I am trying to plan a wedding ona $3000 budget, can I get some ideas on everything please!!!!I?

Question

I already have a dress, and there are going to be about 50-60 people

I was thinking of a cocktail/finger food soiree! lol

Answer 1

Some ideas:

-Getting married on an "off" day (Friday or Sunday) is always cheaper.
-Maybe instead of doing a dinner, do a cocktail hour, to cut down on your food costs.
-Call your local art school for student photographers, and possibly even musicians. Also, try posting on Craigslist.com for cheap entertainment and photographers.
-If you want to do centerpieces, go to a local discount store and get glass bowls - if you halfway fill them with water, put in a few rose pedals and some floating candles, it looks pretty. You can also fill them with sand, shells, and small votive candles.
- If you want to do transportation, either go for a simple town car limo, or rent a nice car or van and ask a friend to drive it.

Best of luck on your wedding and marriage!

I edited to add: I am a wedding planner, and it is entirely possible to have a lovely wedding on your budget. Don't get discouraged! As far as the cake goes, most local bakeries charge more for a wedding cake because its multiple tiers. Get a basic cake - one layer, decorated pretty, and it will cost less than $100. Most bakeries will offer advice on the size, etc., if you explain your budget. If you can have someone pick it up for you, it will save even more.

Answer 2

Well, A friend of mine did this to cut costs. It takes a bit of planning, but if you can pull it off it saves some money. First thing... Rent a hall and do all decorating yourself or with friends/relatives so that costs you nothing other than the supplies.. Set up a date and time to be married at the local Justice of the Peace. This also cuts costs for the officiator.
After you get married by the JP, go immediately to your "wedding" at the rented hall. Now, Whether you tell people or not is up to you. But what you do is have a "stand in" for the officiator. You can either try hiring a local actor from an acting school. Or have a friend do it. Just have them read the standard wedding script. Ie: "We are here to witness the joining of Mary and John in Holy Matrimony... Do you Mary take John etc" After the officiator's blog you can then read your vows or what have you. And then, Kiss the bride! Like I said, Whether or not you let the people in on the fact that the officiator is real or not is up to you. If you want him to look like a priest, check local costume stores. Shouldn't be too much of a hassle if you leave enough time for planning.

Also, RENT everything! The hall, tables, chairs, tuxedoes, EVERYTHING! Rent a nice car from a rent-a-car firm like Budget or whatever. Pick out a nice big car like a Lincoln Town Car or something and have a friend or member of the family be the driver. (A limo and driver can cost up to $500 easily).

The food... How about getting it from a local restaraunt. For instance Subway offers platters and things for parties. And they say that a six foot sub will feed 20-25 prople. So two or three of those and a couple platters will cover that most likely for less than $200. If you wish to use real plates try a local restaraunt supply. If not, foam ones will do. The same goes with the glasses. Get plastic instead of glass. And for the bride and groom and maybe a few special guests get real champagne glasses as keepsakes.

The cake... Make it yourself or have a friend/family member do it. You can get the supports and columns for a multi tier wedding cake at stores and maybe even a local bakery. Alternatively, Make a small three tier cake for the bride and groom and serve the guests with sheet cakes. I'd say three or four full sheet cakes would be plenty.

Hope this helps! Congrats on the big day!

Answer 3

You can cater your own wedding this is what my sister does for a living shes suggested you try to find a party outlet store and choose your colors for the reception and also choose what your menu will consist of and purchase the food in bulk maybe at costco she says you can set it up as a self serve buffet also she says do not spend a fortune on the wedding nor the grooms cake I hope this helped a little by the way congrats I hope your day turns out beautiful.Sister has also suggested you consider using artificial flowers she says look at it like this they will never die so your bouquet will always be a souvenir to remind you of your special day,have friends family and other wedding guest to take pictures both at the wedding ceremony and at the reception or have a camcorder and have someone who knows how to use it to film the wedding.Also talk with family and friends because most of the time depending on where they live you may be able to use the recroom in their apt complex for free or you may wanna consider getting married at someone home outside hey just a suggestion I helped my sister cater a reception once and it was in an apt complex rec room but you would never have known it with all of the decorations it was beautiful.

Answer 4

Is the reception going to be a planned meal (such as the guests have a choice of chicken, etc.) or will it be buffet? Usually buffet style will be less expensive. However, I do highly recommend that if you do buffet style you either have caterers to serve each guess at the serving trays or have an overage on the food based on the numer of guests. The reason I say this as sometimes when it's buffet style, guests tend to pile on tons of food or go back 2, 3, 4 times and then there's not enough for all of your guests.

Now, are you planning on entertainment? A live band might be more costly than a DJ. If you have a DJ make sure he/she has a nice variety of music to suit all the age groups that will be attending your wedding. You don't want head-banging music if a majority of your guests are over the age of 50. :o)

Are you getting married in a church? Sometimes, churches will have halls/reception rooms attached to the church and will give you a break on the rental. Also a wedding in a park will also be nice! A friend of mine, though it was small - about 30 people, had her 2nd marriage in her very large backyard. It was beautiful!

Do you have your honeymoon planned? If your honeymoon is to be in the cost of your wedding you might want to check with a travel agent (either local or online) to see if they offer a honeymoon registry. This registry allows guests to put money towards your honeymoon as their gift. If you are taking a cruise, they can put money down towards the cruise, they can put money down towards a masage for 2, towards a shore excursion, etc. These work wonderfully, especially if you are on a budget. The way I had my agency set up, each guest who contributed towards the honeymoon registry got a certificate that they presented to the couple as their gift. I had one client who worked in a hair salon, all of the hair stylists contributed between $25 and $50 each towards her honeymoon and it paid off a big chunk of her cruise! Just an idea. And remember not all agencies offer this service. A lot of reputable online agencies do. If you need more information I'd be more than happy to answer any questions for you - just send me an email.

Next, hmm, photographer. Let's see, other than if you know someone I'm not sure how you can get a break on this. My mother worked with someone who did wedding photography on the side so my brothers wedding pictures were inexpensive. You might want to ask friends and family if they know someone they can recommend that is good yet fair on pricing.

Cake - try contacting the local culinary schools. You might be able to get a break and help a student in the process!

And don't forget to make your own favors. Saves money, and you and your bridesmaids can have a "girls night" and make them! I did that with my sister-in-law and it was quite fun!

I hope some of these suggestions help you out!

Good luck and congratulations on your big day!!

Answer 5

1. centerpices.. dont do flowers.. use candles much cheaper

2. bridesmaids always buy their own dresses.. but u have to buy their flowers so just use something that is into your wedding theme... such as pink teddybears or something u can make... very cute and unique.

3. rent a local hall like an eagles club or VFW they usually hold about 50 people.

4. if you are part of a church it is usually free to get married there

5. Decorating: decorate the church and hall yourself, your bridesmaids and mother will most likely be more than helpful in this.. do it yourself project. buy sheer material at an outlet or walmart just a couple dollars a yard.. and you can always use it for curtains later (if you're able to use a sewing machine... im not my mother or grandmother always does this stuff). Christmas lights look good when the lights are out later in the evening. very inexpensive lighting.

6. Food: Hy-Vee or other supermarkets cater so just buy a bunch of chicken or other food.. also Fizollies and KFC, places like that usually have cheap catering rates

GOOD LUCK AND BEST WISHES

Answer 6

ok, heres what you do. First look into a private cake decorator that makes cakes from scratch out of their own kitchen... there are some that have full professional kitchens that do this on the side. My wife and I got our cake for 1.25 per serving. Great deal and it was an apple spice with cream cheese frosting.
second. some caterers have coldcut platters and fuit trays that you can buy for about 700 for the amount of people that you are expecting. We did this as well. or you can cater it yourself... this takes alittle more time than most people getting married want to put into it... personaly I wasn't about to cater my own. so we did the 700 deal.
our reception hall was 500 and I got a friend to DJ for me... Burn your own music and make a play list... by burning the music for your wedding you make it so you have a constant souveigner/reminder of your wedding day its pretty cool.
Third. Flowers from the wedding can be reused at the reception. plan on leaving the alterpiece at the church because it is custom and respectful to the church...
and Last but not least don't worry about the cost on your day just enjoy whether you spend 3000 or 30 or 30000 its your day have fun...

Answer 7

Let your guest help out with the expense and have a pot luck. Savings $1000
If someone in your family could frost the cake, then buy a cake threw your local grocery store. They can also provide the frosting.
Savings $300
Buy a second hand wedding dress, they look nice, and you can have it cleaned and preserved for your daughter for later.
Savings $300 to $3000
Either you or some friends and family make silk flower arrangements ahead of time. This way you can personalize each bootiners or bouquet for that person.
Savings $100 to $500
With your savings, put half away for the 1st year as an anniversary present to each other and use the other half for your honeymoon.
Congratulations on your wedding.

Answer 8

I had my wedding/reception at a nice local restaurant, rather than have it catered or in a reception hall. I think $3000 is not enough for 50-60 people, but having it at a restaurant was a whole lot cheaper than having it elsewhere. My husband and I spent about $1000 for 12 people. Most other places ask for about $100-$200+ per plate. Also, we used our own digital camera, which works great and asked a friend who is good at taking photos to be in charge of taking pictures. I bought my wedding dress at J. Crew for $300, and we decided to forego having any bridesmaids, etc.

Answer 9

Try to rent a local town hall or something like that. It is cheaper than wedding halls. Buy a barrel of beer or two. Have you close family bring a dish to pass and you supply the meat. You can order chicken from wal mart and it is very tasty. Use a sheet cake instead of a big one or even get a small round one that you can put a cute cake topper on and make cupcakes and cookies. Lots of people care less about the cake when there is beer involved anyway. Get either liters of pop or off brand names for the non beer drinkers. Pick someone in your family that is good at taking pictures if you put them in a nice book no one can tell the difference. You can get them enlarged at wal mart when you pick out your favorite poses. Hire a D.J. and it sounds like you have a pretty good bash. Probably for about 1000 so if you are really into center pieces ( which no one pays attention to anyway) you can put some on the tables. I would get a bunch of plastic spoons and put hershey kisses in them with a note saying a spoon full of kisses from the Mr. and Mrs. then wrap them in tule and tie with your colors, then you can put a bottle of arbor mist on the table in the middle and buy disposable cameras that people can take pictures with. Making your own flowers will save big time and you can get them from wal mart to just buy the color of flowers you want and add into the already made ones for color.

Answer 10

This is going to sound funny but personally have a few of your girlfriends help you make 180 small sandwiches the day prior to your wedding (dollar sandwiches) Find someone local to make the cake for you. Ask around for friend who have florist in the family or someone who can help you on a tight budget. Have everyone stand , do the wedding in someones yard/house where its cheap. If you get married in a yard or a park or something don't wear shoes :)
My wedding was a total of 1025.00 with cake, flowers dress, license, food and mimosas (champagne and OJ) We had 45 people and I did i in my moms house.
I wish you luck, its do-able but it will take time to find the right people who don't cost and arm and a leg to help.
Hope this somewhat helps
Good Luck
and Congrats