Wedding on a low budget? ($9,000+) is it possible? help greatly appreciated!! ?

Question

Hi!!

I'm in the process of planning a wedding for October of 2009.

We'll be 18 and 19, and even though we're saving up bigtime right now, a cheap yet fabulous wedding would be most efficient.

Have any of you had a cheap wedding, and still managed to make it a good time for family and friends?

What are your tips?

Where are good places to shop? etc.

Thank you so much for your help!!!!!

Answer 1

It is totally possible to have a great wedding on a budget!! even under $10k!!

Tips:

Pick a sunday (or Friday night) instead of a saturday to get married. Rates are cheaper almost everywhere.

Negotiate!! If you don't feel comfortable negotiating, get a family member to play wedding planner and do it for you!

There are places to skimp. But Entertainment and photos aren't the place. Get a great DJ you love, and find a photographer who's a pro. Also, you can find reasonable photographers who will include digital photos on a CD so you can pick what prints you want and not get stuck with a big package.

Really want that wedding album? Try www.blurb.com! I've used them and they rock! Beautiful hardcover books you layout yourself for less than $50!

The dress: Try Fileens basement sale...AKA the running of the brides. Designer dresses for $150-$250...and david's bridal also has some great gowns for less.

Flowers: Pick things in season, and emphasize your bouquet. Have your bridesmaids carry something other than flowers, like parasols!

And finally, more "stuff" does not make a wedding look more expensive. Do simple details that are personal to you.

People really remember only a few things about the wedding:

Did they have fun dancing?

Was the food good?

Did the bride and groom look happy?

If you cover those, you're in the clear! don't get overwhelmed thinking you "need" those special linens or those chivari chairs. People won't remember them!!

Answer 2

I whispered a prayer for you as soon as I had read your full question. You're very young and we all want to see you succeed. Your language and spelling are much better than most kids your age these days, so I hope that means you're more mature than your years.

If you manage to raise $9,000 by wedding time, you should not spend all of it on the wedding, since lif is going to become much more expensive than usually expected after you marry. Maybe you should set a budget for $5,000 and save the rest for start-up expenses,

My suggestion is; have a regular church wedding, followed by a small, quiet reception attended only by the bridal party, (which can be small to medium sized) parents and grandparents and and best friend on each side. Try not to rent a big hall If the church is really nice it may have an area in which you can request to have the reception.

Negotiate shrewdly with the Photographer. Time is a major factor in  Photographers' charges. Depending on where you live you may be able to spend $1000 or much less if you can keep photo time down to 2 or 3 hours, which is possible if the wedding is not elaborate.

Arrange to get some wallet sized prints to give  to the relatives and friends who don't get invited. I think they'll understand if you explain to them long enough in advance your reason for a tiny reception. On your first anniversary you can invite all the people you didn't have at the wedding. Since many of the typical wedding expenses will be absent, having a larger number of people will be more affordable.

If you're able to use one detail of the above advice, I would have done my good deed. Best wishes.

Answer 3

Well, I plan to get married next year in my moms front yard. We will have the reception in my step dads garage. We are going to wal mart, kmart, or target to get decorations to put up in the yard. My fiance has cooks in his family and I have some in mine, so we dont have to cater. Little ideas like that. Look towards your family to see who will make your day more efficient.

Answer 4

it is defanitly possibly.  not sure how large your guest list is but you could have it in your back yard or a friends back yard.

there is a site online that you can order flowers from so you can make your bouquet yourself...(youtube has videos to show you how)\

just keep it simple...its always nicer.

Answer 5

What kinda of place are u getting married in!

You can do alot with 9,000 $ if use correctly!

You orange Daisy! Play off the fall theme and shop around!

Where do u live?

Answer 6

You can do an awful lot with $9,000.

Answer 7

I'm 19, my huz is 20. Our wedding is only costing us $7,000 and I am quite convinced it will look beautiful!!!!

This is how we saved money:

We bought invitations and matching envelopes from a paper store, then took them home and printed the words on them in the font and color that I wanted (so no guesswork). My dad has a special photo printer that can handle small paper. To have them printed from a printing company would have been $150. It only cost us $25 (cost of ink). The invitations were $35 for a box of 50 w/ envelopes. Then we hand addressed them (no calligrapher).

My dress was around $600, $25 veil (we got a 75% discount for buying it at the same time as the dress) and shoes were $40. For jewelery I'm wearing the necklace my fiance got me for our first valentines day, so I don't need to buy anything new (its gold with pearls).

We saved money on flowers by just ordering a bouquet, boutenieres and corsages. For centerpieces we bought some square vases for $2.49 from Ikea, got some tea lights and little candle holders, and then ordered the same flowers as my bouquet from the same florist seperately. They cost less because they aren't "bridal flowers". We are also going to the flower wholesale store the day before the wedding to see what kinds of flowers they have that we can put in some baskets for the ceremony area. My colors are peach and brown with burgundy, which is a common color of flower, so I'm sure we'll get some good picks. If not, white is fine.

If you do centerpieces, it is SO much cheaper to do them yourself with your own vases and then just order the flowers seperately (with no labor or assembly on behalf of the florist, so fewer costs)

My cake is around $250. The actual cake was $190, 3 tiers, and then we ordered flowers from a florist and took them to the baker ourselves, so it cost less because the florist didn't have to coordinate with the baker.

We got our rings at JC Penney Jeweler. Mine was $200, marked down from $899. We went on a sale day, with my associate card, and saved up coupons so we got around 75% discount. If you find a great sale on rings, buy them, because things might not be that great when the wedding comes around (as far as costs).

Part of our centerpieces are the guest favors: jelly beans in my wedding colors put in organza bags with little tags. Total cost: $60. (we got the bags from the dollar store).  

Answer 8

Do consignment and craigslist. A good consignment shop that you can go to is www.shellyleppertdesigns.com. You can find beautiful cheap new and used wedding gowns, bridesmaid dresses, and more.

Answer 9

Yes, it can easily be done as long as you aren't in NYC or California. Here are some tips:

1) A Theme wedding is memorable. Victorian, tropical, country, etc.

2) Buy flowers from a grocery store floral shop. They do a beautiful job and you will spend about 1/3 what it would cost going to a florist shop. Buy the corsages for Moms & Grandmas, boutinieres, bridal bouquet and bridesmaids bouquets. You don't need flowers for the pew and you don't need big flower arrangements in a church. No one notices, so save the money. Forget the silk flowers. They look cheap and cost more than you think.

3) It will depend how many people you invite as to how far that money will go for a reception. Remember that a meal will cost less than heavy appetizers. I know it doesn't sound right but it's true. A hotel figures 3 appetizers per person and the hotel will always come to the parents of the bride and want to order MORE and it will end up costing more than a meal.

4) No open bar. Ever. If you have money left over after paying for the meal or reception, purchase a keg or two of beer, 20 bottles of wine and when that is gone, then it becomes a CASH bar. Otherwise, you may be handed a bill for $7,500 for an open bar for the night. It is way too risky. You may have guests that request top shelf liquor and that will cost a fortune.

5) Buy the wedding cake from the bakery department at a grocery store. Most make lovely wedding cakes that are delicious and no one will even know the cake cost $250 instead of $950 or more! Buy a nice topper and it will look even more expensive. Remember plain is elegant. Not too much decorating on the cake and it will be even more beautiful.

6) Plan the wedding and reception over a holiday weekend if possible. You can save a fortune at a hotel then. Shop around at all the hotels and get pricing from each one. Price compare. You can always say to the one you really want that the Pioneer Hotel will give me the same meal for $18.50 per person or whatever.

7) Remember if you go to a hotel to get an "Open Block" at the hotel with a special rate for your overnight guests. Then you can put the note in the invitations. The guest makes their own reservations. Not you or you will be obligated to pay for the room whether it is used or not.

8) Hire a DJ service and not a live band

9) Remember when a hotel tells you ++ (plus plus) it means service charge which is usually around 20% plus tax. That will be added to everything.

10) If you want a memorable wedding, make sure you and your new husband go to every table at the reception or dance and thank each person for coming. Introduce him or he should introduce you. Give lots of hugs and kisses. There is nothing more annoying than to attend a wedding and the bride and groom ignore the guests. Dance together and you will be amazed at how the dance floor is rocking all night. Plan to have a wondeful time.

11) Be careful on the pictures. Get someone that is just starting to be a wedding photographer. They should take digital pics and you should pay them a flat fee for a set amount of hours. You should get all the photos and then you can upload them to Snapfish.

12) I think that may be all I know!

Answer 10

you have a lot of time to find things within your budget. Make a lot the items yourself. If anyone in your family, or a friend is good with music, ask them to dj the reception instead of a gift. Do the decorations yourself.

My husband and I got married for $150, but we have no family here...so we got married in a hot air balloon!

Use your imagination and creativity to make things happen, and seriously, enjoy the time you spend, dont stress over things!  

Answer 11

Keep it small.  We had under 80 guests. We each had 3 people in the wedding party (1 maid of honor, 2 bridesmaids, 1 best man, 2 groomsmen).  

We did not want a DJ b/c we thought the DJs are annoying.  We just burned playlists that we wanted and played them at the wedding.  It was SO much better than a DJ!  Shop around for low priced reception areas that will do the catering also.  We went to a botanical garden about an hour or so outside of the major city.  It was out of the way, but it was beautiful and less expensive than a wedding somewhere in town.

I bought all the linens and table settings myself off of ebay (this cost less than renting!) There are restaurant supply people on ebay selling stuff.  THen after we used it for the wedding, we sold it on ebay to someone else and made the money back!! (renting the place settings from the caterer would have be $10 per person....over $800 just for plates!)  Bought silverware, plates, napkins, etc... for 100 people all on ebay for under $500...then we sold it all for about $700 on ebay! We actually made money! It was crazy!

I used the same flowers that were in the church at the reception.  We just brought them over. I did not give out "party favors" to guests, as we tried to cut back on costs.  I did not have a champange toast for all guests.  I was also my own wedding planner and coordinator.  I did my own make-up for the wedding also.  Total: my wedding was under $5k.  It was so beautiful and I would not change a thing I did .

Also, go to bridal store...find dress that you like.  Look up same dress and style, etc online.  See if you can find it cheaper!  That is what I did and I saved over $1000!

We also had our wedding on a Wednesday.  Out of the norm of a Saturday wedding, but it cut the cost of the  reception site location rental in half!

Hope this helps!

Answer 12

here is a page full of wedding coupons to help you save some money. http://www.topweddingsites.com/coupons/i... Plus there are a bunch of money saving tips and suggestions for places to shop online. You can also navigate to the state or country where you live to see if there are any coupons for local service providers. 9K could be a lot of money or a little depending on where you live. Spend wisely.

Answer 13

email me girl i got all the goods on these things. my budget was 5,000 and i got it to 3500 with everything i wanted [e-mail]

Answer 14

You can do a lot with 9,000!!! I had my wedding for less than 2,500!