What is the least amount of money that can be spent on wedding?

Question

I will just be getting out of college (August 2008) and wont have a lot of money, but we would like a small, church ceremony, small reception without all the fancy stuff but still nice. What is the least amount I can spend for about 50-100 people. I don't know how many exactly but I do know it wont be more than 100. Thanks.

Answer 1

wow im in the exact same boat as you i dont graduate from college until may of 2009 but my fiance and i are getting married june 7th of 2008 we also want a small church wedding thats nice but not fancy and a nice little reception. with 60-90 guests. we are planning on spending about 2000 dollars at the most. we are using fake flowers not a whole lot of decorations and the family is helping with the food for the reception just a few ppl bringing certain dishes from home. that and we are pulling family items like clear glass bowls to put some cheap floating candles in for the center pieces on the tables....we dont have to pay for the chuch b/c its where i go to church. or the pastor my papaw is marrying us. and the reception is in a gym that was free at another local church. just pull your resources and really think about what will be the cheapest it will still be beautiful....GOOD LUCK and congrats!!

Answer 2

My wedding was under 600 and we had about 40 guests. We didnt have food, just cake and soda. After the wedding and reception(was also held at the church) a smaller group of family went out to eat.

We had a maid of honor and one brides maid. we purchased their dresses also. The guys wore jeans, a nice button up shirt and boots. We gave them the shirt and jeans.

We had a 3 tier cake also that was more than enough. We found a person to make the cake rather than a company and the cake, our most expensive part, was 100 bucks.

My mother in law paid for the dress. The church was free as it was my uncles church.

if you plan it well you can have a cheap, yet nice wedding. We were both also students at the time.


Good luck, and spend alot of time shopping for values. Also, word of mouth on stuff like cakes etc can help. Also, when you get a dress, if you find a good person for alterations, you can get away with a bigger, odd sized dress for ALOT less money and have it altered. Many of the ladies who do it at stores do it at home for a fraction of the costs.

We found my wife's dress for 400.00 and it was slightly big. We found the same dress, 3 sizes too big for 149 and had it altered for 90 bucks by a woman who worked at the bridal shop. The shop wanted 225 to do what she did for 90.

Answer 3

Last spring a Bride and Groom spent less than $100 on their wedding, and here's how they did it.

Marriage License $50
Gazebo in community park rental $40

No bridal party . . no flowers . . no reception . . no music . . no wedding cake . . no photographer. . 100 guests

Both the Bride and Groom had their Master's Degree, and earned a substantial amount of money. This Bride and Groom could have had any type of wedding that they wanted, and they chose to "keep it simple."

At the end of the ceremony the Bride and Groom got in their car and drove to the airport. By 6PM that night they were sipping tropical drinks on a beach in Key West, Florida.

Answered by: A Certified wedding specialist / A Professional bridal consultant / A Wedding ceremony officiant

Answer 4

The least amount of money is the cost of the marriage license.

If you want to have a ceremony with the reception, you'll have to call around and get prices from your local caterers, florists, reception halls, whatnot. It all depends on what you're willing to settle upon. A 100 people is not a "small" reception. Make a guest list, and get some rough quotes to get an idea of a realistic budget.

Answer 5

It depends upon where in the country you are.

(1) Ceremony. If you are part of a small church, they will probably let you have the church for free, and the minister may or may not get paid. But you still need musicians (who you have to pay or tip) a guest book, FLOWERS, etc. If you get the church and the minister for free, I'd say $500 is the barebones minimum
(2) Dress/Tux for groom. If you're going traditional, expect to pay at least $300 total.
(3) Reception. If you want to serve food, I think you have to plan for at least $10 a plate. That would be in a rural area, with a rural caterer, serving buffet style, and probably in your church basement. If you have family close by, perhaps they can cook for you. I know lots of people who do BBQs in their backyard, or you could serve loose meat sandwiches, chicken breast, etc. But then I think you'd have to estimate at least $5 a plate, plus china, silverware, etc. Then you have decorations, FLOWERS, table linens, etc. Do you want to serve alcohol? Are you at a place where you can? Kegs of beer are just a couple hundred each, but liquor or bottles of wine can get expensive. And if you have a caterer, holy cow.
(4) Cake. If you make a sheet cake yourself, $1 a person. If you have it done professionally? Up to $5 a person.
(5) Entertainment. DJ will probably run you $1-2 grand, but if you're in a church basement, maybe just a guy with your iPod and nice speakers.
(6) Photographer. Can be thousands if you hire a pro and actually want prints. If you're willing to skimp, you can have a friend do it, but you'll REALLY be disappointed and sad if he doesn't get the lighting right, or misses that big shot.
(6) Miscellaneous. Licenses (which can be a couple hundred bucks,) Invitations, even cheap ones, will cost $3-4 each (because you've got to include postage and return postage, which might be up to a buck!) Don't forget presents for your bridesmaids or groomsmen, tips for everyone, hairstylist appointments, chair rental, etc. etc.

I'd say a (mostly free) church ceremony and do-it-yourself, church basement or backyard BBQ reception is easily done for a hundred people for $4,000.

Answer 6

I would do the food yourself and just buy a cake. I would use the same flowers for the ceremony and use them again to set out at your reception. I did that and saved money. I went to a bridal store and found the dress I wanted and wrote down the name, designer, & serial number of the dress. Then, I went on ebay to the want it now section and put in that info and what color/size I wanted. I found the same dress new with tags for $1200 cheaper than in the store. I ended up only paying $200 for it. I paid a local tailor to take it up in the bust for me.

Answer 7

Set yourself a budget: license, officiant (some clergy people get paid to perform services), clothing, invitations/reply cards and postage, food, venue(s), photographer, flowers, etc. Decide how much you want to spend on certain things, think about what you can be flexible on, what can you do yourself of have friends help you with (sewing your own dress, make your own cake, do your own flowers).

Tip: Try off-season or off-days for your wedding. Locations are usually less expensive and different flowers will be available.

Visit bridal shows, use your yellow pages and call around, check websites.

Answer 8

If your getting married at a popular church, the fee will be more then a smaller church. If your a member, I've heard that some waive the fee. Then go to a nice restaurant. Many have banquet halls and party menus. Just keep an eye on the extra fee's (i.e. cake cutting fee, corkage fee)

Answer 9

Get decorations from a social gathering keep (which includes plates, napkins, flatware, and so on.) - $2 hundred For nutrients, you're lookin' at approximately $4 hundred - you're able to do exactly appetizers and such, finger ingredients, serve buffet style in case you have a pal marry you, he may be "ordained" by the conventional existence Church, on line, and then sign up with the county so then you definately are spending like $20 for a minister, or you're staring at $2 hundred gown $500 Tux is generally loose with the condo of the groomsmens tuxes. For song, relies upon on what you like? in case you want to hook your iPod as much as 3 large audio device and characteristic a pal DJ, $0 - in case you like a DJ or a string quartet, $one thousand, an area band might do it for $50... your recommendations are infinite here. so, no longer which includes song, you may probable do it for $one thousand-$1500! much less, in case you tried no longer basic sufficient...

Answer 10

well what is your budget ,,,I had a small wedding and when you make your own flowers and your own decorations it is cheeper ,,with my wedding i just bought something every time i went out shopping and to tell you the truth we only spent two thousand and we had 100 people and look around for cheep things like ask people who can do the music ask family and friends to help with the food ,,ect