Big Wedding

There is only so low you can go on budget with a guest list that large. And having big families doesn't require a big guest list. Many people just limit their weddings to immediate family (parents, siblings, and siblings' SOs), and that is never as much as 300 people.

However, if you want to have a wedding of 300 people, just think hard about what is really important to you, and skip the rest. For example, you don't need a limo, or programs, or favors, or an elaborate cake. You don't even really need a wedding dress. But if you decide to have one, you can keep down the cost by ordering a bridesmaid's dress in white, or going to the David's Bridal $99 sale, or going to a wedding consignment store. You could also consider a community center instead of a formal wedding venue.

Far too many people get caught up in thinking that a lot of DIY will reduce the cost. That's seldom true. First off, DIY may cost as much as or even more than commercial equivalents, once you count the materials you screw up. Second, most DIY projects are things you didn't need in the first place, and skipping them would have been cheaper than DIYing them.

And in particular, consider less expensive food and drink options, because every dollar increase in the per-person cost increases your total cost by $300. That may mean having just a cake and punch reception at a non-meal time. If you decide to do an actual meal, you could consider something like pasta or barbecue.

Ours is at 275 people! I didn't expect our list to be that large, but once we got our families input on people we hadn't even considered inviting it shot up. We however lucked out and FH grandparents want to pay for catering and I think it's mainly to add some people we originally weren't going to invite to save costs. When we were planning on paying for catering, we had our list cut down to 150 by doing immediate family only, and close friends.

But cut out the extras, are you having an open bar? Photobooth, wedding favors (Since they are usually left behind anyways). Just some options to think about cutting out!

I feel you! We made a guest list and it was 350 because my FH family is so large and he couldn’t make cuts 😂 Sooo we made the call to do a destination wedding and are inviting 75 people so that’s how we cut costs! Personally, I wanted a nice high end wedding while staying within budget so we had to make sacrifices

Our wedding guest list is actually over 300 guest, yikes! ...but we have cut alot of things out to bring our budget down and I am a true DIY Bride....I agree programs and favors are a waste of money. We also opted for buffet style instead of a sit down dinner. Congratulations and I hope you ladies all have a fabulous wedding!