Our budget is only $2,000 so I have cut corners in every which way possible.

Instead of going to a traditional bakery for our cake we are going to use a grocery store bakery. That dropped the price from $328 to roughly $136 to serve 50 people. Still calling around to see if we can drop that price even more and still have a yummy wedding cake. (Yes, they do wedding cakes!)

Also instead of doing a plated dinner, we are ordering sub sandwiches to munch on. Looking at caterer's, its about $10 a head = $400 for our 40 guests vs. $135 for subs for 40 people. Huge savings there.

We opted for an iPod to play the music instead of a DJ, and our guests can request songs in our RSVP's.

Flowers (other than groom & bride provided in our ceremony package) are DIY, bought from Michaels when they were running a 50% off sale. Favors will also be DIY... still searching for a good sale on that.

Wow you're doing awesome with such a small budget! That's great!


My bridesmaid and her mother do flowers so they're doing our flowers for us. I'm planning to buy a wedding dress on sale to save costs there, and we may be cutting our guest list ...a lot. We were going to do 150 people but I'm starting to think we should do smaller than that, maybe around 100. We're doing cupcakes instead of a cake because of the cake cutting fees, and we'll only offer beer and wine to save costs on alcohol. Small things but hopefully they'll make a big difference. I even thought about having it in my parents backyard to save on the venue!

I AM SOO HAPPY TO SEE SOMEONE ELSE WITH A SMALL BUDGET!
I seriously thought I was alone here w/my $3000 budget.

So, there's a lot I can contribute -

Cake -- will get mine from a local grocery store vs a bakery.
I like the cupcake idea... may consider that!

Guest list -- 40 people invited, anticipating 27-32 to show

Dress -- got brand new from Goodwill for $3.50 (I am not kidding! - It's a Davids Bridal dress)

Shoes - got brand new from Goodwill for $2.00 (Again, I am not kidding - shoes had original packaging)

No tux for Groom - he's getting a suit (this will be the suit he owns for the next 10-15 years)
I got his tie from Walmart. He already has black shoes.

DIY reception favors -- purchased pearl beads and heart charms - made Christmas tree ornaments

Music -- using a mix CD or IPOD for background music for the reception

Reception -- choose a resturant for a sit down meal. Meal choices I selected are in the $20-$21 range

Church - I belong there so there is no fee for the building use.

Invitations - got from Michaels' (clearance) and will print them out myself. Paid $9.98 for a kit that makes 40 invites. Purchased 2 kits just in case of mistakes.

Postage -- Most will get a hand deliver invitation vs mailing -- this saves on postage.

Flowers - Ordered small arrangements of seasonal flower.
Plan to use smaller flowers from the church altar display as reception centerpieces.

Photographer - contracted a local photographer I knew who is establishing his business. He's doing the wedding ceremony and a few portraits afterwards. Hired him for 2 hours. And he's providing us a CD (and we'll print the pics we want)

Bubbles - co-worker donated and I purchased some.

NO open bar -- we are ordering a few bottles of "sparkling wine" for the toasts. Softdrinks will be served at dinner.

No limo -- using my car -- it's a hot rod and the MOH got a dress to match my car color (Purple!)

MOH - got her $40 dress from Burlington Coat Factory - told her get whatever dress she wanted in whatever color.

No big rehearsal dinner -- I will probably have a few snacks at my house.

Rings -- got his at a New Age/Metaphysical shop for $19.99. He picked it out - he's happy.
My engagement ring isn't a diamond -- amtheyst heart and my wedding ring is considered an "enchancer" ring. Put the engagement and wedding ring together - it's a very lovely setting. I can wear the rings seperate and looks lovely as well.

Again, thank you for posting you're working with a small budget.
It makes me and probably others feel better.

My viewpoint is -- no one is going to say afterwards -- ya know Barb & Mike's wedding wasn't a beautiful ceremony because her dress was from Goodwill. Or how horrible Barb isn't using a limo. And if anyone does -- shame on them!

Flowers- I am purchasing them one bunch at a time with a coupon from AC Moore. They are in the Celebrations section so they'll never be 'on sale' like regular floral. They also do free custom arrangements once you buy the stuff. I did my flowers on my own the same way for my 1st wedding. We are doing our own boutineers, buying them the same way- 1 at a time with coupons, or 2 if I con my H2B to go with me.

Invites- We used Vista Print. No one saves the invitation other than the bride and parents, so I didn't want to spend the money on expensive invites only to be thrown away.

Favors- We are getting local candy and making shaped chocolates. Again, most people either don't take the favors or they throw them out once they do. Everyone eats candy or knows someone who will.

Dress- My dress happened to be on clearance at David's Bridal. $350.

Veil- Ordered on eBay for about $5. Something I have no use for afterwards so didn't want to spend a ton.

I bought my gown at a sample sale. It was originally $1000 but since it was off the rack it was $381. It was a little too long for me (which is crazy cus I'm 5'10"!!) so I'm getting shoes the correct height to make the gown the perfect length since I needed to buy shoes anyway and it saves on hemming. I also bought the dress too tight (but it zipped) and lost some weight so it fits so hopefully won't have to pay for any alterations.

We wanted to have a really nice, fancy wedding but couldn't afford a big one so we chopped the guest list down to 50 so it can be nice but not ridiculously expensive. Our venue only has a tavern license so we're providing all of our own beer and wine and the caterer provides a bar tender to serve it which is much cheaper than them bringing the alcohol.

Our wedding is fall themed so I bought a ton of stuff on clearance at Michaels right after Thanksgiving last year to use for decorations.

Good to hear you decided to have wedding at Grandmother's house. I recall you were a bit undecided.

We are keeping our budget around $4000 for the wedding.

Like Ashley, we picked an all-inclusive venue. We could not afford to do our wedding in the DC Metro area and with Cullen and I being from other states (Georgia and Southern California) and additional family in Illinois, it was going to be a "destination" for at least 2/3 of our guests no matter where we held the wedding. We knew that traveling also meant that a limited number of people would be able to attend no matter where the ceremony was, so we ran the numbers for plane tickets/hotel/rental car/food as well as the cost of hosting the wedding in each of the 4 locations. The cost of travel per person was around $300 more for the Bahamas, but our cost was around 20-25% of anywhere else on our list. We were sold.

Sandals includes everything for a basic wedding, from the ceremony and reception, to the cake and bride/groom flowers.

We did decide to add here and there within the budget to make it a little nicer. A lot of people assume it's going to cost an arm and a leg, but it's not. SO glad we're "eloping" instead of doing the wedding where we live or in one of our hometowns.

Guest list -- Not their fault that we can't afford to host a large event locally, so included everyone in the invite (plus those of Cullen and my parents). We have confirmed 16 attendees (all close family and friends).

Rehearsal dinner - all dinner and drinks are included, no extras added.

Ceremony - took the basic, included wedding. Pre-recorded wedding music that we're providing. No runner, no decorations, no chair covers, no programs. Plain chairs, us, the minister, and our guests. It's going to be in front of a reflecting pond, under a gazebo, with the ocean behind that. Plenty of natural beauty

Cocktail Hour - included, no DJ or music added, using prerecorded playlist

Hair/makeup - DIY, nothing fancy. Just need to cover the incision scar from the cancer resection I had earlier this month.

Photographer - splurging here for $1400 (got a HUGE discount on one of the nicer packages when it went on sale last summer). Mom said she'd cover part of this and part of the video (below)

Videographer - cut the package down from $2000 to around $600. Just the basics, but wanted to be sure that folks that can't be there can still watch live, streaming .

Cake -- took basic, included cake. Found pair of plain doves (snuggling) on and online clearance to place on top.

Flowers - Borrowed an idea from one of you all and am doing brooch bouquets for all of us (including finger bouquets for the mother's of the bride/groom). Flowers were going to be almost $2,000. With most of my brooches donated and mixing in seashells we've gathered from the beach, the total cost for my bouquet, 3 bridesmaids, and the MOB/MOG stuff is around $200. The men's items are a total of $50.

Reception -- the guest turnout was small enough that we can afford the additional cost of having a beachfront reception (total cost for plated dinner and white glove service for 3 hours is $60/pp for 3 courses and all you can drink cocktails plus additional dessert).

DIY reception favors -- tying handwritten cards with each guest name onto seashells we gathered on the beach

Rings -- Is it terrible that we're planning Walmart? ~$30 each. My engagement ring (not in this budget) was a STEAL. Retailing at $2000, he got it for around $500. It's an aquamarine (no diamond) in a 14ct white gold setting. Got a huge stone that way (~2ct) and it's so pale in most light that everyone assumes it's the same as my BFF's (engaged around the same time). Hers was over $10K. Yah for my fiance

OOT bags (will post about this elsewhere, but got a STEAL on everything. DIY everything else.)

I think that's everything, but I've undoubtedly forgot something. Hope I get it together in time for the wedding. Just over 9 weeks to go!

The only expense I'm not tracking is wedding day make-up and nail polish.
Sure, I'm grabbing items now as they go on sale. If I don't open the item till right before wedding day - all should be well.
Right now the purchased items are going into my wedding purse so I am not tempted to used now.

I'm not tracking this expense because I do plan on using the items post wedding.

Nail polish - I'm bring my own to nail place. Why, I just too hard on my fingernails -- it doesn't matter if professionally done or by me -- chips, smudges, etc happen easily. So if I bring my own, I will have product available for touch up if needed.