$8,000 wedding How much should I DIY and how much should I spend the $ on

DIY doesn't necessarily save you money. (If it takes you several tries to get something right, the cost of the supplies may exceed what you would have paid just to have someone else do it to begin with.) And even when it does save you money, you have to balance the time taken against the savings. (If you can save $20 by spending 20 hours, it's probably not worth it.)

Your biggest cost savings will come from limiting the size of the guest list. Second biggest savings will come from limiting food and drink (e.g., having a brunch wedding, or an afternoon cake and punch wedding, instead of a sit-down dinner). You may want to limit DIY to a) items that will save you a lot of money relative to the effort involved, or b) personalized items that just aren't available at all commercially.

I have the same budget with 150 guests. we saved the most money by choosing cheap venues, hiring friends as vendors, nixing non necisities, designating priorities to splurge on, buying used linens and vases, and buying as things go on sale. i work 50hrs a wk

Thank you! We are looking at Mercury Cafe for venue because they have a very very small site fee if you cater with them and they have an appetizer menu. Thoughts on doing maybe very simple table flowers myself? we were going to skip the very large tables and do 2 tops and keep it very casual with just maybe a flower or two on each table, kind of Parisian Cafe style. Maybe something kind of like this...

...ok that photo won't attach properly so here's the link to it... http://inspiringpretty.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/roses-under-wine-glasses-wedding-table-centerpieces(pp_w418_h600).png

I love cocktail receptions and you're right; smaller, casual centerpieces will be just fine on smaller tables. I've done a lot of weddings in this style this year, and everyone love them. People can eat just as much food hors d'oeuvre/station style and lots of other costs go down. Just make sure your guests know what you're doing, the time is right, and you have enough food.

I agree with 2d bride DIY isn't always cheaper. Between supplies and time my card box cost $75. I could of totally bought a cheapo one for like $20 or $30 somewhere online but I wanted to do something unique. If you are going to to DIY projects look for sales. Depending on your theme you might find stuff at yard sales / flea markets. I've read that not really having a theme but more of just a color scheme helps keep your costs down. I'm not sure if this is true but it makes sense to me. You don't have to follow any one thing. Depending on the over all look of the venue & room your reception is in sometimes less is more. With our venue we don't need alot of décor which is saving us a ton of money.

I'm doing mine for about $8500.

*Rented huge beach house. $3000. Big expense, but we get the house for a week and didn't have to use preferred venders

*ordered my dress online $800. ( save $250 vs bridal salon)

*drop off caterer $800 ( save a ton not having wait staff, chefs, bar tenders, etc.)

*providing our appetizers and drinks $800

*my friend is a photographer $800 (huge score!)

*no flowers, candles and lanterns for centerpieces. Made bouquets from sola flowers, ribbon roses, feather and mine from brooches. A DIY project that was more expensive than real flowers and very time consuming. Decor and bouquets about $1000

* no dj. FSIL may get us a band as a gift, if not we will play from our iTunes.

* $300 for rentals

* $300 for STDs, invitations and programs

* misc: dress alterations, jewelry, favors

It depends on how many guests you have. We're doing a lot of DIY stuff because the store bought stuff was too much. I mean, there are cheaper alternatives but for what you want, if its cheaper to make it and worth it, do it! There was a sign we really loved, but it was $50. We made it ourselves for $8. Card box, was $50 online, we made it for about $10. Cake toppers on Etsy were $60, made then for about $15 total with everything.

And like everyone said, you have to decide what you want for food and what direction you're going with your wedding. Do you want it to look really elegant, rustic, etc? Once you have an idea on what food you want, the look you want and what not, you just have to research and see what you come up with. If you have a low guest list, its totally doable!

One of the best things to do DIY is a Candy Buffet. If you have a party planner do it for you, the cost of the planner and the candy will soar through the roof but if you choose the candy yourself and the jars all you have to do is fill them up and arrange them nicely on a table and add some simple decorations such as jar labels, a nice table cloth, and nice favor bags for your guests to place their candy in. Its as simple as that!

We ended up doing electronic STD since we didn't think they were super important. I used vistaprint to make "postcard invitations" which came out really nice and used a coupon code so came out to about $25 including envelopes and shipping. We're doing centerpieces without flowers and using vases instead with ribbon and floating candles (vases $1 each at Dollar Tree). We're serving hors d'oeuvres and dips instead of full meal, and we chose a venue that only cost $150 to rent out plus whatever the food costs are. We've been trying to cut costs wherever we can but still keeping it nice. I'm not sure if I can post pictures through the app but message me if you wanna see any pics.

Use vista print for your stationary. You design them how you want or choose a design from their site. I spent $40 on 40 save the dates, and as for the rest of stationary:

$7.23 on postcards for 50 thank you cards & $7.23 for 50 reception cards (they're usually $10 but they were on sale)

$11.99 (usually $16) for return address labels for 250

$75 for 100 wedding programs (I used the brochures for my programs)

$22.49 (usually $30) for 250 folded cards as my place & escort cards (I used business cards)

$31.74 (usually $53) for 50 RSVP cards

$37.74 (usually $63) for 50 invitations

And I went to Zazzle.com for my table number cards and they were $10.79 for 13 cards that's .83 each card.

Other reasonably affordable sites for accessories and other things you may need:

theknot.com for table card number holders

Avon.com for makeup

David'sbridal.com for my bra

Topwedding.com for my garter

Exclusivelyweddings.com for my bridal party's gifts

Wrapwithus.com for personalized flutes as favors, aisle runner, sand pouring box, bubbles, guest book, & pen

Michaels for sand & floating candles

Orientaltrading.com for the balls of flowers, place card holders, tissue packs, & a card box

Payless for shoes

Lightinthebox.com for my tiara, viel, & jewelry set

Walmart for trays, server set, picture frames, & chalk boards

Dollar Tree for (kids' favors) candy, bags, mini games, erasers, sharpeners, pencils, art pads, gum, & crayons

Dollar Tree for (center pieces, survival kits for my girls, & champagne glasses for a little mimosas as were getting ready) breath spray, marbles, fake flowers, cylinder vases, regular vases, tissue paper, champay flutes, hand sanitizer, hand lotion, petroleum jelly, ibuprofen, compact mirrors, pocket tissues, lip balm, lip gloss, lint rollers, & travel sized deodorants. And of course things for both our moms too.

My wedding flowers, centerpieces for the church and reception has been DYI. We're having a garden theme wedding. I spoke with a wedding decorator and for what I wanted would have cost me
3000. So, i did it myself and spent about 800. I purchased my flowers from Amazon, temu and shein. I made my own bridal bouquet, and brides maids bouquet, boutineres, corsages (started two months after engagement which was may 2023. Our weddings is march 2025, so I've had plenty of time for the DIY. Venue 1000, church 300, caterer 1300 (breakfast menu for 150 guest), limo 350, wedding invitations 130 programs 25.00. Reserved signs, gift card boxes, champagne glasses about 150.Three bridal dresses 600.00 (david bridals salesl)All we really have left to do is hire a photographer, dj and baker. Which will be about another 2000. Miscellaneous items about 500.00. Me and my fiancé's have been saving 500.00 a month which has helped with the purchasing. This has really been fun and saved along of money