$5,000 Budget, Need Help!

Look into your local Fire Halls, VFW'S and American Legions. They are very affordable and a lot of times offer catering

Here are my suggestions:
Trim your guest list. If your budget is 5000 and you have 50 guests, that only gives you $100 per head. The caterers I've looked into charge about $30 per person for food alone, and that's on the lower end. Have the reception as a regular meal at a restaurant (if you're ok with skipping the dance floor). If you do a private room or do the reception package, they will charge you a steep minimum.
Have the ceremony in a public space (park permits are a couple hundred) or find a restaurant with a ceremony spaceFridays are cheaperYou could do a cake and punch reception, but that doesn't solve your problem with space and rentals
With your budget, I would not get a planner
David's Bridal has dresses that cost under 200, but they are hard to find and you also need to budget for alterations.
The hardest part is finding a venue that can accommodate a ceremony and meal
I think using a "blank slate" venue without a planner would really make things logistically difficult on the day of. It's also not necessarily cheaper, as you've learned from researching a backyard wedding
I looked into doing an immediate family only microwedding at a restaurant that had a ceremony space. It seemed to be the easiest logistically, I did not want to be chasing down a bunch of task rabbits to set up my tables or decorate my arch
Good luck!

I'm working with a Similar budget. See if you can use a public place for a venue. Borrow tables and chairs from a local church. Skip floral decorations. Borrow what you can. Its definitely possible to work with your budget. Dont be discouraged!

Hi Elysia! I'm in the same position. Definitely not wanting to spend (at the absolute most) more than $8K. Our families are willing to help a little (we don't even want to ask for much at all), neither are very well off, and we don't have much either so we're trying to keep everything at the bare minimum without feeling like we settled on the important parts. We're in CA so pricing is a bit crazy around here. Also have a small wedding of around 40 guests. I have a very clear vision of what I want, and it's almost impossible to stay within our budget, unfortunately - which may make us push the wedding back a year, although we're still shooting for late 2020.

Start by looking on WeddingWire, The Knot, Here Comes The Guide. BUT, also do a simple google search and widen your choices by not looking exclusively for wedding venues which are often more expensive (also look for venues that allow outside vendors. Catering packages can be quite expensive.) There are state parks, community centers and banquet halls that can offer a more affordable price. You also do not have to set your date first, unless the date is very important to you. I have some preferences, but really when you're trying to budget and what not, sometimes you just have to be more open. You definitely can negotiate with vendors. So many photographers/videographers have worked with us to stay within our budget, although we have yet to book a single vendor. (Sorry for all the reading. Really related to your post with all the struggles we've been dealing with!) $5k is definitely achievable with an open mind!

Thanks for the advice, everyone! It’s been super helpful to read your ideas. My fiancé and I made the difficult decision to cut our guest list by more than half—now we’re just 20 (plus us, so really 22). A couple of you mentioned finding a restaurant for the reception and that is what we’re going to do, and maybe a ceremony in a local park. When we sat down and talked about it, my fiancé and I realized we don’t want to be around a bunch of people who we don’t really know, we want to celebrate the day with the people who matter most to us. The only two things I really want are a good cake and to have a first dance (but skip all the other dancing). I think pairing it down to what’s most important is what we needed to do. Some feelings might be hurt because no extended family is invited, but we’re paying for this on our own and it’s our decision at the end of the day. Everything is a little more manageable now!

I feel you, girl. Disclaimer - We have a budget of $7000 given from our parents. That said, we are trying to stay under $5000 and apply the rest to moving costs. I never spent much time wedding dreaming when I was younger either. But once we got engaged, I had a general vision. But that changed. We picked a ceremony venue first then set the date. Once you pick the venue, you can design around it. You should be able to do this with a little creativity. Definitely use the wedding wire tool to realize your vision. I'll list some choices I made with a tight budget in mind:

1. Destination wedding - Yeah it sound's expensive at first, but stick with me. We live in Dallas and are getting married in New Orleans. It's where we got engaged. I have a ton of cousins/aunt/uncles as well, but sadly I cant afford to
feed them all. Also My FH's immediate family is not very close to his
extended family and I didn't want the wedding to be lopsided for his
sake. This way, the wedding is close enough for us to drive, but far enough away, that it cuts out a lot of people from being able to go. I'm a teacher, so I set the date for summer and can afford to take several weekdays off before the honeymoon.

1.a. We're deferring the honeymoon until later in the summer this gives us a change to build the financials back up and get income from my second job. You may want to do a minimoon and save up for a full week - 10 days later.

2. Guest list - I was initially planning on 50 guests, but one of the first and best
pieces of advice was cut the guest list...then cut it again. We're down
to 23, not 25, 23, people which is good because...

3. Ceremony in the park - A city like NOLA has BEAUTIFULLY manicured parks.
We chose a less popular, but still meaningful to us park. There were
strata for guest count. the cheapest was $250 for 25 people then it was
$350 for up to 50 people. This was fine, because...

4. Brunch reception at a restaurant - The restaurant had a
very specific private dining room that I wanted. It seats 24, not 25. This may only be possible in a food
town like NOLA, Dallas, NYC, etc. Cheaper than a caterer/event venue.
Disclaimer - this is the biggest chunk of our budget, but we both agreed
NOLA food is worth it. We're estimating just under $2000.

5. Flowers - Since we're getting married in the park in June, I don't need to spend much on flowers. I am only having my and my two bridesmaids bouquets. MAYBE some garland for the railings of the steps. Our bouquets will serve as the centerpieces. The walls at the restaurant private room is wallpapered in the old school fancy stuff, so any decorations there would be unnecessary. I'm using Blooms By the Box. I would have used Flower Moxie, because the flowers are less expensive, but they have a $350 minimum. I can get everything I need at Blooms for about $200. Disclaimer - this is DIY.

6. My dress - I poopooed the idea of a "used dress" but when I found my dream dress cost $1600, I settled for the same dress "gently worn" on Still White for $700 +$56 shipping. I paid for that with my won money, paying back my mom one paycheck at a time over 6 months. I LOVE this dress and the previous owner took great care of it and gave me EXACT measurements before hand. I'm a little bit larger than she is, but luckily for me she had ti taken up without cutting any part and I can just have it let back out. Disclaimer - I did not count this purchase toward our budget. And there are certainly less expensive, new dresses out there.

7. The cake - I used Wedding Wire and the Knot to find my cake lady. Shes doing a 4"/6" two layer with two layers of macarons for about $250. My design is extremely custom, but she had some beautiful ones starting at about $50. She's got rave reviews for her cake designs and taste.

8. Bridesmaids dresses - I used Kennedy Blue. Caught the Christmas sale and got $139 dresses for $99. I love them because they send inexpensive swatches and you can try on dresses for $10. Yes, $10. The one my sister tried on still had original tags. Shipping for the try-ons is a piece of cake. Shipping for the actual dresses to 9 weeks for me. Only down side - no custom sizing. There are other cites, and storefronts, but I also like them because they are made in the USA.

9. Invitations - Ann's Bridal Bargains. You're not likely to find bundles for less that 25, but that's ok, because my whole set was $20.76 after the first time buyer's discount. I was able to 99% customize them. The ink color and most of the wording. I didn't order RSVP reply cards or reception cards. It's a trifold, so I just put the reception info on the back. I also put our Wedding wire website on the back to RSVP to. Save money, save paper, save a tree.

10. I did splurge on the customized Wedding Wire website, simply because we have unusual names and using weddingwire....../mynamehisname.com was too much for asking people to RSVP online. it was $35, I think to keep it registered for a year. That said, this site is the best I've found for budget setting and tracking. It thinks of almost everything. And it lets you delete what you don't need, which is nice because once you get rid of an expense you can do without, it's far less tempting to let it creep back into the budget.

11. ETSY - we're ordering our wedding bands, for $100. Also handle fan programs. Again, it will be outdoors in June in NOLA, so it's the least I can do for my guests. Programs will be $47.50 for a set of 25. It was a $1 per piece upcharge for the handles, but I'm catching a Leap Year sale and getting 15% off. Without the handles they would be $21.25, printed front and back, with customizable paper, inc and wording. her lead time is about 6 weeks once the design is finalized.

12. Photographer - This was the big splurge I had to talk my FH into. NOLA is a HUGE destination wedding city, so at first I couldn't find anyone for less than $250 an hour with a 4 hour minimum. I kept looking and finally found someone who had great reviews and rates at $250 an hour with a two hour minimum. I'm a former model and actor, so nice pics are important to me. I love her shooting style and am looking forward to working with er. That said, I recently found this service called SHOOTT. They do quick 30 sessions for free and the client only pays for the digital images they want. The only catch is if you use them a second time, you pay a $60 sitting fee if you bought less than $60 worth of images the first time. As a former actor/model, this isn't a bad idea. The reviews look great. My FH hates taking pics, but he agreed to do this mini session so he would be more comfortable during the wedding session. Also this will serve as our "engagement" pics. Disclaimer - I only saw info for engagement pics, but you could probably do post wedding pics in the dress and tux at a later date.

Basically, I'm keeping it simple and traditional without too many bells and whistles or newfangled fads. Like some have said before, a wedding planner isn't in our budget, but you may be able to have a wedding coordinator. If we come under budget, I might add this service just for day of coordination so I don't have to be in two places at once.I hope this helps, and if you (or anyone) have any questions about specific details, let me know!

View Quoted Comment Hi, D Ross! Thanks for all the advice. I have a question for you. A destination wedding never crossed my mind because I thought they were much more expensive. What are your traveling/accommodation costs like? Are you also paying for all your guests to travel, or do they pay for that themselves? I’ve noticed that I live in an area where the wedding venues are just expensive, and if we go maybe a little over an hour west, or north possibly it could be cheaper. I don’t want to make my guests and family drive a lot to get to my wedding though, it might also make people RSVP with a “no”. While I’m thinking about expanding my search area, I have some older guests with limited mobility/can’t handle long car rides who would not be able to come if I had a “destination” type wedding. These people are important to me, and I want them there on my wedding day. So I might have to settle on an expensive venue in my area.


I toured the Hotel Bethlehem (in our downtown area) a couple weeks ago and fell in love with it. The ballroom there is “eh”, but they have this gorgeous restaurant with these dramatic windows and the room barely needs any decoration. The restaurant only holds 50 people but we were planning on around 40 so it works out. We might even cut that to 25. I’m undecided on that right now, because I have family members who will start drama if I don’t invite people—not sure if I want the hassle.
Here are some things we’re doing that will hopefully save us money:
1. Brunch Buffet: dinner at the venue we like is $90pp (way out of our budget), but brunch is only $38pp (much more manageable for us!)2. Alcohol: we are doing beer, wine, and mimosas only, and will pay for drinks for the first hour. After that, guests pay for them. Our reception will only be three hours long, so I think that will be okay.3. Venue: it’s $500 to rent the space, we can get there as early as we want. Tables, chairs, linens, and all of that is included. There is no coordinator included, my mom will be doing that.4. Music: since this is a brunch wedding, we are not expecting people to bust a move on the dance floor. The only “tradition” we are doing is the first dance. So we are not having a DJ, we will hook a small speaker system (already have) and create our own playlists, and will have a friend announce us for the first dance.5. Bridal Party: we’re not having one. We decided we don’t want to make our friends pay all that money that comes with being a bridesmaid/groomsmen6. Dress: I already got a beautiful, simple dress at David’s Bridal for $260, alterations included7. Cake: our brunch catering includes house made desserts for our guests, so we’ll just be caking a small cake for the two of us.8. Photographer: my mom is a photographer/used to photograph weddings. She has a lot of friends in our local photography community who are willing to come down on their price because our wedding is day time and short. So i’m hoping to find someone great this way.
Oh, and our ceremony and reception would be in the same place (same room even!) so guests don’t have to go anywhere. We’ll be done by 2, so everyone will have the rest of the day to do whatever they want. For us and our friends, there’s a bunch of bars in the area for a fun after party. Our budget has expanded a little, as my mom surprised me by telling me she wants to contribute. With her help, our budget is now $8,000. So that makes things a little easier!

Look into your local parks, you can reserve pavilions or even community houses for really low cost and some of them even come with tables and chairs. DIY as much as you can. Instead of a wedding cake, have cupcakes, donuts or cake pops. I got my dress from Davids Bridal for $99 so there are definitely inexpensive dress options. Even cheaper if you order one online. Catering, go with italian, mexican or bbq as they're the cheapest and pick a locally owned one if you can as they tend to be more reasonable and will negotiate unlike big chains. Do your own planning, check thumbtack for a photographer, check into a local beauty school for hair and makeup as they do it for free and you can try out different stylist!

Or you could just say to hell with all of that and get married on a cruise ship! Wedding and honeymoon at one time!

View Quoted Comment

So happy for you that your mom is helping out. Honestly, if our moms weren't, we'd just be going to a JP. I'm glad we're able to do a little something, as neither my mom nor my grandmother had a wedding. They both eloped. I am the oldest daughter of the oldest daughter, so they want something special for me.

I am not paying for hotel or travel for my guests. That said, our families and friends are generally more well off than we are, and are happy to pay for their accommodations. His sister's gift to us will be our stay in a really nice hotel, and my best friend is booking a weekend getaway for us. This will keep up firmly under budget, instead of going slightly over. They are all happy to and capable of driving/flying depending on financial situation. Keep in mind, we're getting married in the summer and have a very small guest list. We're basically inviting people we know can take care of their own accommodations. Both of our fathers and all of our grandfathers have passed away. His remaining grandmother has dementia, so one of his aunts will stay home with her. His mother is retired and my mother is retiring the month of the wedding. I, and my brides maids are teachers and everyone else are work from home/have very flexible schedules. There are also the factors that 1. His parents and sister also got engaged/honeymooned in NOLA, 2. Anyone else who has been, loves the city, and 3. Anyone who's never been is using this as a good excuse to go.

I also want to add that i did research if it was tacky to invite people to a destination wedding AND not pay for it. Most people said it wasn't tacky, as people can always say no, but also feel it out with a few people who would be invited to see how they respond to the idea. That said, we are foregoing things that could add to their (or our) expense like extra events, specific requests like mandatory shoes, hairstyles , etc., or gift registry.

It looks like you've already made some great moneysaving decisions. With the increased budget, you may not have to decrease the guest list, if you can get a restaurant that's just a restaurant. Ours is just a restaurant that has has a private room and with event pricing, but no rental feel. and we had a choice of price points per plate. The lowest was $40, but we went with eh $50, because good food i important to us. I say keep looking around for venues. You'd be surprised how cheap separate ceremony and reception venues can be.