Is it possible to have a wedding for under $800?

Question

After reading some of the order answers. I know 800$ seems small. But is it possible.
Maybe in vegas.
At the beach
A small chapel.
A hotel.
A local church
My family sews and will make all the dresses.
I also have photographers in the family.
I have friends that are DJ's.
I also have family that can decorate, like for the reception, and wedding. Hopefully. The family will do these things as a gift. or a small price. (I'm sure they will)

I'm not a flower person. So I really don't need any.
And I can get creativly cheap with the cake.

In my Mind. All I see myself paying for is :to get the food catered I'll say 50-75people, The decorations(which Im very simple and cheap). The material for my wedding dress.
Am I missing anything. Is it possible. Has anyone done this before. Ideas please.

Answer 1

Its definately possible. You might consider a wedding earlier in the day - so your meal is brunch or lunch, this will be much cheaper than a dinner reception. Or have it late (like 7pm) and state in the invetations "please join us for drinks and dessert at a reception following the ceremony" so that people know dinner will not be served. Then just serve some drinks like wine or champaign if you want alcohol, coffee, sodas or mocktails in pitchers. And cake, of course.

Your venues are good choices, or you could do it in a public park (most parks will allow weddings with reservations) or someone's back yard.

Your other expense will be renting tables/chairs and renting or buying dishes/silverware/cups. Go to the dollar store to get your dishes and silverware, you can get nice paper and plastic in different colors including white and silver.

For table decorations you could put one large candle in the middle of the table, or an arrangement of 3 smaller pillar candles. Or you could get a glass dish from the dollar store, fill it with water and float a candle in it. Or you could gather a selection of used boxes (free) and wrap them in wedding paper and put bows on them and use them as table decorations.

I wouldn't do Vegas on $800 if you want a reception. I got married in Vegas, but we eloped and didn't bring anyone with us. If you want to do that, you can do it even cheaper. I think we spent $200.

Answer 2

If you attend a local church, you can usually use it for free, and I know that in the church I grew up in, you don't pay the priests for the ceremony. So that would be free. If you can use a home for the reception (or if the church has a reception hall and they approve of anything you want to do), that is free too. Technically, bridesmaids usually pay for their dresses, though I think that is messed up, it's up to you on what you want to do there, but you can find great sales when places like David's Bridal are having the $99 sale the bridesmaid dresses are on sale too (for my sister's wedding, we found dresses for $50 each for 4 of us).Speaking of the $99 sale, you can find dresses cheaper than what it costs to make them during these sales. So weigh the cost of the fabric you want to use with the cost of a dress if you can find one that you like. As for flowers, that's up to you. You can get those for a decent price if you change your mind. Decorations can be picked up between now and your wedding, get your colors lined up and you can go to places like Hobby Lobby and find some decent things. Stick with simple colors for table cloths (like white) and then pick up your colors in other decorations. I'd offer to pay the photog for the cost of film and developing the film at the least. If the photog doesn't want to be paid, that is a wonderful wedding gift to you. You can even have a wedding that doesn't have catered food. You can have the wedding in the afternoon and have it be a cake and punch kind of reception when a meal isn't necessary. Throw in some fruit and veggie trays and you've saved yourself some money. The cake can be done at a place you'd least expect... WalMart. Scary, yes. Tasty as hell though. Shocking, isn't it. They also look nice. My sister's wedding was done for $1200, my mom paid for everything except the cake and flowers, those were gifts from family friends.
Good luck. Hopefully you can get it done on your budget. I'm happy to see someone that doesn't want to spend 100K

Answer 3

I think it would be a bit challenging but yes, I think you could do it. The biggest costs are the dress, food, and photography. So, it seems you have those covered for the most part. And you don't even have to get things catered. You can go to Sam's or Costco (a bulk grocery place) and buy really nice finger food for cheap. As long as someone doesn't mind preparing things the day of the wedding and getting everything ready, then it's done. If you get married in a church, then you won't have any venue fee. Michael's Arts and Crafts store has lots of creative and cheap ideas for doing wedding crafts....you can make centerpieces, you can get print your own invitations,e tc.

Answer 4

The catering will cost you more than $800 for 50 to $75 people you have someone in the family who will do all the cooking. You can do something at a local beach or a church. For what you are indicating, even with people sewing, things made and decorations, a wedding for $800 is impossible. It would be more like $2,000 with everything including gown fabric, decorations, church (there is a fee), rental of tables and chairs, flowers etc.

Answer 5

My own wedding came in at least $200 dollars below that mark. It wasn't fancy of course, I've termed it as a simple country wedding. It was held in the small missionary baptist church I attended as a child. And the reception was in their fellowship hall. The ceremony was kept small, but I didn't have that many people to invite, around 40 people were there. I made the food myself, stuck with sandwhiches, dips, and cheese and meat trays, with punch and sprite as beverages. Decorations were simple, white cloth on the main tables, and coloured paper cloths to match my colors on the other tables. With candles and I used fake harvest colored leaves because I had an october wedding and other seasonal decorations. While it wasn't fancy it was darling and most people thought I spent a lot more money on it, but I didn't care what people thought. It was what I wanted. I also cut cost by going to a small local bakery for the cake. It was more affordable, and more delcious than any wedding cake I have ever had.

To be fair though my dress what a simple off white dress with a lace accents that I found on sale for less than $30. My most expensive thing was flowers, but it was either real flowers or none at all for me, although a friend of mine made her own fake arrangement and it was goregous.

Answer 6

have a bbq type reception and cater it yourself, ask your friends and family to help with all your items as wedding presents. They will love being involved. You can get silk flowers at a great price, just keep it simple and use your bouquets for your decor. Use alot of what you already have for decor, candles, holders, flower and plants, seashells, nicnaks, Pictures, the list is endless. have a small wedding cake made then add a regular cake to use at the actual event. Best Wishes.

Answer 7

it seems like you have everything/everyone that you really need.if you can get help from all these people then i do not see a problem. the food will probably be the most expensive part.what a lot of people do in the south for large gatherings is have pig pickin.basicly bbq a pig. if you have a back yard wedding with a cook out to follow then yes it can possibly be done for under 800.00.you will for sure need the help ofyou friends and family though.let the photos and the dj be your wedding gifts the decorting everybody chips in to do (you pay for dedorations everbody decorates).just as a few suggestions. good luck and congradulations to both of you.

Answer 8

My wedding was totally not every girl's dream wedding, but it worked for us. It was spur-the-moment so very little got spent on it.
We spent about $15 on matching shirts and about $75 on Walmart's plain gold wedding bands. We picked up a couple disposable cameras so there's another $10.
There were no decorations at the wedding since we decided Sunday morning to do it after church Sunday night. The youth group had an afterglow after the service (youth night at church) that amounted to baked potatoes and chili, and my dad picked up the family's bill. That was probably $50 or so.
The honeymoon probably cost us $300 total, with gas and hotel rooms and food.
So it wasn't the fairy tale wedding, but it was perfect for us.

Answer 9

Mine cost us $1000.00, but that was 10 years ago this coming September.

We only had about 25 people. I had my dress made for me and we catered it ourselves. My Bridesmaid rented her dress, my flower girl and ring boy used clothes they already had. We did rent tuxes. The color theme was decided by what was on sale at the party store, our cake was from walmart(actually was pretty nice), I made the flowers, my dad wore a suit and we had the reception at the church we were married in. We brought a CD player that held 10 discs and we put it on random play, today you can burn cds so your music can be even more diverse.

I am sure it can be done, it all depends on what you are willing to give up.

I wanted to add: My brother just got married, they spent unknown amounts of money, but I assure you it was more expensive than my house. You know what though, I am just as married as he is.

Answer 10

YES!!! My wedding was around $800. My uncle was the photographer, other uncle the DJ, my best friends father was a JP and married us and we got married on the beach as well. Do a buffet style dinner for the reception and only invite your closest friends and family (dont forget they have dates as well). Dont be shy to ask local bars/restaraunts for donations. If you know the owners they will throw in some food or a keg. Have fun and best wishes!!!!!