Looking for Cheap Wedding Ideas

Question

My fiance and I are getting married next July and we are trying to keep the wedding under $6000 with about 100 people. We are thinking of ways to cut that price even more like only having the photographer during the ceremony since he charges by the hour.... any other ideas? Also looking for ideas for little gifts that would be easy to make on my own!

Answer 1

My wedding ended up costing about $7000 for everything from the dress to the reception.

Check out Wal-Mart for your wedding cake, I know it sounds silly, but our wedding cake was great and only $138.00 for 150 people. You also only have to let them know 2 weeks before the wedding and all is taken care of.

For favors we waited til hobby lobby had a 1/2 price wedding day, and bought a bunch of little plastic party favor glass slippers. Then we ordered personalized m&m's that had our names and wedding date on them, and tied them in little circles of tulle, then placed them in the glass slippers, so cute, and relatively cheap.

For the reception, go with a buffet. It will be much cheaper and the guests will enjoy it!

See if you could have a friend who is decent with a camera take pictures/video tape the reception, so you wont feel like you have no memories from the reception.

Look into becoming a member of the church you are getting married at. If you are a member, they often discount the church rental fees, and sometimes even wave them.

I hope some of these ideas were somewhat helpful!

Answer 2

When you say gifts not sure if you mean wedding favors.  My wedding had a summer theme.  Cotton candy was the wedding favor.  I had a local Wal-Mart make 300 bags of rainbow colored cotton candy for $125.  I then put ribbon on all the bags myself.  People raved about this since it was so unique.  My mom also wrote a poem since we shared cotton candy on our first date.  Here it is....

When x*x and XXXX had their first date, they were both so excited they could not wait.  

Shared cotton candy and home they went.  A lifetime together soon to be spent.  

May this be a symbol of the life they begin and bring love and luck to all those within.

Our Name

The Date



We were also able to get a local barbecue person to cook beef on a spit (rotisserie).  This was much less than a caterer.  I paid a local restaurant for a large swan carved fruit dish with chocolate covered strawberries surrounding it.  

I think you can easily spend less than $6000.  I would check around for a photography school and maybe hire a student near graduation.  You may get a better price.

I went to a wedding recently that used vintage bottles to put meadow flowers in.  The bridesmaids also carried a bouquet of the meadow flowers and the bride as well.  These flowers were very inexpensive.  Daisies etc...  They had the wedding in an old barn that was part of an inn.  It was classic.  They had clear lights on all the old antique beams.  They bridesmaids wore a cream color dresses.

Answer 3

Have you booked your reception venue? If not you should check into your local city parks and recreations department. They have parks, halls, etc. that you can rent for a very good price.

If you rent a hall that allows you to bring in your own food then you can make the food or have your family make the food.

Another way to cut costs is to not serve a full meal. These days a lot of brides will do an appetizer only or a cake and punch reception because of the cost of serving a full meal.

For flowers you can go to your local grocery store. A lot of places, like Safeway, will do wedding bouquets - my friend got hers at Safeway for a great price...and it looked beautiful. You can also stick with less expensive flowers - carnations and gerbera daisies are beautiful and affordable.

For centerpieces try not to do floral arrangements. Those can get pricey. All you really need is something simple.

You can do something like this and get the supplies very cheap:

http://i.ivillage.com/HH/slideshows/Spri...

Floating candle bowls:

http://www.save-on-crafts.com/candlebowl...

Floating Candles:

http://www.save-on-crafts.com/whitefloat...

You can add floralytes at the bottom to give it a glow:

http://www.save-on-crafts.com/floralight...

Or you could go to the dollar store to find some supplies. They have lots of stuff.

You can skip the favors - most of the time guests leave them on the table anyway or end up throwing them away.

You can do cupcakes instead of a traditional wedding cakes. Or, just get a little cake for the two of you to cut, then have sheet cakes for your guests.

Keep your bridal party small - the more people you have in the wedding means more gifts, bouquets and boutionerre's.

Have a friend be your dj. Or hook up and IPod to some speakers and play music from there.

Make your own invitations - Michaels, Walmart and Target have some great invitation kits.

There are lots of things that you can do to keep your budget small. Hopefully this helped a little.

Good luck!  

Answer 4

Have a friend or family member take pictures with a digital camera, also place disposable cameras on reception tables for people to take pictures during the evening/day.  HIre a teenager fanily member to DJ.  Use a chain store bakery to make your cake.  Many flower shops have 5-10 dollar bouqets (for tables and church), plus you will get the flowers that are "in" seasson.  I gave away all the flowers at the end of the evening to the mothers and aunts.  

Best of luck

Answer 5

Check out the budget ideas at this question:

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;...

"Roxxn" and "Wedding Planner and B2B!" had some good comments.

Gifts for attendants?  Make scrapbooks or photo albums, including memories of happy times spent together.  Leave room to include a wedding photo, after the ceremony.

Favors for guests?  Bake cookies.  

Check out other budget tips here:

http://community.theknot.com/cs/ks/user/...

Wear a white bridesmaid's dress instead of a wedding gown, as this bride did:

http://community.theknot.com/cs/ks/user/...

See self-catering tips here:

http://lotsofinfo.tripod.com/weddinghelp...