Small Wedding?

Question

If I decided to have a small outdoor wedding, on my own land, with only family and close friends (max 20 guests) what should I expect to spend if you don't include the price of the brides dress or any of the clothes (bridesmaid and groom and grooms men) or the rings.
I will need chairs, flowers, someone to perform the ceremony, etc.
I don't have a lot of money to spend, so can anyone tell me about how much I will have to save for a small wedding?

Answer 1

The price will all depend on how elaborate you want it to be.

Lets start with the chairs. The cheapest way would be to round up chairs from your house and maybe borrow from friends or neighbors. This might be easy since you will only have 20 people at the most. To dress them up and make them look nicer, you could go to a fabric shop and buy white material and some thick ribbon. Toss large sheets of the white fabric over the chairs and tie the robbon around the chair back forming a bow on the back. This might cost you around $40-50. You could also rent chairs from a rental company. Plastic chairs usually cost around $2/each, depending on where you live, and nicer chairs can reach up to $15/each.

To keep the cost down for flowers I would purchase them all on my own from Costco or some type of wholesale dealer who sells flowers. Search online for simple ideas on how you can make your own flower arrangements and bouquets. A really cute and easy wat of making a bouquet is by just bunching up some flowers and criss-crossing some pretty ribbon around the stems. Purchase some cheap vases for your arrangements. This might cost you around $200.

One of the biggest expenses at any wedding is the photographer. If you want a professional this may cost you at least $1000. An idea to keep the cost down (without having to depend on relatives) is by going to a local college and asking photography students if they would be intersted in gaining some experience. Mostly likely they will be more than thrilled. And you'd only have to pay them, maybe $20/hour plus the cost of film, etc.

I'm not sure about how much an officiant would cost, but if you go to church you could ask your pastor. And most times they just request a donation for the service.

If you are going to have a reception after the ceremony then you will need to purchase the food, which you could do on your own rather than the expense of a catererer. Again, go to a wholesale dealer and purchase appitizer-type finger foods. At the reception, simply lay out the food on a table with a pretty table cloth, and let your guests enjoy. If you plan on having alcohol, I suggest just purchasing beer and wine because they are relatively cheaper. Set out with some pretty cups (fancy plastic!) and let your guests serve themselves! You could totally get away with spending under $300 for some great food and awesome drinks.

Well, I hope this helps!! :) Best wishes to you and your fiance!

Answer 2

I noticed when I was looking on The Knot, that peoples perception of price was outrageously different than mine. Most of these people were from up north/NY and you couldn't begin to find a photographer for 2,000 up there. I looked at several in NC that were in the 2,000-3,000 price range. So where you live is highly important when asking people about cost.

You are saving money on the area and rental fees really aren't that expensive. My caterer rented all my linens and tables and everything. I think my entire rental was a lil over 1,000 (but I had over 200 guests--and didnt order chairs)

The 2 biggest expenses are the Food and the Photographer. Though I just got back from a friends outdoor, country wedding and she has BBQ catered in. Now they put it on really nice plates and stuff but still--that would run you less than $100 for everything. It really depends on your vision of outdoor wedding. Are you having a country wedding or trying to make it more elegant/formal?

Look for your photographer first. Then start looking at what kind of food you are thinking. Some weddings for 20 meant they served everyone lobster and filet. Obviously you don't have that intention but caterers tend to charge more if they have to drive farther to deliver. But you could easily do this whole wedding for less than $4,000. Photographer, caterer, rentals.

And yeah its cheaper to order your flowers and do the arranging yourself. We did and it didnt take long at all but then again we didnt end up with gorgeous elaborate arrangements. we had very natural looking flowers in a vase. Since you are outside I'd try to keep the flowers to a minimum (other than your bouquet). They won't get as much recognition anyway.

Start talking with caterers right away. Driving distance, what you have envisioned, food choices. Once you have some estimates on that, double it and thats about your total budget (not including dress and rings).

Answer 3

Depends on if you're in a city or the country, etc. And you didn't indicate whether you want floral decor all over or just one bouquet for yourself... Or what type of officiant you want, as some types are free but others are $600... Need more info to give you a good answer.

The most expensive part is the reception food and drink, so it depends on what you're serving at that time (anything from a cupcake and little carton of lemonade for each guest, up to a full dinner with 5 courses...)

I'd say $600-700, or thereabouts. But again, *really* need more info.