Atlanta Bride how to do an affordable large wedding

The easiest way to keep your budget down is to reduce your guest list. Of course, that's not always possible as some folks just have large families. Usually buffet style food is cheaper than a sit down dinner, or if you really wanted to cut some costs you could have a reception that isn't at meal time and just have cake and light refreshments. As far as venues, I would look into event centers/rec rooms that can hold lots of people without a high price tag. If that's not your style, search for venues a little ways outside of the city. We live in Columbia, SC and our venue is 30 minutes outside of town and literally thousands of dollars cheaper than those in the city (and it's a DIY type venue like I wanted!). You can also absolutely hire a wedding planner or day-of-coordinator if your venue doesn't provide one. A wedding planner will definitely be more expensive, so I would look into just getting a DOC. I was lucky to find a woman who does wedding planning as a side job and she was very affordable compared to the others in our area. I think $20,000 is definitely doable if you're willing to budget and compromise here and there! Best of luck

I'm not from Atlanta, but our venue was very DIY. They provided the building, tables, chairs, and linens. The day of they showed up to unlock the doors and they came back to lock the doors at the end of the night, that's it. We hired a day of coordinator (I believe that's what you're referring to) to take care of setup, coordinating guests and vendors, and tear down. Her team was a God send and I have no idea how we could have pulled the whole thing off without her. Hiring a full service planner would take up a large portion of your budget that I don't believe you can afford to lose. I would price out things that you'll have to provide on your own for a DIY venue; catering, cake, decor, etc. before deciding. In some areas, an inclusive venue can be cheaper.

I would suggest if you are trying to do affordable yet large wedding your best bet would be to minimize the cost of the reception which is the expensive part more so than the ceremony. You could easily in ATL get married in a park or look for venues where you can also have the reception. In regards to reception look for restaurants to cater and sometimes buffet style is cheaper than plated or while not very fancy you could do platters of food which is becoming a trend these days to save money. In regards to caterings look into italian or bbq as those can go for cheaper. One friend (even though the reception was at a country club) had american fare for the food. It was basically build your own burger and came with salad and fries. Check out some country clubs and hotels for venue and reception.

Welcome to the WeddingWire community Kathleen!

You’re off to a great start by defining your budget! There are a couple of articles in the ideas section that might be helpful to you!

How to Plan a Wedding on a Budget

Wedding Budget Breakdown 101: How to Divide & Conquer

I would definitely start looking into community halls in your area that would be able to hold your guest count. You can also ask about any furniture they have that you may be able to use, like tables and chairs.