What's the best way to have a small wedding?

Question

My fiance and I are excited about getting married. Since I was a little girl, I wanted a church wedding, however we cannot afford it now. I don't mind just having a small barbeque for close family and friends. I just want to know, how should I go about it. Any thoughts?
(We live in New York City)

Answer 1

Make it personal. Invite only people who you both have close contact with. Close family and friends. Cut out uneeded expenses. Old fashioned something new, something borrowed and something blue. Have family members prepapre and bring a dish to pass. Use fresh garden flowers from family and friends gardens, this will make it personal and no expense. Have disposable cameras at each table. This will allow each guest to take photos of the Bride & Groom as well as guests. Then you do not need to pay a photographer and you will get some great photos and this will include the guests in your memeorable experience. Consider Borrowing a wedding dress from your Mom or Mom-inlaw for the something borrowed, save a big expense of a dress. Consider hand made center pieces for the tables, like family photos and of friends. This will make it intimate and include the family. Use Tiny Bubbles for guests to blow at the Bride & groom after the ceremony instead of rice. They sell them real cheap and each guest gets one, so it is something to include them too. Consider having a money tree on the Bride Groom Table in place of getting gifts, this will help you with expenses of wedding & honeymoon and the guests will appreciate not needing to buy a gift. The Money tree is homemade and each guest places money on each branch, or checks. For the honeymoon, go somehwere close that you have always wanted to go to. You can always plan a more elaborate honeymoon trip later when you have more money...say when you can renew wedding vows on a later cruise etc. Keep it simple, so you can enjoy the moment and not get hung up on the details. Consider having a family teen be the Dj and they will enjoy it and you will not need to pay for music. Have each guest bring their favorite CD's to play. Make a theme, such as "Celebrate Life". Make each memory to celebrate good times and love. If it is in the spring, use pastel colors. If it is fall use autumn nature colors. Summer colors would be warm colors. Winter should be neutral colors. Consider having the service and reception at the same Church and save guests the trouble of relocating. Most churches have kitchen and dining areas. Involve each Mom in helping make arrangements. This will make them feel involved and save you stress. During the Bridal Dance sonsider having a "Dance with the Bride" charge each dance partner $10.00 for a dance. The best man usually collects the money and adds it to the money tree. The same can be done for "Kiss the groom" $10.00 and the Maid of honor collects the money.
Congrats & Best Wishes

Answer 2

It's funny, i can relate almost. I just got engaged, and i'm only 17, so is my fiance. he wants to get married sooner than later but obviously we couldn't afford the wedding we dream of unless we get our families' help... so he wants to get married in the city hall, where there are just two witnesses etc. then one day when we have some more money, have the wedding you've always wanted. that's what my fiance's parents did, too. Otherwise, the barbeque sounds like a good idea!! just invite your friends and have a friend do the ceremony. that's what a family friend of mine did & it was beautiful =] OR if you live in the city, maybe a small wedding at central park!!!

Answer 3

First of all, start with the basics: do some research on it. There are websites like 'Bride on a budget', or 'theknot.com' that can give you some advice. Or, you could always just wait until you can afford a nice wedding. If waiting is not an option, find a good location, say a nice home of a friend or family member, a local park, library, community center... since you live in new york, i'm sure you will not be short of access to the things that are needed for a nice, small, sentimental event.

Answer 4

Congrats on getting engaged! I got married last summer, and we didn't have much money. One thing I considered was inviting some close friends and family up to a state park and reserving a pavilion there for the ceremony, and then having a barbecue style reception. The fun thing about that is you're with them for the whole weekend, not just a few hours on Saturday. Camping is pretty inexpensive if you don't mind tents. There is lots to do depending on the time of year - swimming, canoeing, hiking, horse-back riding, local shopping. It can be a pretty inexpensive way and you don't have to be responsible for anyone's expenses but your own.

However, sometimes that's not an option. Are you a member of a church? Usually churches let their members have weddings there for free or really cheap. (Is there a church you can join, just for the wedding? This might seem unethical, but I know people who have done it.) Have a reception at the church, or outside somewhere. Use a CD or an MP3 player for music. See if friends can pitch in to make the food (if you have an afternoon wedding, you won't need to worry about providing very much food). I went to a grocery store for my flowers - they turned out well, rose boutonnieres for $7 and rose corsages for $12. The bridesmaids and I all carried a single long-stemmed rose - $2/each. I did pay more for a photographer, but one idea is to see if you can get a photography student. A lot of times, they are eager for experience and to build their portfolio, so they will do it for very cheap or nothing. We made our own invitations; you can buy kits from craft stores like Michael's or Joann's. Watch your newspaper for coupons. I collected 40% off coupons and was able to get 250 invitations for around $100. We printed them, put them together, and addressed them ourselves. Stamps can get expensive, but you can hand-deliver as many as you can. Make a webpage where they can RSVP so you don't have to put stamps on RSVP envelopes inside the card. (You can get free wedding webpages at places like theknot.com .) For apparel, see if you can borrow a dress or if you can find a second-hand one you like. If you want one new, I would recommend checking out white prom dresses first. Sometimes they are nice if you want simple, or it's easy to add sequins or something if you want something fancier. If you plan to do an outdoor spring/summer wedding, you could go with a nontraditional tea-length dress.

I think the key is to find out what friends you have and what they're willing to help do. The more people you get involved, the less you will have to hire someone professionally. The only person I paid for my wedding was the photographer - my caterer, pianist, pastor, etc. were all friends of mine and did it for free. Once you know what your friends are willing and capable of doing, that can help you with the scope - have a friend who's an expert cake decorator? Then you can go all out in that area. Does a friend own a ranch with a beautiful view? Then take him up and have your wedding there. Watch sales and coupons for craft stores, and try to think creatively! Nontraditional weddings are in style so don't feel bad if you can't afford a bottle of champagne for each person.

There are lots of websites out there with good ideas on how to do a wedding on a budget! And the fact that you want a small one will only help you. Good luck!

Answer 5

if you don't have a ton of money, you can rent space at the park district and have a small outdoors party. My fiance and i were considering going on a cruise with both familys and getting married at one of the beaches. You are with close family and any friends can save up and pay for themselves and everyone can go on vacation and celebrate together. This is going to cost you way less then a wedding and it is a wonderful family memory!

Answer 6

You can have an elegant & very meaningful wedding even though it isn't held in a church.
There are all kinds of venues, hotel, park, house, museum, farm, B&B, lodge. In fact I'm doing one this spring at the Newport KY Aquarium.

http://www.newportaquarium.com/index.cfm?sectionID=78,122,0,0

Having the wedding & reception at the same venue is becoming quite popular as well.

Being in NY I should think you wouldn't have any problem finding something to suit yur taste & budget.

Answer 7

We went to Vegas by ourselves and married and than threw a small reception when we got home. Rented a cheap hall, DJ (if its for a party they charge less than a reception fee)

Roast beed, meatball, Kegs of Beer, wine and just had a blast. and spend under 800.00.

Answer 8

Call up Sonny's and order a slab or ribs. Invite a few folks and the preacher. Get married in the yard.

Answer 9

This is your day...I live in a small town and we are inviting alot of people...we are not rich so a friend of ours is doing a hog roast...and I am finding the cheapest of everything to go along with it....

Answer 10

Elope