes you can!! if you are not wanting to do it yourself, just RESEARCH everything. A few ways to save, is to do simple arrangements and bouquets. Silk flowers are generally the less expensive route, however if you want real..go w/ the flowers that are in season. And check out local grocery stores as well. They have great prices and GREAT prices. Another is food. Determine the type of reception that you want. Buffets are generally less than the formal sitdown dinner. Some caterers will provide everything from dinnerware to linens. Also, sometimes cooking schools will hire out students. The teacher is always with them, and it's a great way to cut costs. Also, if you have family members that have talents, photography etc..ask for help. Another great way is to do your invitations yourself...that saves LOTS

Answer 6

first, congratulations!

second, you can absolutely do a $9k wedding with 100 guests! i got married in february. we sent 250 invites and wound up with 150 people at the wedding (it was the one day we'd had rain in, like, 3 months!).

people will tell you to do everything yourself and save money, but for us, that wasn't the best option. there were a few areas that we decided we couldn't skimp on - invites, flowers & photography. our research showed that buying invites at target or wal-mart wasn't going to save us any money when compared to some of the professional invitations we found online. and the florist worked with my ideas and our budget to create awesome bouquets & centerpieces and the photographer worked with us to create our own "package" of time for photos & video (pre-sevice & ceremony only). our reception was just cake & punch (and banana pudding as our "groom's dessert"), but we were able to spend more on the cake and items there. in addition, everything was held at a church and we used a service of the women of the church to host the reception - this freed me from having to coordinate a wedding party for those chores, decorating for the reception or worrying about clean up afterward. it was about the cost of hiring a caterer, but they did more than just provide & serve the food. we chose to trade more food for set-up, decorations & clean up.

the key for us was research - keep pounding the keyboard in search of the best fit for you & your fiance. it's possible to find the best location, band, dress, cake, photographer, florist, etc to fit your budget & your style.

as for the song, i've not heard that one, but i think you should walk in to whatever song you choose. my sister-in-law had a different song for each group that walked in - parents/grandparents, groom & men, bridesmaids, and herself. it was cute and fit their personalities. do what you want, cause (hopefully) you're only gonna do this once! :)

Answer 7

i'm getting married on sept. 2 2006 and we have a little over 200 ppl coming, and our wedding is costing approximately 18000.00. so i think you can definately have one for 9000.00. Congrats!!

Answer 8

I just planned mine for 120 people and only paid 6000.00. You can walk to anything you want

Answer 9

Perhaps with an appetizer or dessert reception only.