Need ideas for a VERY cheap but nice wedding.?

Question

I need some very creative suggestions on how to have a wedding for under $3,000- 6,000...not including the dress. We do not have a lot of money but want something to remember. I have heard suggestions like get married in a backyard or get a park permit and get married in central park...but what about a reception? and what happens when it rains? I need some more ideas. We are in NY but are willing to go just about anywhere in the country.

Answer 1

Rent a park as it would be big and cheaper. You can get friends to do the BBQ, cuz every guy thinks he is a 4 star chef. Male ego. lol

One idea. Get married in the Park, tell everyone to come casual as the reception will be close by, so no one will have to change. Rent a cheap band. Get the forecast from the previous year on what the weather was like. If you have too, have a place where they can rent tents if you have to go that route. And have friends asked "ahead" of time for this emergency. Tell them you will need them in case it rains and the tents need to be set up.

Now here is the kicker, have friends take pictures and tell them to post them on http://photobucket.com/ .Tell them the user name is your husbands first name and the password is the last name. You can post this in the wedding invitations. Tell them that would be a great wedding present. You see the theory is you can always get a toaster or towel set later. This is only a one shot deal with the pictures. If you do not believe me, how many pictures of yourself or the other do you have of your childhood. Not too many, but I bet you wish you could have had more growing up. Same thing with the wedding. That way everyone can see the pics of the wedding and YOU both have photos that your kids kids will see after you are both gone and buried.

After you get them all in then you can organize the pics and get the ones printed that you want just as good as you had taken them. Buy some disposable digital cameras and give some to friends for taking pics. Then tell them to drop the cameras off with you. You can even buy disposable video cameras. Then you and hubby can spend time editing everyones video of you all and you can have a nice video made. Better 10 cameras from different angles than one. And the professionals charge so much too. Then later get everyone's email address to let them know when you have the wedding pictures arranged properly. Go to incredimail.com so you can send out a email with a nice background. I got the upgrade with all the neat backgrounds and icons. But I paid the lifetime fee as it was a one shot payment. So if you ever divorce you still got it with you.

Well this is my two cents worth. And as far as going around the country, well you always want to have the wedding where the majority of your friends will attend. Unless you are famous like Tom Cruise and people come to your wedding. lol

Answer 2

Definitely have a daytime wedding as many have said. I would look into renting someone's barn or farmhouse outside of the city. It could be very beautiful and rustic. Your centerpieces can be seasonal like a flowering plant or a vase of autumn leaves. Instead of a traditional favor you can raffle off the centerpieces. Hire a DJ for the music and maybe a college/HS musician for the ceremony. Photography can be tricky beacuase no matter what you want great photos but again, hire a newbie and have some family members take back up pics.

A fun way to do food would be to hire a BBQ cart and maybe supplement that with preprepared salads and sides (make it a bridesmaid event to prep that stuff). Serve a simple cake and punch and other (cheap) assorted beverages.

Most importantly don't forget to enjoy the day and remember why you are getting ,arried in the first place. Good Luck!

Answer 3

OK first you need a good wedding magazine to give you ideas on do it you self wedding 2nd you need to find a place where you can hold both the wedding and reception 3rd go to craft stores they sell alot of wedding stuff 4th if you have a walmart close by that has a bakery get you cake there they are cheap but good 5 Th do cold cut trays and food like that and 6th use silk flowers they are cheap and you can keep it forever as for a DJ I don't know what they run in NY but I'm in Ohio and my hubby is one we are like 400 for 6 hr of playtime and do alot of ex..... hope this helps some oh have a friend take the pic for you too

Answer 4

See if your church has a hall that you can use for free or for a lower price for your reception. Or maybe you could rent a gym at a local high school for a low price. That might sound tacky but with good decorators to help you people won't even notice it's a gym. Or you could have the reception at your house or your fiance's house, or if you don't think your houses are big enough think about who in your family or group of friends has a nice house and you could ask them.
For decorations, plants are really pretty and you can borrow houseplants from your friends for free.
To save on food, don't have a sit-down meal, have a buffet and buy food in bulk from a place like Sam's or CostCo.
Enlist your friends to help you by deejaying or playing music or taking photos. Although I've heard that photos are a bad place to scrimp because those are the memories you'll have for the rest of your life. I dunno, I got lucky because my mother-in-law is a wedding photographer so ours were well-done and free! But I've never seen pictures from my parents' wedding because after they'd paid the photographer just for coming they couldn't afford to pay to get the pictures developed.
Other good advice I've heard is to pick one thing that's really important to each of you and spend money on that, and then be cheaper about other stuff. Like if it's really important to you to have really nice flowers, then spend money on that but don't worry as much about having nice food.
Also, for flowers, you can get a bouquet (or even several bouquets) from CostCo for really cheap and take some flowers out and put some in to make your own bouquet. I did have a professional bouquet for my actual wedding, but I used a CostCo bouquet for my bridal photos, and that was a really good idea because it still looked nice but meant I could afford to spend more money on the real bouquet.
I also went to one wedding reception that was a barbeque at a local park. It was fun and informal, and their cake was made of stacks of rice krispies. You may not want something that informal, but you can definitely be creative.
As far as not raining, if you're getting married in the summer there are certain places in the U.S. where it never rains (like Dallas!) during the summer so it's not a concern. But, those places are also really hot so you probably don't want to be outside then anyway.

Answer 5

Flowers for reception: Order inexpensive but pretty flowers online in masses, such as daffodils, daisies, etc. Go to local Goodwill or similar and buy cheap vases for less than a dollar apiece. Set on tables. There are a number of inexpensive providers.

Inexpensive votive candles also for tables.

Eliminate the unnecessary stuff like monogrammed napkins, match books and all that crap.

Have catered by a "family style" business that serves simple but good food, and have meal served buffet style. Consider Italian: Two pasta dishes, a great salad, and good bread.

Go to an Italian business district with Italian grocers; buy your own wine - can get quite good wine at extremely reasonable price.

Check out New York State Park system for parks with both cabins and pavilions - for wedding, reception and for people to stay over as they like.

Since destination not a huge issue, investigate smallish towns in NY that are in pretty areas but not expensively touristy. Might find wonderfully reasonable rates at their banquet rooms.

Answer 6

you can also hold your reception at the park, I am holding mine at an old adobe gardne rented from the city for $150 an hour. You are able to supply your own food and beverages which allows you to shop around and save on costs. Keep the time to a minimum, and trim your guest list. Hold a reception later at night instead on a friday night, most caterers are willing to cut their cost due to Friday beign a down time and you can turn it into a more club like atmoshpere.

For that matter talk to a local club, alot have great decor in NY and you can probably rent it out for the cost of a food and bevrage minimum, if you know how to work with them they may even throw in a DJ.

Answer 7

Try a Sunday luncheon instead of a big Saturday night reception. I'm in Chicago so I'm guessing pricing is (relatively) comparable. Dinner is $65 a head, a luncheon is $18. Also, people don't expect open bar at a luncheon- you can get away with beer, wine, and a champagne toast. Also, look for sites that let you get married at the same spot as your reception- usually there's no additional cost for this.

Answer 8

heres ome ideas, both of some I used in my wedding and some i've seen used elsewhere:

1.making all your own decorations, make decorations for the church or facility that can easily be transported and reused at reception hall.
2.Making your own food or wedding desserts, enlist wedding party and family to help, make several small cakes, or cup cakes, or have simple buffet style food like noodle salads, fresh salads, turkey, ham, roast. etc
3. have a friend of family member be the DJ, someone who can operate a CD player or MP3, also enlist friend/family to take pictures, instead of hiring some $2000 photographer. But if the best wedding photos are priority, do that and cut back elsewhere.
4. consider holding reception at same location as ceremony, a lot of churches have their own luncheon rooms they would let you use. saves cost of renting 2 locations.
Good luck and congrats!

Answer 9

my husband and i got married on the shore of a lake where we went on vacations when we were growing up. we had just our friends and family present and then each set of parents had a reception. it was nice because we got a couple of days at the lake with our family before the wedding and got to really enjoy both of the receptions. weatherwise, we had a shelter house nearby in case of rain, so all went well. it was very memorable too.

i suggest finding someplace that means something to the two of you and then finding a way to make it special. maybe a place you both love, or grew up going to. you don't have to spend a lot of money to have a wonderful wedding.

Answer 10

properly the dinner would be the costliest and there is not any longer lots you're able to do approximately that - now and back receptions permit you host a carvery that's constantly greater much less high priced i'd strongly advise to forget approximately flora as decorations, i'm getting an inventive chum to beautify my church and reception via ribbons, pearls, bows, mirrors and huge candles (lots greater much less high priced) as for the cake - i p.c. a cup cake ornament - lots greater much less high priced can be completed via a kinfolk member who makes truffles and would positioned icing on properly i grew to become into very fortunate to locate an amazing photographer who has basically began wedding ceremony photos presently and is consequently charging greater much less high priced even nonetheless he's as sturdy via fact the rest Please don't be afraid to ask human beings that might actually assist you with small sensible issues, all and sundry has a particular expertise and do take benefit as i found human beings are extremely joyful once you ask a small favour like baking, adorning, doing all your hair/make up etc have you ever can an engagement party yet? in case you invite a load of folk, they have a tendency to offer you good stuff like photograph albums, crystal and money which permits alot additionally open up a low fee costs account and start up now !