on a limited budget $5000 or less wedding for 100 guests can it be done?

Question

another obiscale is finding a church to marry us if were not active members what would be our options with that as well?

Answer 1

Your largest expense for 100 guests would be food. So if you are trying to do it on a 5K budget, you would have to figure out how to handle the food expense.

I've seen many lovely ceremonies with 'optional' reception attendance, pot-luck style layouts, and BYOB go off beautifully. It depends on how it is handled by the bride, groom and families.

Answer 2

Yes absolutely it can be done. First of all find your dress! your attendants should pay for theirs. The Tuxes can be rented and you can get a deal at the local tux place depending on how many you rent. Then you can check around there are lots of non denominational churches I dont know what they cost or there are ordained ministers who will perform a ceremony in a hall for pretty reasonable. Then hit your local dollar tree and walmarts fabric department. You can do a lot for a small amount of money there as far as decorating.
here are a list of sites that have really inexpensive stuff for weddings. Also if you have a party supply place you can probably rent alot of the things that you need. "Off Season" weddings are cheaper too. Make sure it isn't prom time or may or june helps keep some of the costs down

www.efavormart.com
www.wrapwithus.com
www.bridalstoreonline.com-dresses for bride, attendants and flowergirls plus accessories
www.butterflyxc.com-flowergirl dresses
the ring bearers tux can be purchased for REALLY cheap off of www.ebay.com - use the advanced search and put the cost as between 0 and $20. I pd $15, that was with s&h included, for a complete white tux with tails for a 2 year old. It had the jacket vest tie shirt and pants with satin detailing. It was brand new with tags! he was adorable. This is also where I bought the matching flower girl dresses. Brand new with tags for $30 each that included shipping and handling. Payless has buy one get one half off for the shoes.

Have a couple of friends or family members cater the reception. However if you have the wedding at 1 and the reception to follow and end before dinner you dont have to serve food you can do just dessert buffet and that is much cheaper. Call you local college and talk to the photography department you might be able to get a student to take your pictures for really cheap because they are learning. I wouldnt serve alcohol or use a couple of kegs and byob. If you want to have music and dancing at the reception you can download your own music and arrange it how you want it played. use someones home stereo system and you should be all set. You can do this on a budget! There was a show on TLC where that was the point of the whole show weddings with a $5000 budget and some of them were SPECTACULAR!

Good Luck and plan well

Answer 3

Oh, yes! I did it. I was married in a beautiful Victorian Home for $1000 all decorations included with minister. I had the reception there too. We went to Sam's that day and got great food ($350), I had my mom and husband's mom set up while I got dressed for the wedding..(it looked professional) we had a DJ for 2 hours ($100) No professional photos but even better I put cameras on all the tables during the reception and on every 4th chair at the wedding for guest...They were wonderful photos and better. The most important thing to remember when planning a wedding is YOU ARE GETTING MARRIED.. YOU not everyone else... YOU are in LOVE.. everything else just falls into place. I have been to huge weddings BIG$$$ and felt empty...it was more of a production than a wedding but I have to say the best wedding I have been to (other than my own, of course) was a wedding last year that was in someones backyard. It was small, simple and I truly could feel the love, we all cried it was so touching. When it comes to Weddings, less is more. Oh, and CONGRATULATION.

Answer 4

Yes, of course it can be done. Mine was less than $3,000 and I had over 200 guests. And it was pulled together in about 3 weeks. As soon as I was proposed to, we didn't want to wait. That amount included the dress, a beautiful off the shoulder, custom altered to come up to a V to show my legs, with lacy bridal boots. We bought the supplies to do the bridal veil. Which was only about $50, and it turned out to look similar to the one I really wanted, but better, that cost about $300. We made all our own flower arrangements. We did our own decorations for the hall (which was the fire hall, my husband is a firefighter). But you could inquire about a local hall, church hall, etc. We had everyone search for a decent band that didn't cost that much. And was very good by the way. We had someone make the bridesmaid dresses and my husband and the best man wore their dress uniforms, but you could rent the tuxes if you went that route. For the reception we had several people working together within the family to make different dishes to put on the buffet. It was elegant and good food. For the beverages we supplied the pop (store brand) and 2 kegs. If someone wanted hard liquor it was b.y.o.b. We did luck out on the wedding cake, it was paid for by someone annonymous at the local store. But, if you know anyone with great cake decorating skills it can be done with no more than the cost of the supplies. Try looking into community churches. These types of churches may only have you go thru pre-marital counciling sessions. My husband and I had 6 of them. Get someone you know to do the photography for no more than the cost of the film and printing, a friend perhaps. Again, that is what we did.

I know it is hard on a limited budget. But not everyone can have an expensive wedding. You have to think outside the box. Do some searching, compare prices, anything you know you could do yourself, do it. Don't over-look second hand shops. Anything is possible when you really put your mind to it.

When all was said and done. We had a wedding that was fit to be on the cover of one of those bridal magazines. And you could too. Good luck and congratulations.

Answer 5

Yes, it can be done. You just have to think creatively. The following is just one example:

Find someone with a large backyard, and rent a tent, tables, and folding chairs. Perhaps even an arbor. Have the wedding ceremony itself at one end of the yard, by a justice of the peace or an officiant that you know, and have the reception at the other end under the tent. Wear a simple, informal dress, and only have one attendant each (less money on gifts for the bridal party). Hire a local catering company, and get the cake and flowers from a grocery store. Do still hire a photographer, or have a friend take the pictures if you think they'll be good enough. Skip the centerpieces and other extras, unless you have money left over. Play background music from a boom box, and have dancing only if you think there's enough room.

Answer 6

I agree that food will be your biggest expense. Check out your local restaurants (the little local ones usually have the best prices) and ask if they have catering menus or speak to the person in charge of catering. When I was planning a wedding with my ex, I found a restaurant about 20 minutes away that would deliver to where my reception was going to be. 1 meat, 3 sides, rolls, butter, and plates/plasticwear was $6 pp, and the same with 2 meats was $7 pp. Would have been served buffet style, and they would stay until either the food was gone, or box up the leftovers. IF I do get married, I will more than likely go with this restaurant for the caterer.

Overall, $5000 or less CAN be done. When I was planning mine (for about 100-120 guests), it would've been about $3000 plus the cost of my wedding dress/shoes/accessories:

Church:200 (I'm an active member...would've only been 100, but it was the church I grew up in and was more than willing to give more)
Hall: 450
DJ: 450
Food: 700
Photography: 500
Flowers: Not much...maybe 50...got silks at WalMart, and was going to make my own and bridesmaids...I like a specific rose, and was able to find a silk version. Wanted a silk bouquet as it would last better
Cake: $100 (my mom and I were going to make it, so all I had to buy was supplies...you'd be surprised how easy it is to make your own wedding cake...mine was going to be a 3 tier chocolate cake with a peanut butter icing/filling, covered in white fondant with red and black dots all over it...saw a similar design in a Wilton Cake book and just personalized it a bit.
Decorations: MAYBE 100... Glass bowls from hobby Lobby (small fish bowls) with red and black marbles and a white rose shaped floating candle, white table cloths from WalMart
Favors: 150 hershey kiss roses (I make them myself...done it for many friends' weddings....maybe about $1.50 per favor
Invitations: 100 (was gonna make my own)

Plus the cost of beer, and the "little things", like guest book, ring bearer pillow, flower girl basket, cake knife and server set, etc.

If you have a Hobby Lobby near you, check their ads. About once every one to two months, they have bridal blowout, where all their wedding stuff is half off.

Answer 7

I found that the church these days isn't too particular about who they allow to marry there. Some churches will make you attend pre-marriage counseling (totally recommended anyway) and then you pay the fee and get married - you don't have to be a member. Also, you can have the wedding outside of a church and hire a minister to perform the ceremony- you'd be surprised how many advertise in the yellow pages and online. Congrats and good luck. Oh and yes, you can well with $5000 and 100 people, I've seen it done for less and it was lovely. The more creative you can be in making a lot of things on your own the better. And get friends and family to help you in whatever areas might be their specialty. I never get tired of telling people that my fiance's friends and brothers totally hooked us up...one brother is doing the photography - we only have to pay for film, one brother works in a print shop and will print our invitations for us (I've created them myself on my computer), a friend of his is a DJ and is working our reception as his wedding gift and another friend is a part-time limo driver who's giving us his service for a fraction of the cost (can't do free because he doesn't own the car service). Those are four very huge chunks of expenses and if he didn't have those friends I would have foregone a few things (like the limo). Anyway, just use your resources and be creative - I think you'll do fine. Congrats and good luck.

Answer 8

There was a show on tv not too long go (not sure if it still is or not) but it was on tlc, and you got to pick some people in your family and some friends who got together with a wedding planner and planned a wedding on a $5000 budget. So the bride and groom didn't have to do anything, and they had a chance to win cool stuff and the weddings always turned out really good. You should try and get on that show...

Answer 9

I think the alcohol is the biggest expense. Have a dry wedding or a cash bar, that should save you millions. You will have to keep your eyes open for deals. Find the deals rather than just going cheap, you want to have a nice wedding. Is it 100 people or you've invited 100 people? Inviting 100 people will probably put up around 200 with their guests. Maybe cut the invite list down. You could always have the wedding and the reception at a later date. Not every brides dream but you have to do what you have to do. Best of luck to you.

Answer 10

My best girlfriend had her wedding in a park and rented out the hall that was inside the park, which was no more than $1200 altogether. The food is where everything adds up, she had a heavy h'orderous (sp?) reception. Make sure where ever you go, they alllow you to bring outside food. That's what my girlfriend did. She went to Costco or one of those club food stores and bought a lot of food platters. She bought chicken wing platters, meatball platters, crab balls, fruit, vegetable, sandwich platters, and it was ENOUGH food. She paid $600 for the food. So for her reception she spent $2000. And it also costs less to have your wedding on a Sunday or Friday. And not having a evening wedding saves a lot of money. Cut out alcohol. For the toast, you sparkling cider instead. Have a friend of the family marry you. They can get ordained online for free. Have a ipod? Use that as your music. Connect it to speakers and create your playlist. I have seen it done at weddings and the bride is so happy that the DJ couldn't play those horrible songs you don't want to hear. Rent tableclothes, chairs, plates, anything that you can. Believe me, it can be done. Buy your dress used, you are only wearing it for one day.

Congrats and I hope everything works out for you.