Wedding Bells on a Budget

Getting Married on a Budget

Weddings can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, but if you are reading this, you are looking for a way to get married without breaking the bank. You can have your perfect wedding without spending a ton of money! We decided to pay for our wedding out of pocket which helped us keep the costs down. With the work of our family and friends we spent just over $2000 on our budget wedding and we could not have been happier with it. Find out tips and tricks on how to cut costs and hear those Wedding Bells on a Budget. Start your new life together without causing financial stress.

What is important to you?

The most important part of this whole process is focusing on WHAT YOU want. Take out your family and friends’ expectations out of the equation and decide to spend money on what is important to you. We tend to get wrapped up in what we think other people think we should do and oftentimes this ends up costing us our sanity along with money we did not want or expect to spend.

Choosing Your Wedding Guests

How many people do you want to attend your wedding? Keep in mind that you can always celebrate with your loved ones in a more relaxed setting. Think about hosting a reception later, when you will be more relaxed and be able to take the time to talk to each of your guests for more than just a few minutes. The amount of people you decide to have at your wedding will directly affect the cost of food and influence the location of your wedding.

Danny and I chose to have a small wedding of just 10 people, including us.  We had 5 close friends, our mothers, and my mother’s husband. We decided that we would rather have a small ceremony that we could pay for out of pocket that would be less stressful so we could enjoy our wedding day. Most of the brides I have talked to had spent their wedding day worrying about wedding details, family drama, and finished the day completely and utterly exhausted. Being the center of attention makes me nervous, so having less people at our actual wedding would be a huge stress relief for me on the actual wedding day. We later hosted two receptions so we could celebrate with our family and friends.

Ways to Save Money on Wedding Invitations

Since we only invited 8 people to our wedding, we did not do wedding invitations. However, we did do invitations for our receptions. You can always make your invitations yourself.  We decided to have them made and discovered that Costco had the most cost-efficient Invitations and Thank You Cards. They have many options to choose from and we were very happy with them. Knowing that most invitations end up in the garbage and that most people do not send back the RSVPs in a timely fashion, we chose to only mail invitations to close family and friends. We requested RSVPs and invited people via a Facebook event. We also included an email address for people to RSVP to if they did not have Facebook. This worked out great as it saved money on stamps and extra invitations. People were also much more likely to respond since it was quick button to reply or update us with any change of plans. This made it much easier to track how many people would be attending.

Budget Friendly Wedding Venues

Next, you need to decide about where you want to get married. The location of your wedding is oftentimes one of the bigger expenses that will come up. To save money, consider having your ceremony outside. If you compare prices of different banquet halls and churches to the price of holding it outdoors at a nice park, you will be amazed at the price difference. Choosing a Botanical Garden will be more expensive than a city or county park. If you are lucky enough to have access to a scenic backyard, then keep an open mind to choosing this location. This may affect the date you choose to get married on. Spring and Fall are the best times to get married outdoors in northern climates whereas Winter is best in the tropical areas. You will also have to keep in mind an area’s wet season. Check to see what rules the park (or banquet hall) has for decorations and the time constraints you will face with having to put your wedding decorations up and down. Another way to cut costs is to get married during the week since prices are higher on weekends and holidays.

While trying to choose a park to get married in, we realized that our friend’s backyard was perfect. It was an open grassy area with several nice trees spaced out. There was a small creek along the back of the yard and on the other side of it was trees. This would provide the perfect backdrop for our ceremony, and the ability to decorate it as we chose with no limitations. We wanted to get married under an arbor that we could later turn into a porch swing. I was not sure we would be able to set it up and remove it in the time a park would give us.

Wedding Officiant and Ceremony Details

No matter how big or small your wedding is, picking the right officiant is one of the most important decisions you will make. The wedding officiant creates your ceremony and is centerstage right there with you as you exchange vows. If you are getting married in a church, your options in officiants may be limited to the priest or pastor at that location. Other wedding venues require you to select your own.

One option is to have a friend or family member get licensed to officiate your wedding. If you choose to do this, make sure you thoroughly research the requirements of the COUNTY and the State that you will be getting married in. It would be awful to discover that your wedding was invalid due to a technicality.

No matter if you have someone close to you or you hire a professional you must trust the person that will be officiating your ceremony. Check the reviews and make sure you meet with them often enough so you are comfortable with how the ceremony will be run. You will also need to check to see if they are available on the date or dates you are considering.

We found our officiant, Aton, with Wedding for the Ages,  through friend recommendations. We met with him several times and thoroughly discussed what we wanted in the ceremony. You will need to decide how formal, the length, and what extra aspects you want your ceremony to have. After discussing details with Aton, we decided on a short, more relaxed wedding with a unity ceremony included.

Danny and I decided on using glass fritz for our unity ceremony. Glass fritz is what is used in glass blowing. We decided to buy the fritz in the colors of our wedding; purple and blue. After the ceremony, we could have a centerpiece created from a local artist. We got this idea from one of our friends.  I loved that we would have another reminder of our wedding. With this in mind, I came up with another idea. The first-year anniversary gift is supposed to be paper. We could use the leftover fritz and take a glassblowing class to make paperweights for our first anniversary.   

How to Save Money on Wedding Decorations

The decorations for your wedding will strongly be dependent on the venue that you have chosen. The color scheme of course will be up to you. If you have problems choosing colors that go together, it may help if you visit the painting section in a hardware store. We used the paint sample palettes to help decide what color shades would look best together and brought them with us when we purchased our decorations.

Once you choose your colors, you will have to choose the bridal bouquet, centerpieces, and any other personal touches you may want. This would include chairs, backdrops, and anything you may need if you choose to do a unity ceremony. Simple is always better. Concentrate on the places that most of the photos will be taken. Very few people will remember your centerpieces, what the chairs looked like or other small details.

When considering bouquets, decide if you want fresh or fake flowers. Obviously, you will save money if you decide to use fake flowers and if you go the DIY route, but this will mean a lot more work for you. Etsy is a great place to look for a bridal bouquet if you don’t want to have a florist put one together. If you decide to create your own bridal bouquet and choose to use fake flowers, the best way to save money is to use the coupons and take advantage of the seasonal sales for stores like JoAnn’s or Michael’s. Remember to shop around and compare to online retailers like Amazon. We found some items like the ivy for our arbor was much cheaper online.

We ended up doing weekly trips to save 40% on each item we needed for my bridal bouquet and the floral centerpiece that we used. Danny and I went to the Dollar store for the vases and a few other items that we used. We also chose to upcycle the table we used for our unity ceremony.

We bought a custom made 3D guestbook so we could hang it later on our wall and our wedding favors were key-shaped bottle openers. It was important to us to be able to get continual use out of these items.

Do not feel pressure to spend a lot of money on items that you will only use for one day. Another tip is to try to purchase things that you can repurpose in the future. This is why the arbor was a great investment for us. One of our friends built an arbor for us that now sits in our backyard as a porch swing. The centerpiece on our guest sign-in table now sits in our guest room. It is much easier to spend money on items that you can use in other ways. If you choose to hold a reception at a later date, you can repurpose some of your decorations for that event.

Choosing Your Wedding Dress

The dress (or pantsuit) has the potential to be a large spending category. Between the dress and the alterations to make it fit, the money can add up quickly. Before you start shopping, set an amount that you are willing to spend. I would go as far as to have an ideal amount and a back up amount set. That way you have a buffer zone if you find ‘the perfect dress’ that is slightly outside of your ideal budget and will hopefully prevent you from overspending.

If you have not dreamed of what your wedding dress will look like, I encourage you to do a little research first. Have a dress appointment in a store to get an idea of what style of dress you would like, and then look online to get a better idea of what is out there and an idea of what different dresses could cost. Once you have a better idea of what you are looking for, make appointments at different dress stores until you find your dress. Do not forget to give consignment shops a chance. David’s Bridal is another store that may have lower price options.

Do not forget to calculate the cost of alterations as part of the wedding dress costs. My wedding dress cost about the same as the cost of the alterations for the dress. This is important if you found a dress on sale or at a consignment shop that may need more alterations than a full price dress that may fit better originally. Your wedding dress is important and often the materials that it is made of can be unforgiving. This means that picking an alteration place is very important. Get references from friends or use Wedding Wire. It may not be common but feel free to get a quote for alterations so you can plan financially for it.

When selecting your veil, jewelry, and shoes be sure to shop around in stores and online. I found my veil online for half the price that it was listed in the store. I bought my jewelry second hand for less than $10 at a church fundraiser. Typically no one but you will know how much you spent, so why not take this opportunity to save some money?

Deciding Between Tuxedos or Suits

You will need to select what the groom and groomsmen (if you have them) will wear. Will they be wearing tuxedos, suits, casual wear (khakis and dress shirt), or a costume if the wedding is themed. If you choose to wear a tux or suit, you will need to weigh the pros and cons between renting or buying them. Depending on where you buy your outfit, alterations may or may not be included. You will also want to remember to get any small details, like the tie, tie clip, pocket squares, and shoes.

Since Danny only owned one suit, we decided we would buy a suit for him so he would have more formal wear for future events.

Our eldest dog, Remington, walked me down the aisle, therefore he needed a suit as well. Did you know that most store-bought dog suits are not actually properly fitted for dogs? This leaves two options. You can buy a suit off of Etsy, this may be a bit pricey because of the work that is put into handmaking the suit. We decided to go another route and chose to buy a suit off Amazon and have it altered. However, they needed extra fabric for some of the adjustments. Because we could not find matching fabric, we ended up having to buy a second suit for the material. The suit came with a matching tie and leash and I was very happy with it.  It did however cost more than the groom’s suit in total. We had Alterations & More do the suit alterations (and my wedding dress) and even though it was the first kind of request for them, they did great!

Budget Friendly Wedding Rings

No matter what you have heard, the cost of the ring does not equal the love that you share. You can find numerous quality and affordable rings on Etsy for both the bride and groom. I decided to use my engagement ring as my wedding ring because I loved it so much. Why buy two rings when you most likely will only wear one? This may not be a common decision, but I do encourage you to consider what you need, versus what you would want. Unique style rings are becoming more popular and Etsy versus a name brand Jewelry store has way more options and usually for a better price. With Daniel being a firefighter, he didn’t want an expensive and fancy ring that he could lose since he wouldn’t wear his ring while he was working so he got a simple plain stainless-steel band for $40. This way we do not freak out when he misplaces it.

Choosing a Photographer

Choosing a photographer is one area that you do not want to cut corners on. Set up meetings and look at their portfolios to make sure that you like the style and will be able to work comfortably with them. Luckily, my mom and her husband had photographed numerous weddings together and had gifted us their talents. We also did a Facebook Live so our friends and family could watch the ceremony from their homes. We kept this as our wedding video keepsake, though I do recommend having someone record a video on proper equipment!

Budgeting For Wedding Hair/Makeup

Depending on your talent and the style of makeup and hair that you choose, you could save money by doing your own. This is another good time to check Wedding Wire and friends for recommendations and get quotes so you can make your final decision within your budget. No matter what you decide, do not forget to have a least one trial run before the big day. You will want to try to have this done closer to your wedding date. You will want your hair trial done during similar weather because factors like humidity can play a part in the way your hair acts. I was lucky again, in that a friend gifted us her hair and makeup skills for our wedding.

Budget Wedding Food Ideas

The cost of food will mainly be dependent on the number of guests you will have attending and the type of food you choose to feed them. You can have the meal catered by a company or prepared by friends and family depending on how much work you want to put into it.

Be aware that some venues have a list of approved caterers which may limit your choices. With a small group, you would also have the option to bring your guests to a restaurant. If you choose to cook the food yourself (or have a friend or family member do it) there are several low-cost meals that are easy to make like Chicken Piccata. Sides can be simple; typically, a vegetable, a carb (mac and cheese or potato dish), and a bread.

Wedding Cake

What is a wedding without cake? These days it does not need to be a cake. You can choose cupcakes, mini pies, any number of desserts if you do not want a wedding cake. Be prepared for the price of the desserts to be a bit on the pricey side. We were going to get the famous Costco cake for our wedding cake before our friend and owner of Feisty Frostings insisted on gifting us our wedding luncheon and cake.

Backyard Wedding Tip

If you decide to have a more informal ceremony, make sure you have an exit plan! If you have your ceremony at a paid venue, there is a firm ending time. Since we had our wedding and meal at a friend’s house, there was no set time to wrap up the event. Most of the few guests we had, lived out of state and didn’t know the area. Looking back, I wish we had an exit plan and had set up an activity after our wedding and lunch for our guests. As it was, once my best friend saw me curled up in a corner with Remington, she took control and organized everything so Danny and I could leave to rest for awhile before meeting up with all of them later.

“It takes a Village”  

This saying also fits perfectly to putting on a budget friendly wedding. It is always cheaper to DIY, and with the help and various talents of friends and family, you will be able to keep the cost down for your upcoming nuptials. It is so important to agree on a budget that both of you can agree to. Remember that it is your wedding, so make your decisions based on what you want, not what you think is expected of you.

We Got Married and Didn’t Go Broke!!!!

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Would you like to hear how we planned not one but TWO budget friendly receptions? Check out the post: Tale of Two Receptions