How do you plan a wedding on a $3000 budget?

Question

How do you plan a wedding on a $3000 budget?

Answer 1

There are a lot of ways to do it in that budget, it just takes creativity. The major areas to consider are Reception (and food), Apparel, and Decorations. The major ways to keep the cost down in general are to cut the guest list.

For the reception, you can try halls (e.g. Knights of Columbus, Elks, Rec Centers, Church Halls, etc.) that will rent for cheap to nothing. If you know someone who is a member, you can usually get it for free. Or you can go with a relative's residence.

For food, either have family members or guests contribute to your wedding by bringing dishes (pot-luck style), or pay someone you know to cater it out of their own kitchen for a buffet style dinner. You could also go with a cocktail hour instead of serving dinner. Then it would only be hors d'oeurve style foods and beverages (alcohol is expensive, though, so you could do beer and wine or skip the alcohol all together).

For apparel, try a place like David's Bridal. You can get really nice dresses there for a hundred bucks. Tux rentals also are inexpensive, or you can go less formal with a suit and tie.

Have friends and family take pictures with disposable cameras and/or their own cameras. Develop the pictures as you have the funds to be able to do so.

For decorations, you can go with simple flowers. Roses for your own bouquet, but wildflowers for elsewhere. Try your grocery store florist for really inexpensive, but beautiful arrangements. (Mine cost about $300 for bridesmaids, boutonnieres, my bouquet, and table decorations.) Use your bouquets for the tables to save costs, too. Have vases ready and have your 'maids put their bouquets in them after the ceremony.

For music, an mp3 player or pre-burned CDs can be played in a stereo system.

I hope this was some help. Good luck! And just enjoy the day for what it is, a celebration of your and your fiance's love for each other with people you care about and who care about you!!

Answer 2

I am the queen of budget weddings! It can be done! Plan your wedding on a week day, that is the biggest discount you will get and every vendor will discount it. Ask for discounts! I know it sounds crazy but quite a few places will actually say yes. If your flowers aren't going to be extravagant, make the bouquet yourself. It is actually really easy and there are so many books out there that teach you how to do it. Go to a dress shop and ask if you can buy their floor model. Take it to a dry cleaner, you will never know the difference!

Hope this helps I have quite a few more ideas e-mail me if you would like to hear more!

Congratulations!

Answer 3

Buy your wedding dress second handed.

Have each guest bring a dish to the reception.

Answer 4

that's about what i spent on my wedding 5 months ago.

my husband's uncle is a pastor so we used his church ;

if you have a friend who has a nice field, backyard, or

some type of building, ask to borrow it for the day.

i only spent about $400 on my dress (a little more after

alterations and such). i did my own hair and makeup.

i had a small wedding party and only about 75 guests.

my family and friends made the food for the reception,

and i put together the reception table decor myself.

i didn't have to rent tables or chairs because they had

them in the church. i hired a small, local photographer

who did an amazing job on our wedding pictures. my

flowers were a little pricey (calla lilies), but you could

find cheaper. my sister and i made the wedding favors.

i also got a small, local bakery to make my wedding

cake, which turned out amazing. use your friends and

family as much as possible (for cooking, decor, music,

etc.). don't worry, it can be done!! good luck :)

check out www.theknot.com

they have lots of resources :)

Answer 5

Have it at a park and have family make food and play your own music instead of hiring a DJ.Get a family member to take the pics and have someone make the cake.

Answer 6

Hi and congratulations:

1. Keep things as simple as you can.

2. Have a small wedding party - a maid of honor and best man only.  If you feel you need a flower girl and ring bearer - OK...but keep it to that.

3. Have a small guest list.

4. If you can't have a small guest list, then possibly do a cake, punch and coffee reception.

5. Enlist HELP! If someone offers to make the cake, let them.

If someone knows how to arrange flowers....let them.

6. Print your own invitations using "boxed sets" that you can buy at Target and other discount or craft stores.

7. Do everything simply.......a bowl with floating candles for centerpieces is one idea.

8. Another idea for simplicity is to have the bride carry just a few nicely arranged flowers - tied with a nice satin ribbon. The same for the bridesmaids....have them carry 1 or 2 flowers instead of a big huge bouquet....you can save tons by doing that.

9. Don't waste money on a limo OR favors.

10. Go "outside the box" when it comes to a reception venue. Banquet halls and hotels can be expensive. Look around at other options....VFW halls, church halls. Because the reception is the biggest chunk of a wedding budget, this could be a substantial savings.

11.  Photographer:  See if you can get a photographer for only a few hours.  If you live near a college or university, sometimes you can get photography students who are willing to do this.  Obviously, you will pay them, but their cost will be substantially cheaper than a professional.

Good luck!

Answer 7

Have a friend take pictures. Use silk flowers or flowers from the grocery store. Better yet, grow your own. Don't buy a typical wedding dress. Some prom dresses look just as good. I had a friend find a dress for $12 on the clearance rack at Dillard's (lucky b) and it was gorgeous. If you must serve alcohol, get a keg. As said above, use your backyard or someone else's. You could always get married in a city park. Normally they only charge a small fee. Rent a civic center, VA, Elk, or KC hall. Call around and compare officiant prices. Get family and friends together and make food yourselves or order from a grocery store. Also, grocery stores are great places to get a wedding cake from. I've also heard of potluck wedding receptions. Just ask each guest to bring a dish. You could go with a certain theme (mexican, italian, etc). Use a cd player for music or ipod.

Answer 8

helped my friend plan a small surprise garden party last year on April Fools Day. Her budget was $1,000. This were the prices/expenses

Venue: In the backyard of her rented house (Free)

Reception: Went to a local party event place and rented everything she wanted for $200.00. ($200.00). (A friend of mine used her employee discount).

Photographer: Hired the church photographer for a small fee ($100.00).

Officiant: Their pastor married them (free).

Food: A light brunch with grilled honey chicken, grilled salmon, asparagus, salad, croissant rolls, pasta salad, fruit salad, fruit punch, bottled water and cake for dessert. ( I used my membership at costco to get alot of this at cost.. she went with me though and she prepared the food). ($200.00)

Music: Irish/Celtic singers and bands played through out the ceremony and reception. (Free)

Flowers and Decor: The flowers she got from the beautiful flower garden she kept. (Free)

Attire: They both decided to get really frugal for this part. They went to Ross Dress 4 Less, and spent less then $50.00 for their outfits. She bought a lovely strapless blue dress for $15.00 and matching heels for $5.00. She already had the jewelry. He bought a pair of black slacks, belt, and matching blue shirt for $27.00. He had black shoes. I love that store. ($50.00)

Hair, make up and nails: I am a licensed hairstylist, and I did this for free. (As my gift to them)

Rings: Since I worked at J.C. Penney, I used my employee discount to get them a really nice wedding rings for $170.00. ($170.00)

Invitations: She is a creative sort of gal. She made some lovely invitations out of recycled paper, that were absolutely lovely. I'm not sure how much she spent on the materials, but they were breath taking. Im going to guesstimate she spent no more then say $25.00.

($25.00)

Marriage License: $25.00 (I think).

Honeymoon: 3 days at a B&B in NC. ($175.00).

Came to about $980.00.  

Answer 9

Find someone with a beautiful back yard and spend wisely!

Congrats on you wedding!  

Answer 10

It can be done and still be amazing :)

http://www.myweddingfavors.com/unique-fa... - check out this site for some amazing unique party favors that are so affordable. Second hand dress will save you A LOT of money or buy it from a friend that has been married or you can even rent one. As for center pieces, don't use flowers because they are too pricey and very common anyways. My husband and I bought oval glass bowls from Walmart and filled them with red sand and had tea light candles which were perfect for them the sun went down and it looked really romantic. You can also make the bouquets yourself ...I did red roses and then used sewing pins with pearls on the end and stuck them in the center of the rose so you could just see the pearls in the center and it looked beautiful :) As for location, you save safe by doing an outdoor location in a park or even by a lake ...we did it in a park and since we saved money we had a live cello, violin and piano play as we were walking down the asile. If you really want to be unique you can also show up on a fire struck rather than in a limo and usually they just ask for you to make a donation so you could donate less than what a limo would cost PLUS it's going to a good cause. As for drinks ...BYO let them bring there own and it saves you alot. Food is pricey too so you could even have a huge BBQ and then lots of little things for them to pick at ..or you could make it a late evening wedding and just have reception with finger foods and cake for a little celebration!! CONGRATS!! and good luck!!!

Answer 11

Gosh, weddings are such a waste. I'd probably cancel it and just send a "we got married card" Take the money, since you sound like you need it, and buy some furniture for the home, or pay the car insurance for a year........something constructive

Answer 12

Have a weddingmoon.  Just type that into a search engine, and watch your dreams come true!  Also check out these websites-  http://www.hockinghillsweddingmoons.com.   Or http://www.ashcave.com/hocking_hills_cha...

There's much to much to explain, but they have amazingly affordable packages, the first can include up to 12 guests, the second up to 200!  Lodging's not included in the first, but that's pretty affordable too!  And they have cabins, not a hotel, and 1 is on 80 acres!  How's that for a  honeymoon!

Answer 13

You come to Vegas and get married.

I am not talking abou the cheesy Elvis wedding at a chapel. All hotels have packages in all price ranges that include everything. They include usually your flowers, a small cake, champagne, photos ect to dinner and what not for a certain number of people.  

Answer 14

  Some ideas:  Only have 2 attendants.  This will cut down on the cost of flowers.  Use flowers that are in season.  Keep them simple.  or use candles on the tables instead.  Keep your guest list small.  Get married on a Sunday.  Have a cocktail or dessert reception instead of a sit down dinner.  Have a small cake to cut and larger sheet cakes in the back to serve.  Make your own favors.  Find a friend who is willing to photograph the wedding as a gift.  Maybe you can get a friend to DJ for you.  Best of luck to you.

Answer 15

For the place, use somone's backyard/house (house for reception, see? You don't even have to drive somewhere else for the reception, saves gas too!). IT'S FREE! Preferable a large one.

The dress doesn't have to be a bought from some designer. You can get a fabulous, white gown (it doesn't even have to have a cage) for cheaps. And you can pretty much just accesorize with earrings and of course, the ring!

Tell guests to bring a large dish. (Free again! In a way...)

You can simply buy lawn chairs and decorate with ribbons on the end.

Decorate with flowers as well. And get a minister from your church or someone else's.

Vwala!! Low budget wedding. I wish you the best of luck on your wonderful day.

Just Keepin it reall! :D

Answer 16

get married on a beach at an all inclusive resort. check out www.cheapcaribbean.com

We had a small budget and thought we could plan under our amount, but it ended up growning and growing and we are dishing out A LOT more money than we ever anticipated. ;(

If we could do it over again, we would have gotten married on a beach at an all inclusive resort. its not worth the debt. and you can have a fabulous wedding, beautiful pics and great honeymoon all included. :)

Answer 17

Two BIG items:  alcohol and nighttime.

You can cut the cost of the meal down by close to half if you serve lunch instead of dinner.

If you eliminate alcohol (with the exception of champagne for toasting) you cut the cost by potentially several thousand dollars.

Answer 18

I'm having a wedding on a $2500 budget (okay I may end up over a couple of hundred) with about 125 guests. I actually way over spent on my dress and veil ($1000) so I'm having to skimp on other parts. I'm having it in a church so I only have to make a small donation. They actually have a reception area so that saves me from renting another venue for the reception. Plus its in a church so no alcohol. Also, instead of having the reception catered. All of our family is pitching in to smoke a few briskets and make sides. If you have a hobby lobby anywhere around they have tons of wedding stuff and if you keep an eye out you can save 50% sometimes. I saved 40% on my invitations because I ordered them from the same store that I got my dress. The church has some amazing flowers that go with our color scheme so I'll be putting those to use and for my bridesmaids bouquets I'm only doing 3 roses with babies breath and greenery tied with a ribbon and they will only be about $25 a piece. Just keep an eye and don't skimp on the stuff that's important to you.

Edit - I also found a photographer that just got out of college and she is only charging me $500 to do the ceremony, group pics, and family pics. Instead of spending $1250 on the reception and everything. I'm having her do the important stuff and a friend who does photography on the side to do the reception, bridal party getting ready, candid shots, etc.

Answer 19

you can have your ceremony and reception at someone's backyard, OR at a nice public beach. If you plan to have a reception at the beach or the park, you will have to get permits from the city and that will cost money, so try to avoid that, but if you have your ceremony there, it will NOT cost money.

Hire a NEWBIE photographer & Videographer. They may not have the worlds best experience, but since they're starting out, they like to charge under other vendors in your area so they can stand out and get new clients. Plus you can bargain with them for a lower rate.

Also, try to limit the decorations and the cake. Just remember, it's your special day and you shouldn't care what the decorations look like or the cake. You will never eat it again, but you'll have the memory of you marrying your spouse. I hope this information helps! Good luck!