$5000 budget

Congrats!

Look in to community centers as a venue. Maybe do a simple buffet or heavy hors d'ourves. Have it on an off day (not saturday). Keep the guest list small

Research research and research some more. Originally, I was extremely overwhelmed with how much things cost, but as I looked more and more I found vendors in our budget( which is small also.) And, I would suggest planning in bite sized pieces. Makes life a lot easier.

Here's an idea of a timeline, too.

http://www.realsimple.com/weddings/planning/wedding-planning-checklist-00000000000222/index.html

How many guests are you looking at? The biggest thing you can do to cut down on costs is to limit the number of guests.

Thinking outside the box can also help. For example:

* If you have your reception at a restaurant, you typically avoid venue rental fees. A large wedding could take over the whole restaurant, or a smaller one could be held in the private dining room of a restaurant.

* Perhaps you could consider a time other than evening. A really elegant brunch wedding can still cost less than an evening wedding with dinner and dancing, because a) brunch food costs less than dinner, and b) people don't drink as much alcohol at that time of day.

* If you really want to limit food costs, how about an afternoon cake and punch reception?

* Holding the ceremony at the reception location will often keep costs down. Or if you want a church wedding, the church will often have a social hall you can use for the wedding.

Thanks! I'm not sure what is considered small but we have 75 people and that's the most I want. I think I'll feel better when the venue is booked.

Local parks can be cheaper venues. Flowers are cheaper online. Try samsclub.com. And believe it or not, the wal-mart bakery can do cakes. Beautiful cakes. For under 150 bucks. But as for venues, try local parks, forest preserves, and community centers. Most community centers have a kitchen and tables and chairs.

Where Is Baltimore are you. Geneva farms in harbord county work with your budget, they are really nice and the place is pretty. A Friday or Sunday wedding are also cheaper. Once you find the venue things will start to fall into place. It's never to early to start planning.

Thanks. I will definitely try Wal-Mart for a cake. I live in Northeast Baltimore city but I will look at that venue thanks.

Hi Kayla, so this is strange, I was in the EXACT same boat as you when I was planning my wedding! Down to the commissioning fiancé, Maryland wedding and everything!!

I DIY-ed my flowers, I went to a local florist (Odenton Florist) and ordered flowers in bulk. After all was said and done, I spent $12 on each centerpiece. I attached a pic of them to this post.

I would definitely look into parks, or if you want an actual venue look into off days like Wednesday or Thursday. Sundays and Fridays are slightly less expensive too. Morning weddings or noon wedding will cut costs too.

If you can change your date, too, you may want to also consider an off-peak wedding. "Wedding Season" typically lasts from May through October, so venues and other venues will charge more if you get married during those months.

@Barbara makes a great point too. Your date is around the exact same time as mine, probably for the same reason too (commissioning and graduation schedules).

BUT if there is any way you could do early spring, that would save a bunch too.

I was going to suggest Geneva Farms too

I'm just outside Baltimore! It's definitely do-able in your budget for 75 people, just gotta do the leg work and look!

We're getting married at a county park lodge and only spent $1,000 to rent it for three days. That gives us time to set up and clean up since we opted to do all that ourselves. That MAY be an option. And with 75 people, I'd keep looking at caterers. A lot of good restaurants cater and you may be surprised at how cheap their catering may be! If it wasn't for FFIL, we were going to do an amazing taco buffet and it was only going to be like $600 for 100 guests and it was all homemade delicious goodness (seriously, one of my favorite places for Mexican food).

Also, think of non-floral centerpieces, beer and wine only, and REALLY look at DJ's and photographers. I had to do some looking around, but found a DJ for only $600 when most in my area cost much more, and my photographer is still a student, but did our e-pics, and is only charging $500 and I get my images on a disc, which I can then choose to print whenever and wherever and however I wish.

I have a small budget too mine is $6,000 and I was able to get a bouquet hall to do my ceremony and reception I am doing a lot of DIY'S like my flowers and I have family and friends helping out to i was able to get my whole theme at Wal-Mart the invites with card and the pillow exc. for under 60 dollars also you can try going to like a craft store to get stuff too

Thanks for all the help guys. I would do an early spring wedding but he goes to the Naval Academy so you can't get married until after you graduate. I think I will try the DIY but I've never done DIY before so we'll see how it goes. I've been emailing a lot of venues to see how much it would be for ceremony and reception so I'm just waiting for responses.

Kayla so your fiance is in the military? If he is, check out top of the bay at Aberdeen Proving ground. Thats where I am getting married and the rates stay the same through out the year. No peak and off peak rates which it great. It is very affordable. If you want, message me and i will go into detail.

Hey Kayla! I'm actually in a very similar situation as you. Except, my future hubby is going into the Marines. We are also getting married in June (after his graduation) on a 5k budget.

While diy is a huge money saver, the best way to keep costs down is to have a small wedding (mine is about 40 people). In addition to this, having your wedding on a day other than Saturday can save you a lot of money as well. I'm doing a Sunday brunch reception, which will save us even more money on food (lunches are cheaper) and alcohol (we don't have to serve hard liquor at noon). Venues tend to give discounts for weekday weddings and Sundays, so keep that in mind.

You can also save money by picking out less expensive rings and upgrading them at a future anniversary. I see that Soonyee mentioned diy flowers, but you don't actually have to go through a florist. I'm doing mine in bulk from Sams Club, they deliver them about 2 days before the wedding and you arrange them and refrigerate them.

My fiance' and I are getting married in May and our budget is $5000 as well. We have spent over half that already, but gotten big purchases out of the way. For example, our reception venue (ceremony is in our backyard) is $1450, but it includes tables, chairs, and linens, so that saved a lot. I would recommend asking the venues you're looking at if they offer something like that.

I'm not sure about up there, but here in GA, BBQ is very popular. We are feeding our wedding guests (app. 50) for $10/plate, and the caterer brings all the plates, napkins, sweet tea, silverware, etc. Definitely worth it.

As far as the decor, definitely DIY. I am doing everything except my bouquet, my BMs bouquets (which will be babys breath), and one ceremony arrangement. We are using ferns, babys breath, and my DIY crafts for the rest of the decor.

I am using a rustic theme, which may not be "popular" in MD, but it fits us very well and makes it very easy to stay within budget! Hope this helps!

Biggest thing- keep it to a small guest list. With under 100 or so you could easily do a $5000 wedding!

I agree with all theses lady's, keep you guest list under a 100. Try looking at state parks for a venue, The venue I was looking at wanted 14,000 for just 40 people, instead we moved ours to a state park and got the whole weekend fri-sun for just 500 bucks, So on friday we will set up and do the reharsal and wedding on saturday, we are getting married on the lake right there, preacher was free we just had to do some classes. and we are doing all the clean up on sunday, OG is catering the food, even talked a couple of servers in to coming and serve our wedding that day, Dj, is free ( family friend) and photogapher is a friend of a friend, I ebay almost everything, and VP for all the invites, bottom line is we are spending about 4000 for our wedding, And that includes everything but the honeymoon, We decided to use our money on the honeymoon and skip the big fancy wedding. but we are still doing everything, Hair, makeup, favors, dessert bar, real flowers, ect