Any Frugal Brides out there keeping their Wedding $10,000 and under?

My wedding is under $10k! We’re getting married at a non-typical venue, I bought my dress online for $500 (CocoMelody - they have a Black Friday sale coming up!) my FH will get his suit free from MW, a restaurant is doing bar/catering, we splurged on a photographer and DJ, flowers from a brand new florist so they’re inexpensive, mini Bundt cakes from Nothing Bundt Cakes, popcorn bar for apps and only table #’s and faux candles as decor. Maybeeeee a ceremony arch. Good luck!

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That sounds awesome!

I definitely think 10k is doable especially if you keep your guest list low. Is your photographer and officiant the same person? If so, how will you get ceremony pictures?

Our wedding will be under 3000!
1495 for our dj and photographer
70 for our officiant (our dj)360 for our cupcakes 40 park gazebo and picnic shelter65 for insurance My ring freeMy dress 40

We’re planning on getting married for under $5,000 but preferably closer to $4,000. Our ceremony will be at Rocky Mountain National Park, they charge $250 for the land use permit regardless of guest count. We cannot have any chairs (with the exception that we can bring a very small amount for sick or elderly guests if absolutely needed) and we cannot use any decorations or flowers or anything like that in the park. (This works in our favor as we save money by not having to buy any decorations and if people ask why, they’re not allowed).


For our reception we’re going to rent a shelter at the nearby parks& Rec for $25/hr. The only downside is that there is no electricity but we’re planning on using 2 big JBL speakers we already own and a playlist for any music.
I’m making cupcakes instead of ordering A wedding cake.
Our big expense besides the photographer is going to be transportation as we are renting vans. We are only allowed 10 cars maximum at the ceremony location, and many of our guests are coming from out of state (so the best way to ensure they actually arrive is to cart them there). We’re looking to spend almost $700 on the vans and entrance into the park ($25/car).
Our decorations are going to be very simple, no flowers or cake flowers only, fabric across the tables to add an accent to the basic table cloths we’re going to get. Mason jars with those colorful stones that you can get from the dollar tree for centerpieces (considering using fake flowers for seating cards that can be put into the jar at the center of the table to add to the centerpiece. I’m going to buy chalkboard signs from michaels which are about $7-10/board depending on size and write any board messages we want to have.
I’m DIYing our invitations they will be handwritten with a photograph that im going to take attached to the front of card stock.
I found a caterer that does a really good sounding Mac & cheese bar for $13.50/person, plus their delivery fee.

I forgot to add, our officiant is a family friend and will be officiating our wedding for free, and a friend might be helping us out with photography, but I also found a photographer who has a 4 hr package that costs $785 and that still falls within our budget, we just wouldn’t have photography during the reception.


We also will not be serving alcohol during the reception. But as the shelter does not have electricity we are planning to wrap the reception up by 7 and will invite anyone who wants to go to a local bar or brewery to continue the party (at their own expense).

That's really impressive!

The only concern is the officiant who is also a photographer. You should see if you can get a photographer who can get ceremony pictures. I don't think an iphone does justice to the photos that a DSLR can get.

For the bouquet, maybe you can make something if you get silk flowers from Michaels?

For the food, you could probably get a restaurant to make appetizers, picnic food for you guys. It'll also be a lot cheaper if you don't tell them it's for a wedding, but instead for an event.

Unfortunately, ours is not under $10k. If we did not offer to pay for our families travel and accommodations we would have definitely been under $10k!

Our wedding will be right under 10k for a guest list of 85 people. The most we've spent on one vendor/item has been our photographer who was a great deal at $1,775 with everything included in the package. Our venue was also a bargain at $1,400 compared to others in our area, and our catering will cost just under that $1,300. That's nearly half our budget right there. The rest will cover our DJ, our DOC, artificial flowers, mine & FH's attire, cake, officiant, hair stylist, wedding rings, parents/wedding party gifts, unity ceremony, and vendor tips.

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Yep, He's the same. He's a friend of our's. We just want to give him some money for doing us a great favor!

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That's awesome! 85 is like twice. I would be intimidated lol.

$4600 for 50 people

1. Ceremony venue- $22 we are getting married in a park that is next to a river, maybe renting 50 chairs ($75). Reception venue- $0 as long as we reach the food and beverage minimum and have meal for 50 people

2. Ceremony and Reception music- $0 we are going to rent a speaker and use an ipod

3, Invitations- $22 we bought 30 stamps and we are printing our invitations on printer paper since it works with our theme and it's just paper. We are either going to print off our own thank you cards ($38) from Staples and add photos or go with some plain thank yous ($12)

4. Photographer- $190 we are going with someone who is new to the wedding business but we like their photos. We found them through Facebook because they were advertising for free engagement shoot. So excited for that!!

5. My outfit- $140 I found my dress at a consignment store. I'm still getting that A-line satin dress with a bit of razzle dazzle on the back lol. I'm going to borrow something to wear in my hair, I don't have my ears pierced so no earrings, I don't like bracelets and I have a high neck dress so no necklace. Oh and I already own the shoes I want to wear. And I'm going to hem my dress myself (no details at the hem)

6. His- $150 my FH doesn't own a suit yet, other than the one from prom but can't find the pants for that one lol, so we want to find him one he can wear again

7. My ring- $0 we wanted to be equal and each have 1 ring.

8. His ring- $50 my FH wants a silicone ring

9. Flowers- either DIY with wood flowers and greenery from our yard ($75) or using a florist ($190). Both would be 1 bridal bouquet, 4 bridesmaids, 1 corsage, 10 boutonnieres. For centerpieces, I made paper dahlias to put inside glass bowls and we'll be making 8 centerpieces for $8

10. Transportation- we're not doing this

11. Place for people to stay- my junior bridesmaid sister is going to stay with my mom, 2 groomsmen and 1 bridesmaid live in the city as the wedding and we'll be offering for the rest (2 bridesmaids and 1 groomsmen) to stay at our apartment since we'll be staying in our hotel together

12. Catering- $2400 the required caterer at the venue, this includes 50 people 4 course plated meal, 4 litres of punch, 1 paid drink per person, water, coffee and tea

13. Favors- $130 candy table which includes the candy bags, large candy dishes and ingredients to make candy.

14. Rehearsal dinner- $45 just for wedding party (9 people)

15. Wedding day beauty- $0 I'm going to do my own

16. Officiant- $75

17. Wedding certificate- $50

18. Minimoon- $850. We're going to a city a 5 hour drive away and going to spend 4 days there. On our 1 year anniversary, we're going to go to London

19. Decorations- $82

20. Misc. costs- $100

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Never even thought of that. I would have to ask him that about the ceremony part. I think he has a friend who originally was going to be a witness as a second witness for a courthouse wedding but we kind of wanted a real kind of thing. I thought of the something blue flowers. That's clever about telling them it's for an event not a wedding. Good thoughts!

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Awesome job! So descriptive! I don't know if I'll be able to do that good haha! You have some great ideas for the food and catering part which I am struggling with. How did you get a $0 ring?

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Yeah I know that many people on WW.com don't like anything but an open bar but we just can't afford it so we're going to do the next best thing. Ah so for the ring, I'm not purchasing a wedding band because my FH and I wanted to only have 1 ring each so I already have my engagement ring. And no one counts their engagement ring in their wedding budget so I have a $0 ring lol

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That's cool. Go somewhere else for it! I love the creativity on here. I know some people who are more um (more upscale or whatever keep saying the word tacky), but that's why I made this post, to see if some of are doing the same thing, like going to a bar and people buying their own dinner and drinks.

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I might have replied already, but that's a good point. I think he has a friend. I'll talk to him more about that.

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Wow! how many people? And a free ring!

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You all got creative! And the nature is decoration itself! Sounded so amazing

Wedding is 2k and honeymoon is 1.7k! *throws confetti* The secret is to take your FMIL up on the offer to pay for your dream ceremony venue (total would be 3.5k without her!), casually show your mom your budget to show her you're well organized and to inspire her to take on photography, go to a restaurant (NOT private dining) and only invite your family and like 5 friends. It's tiny, but we know it'll mean so much more to us to have it be more like our first family gathering and then spend a butt load of time and money together in Disney World

Me definitely doing a backyard wedding at an Airbnb that allows events ! Plus it’s a destination wedding so Not many guest which means not a whole lot of food and or beverages or alcoholic drinks a lot of the decorations are DIY projects ! So almost smooth sailings last is the dress