If you're having a wedding and you have a budget of $2,000-3,000, what would be the best thing to do?

Question

For like food, music, invatations, gifts(to give to guests), stuff like that?

~This is for a wonderful friend of mine and she and her fiance don't have much money at the moment. So that's why I'm questioning.

This is serious please and they both have to have their family there, so vegas is out.

may have been to 5 thousand, but not positive

I know she's not having a cateror and will probably do a DJ. Also we'll probably do the treats.

Answer 1

As long as you have a handful of people that are crafty and that are willing to help out and not flake then it's definitely possible. Here are a few tips. I know it's not a popular choice but go to whatever is a Safeway/Albertsons, or Raleys in your area and order a simple but small wedding cake, then buy roses in whatever color the colors are for the wedding and top the cake with them - it's simple but elegant this is for the bride and groom and for show for the guest so get a small wedding cake that's affordable, then buy sheet cakes from Costco or Sam's club - they run about 12 bucks a sheet, and keep them out of sight, but have it sliced and in plates ready to serve once they cuyt the cake - your guests won't know the difference since it's being served sliced, and you save hundreds of dollars. For food create a simple buffet and have each friend bring something, and by bring I mean donate - for a simple menu like: chicken, rice pilaf, green salad, dinner rolls, people usually drink more than they eat at weddings anyway so I don't think you should over do it on the food, look for photographers that are good but are still trying to build clientele, they want business so they are usually less expensive. I paid 600 for 4 and half hours, which included the prints bound in an album, negatives, and CD, ofcourse her fee is almost double know but I got her when she had just a few weddings under her belt but even at the time she was professional with a great portfolio and website. DJs are usually in the 300 range but if that's too costly, then have someone burn some CD's with whatever song choice from the couple and have someone play them back to back. For favors there are so many ideas but on the site I've referenced below for invitations , they offer these cute little personalized candy boxes with heart shaped handles, they'll have their names and the wedding date, very nice and easy to arrange just fill them with mints or chocolates, and maybe tie them with a pretty ribbon, only 15.95 for 50 of them. I've attached the link to go straight to it but just in case it doesn't work. When you click on the site - on the left you'll see a list of choices- on the bottom you'll see bridal shower ideas - click that and go to page 3, and you'll see favor boxes. You can also limit the champagne to just enough for a toast so you don't have to spend alot on cases - and for wine - out here we have 2 buck chuck (Charles Shaw) their chardonnay is great/ red is not so good but people by this by the case load since it's only 2 bucks a bottle but certainly not in taste. If you don't have a trader joe's in your area you can probably order it on line, so to minimize costs on drinks, you can limit it to soft drinks and wine, it's one night so any hard core partyers will just have to grin and bear it for one evening. For location your best bet is a hall where you can have the ceremony and the reception that way you eliminate a limo, however if you want to treat them a lincoln town car for the couple is a lot cheaper than a limo, you could rent it for an hour just to take them from the reception to their house or the airport ( we did that for my sons prom and it was 120 for two hours) - so for halls check the community centers in your area, alot of them are geared toward weddings now, and the nicer ones are on the grounds of a park where you could have a nice outdoor wedding - which require minimal decoration, otherwise I would streamline the guests and have it in someone's back yard but transform it with tulle/ lights, candles and flowers to give it a nice touch. I still have my book with many ideas and I'm even researching on becoming a planner since I've done two weddings so far so e-mail me if you have any questions - this is free advice ofcourse - Good luck

Answer 2

I saved a lot of money by having my wedding on a weekday. The secular chapel was nestled in some gardens and the weekend weddings there required an onsite reception which was far too expensive.
I spent a total of $1,500 on my wedding.
In my experience, I found it most important for my dress and hair and makeup to look absolutely beautiful and for the photography to be top notch. The chapel choice and setting is a priority too. I regret not buying a prettier dress and hiring a better photographer. Everything else, food, cake, reception site, etc didn't matter as much to me.
I made my own invitations and they turned out very simple, and elegant and inexpensive.
For food, you save a lot of money if you don't offer dinner. Just have cake, punch, and maybe some appetizers. I'd drop the gifts for guests. Any I have ever received from weddings I just threw away and it is just something extra that won't really add to the atmosphere of the wedding and it can be quite costly.
As for a DJ, my husband had friends who all were in bands and had there own equipment, so they brought it, played our music (we bought on the internet and burned onto cd's), and announced the cake cutting and flower toss and things like that. If you don't have any hookups like that from friends, go with the cheapest DJ with the best music selection. Make sure he makes announcements, it'll keep the reception going. Don't let it get drawn out, it's boring for guests.

Answer 3

The very first thing they need to do is cut the guest list. And then cut it again. Half of their budget will go toward feeding these people, so the less, the better.

Have the wedding and reception in someone's backyard, field, or other location. For a reception, serve cake, champagne, and appetizers (make sure the specify on the invitation that it is a "cake and champagne reception"). Keep the reception short, about two hours.

The bride can make a lot of things herself, like centerpieces, programs, favors, invitations, and even her flowers if she wants.

The type of wedding I'm describing is an informal wedding, so she should get an informal wedding dress. Luckily, they're much cheaper. The bridesmaids dresses and the tuxes will be cheaper too.

Answer 4

Oooh, that's hard. Book the reception for a VFW Hall or American Legion Post, or a city/county park if the weather is usually nice at that time of year. Ask the mother/mother-in-law/aunts/sisters/etc. to make the food. That is an extremely tall order, but it can be done. Keep the guest list small. Buy a sheet cake instead of a traditional wedding cake (but have fun with it!) Have the bridesmaids carry 1 flower each, either buy fresh flowers that day from a bulk store (Sams, etc.) or buy fake flowers. Ask a friend to be the DJ/emcee (one who they KNOW won't get drunk and say something inappropriate). They can buy self-printable inviations at Targer or Wal-Mart, and ususally, they look just as nice. The one thing that I can't stress enough is to GET GOOD PICTURES. Tell them NOT to ask a friend to do it! This is the one area where they want to splurge, because the pictures are the only things they will have left after everything else is over with.

Answer 5

Please listen to me!

Tell them to have a small, intimate ceramony with only like 25 or so people. This way you can get everything they want for a more affordable price, catering, flowers, cake, ect. That's a larger idea for so much to do.
If they want a big ceramony then try and have a family oriented wedding. Have a wedding at a friend or family members nice house and have everyone cook. This way you can spend the money on decorations and things you need like photography, videography, and DJ.
I'm getting married in October and my family didn't have alot to spend but we are having about 150-200 people coming so it isn't something too large but we've spend around $15,000-$20,000 and we only had a budget of $5,000. Our catering alone was $3,500. We're doing a lot of stuff ourselves like address the envelopes instead of getting a calligrapher and were able to find deals online for our plates and favors.


Feel free to email me if ya need any help because I'm going through the exact same thing as we speak!

Answer 6

a lot of the wedding you and her can do yourselves. For example : Flower arrangements--silk flowers. Sweets : Bake some cookies, maybe do the wedding cake of cupcakes. You can get a stand that allows you to put them in tiers like a wedding cake.
DJ: You will probably have to hire.
Hall: Without catering this may not be all that expensive.
Food: Get some moms and grandmas together because this will be a major task. :)
Invitations: Go purchase invitation kits and print them out on the computer. 100 guests will cost about $75.

Good Luck :)

Answer 7

I just got married and the budget came in just a hair over $3000.
Keep the guest list as low as possible (each guest = money)
Do as much as you can yourself. Print your own invitations on your computer. Make your own favors. Such as ordering those little organza bags (from ebay is the cheapest), and put a few pieces of candy in them (candy will be on sale for Halloween soon - stock up).
Do your flowers yourself. They have ready made bouquets at places like Michaels. And again ebay is great for silk flower bouquets, coursages, etc.
Keep the reception down to just cake and punch. See if you have any friends that are cake decorators. Check out music schools (like Music and Arts Center) for someone who may want to play at the wedding or you can use an Ipod. I had my two son in-laws play guitar at my wedding - it was beautiful. Get married at someones house or a park (some place that may be cheap or free).

Have a Honeymoon Shower to raise money for the honeymoon, or at least the wedding night.

Answer 8

For food--get a bunch of friends together and cook. This could be incorporated into a bridal shower, or even a bachelorette party, a day or two before the wedding. Great girl time in the kitchen.

Music--any friends who have a band, or DJ? If not, look around locally. It's not hard to get smaller local bands, etc. for a reasonable amount of money. (Half of them never get paid to play anyways.)

Invitations--Rather than the usual huge fancy invitation + RSVP postage, why not do something a little fun and funky, and rather than standard RSVP's, print up some postcards the guests can just check a box or two on and drop in the mailbox?

Gifts--Oh this is the fun creative part. Things don't have to be ornate, just thoughtful. One of the best wedding favors I received was a little bag filled with the bride & groom's favorite candies along with little toys that signified various things to them--a little palm tree for where he proposed in Florida, a little horse for their first date which was horseback riding, etc., and tealight candles in their favorite scents.

Answer 9

It depends on so many things. All you really need for a wedding is a license for $30-$50, and an officiant which you can get for free if one of your friends performs the ceremony. Will the men where tuxes or just suits? Will you serve food and alcohol? If so how many guests are you having? Do you want an expensive venue, or is a public park or church basement OK? Are you willing to compromise I things like photography? Not to scare you, but I am a wedding photographer, and my cheapest package is more than your entire budget.

Answer 10

Have a big party for family and friends with the wedding at the beginning. You can get an archway pretty cheaply...just entwine some fake flowers around it. Dont bother with a band..just have some of their favorite songs playing. You can get cheap favors from Oriental Trading Company and invitations can be done on the computer. Food can be buffet style..perhaps close family can even bring a dish or two. If you ask around there is usually someone who could make a simple wedding cake with white icing and a cake topper. I hope they have a lovely day.