to those with a low low budget i have a question

[stressedoutbride]

if you dont mind me asking what it is and how are you doing things so that you dont go over it...my fiances "budget" is around 17,000 which i think is way to much for just 50 people, but he is flying 4 people from germany to florida but still i think is too much so he gave me the budget sheet and said see if i can find something that is less than that...so i need help!:bbcry: thanks!

[Jenna5366]

Wait, I don't get it... is $17,000 your "low" budget??

[stressedoutbride]

no! thats the budget he did! i think its way too much for just a regular wedding and reception for 50 people, not including honeymoon...so if anyone has a low budget like 5000 or less idont know....if they can tell me how they did it...because he says there is no way i can make it less than 17,000:bbcry:

[Scrwballsgrl]

oh honey if $17,000 was a low budget for me my parents and fiance would've smacked me upside the head:winktongue:

I understand him estimating highly though with having to fly in and accomodate four people.

First of all where are ya'll planning on getting married? Is it going to be high end style on a high end budget or are you trying to do the high end styles on a lower budget? What is your ideal wedding budget, since you mentioned you thought your FH estimate of $17k for 50 people was high. (Which in my neck of the woods it would be, but to each his own) I'm embarrassed (well not really but feel kinda sheepish) my "low budget" is trying to keep it around $3500 for 150 people....thats with a full buffet reception, photographer, & renting a venue.

Give us a little more info and background on what your expectations and hopes are for your wedding, then there are plenty of Budget Brides here that can give you good advice.

[FuTuReDeMpSeY]

Holy Cow what could I do with 17,000 buckaroos!!!!! I am having about 350 people at my wedding and I am keepin it under 10,000 sooo I definitely think that it is no problem to keep it under 17,000 for only 50 people!!!! U could probly keep it under 5,000 with that many people and still have a BEAUTIFUL wedding!!!!! Good Luck if you have any questions just let me know bc I have saved tons of money with coupons and price shopping and definitely Do It Yourself projects!!!!! and they are fun toooo!!!!! Good Luck though!!!!!

[stressedoutbride]

well thats what i think i can do not more than 5000, not including flying them people here.nothing high end or upscale...just something simple yet elegant not cheap looking...he says its not possible for 5000...:bbcry:

[stressedoutbride]

yes! I NEED HELP AND ADVICE! dont know where to start or how...he gave me the sheet and kind of challenged me in a funny way to see if i could do better than that...:bbcry:

[PGDesigns]

We're hoping to keep it under $5000 with just under 100 people.

The easiest way for us to save money was to find a city-owned building that would allow us to bring in our own catering, alcohol, music, etc.

Our venue is $500 + $150 deposit. It can seat up to 300 people, so there is plenty of room. It is a historic social hall of sorts with beautiful hardwood floors, exposed rafters, and stone walls. Table linens are also available for rent through the city.

FH's family is catering. We are doing a buffet of heavy finger foods (since the reception is between regular meal times), and most of the food can be purchased in bulk from Sam's Club and only requires minimal heating for preparation.

We are not serving liquor or mixed drinks, just soda, bottled water, and beer.

My dress is $400 and is based on a Maggie Sottero design ($1200.) I'm ordering it from Bridal Online Store.

We're doing a lot of DIY projects.

I have two friends who are awesome photographers but they had never done a wedding before. They offered to do it for free, and I found a pro photog on Craigslist for $500. The pro is only doing formal shots and the ceremony. My two friends are doing the pre-wedding (getting ready) and the reception shots.

[NowAShelton]

well just start pricing the necessary things...ceremony place, reception hall, or if there was a place you liked that could do both then you kill two birds with one stone. figure out what kind of food you want, price it. once you figure out those two, figure out how you want it to "feel". i kinda wanted a casual wedding-y night club feel. so i went from there with decorations (and wherever you choose may not even need decor or sometimes places have package deals! you just gotta research what you want!). god bless walmart. and target! and oh yes! cant forget hobby lobby! find out what you can DIY and do it! no matter what it will ALMOST always be cheaper! once you find the things that are top priority, work down from there and make your own budget sheet! good luck!

BTW - i had a wedding for about 130 for like 4000 i think...and it didnt look cheap to me!

[Scrwballsgrl]

search the forum for money saving tips and you'll find tons of discussions on that subject...I agree with PGDesigns; look into locally owned County or City locations that rent for weddings & events. We are renting a lodge at a public boat launch that has a huge main room, bathrooms facilities for 200+people, a caterer worthy kitchen & beautiful views over the creek all for $600 for 24 hours!

All our decorations are DIY, and we have a friend who's mom does flowers and offered to do ours as a wedding gift. Fh family all own professional kareoke & sound equipment so we've got that covered, everything else we're going with the less is more idea. The big ticket Items that the most money is going towards are the food (BBQ & smoked chicken with sides & fruit & veggie trays) and photography.
Good luck with your planning, by the way where are you from then the brides that live around in your area might be better able to give you a heads up on things.

[stressedoutbride]

thanks for all the advice...the dyi thing should be interesting since i have never done it before...i have seen some of the dyi in here and they look fantastic! hope mines come out this way...btw i am from fort lauderdale florida.

[mitch]

We're having a Registry Office Wedding for 50.
Reception at Home.
Second Hand Wedding Dress for Me.
FH wearing a suit He already owns.
Flowers DIY.
Favours DIY.
Guest take their own Photographs.
Catering done at Home.
Drinks buy in each week.
Loads and Loads of eBay Bargains. Including My Invitations, My Shoes, Flowers, Jewellery etc.

Shop about and get the Best Price you can. Barter or Haggle.

Our Budget is converting to approx $1,000. :D

It can be done. It will be done. And i will stick to Budget if it Kills Me.

[MrsDM]

thanks for all the advice...the dyi thing should be interesting since i have never done it before...i have seen some of the dyi in here and they look fantastic! hope mines come out this way...btw i am from fort lauderdale florida.

I never did it before either! But let me tell you, this wedding planning thing and these ladies on here have unleashed the crafty/creative side in me and I love it!!!

[FirechickBride]

holly moooolllaaahhhh!!!! That price with flying in guests is like WOW!!! I can see maybe 1000 for flight of ea guest from out of country pending airlines and seating...I spent so far... for 100 guests on a low budget for a high end wedding
1100 on cater (got 500 to go)
400 on a DJ all night
325 on my gown
3.00 on invitations
50 on fake flowers
150 on fire truck place card holders
60 on toasting flutes

[garnet]

my budget is approx. $2,000 for 50 people. Includes all , food, reception, ceremony, clothes for 5 kids.

[acidcookie]

My budget is not super low at $7,000 for 100 people but we are also able and willing to save to provide a sit down dinner and drinks for our guests and that adds up quickly.

It is TOTALLY possible to do 50 people for $5,000! Tell him he's wrong; it CAN be done! Just start searching these boards and you'll see how.

[10Nov2008]

17,000 for 50 people?? You'd almost have a "platinum wedding" for that ratio!!!

For about that much I'm having a wedding in Hawaii with my parents, my sister and her boyfriend, my FH, the BM and myself staying for 5 days! When we return, we're having a sitdown dinner for 225 people.

The funding is partially my folks and partially us...but for 50 people, you could totally do it for $5000 and have a very nice wedding!!

[smileyone2002]

If only I had 17,000 to spend!! Our wedding was under $5,000 and it was perfect! There are SOOO many ways to keep your wedding cheap, you will just have to get creative and make a lot of things yourself!

Stick around and the ladies here will help you a ton :)

[ME&HIM]

i want $17000 to spend on my wedding...wow seriously i could do so much with that. my wedding will be under $5000 including my dress

[fireprincess2009]

I'm working with a 7,000 budget for about 100-125 people.
Tell us about your ideal wedding. Do you have any details worked out yet?

[RosieAngel]

Have you seen the Real Simple Weddings magazine? There were a couple of really amazing, cheap weddings there.

My favorite was the lunchtime picnic in the park for... I think it was 100+ guests! They made picnic blankets from polar fleece bought from the local craft store that could be taken home by the guests and used as proper blankets, had a deli cater a brown bag lunch for everyone... I wish I had thought of it!

I'm doing a DW to keep the guest list down. I also saved a ton of money making the invites. Especially with just 50 guests, making your own invites is the way to go!

[hughesfarmgirl]

Our big money savers are simple:
We are roasting hogs ourselves and have a country caterer who is doing the sides and cake (and set-up, service, clean-up) for cheap. Things like these are cheaper because you don't have to pay by the head and can assume that younger guests will not eat as much.
Secondly, DIY (invitations, save-the-dates, favors, centerpieces, etc)
Last, our favors are going to be practically free...we are using horse shoes (lucky in love with linked horseshoe theme for the country/farm folk we are) and tying a card telling people to hang them over their doors for luck.
Keep checking all of the threads, everyone here has wonderful ideas. Good Luck!

[f77g4]

I definately agree and think that this can be done. My guest list is close to 200 and we are planning on keeping it under $13,000. This is what I budgeted when trying to figure out how much this would cost now mind you I didn't know how much things are when I prepared this but I still only got $13,000 and I will say that includes my known for sure larger items like the photographer & reception.

I think I am be even under that - i.e. I budget $500 for a cake and it is only going to cost me $100 as I didn't go to a bakery but rather to a lady that does these on the side of her regular job.

Good luck and definately tell your FH that it can be done!

[Amanda&Jason]

We have 75-100 guests and our budget is $5000.

Our venue is $300
Dj $150
Dress $600
Caterer $1300
Just to name a few.

I am doing lots of Diy's. I love them.

[joeyz_gurl]

we have 50 guests, and our budget is $3500

our venue is $900
the church is $450
we are going to DIY as much as we can...
our reception will be an evening dessert reception...

[Amanda&Jason]

We have 75-100 guests and our budget is $5000.

Our venue is $300
Dj $150
Dress $600
Caterer $1300
Just to name a few.

I am doing lots of Diy's. I love them.


This has changed now. Budget is the same but the venue and catering costs have gone up.

[vicky_vicky]

Ok I did my engagement party with sit down dinner for 350 euros for 50 people including my hairdo and moms hairdo. With that number of guests its not really a big deal to make your own food than have it catered

[Kay]

Amanda&Jason - just a quick question - are you happy with that free wedding website you are using?? Would you mind listing the pros and cons?? I Hope that is okay to ask on this same thread??!!

And btw, my current "budget" is $2,679.50 for 125 people (at least) and includes lots of items that are "frivilous" - that does NOT include catering but it does include his ring. HIS budget is $375 but that does NOT include his tuxedo nor my rings (obviously). I also have a list of "wants/frivolous stuff" that is an extra $274. We will not go over $1500 on the catering. PERIOD. Frankly, I am keeping a budget that sorta looks like this...

Expense Amount Budgeted Amount Actually Paid
Cake 300 200
Guest Book 30 $6.98 (ebay)

The guest book is BEAUTIFUL by the way and the retail on it - new, with tags - was nearly $40!!! :-) Ebay. Plan. DIY. If someone gave me $17K, I'd FLIP WITH HAPPINESS!!!!!!!!!

[emredhead76]

I am a wedding planner so here are some ways that I use to cut costs:

Photo/Video: Look on Craigslist, MySpace, etc for photographers who are just starting out. Many will do a wedding for around $500 and give you all the photos. Just be sure to talk with them and get referrals (for any kind of photos) and some photos that they have done. Another option for photog/video is to call art schools like Nossi, etc and see if any of their students are available.

Music: Again craigslist/MySpace for DJ. Call the local colleges for music majors if you are looking for strings, jazz, etc. Many have performing groups.

Flowers: Buy flowers from wholesale shop or Sam's Club or Costco. Create simple centerpieces that don't require large amounts of set up. Make casual bouquets tied with ribbons.

Invitations: Check out your local Party City. (http://www.partycity.com/stores.shtml)If you walk into the store they have lots of invitation choices as well as favor selections.

Cake: Check out your local Publix or Krogers. Publix has some really great looking cakes with options for flavors and fillings.

Wedding Dress: Check out consignment shops. Some of the ones here in Tennessee have a large selection of dresses that are NWT for MUCH less.

Catering: Go with simple food you can prepare in advance. Check out options from Publix. Price a BBQ.

Venue: Think outside the box. See if you can rent a restaurant at a time when their closed. (Most offer good prices and selection on catering).


Hope these ideas help. Feel free to message if you need more ideas.

[missnikki]

silk flowers
small guest list
good food but nothing overly fancy
everything in one location
small wedding party
simple decor
having it at a restaurant, not a hall or hotel
keeping it local- no travel
skipping transportation since its local and all at one location

[Kay]

[quote=Kay;320773]my current "budget" is $2,679.50 for 125 people[quote]

That soooo came out wrong. About 150 people ~ just under $5,000 ~ not counting all the frivilous stuff I buy here and there...

So, $17K?? I'd be just fine with $17K.... but I live in a small small town where the best photographer's most expensive package is just under $300!! Of course, who knows where we will get a cake because the nearest bakery is 1 to 2 hours away! There are goods and bads to living in small towns...

[ChristineLS]

Hmmmm... my fiance and I are graduate students, so we are having a low budget wedding from necessity.

We're capping a 75 person wedding at $4000 (thank you university for my extra fellowship!). Initially it was going to be $2000, but that was too little. We don't have the same travel expenses that you do for family - we're making them pay for it themselves (but our families live two hours apart from each other) including lodging if they want it, but that is partially because my FILs are very bitterly divorced and politically speaking, we can't house them together and we can't favor them. We're doing it at a park, buying our own liquor, and informally (which alone cut a lot of money) but that's our style. When you think of your wedding? What must you have and what can you do without?

How much of that budget is for plane fares? You may be able to save some money on that if you look carefully and plan ahead, find a travel agent... I'm assuming that $7000 of that was for the planes? $10,000 for a ceremony could be trimmed, depending on what you want and don't. Read the forums a bit, the gals here are fantastic.

[BarceloMayaPalaceBride]

$17,000 <----I want that budget please ;)

[SafetyHarborBrideAtLast]

Here is an event-planner tip: never when getting prices from vendors, tell them you are having a wedding. Say you are planning a party, family get-together, whatever- as soon as you say the word 'wedding', what vendors hear is 'ka-ching!' This is particularly true with reception halls and ceterers. Get a price from them first, they can find out what sort of event it is later (and they can't bump it up at that point).

[WebLady]

Here is an event-planner tip: never when getting prices from vendors, tell them you are having a wedding. Say you are planning a party, family get-together, whatever- as soon as you say the word 'wedding', what vendors hear is 'ka-ching!' This is particularly true with reception halls and ceterers. Get a price from them first, they can find out what sort of event it is later (and they can't bump it up at that point).
While this may be true with some vendors and there is nothing wrong with not giving them all the details when getting prices, I don't think it is fair to assume all vendors are out to cheat people ;)

[tanya n matt]

We're hoping to keep it under $5000 with just under 100 people.

The easiest way for us to save money was to find a city-owned building that would allow us to bring in our own catering, alcohol, music, etc.

Our venue is $500 + $150 deposit. It can seat up to 300 people, so there is plenty of room. It is a historic social hall of sorts with beautiful hardwood floors, exposed rafters, and stone walls. Table linens are also available for rent through the city.

FH's family is catering. We are doing a buffet of heavy finger foods (since the reception is between regular meal times), and most of the food can be purchased in bulk from Sam's Club and only requires minimal heating for preparation.

We are not serving liquor or mixed drinks, just soda, bottled water, and beer.

My dress is $400 and is based on a Maggie Sottero design ($1200.) I'm ordering it from Bridal Online Store.

We're doing a lot of DIY projects.

I have two friends who are awesome photographers but they had never done a wedding before. They offered to do it for free, and I found a pro photog on Craigslist for $500. The pro is only doing formal shots and the ceremony. My two friends are doing the pre-wedding (getting ready) and the reception shots.


oh darl i wish icould take your photos for you when i did wedding pics with my teacher he used to charge $600 for the day which included

go to grooms place
pics of them gettin ready
joke pics

arrive at brides house get make up picks
getting ready pics
pics of brides maids mother bride all togather
anything wanted at home
getting in the car
he even if requested went to get pics of hair being done
pics of arrival at wedding
several pics of the cerimony
the whole bridesmaid/flowergirl/bride walk down the alter
ring exchange
kiss
sighnage of certificate
full bridle party shots
mther father pics on both sides
full guest pics
3-4 different location pics where he would take 4 different posses of bride and groom at each place pluss wedding party pics
arrival at reception
all comming into recption
the cake by itself
cutting the cake
each guests table
the speaches
the dance
poses with wine glasses like the interlocking arms
and much much more
basically he is hired from 7am to midnight.

but i thought that was normal for a photographer
although pat../ my teacher was very geneous one of the weddings he did we got 600+ photos and he doesnt charge for develpoing.
anyways thought id though that out there if some people dont know what involved in a photographers day.

in my experience its nice to set a seat at reception to dine for the photographer as they dont stop all day dont have time to eat all day
and if they stay as long as we do there gunn be madly hungry by the end of the day especially if they have to travel and by that time of night good luck finding anything open on the road...where i live anyways

[prettyinpinkbride]

I know what you mean about having a low budget. I actually found a dress off the rack at David's Bridal.

[Mrs. Pantoja]

We are having 100 guests and have only spent about $6000. Man, I would love $17,000! We saved alot of money by doing things ourselves like:
Making our own tablecloths and overlays from fabric posted at a retail store
We were gifted the invites
We borrowed full service place setting from our church
They also had tables and chairs
We made our own chair sashes
I found cheap centerpiece materials from an online store
My aunt is a florist so we got a great deal on all flowers (bouquets, centerpieces and boutinners - spelled wrong, I know)
My mom bought my wedding dress
We were gifted a honeymoon

I think you can reaally pull something great off with $17,000!!

[MrsPopetobe09]

My dress is $400 and is based on a Maggie Sottero design ($1200.) I'm ordering it from Bridal Online Store.




Okay, you have to tell me what online store you got it from.

Im looking at this kinda dress.

[f77g4]

Okay, you have to tell me what online store you got it from.

Im looking at this kinda dress.

I think Bridal Online is the name of the store.

[petulantfem]

I think that you should take the cost of flying those 4 guests out of the equation first. Then, together decide how much you want to spend on a wedding of 50 people. After you have come up with a reasonable budget for that, include the expense of flying th4 four guests in on top and you have your total budget.

As for us, we have a $5000 budget. There are tons of ways to save, it all depends on what sort of wedding you are planning on having, what is important to you and what your cultural customs are, as well as where you are located.

To us, having friends and family with us was most important - so our guest list is 130. We want to feed them a full meal because most are traveling in from out of town, so that is the bulk of our budget (around $3000 for a meal of bread/butter; pasta and meatballs; roast chicken and roast potatoes; cake and dessert; coffee and tea - that includes all taxes and gratuities). You could cut costs here by having a cocktail reception or a brunch after a morning wedding. You could cater it yourself if you were feeling adventerous.

We are serving wine on the tables and that will cost us about $400. We are not having an open bar because it is not in our budget.

We are picking wildflowers from my father's farm and assembling our own bouquets.

We will have a family member bake the cake for us, or we will go without.

I plan on wearing a borrowed dress.

Our rings are only going to cost $250 including tax. FH is notorious for losing rings and I'm not that excited about jewelry.

Other ways to save: use a student photographer, or someone who is just starting out.

Really at the end of the day, you just need the Officiant and the marriage license to legally be married. Everything else is gravy. So look at it that way.

[lsachs]

my "low budget" is trying to keep it around $3500 for 150 people....thats with a full buffet reception, photographer, & renting a venue.

HOW IN THE HECK ARE YOU KEEPING IT SO LOW FOR 150 PEOPLE?? I AM NEWLY ENGAGED AND GETTING MARRIED SUMMER 2011. WE ARE TRYING TO BUY A HOUSE AROUND THE SAME TIME, SO THE LEAST WE SPEND THE BETTER..

ANY IDEAS, HELPFUL HINTS???

[Sfoley311]

I was just wondering what kind of favors you are doing for 350 people. I am struggling to find something for 100 people!

[Jelean]

That's a huge budget if it does not include the airfares of 4 people. My husband flew to the Philippines with his parents and

Here are my budget saving tips: skip the wedding planner, choose a moderately-priced wedding dress, buy in season flowers, ask for a spa bachelorette party from your girlfriends and ask for your friends/family to shoulder the wedding cake or invitations.

Whatever you do, don't scrimp on the wedding photography as this will last a lifetime.

[amster85]

My budget is pretty low, we couldn't find a way to make it less.. at 7,000 we reached the cheapest we could go without looking cheap. It's not too bad.. If it wasn't for deposits we'd be paying like 14,000 you also should keep that in mind, anything you don't have to use the deposits for, you will get back usually going toward the actual cost. It kinda makes everything seem more than it really is in the end.

[Amanda&Jason]

You don't get your deposits back. They are part of the price. The amount to hold your date.

[SkippyNXC]

You don't get your deposits back. They are part of the price. The amount to hold your date.

yeah i've never heard of getting the deposits back either... all my deposits go towards to the total cost... what makes them "deposits" is that your giving the money in advance to hold the date

u only get them back if the vendor cancels or if they're refundable should u cancel the vendor..

but maybe ur vendors are different... i would just make sure its in the contract

[futuremrsallen]

Our budget is 10,000...or at least...that's the goal. We saved a lot of money by choosing to DIY the invites and STD's. Also, we are having the reception at our church hall which ended up saving a lot more than if we did it at a "wedding venue." What I've been told is to just prioritize. Spend more on whats most important to you and less on things that you dont care as much about. For us...I dont really care all that much about floral so we are using the local grocery store's floral department. Photography, on the other hand, is VERY important to us...so we spent a bit more on that. Everyone's different so you gotta decide what matters most to you.

[dearmissie]

I am so blown away with the budgets all you ladies have created for such a large amount of people!! I wish I could figure it out like you all have!! Just a question, anyone here from California (esp. the Bay Area)?? I think for us living in the Bay Area, it's just about impossible to have a wedding less than $15,000 for an average wedding. Our budget is $20,000 and I'm still stressed with that budget!!

[RosieAngel]

I am so blown away with the budgets all you ladies have created for such a large amount of people!! I wish I could figure it out like you all have!! Just a question, anyone here from California (esp. the Bay Area)?? I think for us living in the Bay Area, it's just about impossible to have a wedding less than $15,000 for an average wedding. Our budget is $20,000 and I'm still stressed with that budget!!

I'm from the Bay Area, and I had a $15,000 budget. Not to be a downer, but I ended up doing a destination wedding on Catalina Island, because we basically couldn't afford anything locally. :sweatdrop:

I do remember that the gorgeous historic Cliffhouse in SF was surprisingly inexpensive. If we had $20,000 for our budget, we might have been able to pull it off, but our budget was originally $10,000 and got raised to $15,000 from scraping our pennies together, so that just wasn't happening.

Most of my friends, who had even lower budgets, held their receptions at their house/apartment/parents' place with music, food trays and cake bought at the local supermarket or called in a local restaurant that caters to serve up the goodies. (If you're near Berkeley and want to do this, Bacheeso's is AWESOME organic wonderfulness, and it's cheap! :drool:). I've also seen people hold weddings at a restaurant they're regulars at. Most of the time, there were 50 or less guests.

I was just blown away by one of my friends who had the traditional "princess" wedding with 300 guests and all of the trimmings in San Francisco... it cost her family over $100,000! :petrified: That's a down payment on a house, girl! But her family could afford it, so it's all good.

[janabm81]

Seriously...if you have the funds for it hire a great wedding planner and let them do all the worrying for you.:yesnod:

[Sasha Newberry]

Yeah wedding planner do help a lot but they are really expensive aren't they?

[dodgercpkl]

Mine is costing $600 for full service. I'm pretty happy with that deal tbh. :yesnod:

[2dBride]

We had a $10,000 budget. Because we are a same sex couple, and thus had to have the wedding in Massachusetts, we had $5,000 in costs just for nonmember rates for the rabbi and synagogue, and accommodations for us and 10 guests for two nights.

So we had $5,000 for everything else. That included two receptions (a luncheon for a dozen people in Massachusetts, and an evening reception with live music, dancing, and a DIY "photobooth" for 60 people in DC), meals for our Massachusetts guests for three days, rings, invitations, postage, two dresses and two sets of accessories, hair and make-up for two people on each of two days, photographer, and flowers.

Details are in my bio on how we made all this work. Suffice it to say we came in almost exactly on budget, and had a lovely wedding. And all of it was done with no wedding planner. And we did all of our planning for the Massachusetts part long-distance, without even one visit to Massachusetts.

[Leahz]

:heartface:My budget is only 2,000. We are doing the wedding at a local park that runs at about 40 dollars a day. I am doing my own invitations, and my aunt is a JP so she is going to marry us. My grandfather does very nice pictures, and a lady that my mom works with is going to do my cake. Also, my bridesmaids and groomsman are getting their own attire. My fiance and I agreed that we would try to do as cheap and simple as possible and take a cruise for the honeymoon. We are pretty much paying for the wedding ourselves so I am trying to cut costs everywhere possible.

[ItsAllTakingShape]

Well.. First, I'm super excited to post in a planning thread with actual plans :) I'm not planning a wedding, but my husband and I plan to renew our vows next October. We eloped, so this will be my "wedding" and I plan to make it fantastic :)

My budget is $1000. If I can come in under $1000, even better :)

I have several things (read, MOST!) that I'll DIY:

Flowers - I'm a clay artist and will be making an everlasting bouquet with clay.

Cake topper - again, I make these for a living - so I'm good :)

Dress - I've always wanted to make my own wedding dress! I should come in well under $150 for the dress

Decor - I'm pretty crafty, so I'll be making all the flowers (clay) and centerpieces (likely also clay) myself. I'll also make place card holders and whatever other table decor, and will buy or make the venue decor and decorate myself.

Favors - another clay project

Flower girl dress - I'll sew this, for my adorable daughter :)

Save the Dates and Invitations - I'll design these myself and have them professionally printed.



I haven't hammered out all the details yet, so there'll likely be more DIY in my future.

Also, I trade a LOT! I trade for our family's photos, so I'm hoping to trade for wedding photos as well. I also trade a lot on Etsy, my handcrafted items for another sellers. I've traded for everything from baby clothes, hair accessories to home decor and a temporary wedding band when my fingers swelled when I was pregnant. I'm hoping to trade for anything and everything I can - to make it great and stay under budget!!!


Hope that helps :D