i live in houston tx, and i cant seem to find anything thats below $7,000. its a budget wedding so any ideas??

Question

its only going to be close friends and family, so im trying to keep it as simple as can be.

Answer 1

If you can't even afford $7000 for a wedding, maybe you guys should not get married until you both have good jobs.

Answer 2

Easiest way to save money for your wedding (which is how I'm planning mine right now!) is to have it at someone's house. Keep everything simple since it's just close friends and family -- put it at mid-afternoon and serve hors'deurves. Save on flowers by getting silk or get a simple bouquet made.

As for the dress and whatnot, I would suggest either getting a nice bridesmaid's dress (you'd be surprised!) or buying a formal. There are no rules that say you have to wear some huge white wedding gown, so don't! Let your groom where a nice suit rather than a tux.

It's in the little things...

Also -- you can save TONS through ebay. I got my toss-away bouquet, all the pieces to make my favors, bridal accessories, etc.

You can do a wedding on a budget. We're doing a fancy reception and still paying under $5,000 for our whole wedding (rings included).

It's all in who you know.... and how much research you're willing to do! Be a negotiator!! I know you can do it!

Good luck!

Answer 3

First of, I just want to reply to the first answer (Sam X i believe). What is with people these days saying "if you can't afford it you shouldn't get married") I had people give me grief because my parents are paying for it. Since when did this determine weither or not you get married? You are celebrating your love for each other and the commitment you are making, not emptying your bank accounts to throw a huge party!! That's just frustrating!!

Regarding your question, maybe since it's a smaller group, consider a renting a private room at a restaurant. Don't tell them it's a wedding and you should save some cash. Also, consider having it at a community building- they tend to be less expensive. good luck!

Answer 4

Hello. This is what I recommend. Please do not take this wrong. I have a secularist view in resepct to marriage, because it seems to be nothing more than opportunists extorting money from a state prtotected social institution. I once heard of a religious figure charging consoltation fees for couples considering becoming married and then charging them double the consoltation fee to perform the ceremony.

Here is what my wife and I did to avoid a big wedding bill. First, we purchased the license from the state (no way around that). We then decided to have the ceremony performed at what was at the time my home, but soon to be our home. Furthermore, since we both had independent religious beliefs we decided to let a local justice of the peace perform the ceremony. This kept us from having to pay for religious services (church rental & clean-up fees after the ceremony). Most states allow mayors, judges, magistrates, or justices of the peace to perform weddings. We had to pay $25 dollars for his services, rather than $500 dollars that my church requested to have the service held at their facility.

We also decided that we would provide the food, which came from a local market. We spent $100 for the food. The only wedding planner that we considered advised us that it would cost us $1000 dollars for food alone. Oh! I almost forgot. We spent $25 dollars for the cake. So $125 for food if you account for the cake. Anyway, we were fortunate.

Our wedding took place in 2001. Before we got married we decided that we did not want to spend a great deal on wedding ceremonies, rather we wanted to take that money and use it later to purchase our dream home.

The only item that I splurged on was her ring. I spent $5000 on her diamond ring. She splurged on mine as well ($4575). To me this was a better investment than the ceremony.

Please do not get me wrong when I make these comments. I love my wife dearly. She is my best friend and confidant. She is worthy of $1,000,000 ceremony, but we decided that we were confident with the love that we both shared for one another, and we did not need a $25,000 ceremony to reinforce the concept.

Finally, if you do not include the rings, which we both independently paid for without going in debt; we had $375 total expenditures. It was a very simple ceremony, which we both wanted. The only people who who we invited were close family and friends. I hope this helps.

Answer 5

You could go prom-y and go to the Water Wall. I don't think they charge anything, but you'll definitely have strangers there and taking pictures. Or Hermann Park. I just went to a wedding there and I know the bridge and groom paid for everything, so it probably was pretty affordable. The only bad thing about Hermann Park is the lack of parking, but it really is beautiful there. (They got married in the Chinese Gazebo.)

Answer 6

Find a nice restaurant with a patio or something. Have a ceremony before lunch on a slow day. Or do the small thing at a church. Then spend the money having food or drink in a private room. I did this and people appreciated this so much more than blowing cash on a caterer.

Answer 7

It's really frustration at first but keep calling around and getting prices. You have to think the most well adversities places are the most expensive. It's take a little time to find the smaller cheaper guys. try theknot.com and you can ask people in your local area- that's what I ended up doing and found someone!

Answer 8

keep it super simple - invite them over to your house for a nice dinner, have someone marry you at home. There, you've just saved a ton of money and focused the day on what it's really about YOU and YOUR LOVE not a fancy dress and big party

Answer 9

What about a park or if you have a friend/family with a beautiful house and garden see if you can hold it there. Or maybe at a local nature park. Just some Ideas. If you have a botanical garden, inquire with them and see if they do anything.

Answer 10

i can tell you EBAY i got almost everything for my wedding there and it turned out to be wonderful. If i would have bought all the stuff new I would have spent a ton of money instead i spent half.

Good luck and may you have a blessed day!!! Enjoy yourself and your new husband

Answer 11

Look at nice auditoriums instead of banquet halls. Check out your local req or community room. You can have your friends try out their culinary ideas instead of hiring a caterer or you can have a ceremony-reception combo at the reception site instead of two seperate entities. Good luck. Oh and check out www.theknot.com for more ideas.