Plan a wedding on a $10,000 budget

I don't know how much her wedding came to, but melbalalala has given herself the title 'The Self-Proclaimed Cheapest Bride'

Here's a link to her review:
http://www.liweddings.com/chat/topic-391350-1.html

I'm sure if you FM'ed her, she'd have suggestions for you ... she started a whole thread about saving money on a wedding.

Here's a link to that thread:
Official 'How to save money on your wedding' thread!

try milleridge inn. they have a smaller building that accomodates up to 110 people max and the price includes flowers for the tables and the outdoor ceremony.

if you do it during the off-peak season or on a thurs or sunday you'll get a better price.

good luck!

We're having our wedding on a $10K budget, although we have more people-85--and we're not including our honeymoon in that. Guess it would be $14-15K with honeymoon. Yeah, we're spending a bit on the honeymoon, but it's our only vacation this year, and, in fact, our first long vacation together ever, we've only been on 4 or 5 day trips before this.

How are we doing it? Well, no paid photographer, for one thing. We happen to have several friends who are professional-level photographers (one used to be a pro photographer before inheriting her dad's company) so they're giving us their services.

Also, no videographer. Because, well...we just don't care that much, and one thing that I really hate is occasions where you seem to spend more effort recording it for posterity than you spend actually on the occasion. We're going to have some people record the ceremony and reception, but we don't care to spend for a videographer.

No limos--we're getting married at the hall, so we don't need one to get us there. We may get a car to bring us home afterwards so that FH does't have to worry about drinking and driving on his wedding day, but we're still not sure what we're doing after the reception is over at 5pm, so we don't know about that.

Hall--we're getting married at Timber Point, which is both beautiful and reasonable. Since we're getting married on a Sunday afternoon, and we booked only six months in advance, we got an amazing rate. We're going to have more food than we know what to do with, and it's tasty, too. Cake is included, as are the centerpieces, although we're not using them, which brings us to...

Flowers--doing my own, mostly. I do not recommend this for most people, but I wanted simple flowers. We're only having roses. The entire thing, for five bouquets, ten centerpieces, and bunch more for extra arrangements is costing us less than $400, including FedEx. Then there will be about $50 for vases. We're going to have beautiful, simple, but abundant bouquets and centerpieces. Yes, it will be work, but considering the work a lot of us put into our DIY projects, it's not so bad. Also, we're spending about $120 for two rose halos for the flowergirl and youngest bridesmaid, and a corsage for my mom. I didn't want to try to put those together myself, I know they'd fall apart!

Gown--I shopped around a lot, and ended up paying $720 for a lovely Casablanca gown. Hasn't come in yet--next week!--but I don't think it will have much in alterations. Casablanca gowns come with bustles, which I think is great, I don't understand why they all don't, I ordered a hollow to hem, so it shouldn't need hemming, and the one I tried on for size fit, so I think I'll be OK.

All the other little things--I'm trying to keep costs down. I bought an Easter basket and decorated it for the flowergirl. I got my custom ringbearer pillow from an eBay seller for $11.99. I got votive holders at an amazing discount on eBay, and my serving set is vintage and also inexpensive. You can spend a LOT of money on these 'incidentals,' so you need to keep your eyes on them, and make decisions if you really want them or not. You probably don't need a runner, or tears of joy packs, or 'I DO' letters. Or you can borrow or make them. You just have to watch it!

I'm also going to sell a bunch of things on eBay or here after the wedding, like the votive holders, and the silly 'here comes the bride' banner I really wanted, and possibly some of the cake toppers (we got several.) I like to think that I'm more 'renting' those items than buying them. And I'm probably going to donate my gown and not even bother having it cleaned, which will save hundreds on the cleaning bill and can go on our taxes next year.

Good luck!

I was banking on having a $10,000 wedding but my planning has hit even three times that, I tried. Maybe we will hit the lotto. LOL
yeah right.

Ok so...I know nothing about LI except most of the brides here seem to have budgets far larger than mine because of the price of venues. BUT we are getting married in NJ and I can tell you that our budget was for 10,000 and we went over that, even after keeping our guest numbers down and doing ALOT of DIY.

We went to 15,000.

The main problem is you want an outdoor wedding, just like we did. The cheapest way generally to manage, is to have both at the same place so you don't have to do running around with limos and whatnot. We have NO limo service because I am getting ready at the hall in the bridal suite and reception is right after. Limos and RH alone will put you right beneath 10,000, so be careful.

Our wedding is on a Sunday morning so we got a $120+ place (those are sat prices) for $65 plus taxes and gratuties. As luck would have it, we also got some AWESOME free upgrades because we happened to be in the right place at the right time. Look at Sunday mornings, especially if you want an outdoor summer affair because what better time for photos then when the sun is out? And it can be as much as half of a saturday night. Friday nights are an option too BUT be warned, they book up as far as a year and a half in advance. When we went, and we went close to a year in advance, every single Friday in the spring and summer was GONE! SO we went for the Sunday and its working out fine.

We only reserved for 80 people and our price was $6,200.00 (I know some brides are secretive about prices but I don't think I can help you without listing them so I will. Might give you a better idea of what to expect and use as a starting point.)

My RH is PHENOMENAL inside, BUT the neighborhood is pure crap. Location is a major factor in price-nicer locations KNOW they can charge more and they will. RH also charge you a per peron price to use their place for the ceremony. Our charge was $4.00pp but the other place we loved charged $1,200 and required a minimum of 125 people. Our pictures would have been AWESOME there but we just had to sacrifice for price.

We did our own invites and they came up to a little les than 60.00 for 100 and they look pretty good if I do say so myself. People have asked us where we bought them. We bougth WIlton Invite sets (fluer de lis pattern) and printed em up at home, then hand glued little paper scrapbook flowers (gerber daises) onto them. They are not the fancy pocketfolds most girls here seem to like, but they do the job and are pretty. Honestly, we have never kept ONE invite we got. Our parents, his parents and our closets friends might keep an invite for memorabilia, but everyone else will dump them so we wantd to spend our bucks elsewhere.

We are making our own CP and thats turning out MUCH MUCH cheaper than going through a florist.

Our photographer is ACANDIDIMAGE.com. They were recommended by a girl on THEKNOT.com. Its fantastic. Our hotographer's work is awesome and the price was great. $1,800.00 for 8 hours of photography, unlimited photography, and all of our pics on CD so we can reprint them at our leisure through a cheaer place like shutterfly. The reason the package was so reasonable was they meet you at a STARBUCKs. Their coprorate office is based in Boston but they have regional mangers in all of the states they cover. You meet that regional manager and she's like your customer service rep-any issue you have with a photographer, corporate, etc, she/he handles for you. Keeps you out of the middle. At first I was leery but they have been sooo much more professional from day one, than the other traditional studios we visited and their work as nicer. We are not getting an album from them (making our own) but the albums were reasonably priced and GORGEOUS.

We cut out the videographer because we didnt need it -FH and I HATE seeing ourselves on tape and figured we'd never look at it again so why spend $1,000 dollars?

I won't keep blabbing on, but you can cut lots of corners and still get what you want. FM me if you need any help.

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Posted by MaureenM618
I also keep thinking that FH and I should just runaway and elope and then try to have a small budget reception when we return from our honeymoon to celebrate with friends and family.Thanks!!

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if I were doing this at twenty-five, I would have said, 'Wedding? What a waste of money! Let's elope and have a party when we get back.' But now I'm older and I realized it really does mean a lot to me that we'll be getting married in front of all our family and friends, that my parents will walk me down the aisle, that I'm going to wear a real wedding dress and that I'll have my nieces in bridesmaids outfits and my sister as MOH, and that we'll have a big party afterwards where everyone will celebrate. I would never spend $20-$30K or more for it--we have the money, but it's going toward a house, not for one day. But I'm really looking forward to this wedding, and I know I'm going to be glad we did it afterward.

LOL, I'm going to be 25 in June...go figure

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Posted by MaureenM618

LOL, I'm going to be 25 in June...go figure

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Oh, that's funny.

We did also think briefly about a destination wedding, but I quickly realized that a lot of my relatives wouldn't have the money to go to one, and my elderly relatives wouldn't be able to handle it either. And it really means something to me for my favorite Aunt Elaine to be there, and I know she'd be hurt if she couldn't. So no destination wedding for us.

Danford's on the Sound

We are having our reception at Danfords, but you can also have your ceremony here. You get a lot for your dollar, especially if you aren't picky about what time of year you want to get married at.

I know exactly how you feel. We had the same idea... In our case we couldn't even find a hall that would book for less than 125 people 3 months in advance.
You should seriously look at Smithtown landing. It is really nice and you can have your ceremony there. They are really great there.

Good luck!

look at the RH price threads and see which one will fit your budget...also def try off-peak and a friday or sunday wedding, and daytime would also help out alot.

Photography-maybe checking on craigslist for college students willing to do it.

Videography-rambling rose has very low prices, you can even get a package for about $800-900 its a la carte so you can pick what you want done, just get something basic...some people also choose not to have one

If you get married at the Rh then maybe you wont need limo's

Flowers-try the wholesale flower district, and try sticking with roses bc they're cheaper...When i went to get flowers for my e-party i saw the prices for roses and it was $15 for 2 dozen...then they also have a wholesale supplier in the area, and i bought 12 vases for $85 and this was for large square vases, you can even get smaller one for cheaper, also candles were extremely cheap it was $26 for 75 candles, you can also get rose petals there. You can also have Boks made for you at the wholesale flower district and they will also help with CP's if you need to...when i went there was a bride there ordering flowers and they have a wedding flower book and they were doing it for her or you can do it yourself.

Dress-try sample sales, or davids bridal and buy one for a few hundred dollars, some girls on this site can help you, ive seen girls who have bought their dress for $200-500.

Invitations-you can also make this a DIY project, go to Michael's, even staples has a great wedding selection and since you are also not inviting alot of people you can even spend just $50 on invitations

Dj-go with a basic package, some people have even said they paid about $900, or maybe you can even find it for less, or if you know somebody who is a dj this can help you.

hair and make up-if you know someone who does this and is willing to do it for free that is great...or shop around, try a local stylist...some people will charge less than $100 to do hair.

favors-theres alot of sites that sell favors for cheap, ive seen some of those coasters for around $1 and change. Or maybe something edible, go to a bakery and ask if you buy a certain amount how much they can sell it to you for...Try cupcakes or something and try getting it for around $1 each.

ELOPE!!!!!!!!!!!!, lolol just kidding

For a RH, why not at your house or a friends house, if they have a nice backyard, it can be decorated and just as nice as an RH

Def DIY projects for favors etc

You can buy some material and have your dress made, instead of buy it, but that may be more than buying a dress from a store, ????
YOu can look onto ebay for nice, inexpensive dresses

You can do it, anything is possible, you can have the wedding of your dreams with a 10k budget