HELP!!!! Planning a Wedding on a small budget.?

Question

I need help planning a wedding on a small budget. I need all the advice and tips I can get. I don't have much money to pay for a wedding but my fiance and I want a beautiful wedding with our friends and family there. Please help me.

Answer 1

try theknot.com it will help alot. if a friend or family member has a nice yard have the wedding there. Do the centerpieces at the tables and the flowers yourself

Answer 2

Allow yourself PLENTY of time. The more time you have, the more you can do yourself. You can make a lot of the things yourself and save a lot of money doing it. DEFINATELY do rsvp cards so you know how many will come and budget accordingly. When you get guest lists from family make sure they include a phone number so you can have a bridesmaid call to confirm a couple of weeks before. Decide what is going to have the most impact on your wedding and put your money there. Do not scrimp on photos. They're the only thing you'll always have from the wedding. Create a budget and stick to it. If you can't get what you want with what you have budgeted, do without or accept a lesser facsimile which conveys the same meaning. Spend money on your honeymoon. You're going to want a nice long relaxing vacation once this is over and you will deserve it for all the hard work you'll put into it.

You can do your own invitations and reply cards. I'd do a postcard for the reply. source one is an easy type of invitation to re-create yourself. You'll spend less on postage with a postcard reply.

Do a wildflower mix for your bridesmaid bouquets and the reception flowers. You can just tie a big bow around the stems and they'll be perfect.

Rent standing candleabras from your florist - you'll spend less on flowers and have a bigger impact.

See if immediate family members are receptive to contributing to a pot-luck style reception.

Stick with black, white and one impact color that will be common during the season you will wed. You will save a lot by being able to go to a dollar store to pick up stuff that will match your wedding.

Find out if anyone you know can provide the music.

If you're not going to do a church wedding, a friend can get ordained online and marry you as their wedding gift to you.

Stay focused, on track and communicate with your man. He'll let you know if something sounds like it is outrageously costly - consider cutting a lot of the frills. Some of the most basic weddings are the most beautiful.

Good luck & congratulations!!!

Answer 3

Invite only CLOSE friends and family. Having a small guest list will save you a lot of money. There is no sense in inviting everyone thet you know and having only the people that you really care about will make your wedding more meaningful and less stressful.

Get married on a Friday or a Sunday. Wedding venues, caterers and photagraphers are less expensive during those days.

Get married in a off season to get discounts.

Skip the videographer, DJ and limo. You don;t really need it.

Buy your dress off the rack or on ebay.

Use silk flowers for decorations and make you own bouquet and bouitoniers, if you are crafty or know of someone who is and is willing to help.

Enroll the help of family and friends: anyone that is an amateur photogarpher or DJ can save you $$$

Have a mid morning or mid afetrnoon reception, that way a full meal is not expected. You can have a brunch menu or a hors d'ouvres menu.

Skip the liquor if possible, or only offer one type of liquor. If you are going to have an infornmal wedding, beer ekgs will do the trick. Or skip it altogether, just have a toast with sparkling wine or sparkling grape juice, and self sodas and ice tea for beverages.

Get married at the JOP in the same place where you will held your reception. Skipping the church fees, and decor wills ave you some $$$.

Do your reception at your local church reception hall, VFW, american legion, community hall or the back yard of a relative/friend.

Buy pre-made food trays in wholesale: you can have cold cuts, peperoni-cheese-cracker trays, cookie trays, fruit trays, veggie trays, etc.

Print out your own invitations.

Skip the favours or give candy.

Good luck and congratulations

Answer 4

It will depend on exactly how much you have to spend. If you are talking hundreds versus thousands then there is a big difference. I did my whole wedding for under 3000 dollars, that was for a wedding ceremony on a cruise boat for 3 hours, limo and reception at my brothers back yard with a full meal served for approximately 150 guests and favors, wedding cake, dress, rings, decorations and invitations and programs. I made my own wedding cake and that saved a lot of money, I also planned the meal and then had a couple of ladies put it in the oven the morning of the wedding. If you would like my sources of where and how I did all this please feel free to contact me. I did most of my shopping on the Internet.
I hope you have a beautiful wedding

Answer 5

It would probably help to know what you consider a small budget. Our family has had a number of weddings....rather large weddings on small budgets....we just took time to make it happen....we took a year.

One way you can do it is take awhile to make it happen and pay for things gradually....find out who can help with what, and get any extra help from friends if you can.

Even churches nowdays can become expensive...some will allow their own members a lower price. So sometimes a park or a private backyard saves money, although you then need chairs and tables probably. If you know someone who has a lovely backyard you can ask if you can have the wedding there. Most friends are happy to help.

I did a lot of searching and cut the cost of the wedding cake to one-fourth ....found a little Spanish bakery who made a beautiful cake, and then we put real orchids on it which were not expensive.

You can save on food by serving a homemade buffet...friends often will help in serving and making dishes for it.....or at a church have punch and cake and serve a meal to just a smaller group of personal friends and the wedding party.

Set up your own "DJ" by getting a friend to play CD's/ records for you.

You can sew dresses much cheaper....find a discount material shop and make your own....maybe just buy the wedding dress.
There are discount shops for wedding dresses too, or look on-line....can have one taylored to fit.

Planning ahead can save a lot....like on small gifts.....get them at a good sales time. Remember....you want to enjoy your wedding.....and for your friends to enjoy it. So figure out the total you have to spend....then what is most important to you. Some of the largest costs are the dress and the food/reception. Everything else can be adjusted...bridesmaids pay for their own dresses, and remember that small things like fees,etc. can really add up....so plan ahead and have fun with it.

Save on wedding pictures by finding a photographer that will give you a total of all the pictures for one price....which they can now do ....then your friends can get them from you.

Answer 6

Do everything you can on your own instead of wasting money paying other people to do it. Like your flowers you can buy them at your local grocery store and look up theknot.com and they have how-to tips for putting together your flowers & such. Look to see if there are family members who make different foods that you like and you could have some of them make the food for the reception. You don't have to give a lot of wedding favors to the guests either. Also, usually if you attend a church they will let you have the ceremony there for free. Ask your friends and family if they know of someone to do the photography or the cake & stuff like that. That's how I did my wedding and my parents got away with spending right at $2,000 for the whole thing. Dress included! I had a huge wedding too with about 300 people there. It can be done. It just takes a little bit of research.

Answer 7

I am also currently planning a wedding on a very small budget. The first advice that I want to give you is make sure that you plan to use a good photographer. Many people helping me plan told me that the pictures are more important than most of the things you will plan. No one says let me see your centerpieces or let me see your dress. They say let me see your pictures.
I am planning a destination wedding( beach in Florida) and to be honest with you my entire ceremony and reception is cheaper than my friend's ceremony. It eliminates issues with slimming down your invitation list, makes wedding parties smaller also, and most places have referrals so everything is planned in one easy step. I have also eliminated things from the forist that some people think that they have can you decorate the cake table and gift table with petals instead of elaborate floral designs, For my centerpieces I am using loofahs as vases with these beautiful fake Gerber daisies(my favorite) and each one is like $2.50 they match the tropical atmosphere awesome and are very trendy. With only 6 tables for 30 people that is cheap. Be resourceful, there are millions of websites with cheap ideas that are beautiful!
I hope this is helpful. Good luck and Best Wishes. Along the way I try to remember that no matter how much I spend on my wedding it will be perfect because I am marrying the man that I know I want to spend the rest of my life with. :)

Answer 8

Think small. Invite only the really important people. Find a dress on sale. Make a budget and stick to it. Get lots of quotes on things. Find a place to have the reception and wedding that is free(a friends beautiful house, a park, on the beach etc.) Dont have an open bar, pick a few types of beer & wine and buy them yourself. Make your own Invitations. Rent the Tux. Use in season flowers. If you have a college nearby see if some one from an advanced photograpy class wants to take your wedding pictures. Make the food your self. Dont have a full meal, get married mid afternoon and serve light snack type food. Dont have floral center pieces with lost of flowers just pick a few simple ones.

Answer 9

I had a beautiful wedding on a low budget. We got Korbel champagne from Costo. I bought a dress that was originally $700.00 (it was a sample) at J.C. Penney's bridal for only about $150.00 We used the room off of the rectory next to the church where we had our wedding for our reception. We got married on a Friday instead of a Saturday, which kept the cost down. We had an evening wedding where we served only finger foods with the champagne - and then there was wedding cake and coffee. I went to the Conservatory of Music (this was in a major California city) and hired a trio to play classical music for 3 hours (I walked down the aisle to some beautiful music, I can tell you!). When the trio left, a friend played soft piano music. You do want a professional photographer, however - those are pictures that you don't want to mess up - and there really is a difference in the photos that a professional takes. I had my makeup down for a low fee.

Answer 10

Well, for starters, the whole point of a wedding is to celebrate love. In addition to solidifying the love between you and your fiance, it is an opporitunity for the loved ones in your life to support you.

That said, many of the people you'll be wanting to have at your wedding can also help you in preparations. A friend who's skilled in the kitchen could perhaps help with catering. An older family member might be willing to "pass down" her wedding dress. A loved one with a large home could provide a reception. It may not seem glamorous, but it's a wonderful feeling when all the people you love come together, no matter what the budget.

Just remember to keep your priorities straight and not turn into a "bridezilla" who only cares about the details!

Answer 11

Keep it intimate(small amount of guest) Do what you can yourself or make sure you get some bridesmaid that are up for the challenge!! You can make some really nice invitations yourself! You could ue candles for centerpieces instead of flowers! You can make an arrangement of candles different sizes and use some rose petals(you can purchase them at your craft store) If you are renting a hall! See if you can have the reception and ceremony at the same site. Or depending on your guest list you probably can have a beautiful wedding outside in a family members yard and rent a tent and some chairs/1 You can probably have an early ceremony and have hor devours and champagne reception or either a late one and do the something!! You can do so many things!! I hope everything comes together!