Wedding on a Budget?

Question

We are wanting to get married, and have a traditional wedding. The problem is, we dont have much money. Does anyone have any ideas on what to do? We are thinking it will only be about 100 people.

So far I figured I would cook all the food, and try to have the reception at our house.

Answer 1

Don't underestimate the time and extras involved in the "do-it-yourself" plan.  You will need help.  I did the same thing as you are thinking, and it nearly bombed until my Mom hired two friends to come and save the day.  

My husband and I just photographed a "do it yourself" wedding.  It was cute, but boy did the rest of us have to pitch in.  

Even if you do most of the work yourself, you will need 2-3 people to help you on the day before and the day of the wedding.  On your wedding day, you are busy.   You are the star.  Everyone wants to talk to you, take your picture, Aunt Agnes wants to visit a minute and kiss your cheek.  You need to be: 1.  not exhausted, and 2. not scooping baked beans into a dish.  The key to pulling it off would be to have people other than yourself involved and "in the know" about what will be happening and where things are.  If you make the bouquets yourself, where will you put them?  Tell somebody so you don't have to put the photographer and your entire wedding party on hold while you go dig in the fridge.  And when you take the bouquets out of the fridge, they will be dripping because you stored them in a pitcher of water.  You need someone to go and fetch a towel.  Get the picture?      

The people who can help you and do a good job are the ladies who are your Mom's age.  They have hosted parties for years and can anticipate what needs to be done.  They don't get flustered, and they can handle the crowd.  I bet there are several people you know from your church, your parent's friends, etc. who would be honored to help you on your big day.

Answer 2

Sounds yummy.  Here are some self-catering tips:

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

Budget tips here:

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

DIY tips here:

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

Inexpensive silk flowers here:

http://www.thebridesbouquet.com/?gclid=C...

Hope this helps!

Answer 3

Go to www.shellyleppertdesigns.com. They are an on line formal consignment and wedding shop that has wedding gowns, boys tuxes, flower girl dresses, and just about everything else you need for a wedding, and they do it cheap.

Answer 4

Have you cooked for very large gatherings in the past? It's a lot more work than you realize and you DO need other family members to take care of the food during the wedding day because you don't have the time.  However, that said, you can precook food that only needs reheating later and easily have it at home.   Or get vegetable and fruit plates, meat plates and presliced and buttered rolls/bread for people to make sandwiches.  My neighbors did that and included chili (2 kinds, one hardly spicy at all, and one spicier) for something hot.

Answer 5

Hi,

I got my dress on ioffer from a seller called whiteclessings or something similar. In one month they shipped me a copy of this dress, modified with long sleeves, and a long veil and the crinoline (slip or puffy underskirt) for under 200$ shipping included... new this is almost 6k dress...

The food you can do yourself and also maybe have people participate.  I went to a wedding recently in a natural park with there is like a covering and picnic table under but very open, during flashfloods and we were dry! they put solid table cloth colors on seating part (there are special tie down cheap in plastic ) , same on table, it was nicely decorated, simple candles on table and food was set up on another table with warmers plugged in or i think maybe gas candle-type heaters were used. You could even rent a huge red carpet to put under or buy one on eBay they have for under 100$, you could resell it after.

shoes i found zappos pricey, I would say check walmart. fr accessories check eBay or ioffer.com.

For the cake you can either go with one big cake or a nice special wedding cake and 1 or 2 other fancy cakes near it for other flavors. community centers and even churches sometimes have a reception area so if you're doing a church/ temple wedding there might be a reception available.

Invitations look online there are kits and Kinkos does printing.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/28461808@N0...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/28461808@N0...

Answer 6

Those are great ways!  You can also have as much DIY things as possible.  Make your own favors and decorations.  Do your own flower arrangements.  Ask friends or family who have talents in areas such as cooking, photography, decorating and so on if they would be willing to help you.  Even if they charge, (which I would hope they wouldn't) it should be much cheaper that way.  Find a place for the ceremony that is cheap but nice, or have that done at your house too.  Shop around before making final decisions, or if you buy something, make sure to keep the receipt in case you find what  you already have or something you like better that's cheaper else where.

Unless you want a ton of flowers, I would suggest doing a minimum amount.  Most wedding I have been to, I barely notice them.  A friend of mine found a field filled with the kinds of flowers she wanted (summer time) and asked the owner if she could pick from there.  He let her take as much as she needed for just $25.

Invitations, thank you notes, save the date cards, etc can be done yourself.  Takes time, but saves a ton of money.  I found a box of 100 each of save the date cards, invites, RSVP cards, envelopes and thank you notes for $25 and they are beautiful.  

Center pieces can be done yourself or you can forgo that aspect.  Along with many other things.  This is your wedding and as long as your partner and you agree on what you want to do, you shouldn't worry about what others think.  Just do what you love and what you can afford.

BTW, if you haven't checked out offbeatbride.com you should.  There are some really crafty ideas there that are reasonable and unique.

Good luck and congrats!

Answer 7

My husband and I did a wedding on a budget.  We had it outside of a plantation house, which cost us practically nothing.  And they let us have the reception on this huge porch and foyer inside the house.  My wedding dress was on the discount rack, my veil was on the clearance rack.  My mom cooked everything and did my flowers.  My brother recorded it on video. My cousins played music. And we did hire a professional photographer, but that was the only expense we really made. Good luck.

Answer 8

My wedding is also on a tight budget, and here are my suggestions.  Utilize your (and your family's) contacts.  Do you know any photographers, florists, bakers, etc?  They might be able to give you a discount, or even do it for free.  Also, check out Michael's craft store and Joanne's craft store.  You can find decorations, invitation kits (my invites are SO cute!!), cake cutters, guest books, pretty much anything wedding for a much better price than most other places.  For centerpieces/decorations, you can save a lot of money coming up with some type of decoration on your own, rather than using flowers.  I am only using flowers for the bouquets and boutiniers, and the cost isn't bad that way.  My mom made my veil for $8, identical to a veil we found for $120.    Someone else suggested looking at offbeatbride.com, and I agree.  That's a great website with a lot of great ideas.  Oh, and you said something about renting tablescloths.  I could have rented tablecloths for $10 each, but instead, I went to Ross Dress For Less and bought tablecloths for $6 each.  They are mismatched, but coordinating.  Good luck!

Answer 9

By having the reception at your house will save you alot of money.

By you cooking the food, do you mean you yourself or your family?? If you yourself are thinking of doing the food, don't, you are going to be preoccupied with other things. If you family is doing it that should work out. Just keep it simple.

You can do your invites yourself. Micheals, Walmart, Hobby Lobby and Target all have wedding invitation kits that you can print using your printer at home. I got 150 invites for 60 dollars!!! That is very cheap and they look great.

Check out martha stewerts wedding website, she has many great videos on how to make your own bouquets.

Keep your decorations simple

Edit:  I just read your add-on about the pasta. That sounds very yummy and easy to do for alot of people. Just make sure you have lots of helpers. While, I am sure you would have no problem whipping up food for 100 peeps, as I stated earlier you'll be very busy on your wedding day with other things.

Answer 10

Hi and congratulations!

Weddings on a budget.....I just love these questions!!  The reason is because you CAN have a beautiful wedding on a budget.

I see a couple of problems with what you have suggested.  Is your house big enough to host 100 people?  What about parking?  How many bathrooms do you have?  For 100 people, you will want 3-4 bathrooms!  I had 50 people at my house for my son's rehearsal dinner with 2 bathrooms and they were busy (the bathrooms!)  Again, parking may be an issue also.

Cooking the food.  That is a great idea if you love to do that.  However, you will need to have others set out the food and keep it stocked.  Obviously, as the bride, you don't want to be doing that.

You don't say WHERE you want to get married.  Would that be at your house also?  If so, and you want to do the reception there, I would try to cut it down to about 60 people.  If you are getting married at a church, most churches also have fellowship halls that you can use.  

If you want to do the home wedding and reception, have you thought about having a simple "finger food" type of reception with a variety of desserts also?  That may be easier to set out.

There are so many budget ideas:

~ Buy a dress from David's Bridal when they have their $99 sale.

~ Get a "boxed set" of invitations from places like Michaels, Hobby Lobby, Target, Walmart.  There are many styles and choices.  A box of 50 sells for $25-$30.  You bring them home and print them off!

~ Go to a Dollar Tree or Dollar General store for miscellaneous items (like a guest book, ring bearer pillow, etc.)

~ Flowers and cake:  check out a large grocery store that has a floral shop and a bakery.  If you live by a Costco, Publix or Walmart....there cakes are really good!

~ Don't feel that you need to feed all of your guests.  As I said above, have a "finger food" reception.  OR.....simply serve cake, punch and coffee!  That is perfectly acceptable.

~ Don't have a large wedding party.  This saves on "bridesmaid stress" and the costs of attendant's gifts and the rehearsal dinner.

~ If anyone offers to help.....let them!  Does anyone know how to arrange flowers?  Great! Let them!  Buy wholesale flowers and let the person do the arranging.  Does someone know how to bake great cakes?  Ask them to make the wedding cake!  Can someone sew?  Maybe ask them to make your veil (if you are having one.)

There are so many low cost alternatives to spending thousands of dollars on a wedding.  The most important thing is to have family and friends there to witness the event.  

Good luck and I hope this helps!

Answer 11

My sister is getting married on a budget.  We-the family are taking care of the reception.  

When I married almost 18 years ago, we spent way less than $200...the ladies of the church did my reception, we paid the preacher, organist, and a Photographer, got the marraige liscense, and bought my dress out of the JCPenney Overstock catalogue and his suit off of the rack at JCP.  Our biggest expense was the photographer.

It can be done.