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

View Quoted Comment 25 people and it was from my fmil we're doing grilled foods burgers and brats and dogs with cold salads and can pop it will be super casual oh n i ordered sola wood flowers for 75 dollars

I'm aiming to keep it under 10! We splurged on the photographer since it's the most important part to us and my mom bought my dress which was an amazing help (still including that number in the total though). The biggest cost savings for us are having less than 50 people and a taco bar for dinner (very us and very tasty!). So far we're on track

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That sounds great and laid back. I mean, the formal weddings, I hate to say, the food kind of sucks. Like, not variety and stuff and I just feel awkward.

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Keeping guest low is key! Mine is 40 give or take. This forum is confusing because I think I've come across this question lol?

Just wanted to add, that the dress will not be expensive at all because I will most likely get stains on it and I mean, I will be wearing this for like just for 1 day lol

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I just talked to the guy and he has a partner that does photography with him! Picnic food is the way to go!

I tried...then we priced venues and some of the food minimums were 10k...needless to say, we didn't pick that place but realized we may have to spend some more

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I think the food part is probably the hardest. That's why I'm doing it from home!

Our Wedding will have about 150 guests and our budget is uber $10k. I think we might end up spending almost 9k. However, my parents are giving us 3k, and his parents are giving us 3k, and I'm using 5k of my own savings. So that's actually like 11k, but I'm realllyyy hoping we don't spend all that. Think we're close to 7k right now.


We are having an early morning (11am) wedding and serving breakfast food to cut costs.

We're at under 10K so far!

17 people total (including myself and my fiance...it's a second marriage and we don't want a huge hoopla).

11:30AM ceremony at a small venue and brunch reception at a local restaurant that has a 2 page brunch menu. YUMMM! Our ceremony venue comes with an officiant and a photographer with the package, so that takes care of a lot of that cost.

DIY'd my invitations, sent digital save the dates. My dress is from Amazon and looks almost exactly like the Maggie Sottero I was eyeballing. :-) Not doing any favors for the reception, but we are doing cupcakes instead of a full cake. All of the programs and placecards I am DIYing...I have a free template I found that is our perfect boho edgy style, and the suite came with so many options for printing.

M/U and Hair I have friends doing for me...I will pay them, but they both insist it to be under their normal rates. I found a pair of gorgeous Mischka Badgley Shoes on sale at Macy's for $60!

I think with everything and deposits we have spent just over $2K?

Food and alcohol are probably the biggest wedding costs (after venue for some people), so you'll need to keep that in mind as you plan. If keeping things as inexpensive as possible is a priority, you could do potluck style, but that is definitely a gamble. With some crowds it works beautifully, with others, not so much (you know your friends better than I do) and only works well for guests who live locally (I'd skip this option entirely if you have a number of guests who are traveling from out of town). If you go the potluck route I suggest the website Perfect Potluck to coordinate dishes so you don't end up with 10,000 cookies and a half dozen veggie platters.

You didn't include any linen or place setting rentals. Some caterers will provide this, but sometimes not, and often at an additional fee, so keep that in mind. If you do potluck food, you'll need plates, flatware, glassware, and napkins for everyone at the very least and even if you go the disposables route, expect to put a little money into this.

In the early stages of planning we looked into having a food truck, and it was definitely one of the least expensive and most convenient catering options available in our area. Food trucks have a certain vibe, but they can be a lot of fun, and depending on the style of your wedding you might find it to be a good option.

You should look into any laws in your area regarding serving alcohol. Some places are pretty strict about alcohol and house parties - better to find out now then when the cops show up.

I'd also STRONGLY consider event insurance if you are hosting this at your own house. Wedding insurance is usually only $100 or so (depends on a number of factors), but I think well worth it if you are hosting. There's nothing like trying to save money by having a wedding at your home then needing to spend thousands for injury to a vendor or guest or damage to your property.

The final total on my wedding was $6769

Our budget is $10,000 but it looks like we're coming in a little under (Yay!)

My biggest saves were my dress and alterations. I got my dress at Camille la Vie. It was originally almost $1,000 but got reduced to $700 and then 50% off because there were some loose beads. For alterations, my sister works at a bridal shop as a seamstress, so she did all of the alterations for free.

Another big save was on flowers. We're doing fake flowers that I got on Amazon for the centerpieces and for the wedding party's flowers We're using a local floral chain called Thrifty Florist.

Good luck!!!

Venue- $750

Videographer- $700

DJ- 300

Decorator- 2335 includes decor, flowers, and up-lights

Food= $1150 for 100 guest

Photography- $660 for covers 5 hours

Cake- $300

Dress- $400

Tux - $120

Invitations- $175

so right now we're looking at $6,830 our original budget was $5,000

Hey Jessica, I'm sort of taking your template and showing my details:

1. Venue and Ceremony: $1600 including staff. set up take down, bar space, tables and chairs, alcohol insurance included

2. Ceremony and Reception music- $0 for us as well, as my Godfather is the DJ

3,
Invitations- Our Save the dates were electronic and our 60 invitations off of Vistaprint was 45 dollars

4. photographer- Free, my Aunt is our photographer

5. My outfit: -My non-traditional wedding dress was $150 dollars

6. His- Probably won't be more than $150

7.
my ring-My ring is 20 dollars off of Amazon

8. His ring- $40 dollars from Amazon

9. florist/bouquet- 6 Dollars (will be buying dollar store flowers)

10.
wedding cake- My mom is buying this, will be $400. If she wasn't buying it, we would have gotten a grocery store cake

11. transportation- Undecided as we'll probably use uber, I'd say probably around $150 for the entire day

12. place for people to stay-N/A to us

13. food or catering- Getting from our local Chinese Restaurant, looking at $600 for about 14-15 trays of food

14. favors- My MOH is providing the Mason Jars as favours($95), my grandmother has offered to make mini rum cakes... if neither of them offered, we would have skipped these entirely

15. rehearsal dinner- no- $0

16. wedding day beauty- 85 for my makeup

17. wedding license- $140 where I'm from

18. honeymoon- Niagara Falls (around $1000 total expenses including food, hotel, etc)

19. Officiant ($300)

Grand Total: $4,781. Not bad, right???

Guest count: 125

I envy you all! I'm getting married in Phoenix, and everything here is more expensive than I thought it would be! We originally set our budget at $7500 for 75 people. Then we fell in love with the Phoenix Zoo as our venue, and when all is said and done that will cost $5k. It does include tables, chairs, linens, ceremony seating, and the bar. We also cut the guest list down to 60, so that may change things a little. My mom bought my wedding dress, which was just under $500, but I need to pay for the alterations myself. We're hoping to get a photographer for less than $500, as well as a DJ. The food is going to be tough - the Zoo only lets you use one of their preferred caterers, and of course most of them were outrageous. I'd like to keep it to $2k. So I'm thinking we will come very close to $10,000.

View Quoted Comment Hi Kelly!


I’m also in Phoenix...the zoo is an awesome venue!! I can give the name of the tailor I’m using for my dress...it’s only costing me $195! She’s in Scottsdale by Fashion Square.

Hi Jessica
I posted prior of a budge of $2500 but it maybe lower then that.,.
Venue- $322Food- $245 appetizers Officiant-$360Cake-$65Photographer-0 my brother Flowers- $35 DIYDress-$289Ring- IDK FH pulled the man card on that lolunder 20 attendees = $1316It’s what u consider a priority and don’t forget to think outside the box every wedding is different and unique Congrats!!

We will definitely be under a $10,000 budget.

You should definitely skip the favors! A lot of guests will just forget to take it home at the end of the night anyways.