I think we are trying for the impossible...

[ChristineLS]

I am relatively newly engaged (a few months now) to my fantastic future husband. We're both young, and shall be starting graduate school next year, aiming to be married in August, 2009. (He wanted a spring wedding, I wanted an autumn, the academic calendar makes both of those inconvenient.) I'm funded, and he's working a job outside of graduate school, and we live in an area where the cost of living is absurdly inexpensive so we figured that we cut corners could each save $1,000 from jobs/my fellowship and hoped to put a few-frills wedding. Waiting longer will not make us any wealthier, one fellowship is only a first year deal, as we are both Ph.D students and though I have no debt, he has a fair amount from his education.

It isn't going to be a huge wedding, maybe 75 guests at most (mostly because he has a large, close family - a very expensive blessing! :D) family and several close friends. Our families cannot contribute for a myriad of reasons, none of which involve their generosity.

So, fellow future brides... do you have any tips on how to cut costs? If you think $2,000 is too little, what do you think is a reasonable minimum?

I appreciate ALL of your advice.

[sweetvenus]

The easiest way to cut costs is to utilize the talents and resources of your family and friends. If you know someone who can make cakes, use them. If you know a graphic designer, they can help with your invitations. If you know someone with a big house or lots of land, have your ceremony and reception there. Just make sure that you have your bases covered. For example, if you are having a friend do your photography, make sure they have back-up equipment and a plan in case something happens (they get sick or can't make the wedding for other reasons).

[ChristineLS]

Thank you!

[Danielle9608]

I totally think this can be done. If you are willing to cut out the frills, and have some helpful friends and family you are golden. Here are some ideas:
You could serve cake and punch and cut on food cost that way. Or do some simple appetizers that family and friends could help with (like a cold cut platter or potato salad).
Check out your local parks, many of them are free to use you just have to apply for a permit ranging from $50-$100.
You could also have a friend or family member marry you?
Use a ipod or portable cd player for entertainment. Check local colleges for a student to play violin.
Photography - Check craigslist, local colleges. Name your price and stick to it. This is the one area I would recommend spending some extra $$ on since these are the memories you will have after it is all said and done.
Do you have any family with a nice garden? Maybe you could raid it (if they allow) and make your own bouquet.
Seamstress in the family? Making your own dress is WAY cheaper then buying and more personal too. Or is there a dress in the family that you could borrow?
Lastly use cupcakes instead of cake, anyone can make them, and they are way cute.Hope this helps you :) Stick around because we would love to hear your ideas :)

[NowAShelton]

i think she covered it all pretty much, but i just wanted to throw my two cents in....i think it is totally possible to do a wedding for two thousand! i dont think im cutting very many corners and ours will be right around 2500, we are also having double your guests! you just have to use that left brain way of thinking!

[sweetvenus]

A couple more tips:
- Having a smaller (or no) wedding party will save you money on flowers and gifts.
- There are lot of little extras in weddings that aren't really necessary. These include stuff like programs, favors, guest baskets, bathroom baskets, etc. You can just skip these and most people won't even notice.
- Talk to your fiance and figure out what your top priority is and spend most of your money there. It could be having a good photographer, having good food, having good entertainment, a good location. Whatever it is, allow yourself to splurge a little on that one item and cut back on everything else. That way you won't look back and wish that you had splurged on that one thing.
- Consignment shops, ebay, and craigslist are your friends for dresses and accessories.
- Candles are cheaper than flowers, so it may be more cost effective to have candles as centerpieces.
- Have an afternoon wedding...it's the only time of day where your guest aren't going to expect a full meal.
- Get married on a Friday or Sunday, or even better: a weekday. Vendors will typically offer you discounts for having the wedding on these days.

[Danielle9608]

Took my awhile to find this, but Earlybird started a post on $ savings ideas:
http://forums.onewed.com/showthread.php?t=7861

[sunflowersummer]

My wedding will be close to $3,000 and thats about it. I'm using fake flowers and I bought my centrepieces (flower pots) from dollarama. They look awesome together, and it only cost me $1 per flower pot, and $1 per bunch of flowers. Also, instead of getting favors, we're just giving cupcakes with initials on them to make them personal, so it doubles as cake and favors. We're making our own cupcakes, and our own cake for the wedding party table (a friend of mine has the cake pillars, so we're just borrowing them).

We're also doing a cash bar, except for the wedding party and our parents (toonie bar for them). Instead of doing a dinner, we're just getting meat/cheese/pickle trays with buns.

Hope that helps :)

[Nekochanpurr]

OH! Don't forget.. Earlier (lunch mostly) ceremonies/receptions are usually cheaper... So i would look into something like that, too. Have it on Friday, Sunday.. Some places have deals. These girls have it pretty much covered, though. *^^*

[EarlyBird]

I Might have missed this, but where do you live? I didnt read through the other ladies posts but some things i have done is find my dress on ebay, make some of my favors (cry pack) Make my bm gifts. Talk to small florists who dont "specialize" in weddings - Because of shoping around and talking to a ma and pop shop, im getting my centepieces that were quoted at 175 from other people for $45.00each :), check out government owned buildings for ceremony and reception locations.



I also love the idea of a "dessert reception" You could make it mid afternoon or you could do a tea lunch- Tea and coffee, maybe mimosa as the drinks and for the food do little finger sandwhiches, veggies, Stuffed mushroom caps, cheese and crackers and for dessert cookies and cake
This is alot of food and will have everyone talking about the "different" theme and how wonderful it was to see something different

[ChristineLS]

Wow. That's a ton of useful, implementable advice. Thank you!

I live in Buffalo, NY, but the ceremony is going to be somewhere around the Syracuse area (central NY) where my family is. My fiance's mother is a photographer, so we were thinking about asking her but I'm not sure if that's appropriate since... well, she's the mother of the groom. I used to be a florist, so if I can get the flowers (or if I can convince my family to start a garden, hah!) I can do the bouquets and corsages. I'd forgotten about that. Syracuse University has a music school, and I have a few friends who are graduates, so finding someone for that won't be hard!

I wish I could wear my mother's dress. She borrowed my aunt's, but both of them were about 5'5 and 100 lbs when they were married... I'd need to loose about 25% of my weight before hitting that number....

Is it considered alright if you make your own cake?

Thank you again!

[redrosesredroses1977]

I would think that it's totally OK to make your own cake! There are a lot of brides in my area that have done the very same thing to cut costs. Wedding cakes are expensive if you have a bakery do them for you, ranging anywhere from $3-$5 a slice.

[ladymelissa]

we live in an area where the cost of living is absurdly inexpensive

Extremely inexpensive?!!? And your problem is? I am confused.

[Danielle9608]

Extremely inexpensive?!!? And your problem is? I am confused.

I think she must have meant expensive.

[acidcookie]

These ladies summed it up well so I won't add much but a vote of confidence that you CAN do it!

I just wanted to say HELLO! to another grad student couple :) FH and I are both PhD students too and funding our wedding with our stipends/fellowships as well. And we're also getting married in August for much the same reason (stupid academic year!). I won't be taking classes at the point, but I do teach so I have MY students to worry about. Though I doubt they'd complain about a week off from learning research methods ... ;)

Our budget is substantially larger ($7,000 tops though I think we could get in for less) for up to 100 people just because we're able and willing to scrape up the money for a sit down dinner and fair amounts of alcohol for all the guests. We're German, I'd get shot for not having wine & beer!! ;)

[f77g4]

I see a few people mentioned forgoing the sit down dinner...just a word of caution if you go the appetizer route just be careful that it doesn't end up costing you more. I say this because one of FH's co-workers got married last September and was complaining about $15/pp for a sit down dinner so they made the wedding later in the day and went the appetizer route for the ceremony and well I guess it ended up costing him $20/pp. I don't know what all was involved as we didn't go since FH had to work but this is one tip/advice he gave to us when we became engaged.