Does anyone have any creative tips on how to save money on a wedding while keeping it elegant?

Question

I am trying to stay within a $10,000 budget, but we are inviting around 300 people and would like to have a great wedding. We have not yet chosen a date and we would like to have an outdoor wedding.

Answer 1

$10,000 is a lot. I did my wedding for about $7500 and we were originally going to have about 150-175 people. About 125 actually showed up.

Do you want the whole thing outdoors or just the ceremony?

One thing about an outdoor ceremony is that you don't need a lot of decorations. You are in nature after all that is the decoration.

Shop around for locations. Public parks are usually available free or low cost, if you have a nice one by where you live.

Look around to you have any Gardens, Arboretums, or Nature Parks in the area?

I had my ceremony at a local Arboretum. My location fee was $190 plus $0.80/chair, plus $20 for a runner and $20 to have electricity piped out the location. Be forewarned my electricity didn't end up panning out...good thing we had batteries in the boom box/stereo we were using and we just made sure to speak loudly. No one had a problem hearing us.

For reception, you will either need to rent a tent, tables, chairs, etc...This can get expensive. I would recommend an indoor location for this. They usually already have tables, chairs, etc... And won't charge you for them. Look around for a place, ask friends and relatives. I ended up having my reception at a senior center (trust me NOT as bad as it sounds). It was a beautiful location, but not very well known. My room was $290. Most other places I checked started out about $500-$1000. Plus this place had really pretty windows. And I didn't want to feel closed in, in some dark basement location somewhere.

Negotiate your food (you know what, EVERYTHING is negotiatible). Pick a theme of what to serve. Two main courses that use similar ingredients. I served Chinese food. Chicken Lo Mein and Beef Lo Mein with a bunch of sides. Cost me $10/person. There original buffet menu started out at $16.50/person and went up.

Gather up all of your creative family and friends. Have them help you make things. Buy fabric in the clearance section of the store. The stuff I got was perfectly fine I only paid like $1-$2/yard instead of $10-$15 or higher.

Make your own invitations (http://www.paperandmore.com/index.html is a great place to start). Bake your own cake (or maybe your Aunt is a baker and can make you one for your wedding gift).

Look for sales, if your wedding isn't anytime soon (once you set the date), keep an eye for sales. You have plenty of time to find the things to you.

eBay is excellent for finding items you might need (I bought tons of stuff off eBay for my wedding). Shop around on the internet. Wedding website shops, might seem like the best place to shop, but they are NOT. They tend to charge you double, sometime quadruple the price, some of these items cost somewhere else on the internet.

For example I used 1/2 pint Chinese take out containers for my favor boxes. At theknot.com they are $9.95 for a pack of 10 ($0.995/each) or at http://www.papermart.com they are $4.65 for a pack of 50 ($0.09/each). So if you look around you can save money.

As for a Photographer, also look around. The person I went with was just trying to fill up for the rest of the year (that way when someone called they could just say I’m sorry we are booked instead of having to look up dates). I ended up getting $1,000 off my package, yes I said $1,000!

Also we just had a keg of beer and killer kool-aid as our alcoholic drinks of choice. It's a lot cheaper if you go with a couple of specialty drinks or go alcohol free. The cost of booze can very quickly put a dent into your budget.

As far as actual wedding dates go...do all or the majority of your guest live in the area (within 1/2 hour to 45 minutes)? If so you might want to look into a Friday Evening Wedding. They are cheaper than a Saturday. Also, Holidays tend to be more expensive.

If you need anymore information you can just go to my profile page and email me. If I have an idea of where you can get what you are looking for (if you have something in mind) I'm more than willing to share.

Congratulations!

Answer 2

$10,000 will do just fine, but how creative are you? Do your own centerpices, (go online to view some ideas) which should be very simple since you have the outdoors for your atmosphere. A buffet is the only way to go since it's outdoors too. Keep your flowers simple too. A tent is a must because you never know how the weather is going to be. David's Bridal is a great place to shop for dresses. Do you have to invite 300 people? Really take a look at the list. When was the last time you saw some of these people? Call around and check with photographers. See what they offer and compare prices. Is this going to be at a park or country club. The park would be cheaper. As for the liquor, only offer wine, and beer, and champage only for the toast. With doing the outdoors thing, you may have to rent tables, chairs and table coverings. Are you wanting a band or DJ? A DJ would be cheaper, but make sure you two are on the same page as to what kind of music you would want. Being outside, you will have to rent a dance floor too. Talk to you caterer about servers too. Do you want someone going around with trays of drinks? I'd get a bar setup (for that many people, maybe two) and let people go get their own drinks and food. You can get deals at various stores if you buy in bulk. Again, talk to your caterer and see what they have to offer. Don't stress too much, as even the best planned weddings never go off without something going wrong. It's just something to laugh about in the years to come. Good Luck!
Sherry already answered you and she has some really great suggestions and ideas. I looked at her photos and her centerpieces were great for the outdoors.

Answer 3

Check out budgetbride.com
as well as some of the bridal message boards and sites to see how other brides are handling the budget saving things.

If you are having an outdoor wedding, pick a place that is naturally beautiful - lots of flowers, a lake view, etc. If its already beautiful, you will have a very minimal amount of decorating needed!

As someone suggested don't do a full meal. Either do an appetizer type buffet (if you are serving alcohol you have to have some food around for people to eat). Instead of an open bar consider a bottle or two of wine per table and non alcoholic drinks at the buffet table. Or a cash bar for those that want more than whats on the table.

Answer 4

The first key that you indicated here is outdoor ... this pretty much leaves the possibility open that you will stay within your budget. Have 1 bartender, 2 at the most, and keep your dinner mostly finger foods that are still elegant.

You can skip the programs all together and save a good $500 or you can have DIY programs that are on a single sheet of paper and spend around $75.

For music, ask a friend that is good with music or make your own CD's of the music that you like before hand. You can rent a sound system fairly cheap or bring a nice portable stereo of your own to play the music.

For your dress, try David's bridal, you will be shocked at the gorgeous dresses they have in the $100-500 range. I couldn't believe it, I spent more on my prom dress back in '98 than I did on my wedding dress!

You can ask a friend that is handy with a camera to take the wedding shots for you and with it being outdoors, you are sure to get some beautiful pictures.

I would suggest that you splurge a little bit and get a tent in case in case it should rain or be too warm for all of your guests in the heat.

-EZ

Answer 5

WOW 300 people and you have $10,000 to spend? Go to the Creative Ways to Save board on http://www.weddingchannel.com. You can always use silk flowers instead of real flowers, you can gave a grocery store bakery create your wedding cake instead of a high end bakery, also there are bridal stores online where you can get inexpensive bridesmaid,MOH, and wedding dresses. You can also have a bufffet which would be cheaper than a sit down dinner You can have a classy buffet without it being tacky. I know some people say that buffets are tacky but there are ways for it be classy. Also DIY projects can save you money verses paying someone to do things like invitations and save the date cards and things like that. I have faith that you can defitely pull off your wedding on a $10,000 budget. Also dont forget to negotiate with vendors.

Also another way to save on a wedding is to have it at a hotel a lot of hotels have wedding packages that include cake, photographer, etc.


A guy in another post said that he and his wife had a reception at a resort/hotel where they just had an open bar and appetizers and the guest found restaurants to eat at so they could pay for their own dinner. So that will save lots of money.

Answer 6

10k is a lot of money, you should be able to come well below that mark and still have an elegant wedding. if you want to cut down on costs you could skip the sit down dinner and have a buffet instead. Just serve off of real dishes and it will look great. Find a dress on ebay (I did) and spend less money. I'd actually say go and try on dresses so you know what style you're looking for, and have your measurements taken, then find one on ebay that meets what you want. As far as flowers go, make your own arrangements. Buy the flowers in bulk (if you like tulips try www.growingtulips.com). Bouquets, boutineers and corsages are all simple and if you're like me you want to have your bachelorette party the week before so you're not too tired, and instead the night before you can make the floral arrangements with friends and go to bed early. Skp the pricy wedding favors, that no one really wants or keeps anyway. Provide something simple instead.

Answer 7

Hi You're a few tips to save money on wedding preparation. 1. Plan ahead of time. Time is gold, so they say. So if you are lacking time you tend to spend more. This is especially true when you are preparing for a big event area as the wedding date draws closer, you will find yourself spending more than you are waiting to just to be able to get things accomplished in time. This can be avoided if you start preparations earlier. The earlier, the better. This gives you more time to prepare and make sure things are all right. If you are lacking time, you will find yourself overpaying just to have workers rush to complete your needs. Unfortunately, rushed jobs usually are of inferior quality. 2. Do it yourself. While not all things are applicable here, you can still save a lot from doing some of the decorating and preparations yourself. This goes for wedding gifts, decorations, handicrafts, and other stuff that can be done at your own home. Materials you will need for the wedding traditions can be handcrafted by you and your friends in your spare time. This is why you will also need to plan ahead of time so that they have ample opportunity to do some of the stuff you need for the wedding yourself. 3. Employ the help of your friends. Friends are there through thick and thin-and during weddings too. If your friends can lend some manpower to help you with your wedding preparations, that would be a big boost to your efforts to save money. This is especially true if you have friends who are skilled in some of the areas critical to weddings-areas such as design, catering, and dressmaking. If they are able to give you their help for free, or for a reduced cost, that would constitute a big savings. 4. Expensive isn't necessarily better. When purchasing materials for your wedding, make sure that you keep in mind that expensive isn't necessarily better. They are generic materials you can purchase that are as good as or even better than branded ones. So do a little shopping before purchasing your materials. You could very well find some that would do the trick without denting your wallet. Hope that helps and have a wonderful day! Take care Paul

Answer 8

Here are a few:

1) Splurge on the food - people will have a great time at your wedding if they are fed and fed well.

2) Do your own invitations.

3) Keep the centerpieces simple.

4) If you can, have the reception at the ceremony site - it will save people time and eliminate the need for a limo.

5) Keep the party favors simple.

Have a great wedding!!!

Answer 9

Start now by buying your own decorations, ribbon, netting, silk flowers, table decorations, and get creative, or get some tip's from your local craft stores they will be glad to help make bows ect. Depending on what time you are getting married, you could go with appetizers, an assortment of your favorite deserts, chocolates ect... along with a small wedding cake, or you could do a brunch buffet, ambrosia salad, & mimosa's, play your own recorded music, such as a variety of classical, easy listening, then jazz it up as the affair goes on, that would take the place of a DJ. There are a lot of cost cutting ways to have a beautiful wedding day....keep it small, cozy, relaxed affair and don't get too caught up in too many details or you will just drive yourself crazy, just remember one thing people come to share the in your joy and just have a good time. Congratulations and Best Wishes to You and Your Fiance'.

Answer 10

You have too many people invited for that budget. You cannot have an elegant wedding for that many people without sacrifizing the quality of the the overall affair. What do you rather do... invitad half the town and give them a mediocre meal and cheap liquor, or cut your guest list in half , inviting people that you truly care about and give them a wonderful experience with delicate and elegant touches.

A big event will only leave you stressed out, you won't be able to socialize with evryone, and you will incur in more and more expenses!

Good luck!