how to have a cheap wedding without looking like one?

Answer 1

you can always do your wedding on a budget..If you can do your own flowers,I did my daughters and all of her bouquets,boutineers,corsages for the moms and grandmoms
You can decorate alot with inexpensive netting,white,or light colors look expensive,and intertwine them with white christmas lights...looks good! We had cheap little candle votives on each table with a small rose candle ring around them..we only had a wedding cake, punch,a grooms cake(we got a wal-mart,it was delicious,chocolate).All of these things we found at wal-mart...if you need help or questions e-mail me at yahoo.

Answer 2

Hardly anyone ever mentions borrowing things. Ask every family member and friend what they have that you could borrow for wedding decor. People have all sorts of fancy linens, serving pieces and dishes, vases, silver, and other items just laying in a drawer. They would be thrilled to put them to use for a special occasion. Every thing doesn't have to match.

Think outside the box. People have already mentioned Christmas lights for decor, and they are great. Tulle is cheap at WallyWorld, and elegant. Bows are not that hard to make, and no one will notice if they're not perfect. Drape and swag away! Thrift shops, flea markets, and discount and dollar stores have lots of things you could use.

Natural settings often need little in the way of decoration. Get married at the park or on the beach.

Control your guest list. You do not have to invite people you never see or distant relatives. You can send an announcement after the fact.

Choose a time of day when you are not expected to serve a full meal. Just having a few finger foods, or cake and punch, is much cheaper and you can have more guests.

It is not necessary to serve alcohol. Or you could serve a signature drink instead of having a bar.

If you are crafty you can do many things yourself and save tons. Bouquets and boutonnieres are easy enough to make.
You can buy toasting flutes at any thrift store and decorate them yourself with a bit of beading or ribbon. No one needs a frilly ink pen to sign a guest book, or even the guest book itself, for that matter.

Use flowers growing wild or in friends' yards, or buy them at Costco or the supermarket. Vases are at the thrift stores for about 25 cents. Candles can be inexpensive and add tons of ambiance.

Try to afford a professional photographer, at least for a couple of hours. If you can't, then ask the most talented person you know to take some pictures. Do not depend on guests taking good photos with disposable cameras, that usually is never what you hope for.

Good luck in your wedding.

Answer 3

Ideas I'm using for my day:
- Have the wedding late morning or early afternoon. Venue rental and catering services are *much* less expensive for weddings that are not in the evening.
- Have a buffet-style lunch; this is much less expensive than a 5-course meal.
- If the wedding is around noon, you do not need to supply alcohol aside from champagne for a toast and perhaps wine with lunch. I would be worried about people who feel the need to get drunk at 1:00 in the afternoon! :-)
- Choose a nice venue that doesn't require many decorations.
- For flowers, go for simple and elegant rather than elaborate.
- Skip out on the tiny little details that most of us don't notice or care about: personalized napkins, matchbooks, etc. you don't need these, and they can get expensive quickly.
- Buy nice stationery and ink and print your own invitations and envelopes.
- Keep the guest list on the small side
- Have the groom rent a tux instead of buying one, unless he has other occasions to wear it. Or, if you're getting married around noon, it would be perfectly fine for him to wear a good suit and not necessarily a tuxedo.
- Shop for sales on dresses. You should be able to get a nice dress for about $200 - $300. David's bridal has some $99 dresses sometimes (not sure how often)
- You don't need a video if you have lots of photos. Have friends and family members take photos.
- Decide what things are most important to you and prioritize these.
- Make a budget and stick to it, using your priority list to help you.

Congratulations and Good Luck!

Answer 4

The main thing about keeping a wedding inexpensive but still looking well-done is to focus and play up on things that you already have available around you. For example, Christmas can be a good time to get married because churches and some parks are already decorated. Use your surroundings for your benefit. A wedding in a forest with simple toule, etc, can have an enchanting effect. One idea that I've seen is to use fica (spelling?) trees with white christmas lights in them at the reception instead of having flowers everywhere. It looks like a fairy tale. Another thing I've seen is to get floating candles and margarita glasses at the dollar store and put one glass with one candle on each table. Candles can go a long way if you get creative with them, and they CAN be inexpensive, but again that takes creativity, too.

Answer 5

there are a lot of little odds and ends that you can tweek to bring the total cost down. if you can CONFIDENTLY do your own flowers, thats a huge money save. but if you doubt doing them, don;t stress yourself out. take a look at the site youre getting married at, it may be pretty enough that you don't need to bring your own flowers and what not to decorate. for the reception, you can make really simple centerpieces using materials from ebay or 99centwholesale.com, even the dollar store. receptions are also offered at cheaper prices if you have the wedding on friday or saturday. you can cut the bar menu down to beer, wine, and pop, instead of open well. you may also cut down the bar hours, like only 30 min for the cocktail time and two hours after dinner.
you can have cakes made at wegmans or target, i hear even walmart can do it, and consider a square cake, they serve more people than a round cake with the same number of tiers.

congrats!

Answer 6

Sorry but no balloons. I dont think they are for weddings, looks cheasy. No offense to previous answer.
Go to your local flower district and get some flowers. Walmart for cheap but nice vases, bowls. buy some ribbon.
Make your own table runners if you wish ,piece of long fabric trimmed to accentuate your table.
You can go on ebay buy some round mirrors in bulk to accentuate your centerpieces.

Buy nice paper and print your own invites, get ideas from invitation sites.

Some nice parks have gazebos and the rental fees aren't that expensive.

Some churches, if church wedding only require "donations"

If you have a friend with a nice backyard or pool you can do floating candles and flowers and just have it catered.

Answer 7

Me and my husband spent a total of 150 dollars for our wedding on the beach in Lake Tahoe in the beautiful summer months. We paid for a hotel, a very simple white dress and a dress shirt for my hubby as well as the minister fee. The pictures were gorgeous, the ceremony stress free, and the view was breathtaking. It is not about the show, it is about your vows.

Answer 8

Stop using the word "cheap" and start thinking simple, elegant, understated. What you spend money on, should be well spent-- dont try to get the biggest bang for you buck. For example, select lovely flowers and keep them to a minimum-- they will have more impact this way, too. For food, a few nice horsdeouvres (sp?) or simple buffet, with no or limited alcohol.

Answer 9

Denim Dress by a pond. Everyone can wear denim clothing in and to the wedding.Purchase a wedding cake and a few wedding cookies.Purchase a few daisys.

Answer 10

I made a topiary from scratch for my centerpieces. I got white pails, stirofoam?(the blocks and the round shapes) moss, lots of inexpensive, yet pretty, artifical flowers, bamboo sticks,(all from a store called Old Time Pottery) and....i got these monogram stickers at the dollar tree. I monogrammed them with RFH on one side and the wedding date on the other side. It really was SUPER inexpensive. I think for 15 centerpieces it averaged out to about $8 per centerpiece. I cut the flowers off of their bushs? and stuck them into the round ball.. heres a link to it...maybe it will work...

http://s56.photobucket.com/albums/g183/h...

http://s56.photobucket.com/albums/g183/h...


I'm also stringing tons of balloons from the ceiling..white, ivory, cream, etc. I got a pump at walmart that cost less than $3. alot easier than blowing them up myself. cheaper than helium too. Good luck!!!


These are the invitations I'm using. They are about $1 a piece.

http://www.seal-n-send.com/CasPage1B.cfm?sEnsembleCode=CasEns03488&page=2&strcontinue=yes&strsearch=no&format=SNSCasEnsVF

Good luck!!