5k weddings?!?

I'm saving at our church. only a 175 rental fee... but there's lots that needs to be done for marriage prep, so that's not much of a discount. Mostly, no alcohol (even though its a touchy subject here), and I don't need much decorations for the ceremony... plus cheap invitations.

My dress was under $300 too and am using a local (but artisan) grocery store bakery for the cake

We set a budget of about $7500 but I'm really hoping to stay under $5000...we're having ours at a college with a rose garden that my aunt/wedding coordinator gets at an alumni rate...my sister got married last year & spent about $3000 & it was beautiful...they got married at their church for free & her husband's family are really great cooks so his family did her reception...she got 2 dresses for under $500...didn't have a bar bc it wasn't allowed where her reception was...ummmm...& her centerpieces were very simple & everything was diy

You have to be money smart. Only buy things when they go on sale and alot of DIY's. You can also google up ideas and.tips on budgeting. Let me know i know your close to my area from what your other post said. Good luck!

Cut the guest list brutally and the wedding party too. The thing with guest lists is that for most people, the first 20 guests are easy to find; immediate family and bestest friends. After that, you find people in groups, and it's hard to explain to less crucial people why they can't come.

You can have a gorgeous, wonderful party with the people closest to you for that amount of dollars; in NJ/NY, probably 20-30 guests (even more if you do an afternoon or brunch party at a restaurant) with a photographer for a couple of hours. That way, no one has to cook, you really don't have to DIY anything; you can relax and enjoy.

My budget is actually $4K and I live in NYC.

*We are having the ceremony and reception at the same venue.

*We are only having 70 guest.

*FH created the respond cards and the invitation card (we ordered the invitation for Ann's Bridal Bargain - really inexpensive)

*We are not having a DJ and are simply creating a playlist and venue said they can have it play throughout the speakers

*Bought dress during a sample sale

* Our officiant is the leader of our church/ministry so it will be free or low cost.

* We are having a brunch reception and we are not having a cocktail hour.

* Typically getting married on a Friday or Sunday is cheaper, but with our venue the price was the same regardless of the day.

* We are not having limos. Staying in a hotel the night before and night of the wedding. We actually found a hotel that offers free shuttle service within 3 miles of the hotel (venue is exactly 3 miles away from hotel).

* We are not having favors (heard people typically throw these away anyways). We might just give them the cake to go since venue will have a dessert station (if we do this the cake would be the favor, heard ppl like edible favors).

* Alcohol is usually a huge cost. With our brunch reception mimosa, sangria and a signature drink is included. Hard liquor would be an additional cost (which we are not having).

This is all I can think of thus far.

At first I thought this meant getting married while running a 5K race.

My sister did her wedding for $5,000. She was in a barn 30 minutes out of town, had Mexican food dropped off from a restaurant that my other sister served, used paper plates/plastic silverware, had a photographer friend who did photos for a reduced price, and she got a used dress for under $100. My other sister also made the cupcakes at a bakery she was working at.

It had its ups and downs; I'd suggest making sure you have people designated to clean up, move chairs, multiple people serving food, etc, as there was no coordinator or real vendors contributing. The food being dropped off with no one cleaning up the leftovers was also complicated. We had someone drive to town to buy zip lock bags so we could transport it all home. Organization and expecting the unexpected is key!

We are doing it for a little under $6000! I like OK tho. We are having the ceremony and a cabin the woods at a local state park and the ceremony is on top of the hill overlooking the cabin in a beautiful building. The total venue cost was $689. Then Chick-fil-A is catering for 200 people = $605 and the DJ is charging $500 for the ceremony and reception. We found an at home baker for the wedding cake - 4 tiers for $1.89/serving and another at home baker for the grooms cake $90. We found a good deal on chair rentals for the ceremony as long as we set them up and take them down. Photographer is a side business type deal for $500. My dress we only $299 from Davids Bridal.. so it hasnt been too bad.. Lots of DIY tho

ETA: We are also not having alcohol for several reasons. Also BM dresses are from Ross for $15. They came fromal formal line. Here in OK they only had 4 dresses and we got those 4. My wedding shoes are $12 from Wet Seal. We're getting married on a Friday but they hasnt saved us any money so far. Also using Hobby Lobbys 40% off coupon daily.. literally everyday FH and I go into Hobby Lobby to purchase something wth our 40% off coupons. All our vases were bought at a garage sale or dollar tree

Us: Backyard wedding, "ipod dj" - lol, bridesmaids are singing, and only dessert/fruit/cheese/beverages for snacking. No alcohol.

My dress was $200 (Macy's Ralph Lauren evening dress on sale), I paid $30 for each bridesmaid dress (Burlington)

Think of it more like a church social that happens to have a wedding ;-)

the highest cost will be the photographer.

Our budget is hopefully no more than $3,000, but so far it's at $2,000 and we're almost done. We got friends who were crafty to help make decorations and paid them a little for doing it, a lot of our items for decorating were things we found outdoors, things we already had or we bought at Goodwill or a local thrift shop/antique shop. We are using a lot of mason jars/wine bottles/pasta sauce jars/jam jars, etc for centerpieces and decorating some fireplaces and so I asked coworkers if they could bring in items they were going to throw away so we could recycle them. Also, we keep an eye on Craigslist and have gotten multiple items that people are selling cheap from their wedding and sometimes we've even found free items. We're getting married in a state park so the venue is free for the ceremony and the reception is only $150. We're being loaned a PA system for the wedding and the DJ is a college student who was recommended, we're having a limited bar and asking close friends to bring one bottle of wine/liquor to help out and then having family/friends help make food and the cake. The flowers we are renting from a local flower shop which cuts the cost back as well. It's been more fun getting everyone involved and it's a lot more meaningful. Have fun!

Our budget is $3,000. My dress was $600, but we are doing dessert reception on a Sunday at a state park. no bridal party, FH is wearing a suit he already had, no favors. No DJ.

The budget numbers scare me! Im hoping to keep ours small. Preferably between ****. I am having the wedding ceremony and reception in my parents backyard. My mom and dad will also be doing all the food for us. We each have asked our best friends to stand with us, but no other wedding party members. Im also going the "ipod dj" and will buy my dress i think online from one of the discount sites. Or just find a simple white summer dress. I want a 'wood' theme - and me and fiance will be doing all our centerpieces and anything wood ourselves. He's a total logger at heart <3 so this is something that will be very personal.

Did you accidentally post this twice?

Here's my answer copy and pasted from when you posted this a few hours ago:

Looks like we will be coming in at around $5,500. Most of our savings was from keeping the wedding small and simple.

Under 50 guests

No DJ or Band - just DJ ipod

Food "catered" by family member- I'm just footing the grocery bill

Friday wedding lowered venue price

A LOT of shopping around for the best price

I was not willing to skimp on the photographer. She makes up 1/3 of our budget!

No fancy transportation- I can drive my own ass there!

No wedding party- just me and FH

No flowers- we are getting married in a garden, so we don't need any

A $5K wedding is possible if you are willing to put in the time and make some compromises. Good luck!

@OregonEmily I did accidently post twice, idk how but it was on my phone sorry. And Thank you everyone who commented helped me alot, because alot of people were telling me it was not possible to have a $5,000 wedding.

Negotiate. Negotiate. Negotiate. Try to reserve your venue and venders about a year ahead of time. This give you bargaining power. We have a budget that is $5000 and due to booking early we are looking at a budget now of $3800. Prices are never set in stone. We just booked our venue and knocked 200 off the price just by asking.

Our goal was $3000, right now I'm still under So fingers crossed it stays that way! We choose a BEAUTIFUL local park with a trellis to have the wedding under and lodge with a stone fireplace So we are going rustic and letting the venue and nature do most of the decor for us! Which saves a ton.

Our biggest cost is catering. But no bar, because the park doesn't allow it, which made it an easy out of us

We set our budget to 10k but this post is inspiring me to go lower!!! lol great ideas... the only one i cant see us doing is the Ipod Dj-- I would have no idea how to put a playlist together to entertain other people

We did it for $5k out of pocket

We had it in the church where hubs grew up, for free, and then had the reception on a family property. The open bar was just costco alcohol, the food was from a mom and pop restaurant, we shopped around for the cheapest rentals, networked a family friend for the cake, we work in technology so we got the uplighting and PA system for $200 with iPod playlist, we barter-traded for the photography, paid a friend to video, did costco wholesale flowers (red roses on vday) $600.... i'm probably forgetting something else but yeah it can be done but we pulled a lot of strings

Our budget is 6k and we went with an all inclusive venue. Our guest list dropped to 50 people, and we are not having a big bridal party. Just a MOH and BM. It's extremely difficult but you can make it happen.

I'm impressed by all of you ~5K ladies!!! Ours is $20K and we're still DIY a lot of things, not having a DJ, not even having a full open bar. I'm making my own cake, doing all of the flowers (some are potted). I bought most of my decorations from kjiji... Anyway, seriously nice work everyone!!!

I am thinking realistically ours will be $7-$8K - but I want it dropped if at all possible. I want FH to chop the guest list because despite the fact I am thinking we will get the catering for less than what we anticipated, every mouth we have to feed is sunk cost.

So far our venue was $2300 and the photographer is $1600. I got my dress, veil, and alterations for $400. I really do not want a DJ - but we are having an outdoor ceremony so we have to have amplified sound somehow. I chose only to have two bridesmaids (saving money on gifts). My cousin will marry us for free (he is a minister). We are not doing favors (my aunt volunteered to make cookies for us to give). I am getting flowers from an online wholesale place. Unless the FIL's step up, I am NOT having any alcohol either and I am thinking of nixing appetizers before dinner (we moved up the start time of the ceremony to 2 instead of 4 so we can serve "dinner" at 4).