Can I get married for $5000?

Question

I'm in the process of planning my spring 2008 wedding and our budget is $5000. I have broken it down into categories and am pretty sure we can swing it within our means, but I just would like to know if anyone else has successfully pulled off a simple wedding with about 100 guests, minimal decorations, homemade food with no catering, homemade cake, and a DJ'd reception within the $5000 price range. I'm very thrifty, so I know my gown will be as inexpensive as possible, and my 'maids are paying for their own stuff. Any feedback from anyone who has pulled this off is appreciated!

Answer 1

My sister's wedding dress costed about $1500, but the total spent on the wedding itself including the dress was around 3000. Staying within the 5000 budget you've allotted should be very simple. My uncle has a band that played at my sister's wedding so that covered the entertainment on our side, however a good DJ should only cost around 500-600. If you're having homemade food and only around 100 guests you probably won't break 3k. You'd be surprised if you're innovative with your decorations how something entirely simple and cheap can give off a very dignified look. My sister had a "marble" arch that they stood under, which was constructed of melded wires and cardboard covered with marble colored tiles (you could use marble colored wallpaper as well) that gave it the look of an ancient greek temple's pillars. Nobody knew except those of us that constructed it.

As for the photographer, my sister hired one that ended up costing 800 dollars. Most of the pictures he took my sister ended up not even wanting to buy. At my brothers, my mother/dad took the pictures themselves with their digital camera (8.1 megapixel don't remember the brand but it cost them $400) and the pictures were much better than the photographers. Most photographers use digital cameras as well when taking wedding pics, so it's best to get a bunch of your relatives to bring cameras and take pictures. At my cousins wedding they gave out like 30 disposable cameras and then collected them at the end, they loved that because the pictures were totally authentic and random.

Anyways good luck and have a happy marriage.

Answer 2

I did. 150 for 5,000. Depending on where you are catering might or might not be an option. DIY are my three fav. letters and has saved me thousands. Also planning in advance so I can shop sales has really helped and with Spring 2008 you have plenty of time for that. We didn't have the DJ and are using an Ipod instead hooked up to a sound system and used the money on a cake and better photographer. I really wanted the "wedding cake" and noone in my family can make that (we got it from Costco...50 people size cake for pics and a sheet cake for serving the rest).

You just have to sit with fiancee and figure out what is important to you and whats not and go from there. Neither one of us could care less if we had mongrammed everything and a full open bar but it WAS important to have great pictures. So we are just having beer and wine and putting the money that would have been spent on liquor towards better decor.

Answer 3

For a casual wedding, yes, you can do it on a small budget. A few years ago my niece married for about that amount. The wedding was in her church and the reception was held at her fathers house which, luckily for her, is on a lake. Family and friends made the side dishes and a friend of her father's brought over a HUGE bar-b-que and roasted a whole pig. We also threw some hamburgers and hot dogs on the grill. It was a very casual reception with a friend playing the "DJ" role. Get your friends together and ask them to help; it would be their wedding gift to you to act as DJ and bartender. While we were still in our wedding attire, there was no problem dancing in the yard. We just kicked off our shoes and danced the afternoon/evening away. Of course, it helps if you have a friend with a lake house but an outside wedding is always cheaper than an inside wedding. You have nature's decorations. Congratulations on your upcoming nuptials.

Answer 4

Absolutely. The point of a wedding is to celebrate the beginning of a marriage, not impress people who're supposed to love you and wish you well. You want to have a pleasant get-to-gether that leaves you with some money in the bank, speaking to both sets of in-laws and all your friends, and not in need of therapy because of post-wedding let down. (There are newlyweds in such therapy as I type this.)

Thinking ahead, it's like concentrating on Lamaze classes instead of planning how to care for the baby. In an emergency, the hospital can give you drugs and push or cut the baby out for you. No one will come to your house the next week or month or year at midnight to change its diaper.

On ebay buy some of those disposable cameras so you have lots of candids. Get a student, even a high school one from tech training class, if you must, but don't skimp on getting a good photographer to make a set of formal shots.

The other formal thing to do, no matter what else you choose to omit, is a receiving line. I've been to two weddings recently where I never met the groom's parents. The bride and groom weren't sure who was there and, because they are great people, had to work lots harder than they should have to make sure they spoke to everyone that came. Even people that don't like it will appreciate your saying, "We want to make sure no one gets overlooked at Our wedding."

Severely limit the liquor served to hold costs down. This also helps with DJ's because some won't work a function with an open bar--too many fights.

Answer 5

Absolutely, you can do it! About fourteen years ago, I pulled off a similar wedding for about $2000. We had about 100 people, home made food, minimal decorations, live music, and a custom silk gown. I think the same wedding would probably cost about twice that now, so $5000 should give you plenty to cover it if you're careful and thoughtful in your expenditures.

It takes some effort, but it's more than possible. The key is to take your time, look for bargains and ways that you can do things yourself, and be flexible.

Answer 6

I'm going through the same thing my self. I am getting married this August. YES!! It's very possible to have a wedding for $5,000 or under. My wedding is actually about.... $3,000. Maybe even less. We are getting so much help from people we didn't even ask for help from. Michael's, Dollar Stores and Wal-Mart have awesome wedding stuff and for a good price. You don't need to most expensive stuff in the world. Also... a lot of people now a days aren't even using DJ's for receptions. They use iPods and down load a whole bunch of music and let that play throughout. Plus... you can listen to the iPod later and have the memories of all your favorite moments of the reception.

Answer 7

My entire wedding was about $1,000. My dress cost $100, yes it was second-hand, but it was beautiful and my mother did the alterations. We went to Sam's club--like costco--and got the food, made as many of the decorations and flower arrangements as possible and had a florist just "finish" them as she called it--fluff and pretty them up--total cost for flowers and decorations was about $100. We put up decorations ourselves. We hired a pianist for the ceremony and borrowed sound equip from the local community center--deposit was $250 but refunded when we brought the stuff back--and had my uncle DJ it. We borrowed tables and chairs and covered them with table cloths. The 6 tier cake cost $100 from a very close relative, but that was more luck than anything, but we were planning on ordering a cupcake stand--wilton has some beautiful ones just for wedding cakes, and just making a whole lot of cupcakes decorated with sugared flowers. Ebay--register for an acct if you don't have one and order what you can from there. Also, oriental trading company has some pretty stuff. Back to your question, it is totally possible to pull off a beautiful wedding for not a huge chunk of change! Good luck and feel free to email me if you have any questions!

Answer 8

I am having 150 people at mine! We rented a hall like a local lodge such as elks and eagles they have good prices and dont charge that much for alcohol so you dont need a cocktail hour! The dollar store and micheals could be your best friend for favors and centerpieces. I am doing 6" mirrors with colored salt and a candle in the middle if you go to saveoncrafts.com you can get the mirrors for like 99 cents and candles are cheap there or once again the dollar store! As for your dress there are tons of websites for 100 dresses like target jc penny or bridalonline store! Justice of the peace are only like 60 to 100 dollars you could also have a friend marry you it costs 25.00 they can get the privelage for a day if they apply but they must do it in advance! Dj's can cost a bit of money if you dont know someone in the industry! As for photographer you can do disposable cameras on tables or what i did was look on craigslist.com find a photographer that needs the expierence for his portfolio someone just starting out will do it for 400.00 and make sure you get the copyrights to negatives or a waiver if he does a digital cd. Food once again family can do it or if you call around do a buffet style catering they are usually fairly priced. A good idea if you dont need china etc there are websites to have guests put money in a honeymoon fund for you! Also try negotiating with family for instance my brothers paid for my centerpieces but didnt give me a gift! we spent 2700.00 of our own money for wedding plus honeymoon! Bj's sams club cosco all have great deals for trips we are going on a 5 day cruise to the virgin islands and it cost us 700.00! Also if you get a box spread some nicely cut out paper you can have people leave you messages they are good for scrapbooking your wedding or just a few laughs down the road also an alernative to a guest book! Good Luck!!

Answer 9

Absolutely. You can buy your dress from David's Bridal when they have a sale for a minimum of money.
You don't need centerpieces and can use petals or fake petals.
The food you know what to do.
Same with photographer and videographer. A friend of the family or a memeber can do that for you.
The music is the only thing that's going to cost you a bit more.
You don't have to have a cake, and if you do, it can also be home-made.

Congratulations, and remember, your wedding is about how much joy you and your husband bring!!

Answer 10

If oyur wise you can! I had my Wedding for less than $2,000! I had a great wedding. I bought a new dress ,candle obras, flowers, big cake, no catering my family helping with the food and I had about 100 - 150 guests! It could definaltely be doen and still be just a beautiful as a $20,000 wedding!!