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Is anyone having their wedding on a small budget?

jantany26 Posted:

Is anyone having their wedding on a small budget?

like less than 10000.
If so share your vendors or any tips.
FranksWife82105 Posted:

Re: Is anyone having their wedding on a small budget?

I am using Sunset Harbour...They are only $55 pp...The food is excellent...In total the hall is only $6000.00

Good luck!
frosty Posted:

Re: Is anyone having their wedding on a small budget?

I am. Some things I've done to cut costs:

Having a breakfast brunch at the Snapper Inn on a Sunday afternoon.

FH's band is playing the reception (no cost!).

My dress is $350. No veil or tiara.

Silk flowers instead of real.

No video. Friend is doing the photography.

Made my own invitations.

Bought lots of accessories (toasting glasses, shoes, paper, knife set) during sales or with coupons.

It can be done, but you need to be very creative and look for alternate places for deals.
tjs Posted:

Re: Is anyone having their wedding on a small budget?

totally agree we are on a very TIGHT budget

jantany26 Posted:

Re: Is anyone having their wedding on a small budget?

glad to hear, I know it can be done.
LilyOfValley Posted:

Re: Is anyone having their wedding on a small budget?

It totally can be done. I found lots of stuff on ebay, vendors on craigslist. Make sure you do your research..it is possible!

SomethingBlu Posted:

Re: Is anyone having their wedding on a small budget?

My sister did, her wedding was beautiful and well under $5K, she also planned in less than a month...this is what she did:

-Reception and ceremony was held at a restaurant
-Officiant was a pastor at a church, not someone who charges for weddings (like a vendor who's an officiant) so his fee was $0. Instead, he asked that a donation be made to his church (the way it should be!).
-No limos, everyone took their car or a cab
-Daytime on a Sunday (when the restaurant is not making money anyway) from 12pm-5pm
-Buffet instead of sit-down
-Open bar for 3 hours, cash bar after that (I know cash bars are a no-no in NY, but she saved a lot on liquor)
-DJ was the restaurant's own (it was a Spanish restaurant), so it was very cheap, like $500
-Flowers were done by a relative (same one who did mine) and she paid cost (under $500 for gorgeous peach, lavander, pink and white roses); but in all honesty, arrangements are very easy to make. Michael's sells how-to books with pictures that are easy to follow. Roses can be bought online (Online Wholesale Flowers gets raves) or wholesale at the flower market and you can do them yourself. Vases and supplies are cheap at craft stores.
-Cake was brought in from outside and made by my aunt (who did the flowers). It was yummy, fondant and fresh strawberries with fresh roses...and it was free! But she's really cheap anyway.
-No Bridal Party. Their daughter was the FG and my mom made the dress.
-My mom made the bride's dress also (and just like with me and my brother's wife, the dress was finished hours before the wedding )
-Invitations were ordered online from Precious Collection
-Favors were jordan almonds in tulle...cheap, easy, everyone got something
-Make-up was done by me and our cousin
-Hair was done by a salon, she went to them
-Wedding bands were purchased at the Diamond District, saving thousands since that's as wholesale as you can get (same jeweler where DH bought my e-ring)
-No videographer (she regrets that though)
-Photographer was a co-worker from her paper (she was a reporter for el Diario/La Prensa)...so it was free (but she regrets that too because he took photojournalistic pics at weird angles...)


Hope that helps you girlie! Keep in mind this was 7 years ago...but still!
DAVALJO2 Posted:

Re: Is anyone having their wedding on a small budget?

we r on a very tight budget. My hall iss $45 per person and i'm trying to make my own centerpieces and BM b-ks. i found lots of stuff on ebay. candlelabras for the centerpieces, and some other stuff. It can be done.
Good Luck.
Sophie&Pierre Posted:

Re: Is anyone having their wedding on a small budget?

We are trying to buy a house AND pay for a wedding so any way to cut costs helps!

I am trying to do as much on my own as possible! I think the key is to make your wedding as 'personal' as possible and you will have a beautiful day no matter how much you spend!

One extra added touch I am doing is creating a power point presentation of pictures of my FH and I growing up and setting it to music. This will be played during dinner and it won't cost me a thing!
dita531 Posted:

Re: Is anyone having their wedding on a small budget?

I highly reccomend NOT cutting the video! There are so many things we missed that day and we have it all on video. You should at least have someone tape if for you.

ShortBride Posted:

Re: Is anyone having their wedding on a small budget?

We are on a *very* tight budget. We are having those near and dear to us (around 75 people). And we are having it at the manor east, at a reasonable rate per person for lots of food. We are going to have a photographer, videographer, and DJ, but no limos, and we are going to make the invitations ourselves.

peanutmich Posted:

Re: Is anyone having their wedding on a small budget?

wheres manor east?

ShortBride Posted:

Re: Is anyone having their wedding on a small budget?

Manor East is in Massapequa, in Nassau County. They have a website www.manoreast.com (I think
cloddy Posted:

Re: Is anyone having their wedding on a small budget?

We were able to do it for less than $10k. No limos, no video. We did the invites, place cards, centerpieces, and favors ourselves. The hall was a spectacularly good deal. Buffet was cheaper than sit down, although both were good prices. It can definitely be done. We even had a Saturday in June. For flowers I used a local florist, instead of a 'wedding florist' saved money and if you're on a budget you should definitely call FM entertainment. They were fantastic and the lowest priced DJ I found. Generally, church weddings are cheaper than hall weddings so you can save there too!

d&d05 Posted:

Re: Is anyone having their wedding on a small budget?

Posted by MUSTANGCHICK831

I am using Sunset Harbour...They are only $55 pp...The food is excellent...In total the hall is only $6000.00

Good luck!


I agree with Sunset Harbour! They have all different packages and some are VERY affordable! Awesome food and great service!!!!

I paid more than that, but I got the top package plus a couple additions.
Mrs. dleeny Posted:

Re: Is anyone having their wedding on a small budget?

definitely tight budget here!

one piece of advice I think everyone will agree with - do NOT cheap out with an amateur photographer. that is the one thing you will have to remember your wedding day.

IMO, spend the money on a good photographer

ETA: my co-worker had a very budget wedding and even though she's been married for 8 yrs, she said she will always regret not hiring someone good. she had someone take pics that was going to school for photography.

kaklesmay Posted:

Re: Is anyone having their wedding on a small budget?

Can you believe we think of $10,000 as a small budget wedding here??



SomethingBlu Posted:

Re: Is anyone having their wedding on a small budget?

Posted by dleeny

definitely tight budget here!

one piece of advice I think everyone will agree with - do NOT cheap out with an amateur photographer. that is the one thing you will have to remember your wedding day.

IMO, spend the money on a good photographer

ETA: my co-worker had a very budget wedding and even though she's been married for 8 yrs, she said she will always regret not hiring someone good. she had someone take pics that was going to school for photography.



Ditto! That's what my sister says...photo and video were her biggest regrets.
cloddy Posted:

Re: Is anyone having their wedding on a small budget?

Posted by kaklesmay

Can you believe we think of $10,000 as a small budget wedding here??





Good point. Obviously you can be married in a church or at city hall or in a park or garden and do it much cheaper, but you'd be hard pressed to be able to plan a four or five hour open bar party for much less than that. Believe me I tried. You really can't do it for less than $5k as insane as that sounds
ML110 Posted:

Re: Is anyone having their wedding on a small budget?

ours was a little under 15,000.... which is pretty good.... some things we did...

- shopped around and found a caterer that included cake, DJ, centerpeices in their package with a buffet dinner... $65 per person
- mom made my dress and the girls dresses (although we spent a lot on nice material for mine... i bought the material for the girls dresses at joanns with a 50% off coupon)
- bought all my accessories ( flower girl basket, guest book, cake server, etc) at michaels/ AC moore with their 40% off coupons... start shopping now and get one item a week.... these are things no one really notices, so no need to spend a ton on them)
- got my veil on e-bay for about $30, and no fancy bridal shoes- just white dress shoes from famous footwear for like $20 ( no one sees the shoes anyway)
- borrowed a crinoline slip from a coworker who got married recently, saved me probably $150-$200
- used daisys in the girls bo-ks, which are like the cheapest flower
- didn't spend a lot on favors... did the lance armstong bracelets, which were like $1 each
- had a friends dad with a great digital video camera do the video for us, instead of hring a videographer ( he came to the rehearsal, too to figure out where he could get the best angles and stuff)
- had a friend do my makeup for me
- ordered invites online for about $200 for 100 invitations, reception cards AND response cards
-didn't get carried away with the gifts for the weding party... i know some girls on here spend like $150-$200 on each person in the bridal party, we spent about $50

those are some ideas hope i helped! it really can be done... just takes a little creativity and shopping around

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