Budget crisis! Has anyone successfully planned their wedding for around $10,000?

View Quoted Comment Yeah totally!! Don't feel bad about representing who YOU are and don't let people shame you. My wedding turned out to be pretty much a dinner party with a sprinkle of wedding and I'm really really happy with how my wedding turned out. All those people that initially complained all apologized to me later for criticizing earlier and said they had a great time!


I forgot to include my budget breakdown so you can get a little idea how to distribute:
-$1700 for the venue (both ceremony and reception was in the same place) fit 90 people for total of 12 hours (with rehearsal)
-$4200 on catering (included service staff and plates, utensils, glasses, non alcoholic drinks). We spent the extra because we are both Korean families and needed to get great food to feed them all. There's definitely much cheaper options but needed to cater to picky Korean people ;p
-$3100 total on event rentals (tables, chairs, heat lamps, lawn games, extra decorations like crates and buckets for food and drinks), event staff and florals (bouquets, boutiniers, garland for arch)
-$400 on cupcakes
-$1000-$1500 on extra decorations, games, beer
-i spent $1100 on my dress, accessory rentals and alterations
-he spent $300 on both his suit and best man suit
-i spent about an extra $2000 on gifts for my parents, his parents and maid of honor gifts, dresses for my parents and his mom

I’m around 10k!!
so the venue (and we’ve been engaged two years and it took at least 5 tours. Multiple crying episodes of failure) is 4K and that’s with a giant reception tent and plenty of parking.
the florist (with 6 maids, a jr, a flower girl, and four guys, plus us) is 1k because they’re only doing th flowers for the wedding party, everything else will be us. All flowers are fake except for mine and the petals.
Idk about the dj because thankfully my dad is getting that but I think he’s no more than 1k?
were doing potluck for food!
my mom is a cosmetologist and is doing my hair, and I’m doing my own make up (I don’t trust anyone)
my best friend and i have culinary experience so we’re doing the cake but I looked into somebody thats nice and it was no more than 500 when I found
i will need linens, i got the plates and prewrapped silverware (both that hard plastic)
OH MY DRESS I was able to get that in clearance from 1200 to 400 at J&B Bridal! And the girls are getting their own dresses and the guys are getting their own outfits
both rings were a combined 500 ish from Kay’s, tungsten and silver
I’m probably forgetting something but yeah!
Lots of help. Lots.

We did our for $9500 in rural, upstate NY for 75 people. As someone who lives in another high COLA area (Washington DC), it will be hard (not impossible) but really hard to have a wedding with all the "stuff" in proper Sacramento for under $10K. My exact wedding would have cost at least double in downtown DC. Definitely look into non-traditional venues (we had ours at restaurant, we had the whole place to ourselves and paid $200 for the venue), try to find somewhere that will let you bring your alcohol in, and then cut vendors. We didn't hire a florist. Bargain and ask for discounts. DIY will help, but your biggest expenses are food, alcohol, venue, photographer and attire. DIY decorations, invitations, etc. only saves couple hundred to maybe $1000. Plus you still spend money making all those things, so you save the most money by cutting decor, flowers, etc. To stay within your budget, you need to find venue, alcohol and food for about $5,000. (Those account for about 50%). Find those first, then worry about everything else.

I was talking to a wedding planner the other day and she said the least expensive wedding she ever did was 30 people at $7,000.

You can also get a credit card that has 0% for a period of time. I just got the Citi card for 22 months of 0 APR.

Sometimes public gardens and museums are relatively inexpensive.

Venue (catering, DJ, Tables, Chairs, Decor, Set up, Clean up included)- $6,250

Cake: $480

Photographer: $2,000

Church: $250

Attire: $600

Table Decorations: $300

Alcohol: $300

Hair & Make-Up: $350

Our budget was $10,000 but I feel when it's all said and done it's going to be around $12,000 or $13,000 OH and this is for 150 people. I am in Texas, may be cheaper than other states.

View Quoted Comment Hi Katie! I’m so happy to hear that my advice was helpful. I know how daunting it can be to start the process. I ADORE your venue idea at the bar that is already so special to you and your FH! What a creative, outside-the-box idea that also should be special for the two of you. 🙃 I wish you all the best and I’m sure it will be an amazing event. PS my wedding is 5 months away!!! We are SO excited. 😍

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I don't think a dinner reception is tacky at all, although it will obviously be shorter than one with dancing. Plus, many restaurants have space for a DJ, if you're renting the whole restaurant. (And you don't need to stick with a restaurant that typically hosts wedding receptions; pretty much any restaurant will host a private event if you have enough guests.)

We had a lunch reception. People were so busy catching up with each other, we pretty much had to shovel them out of the restaurant when it was time for the restaurant to start setting up dinner.

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My thought: It would be 100% worth the trouble. Your wedding package would be so inexpensive, you can afford to bring all of the people who matter most to you. When you have all of that beauty around you, you won't care that it's a small wedding. "Crowded" does not equate "meaningful". Make it meaningful.

Guest list!! Keep it on the low side and keep working at venue search. It’s exhausting but necessary on a budget. We chose to do a Friday to save on plate costs which helped big time and having ceremony on site saved us a ton. Between renting a party bus for four hours and additional decor (outdoor venue means zero spent on ceremony decor) and adding reception card to invites. Things also had to be cut. Favors, chair covers, floral centerpieces (holy expensive) and popcorn bar. I spent where I wanted it the most. Appetizers, dinner, cake, open bar, photographer and an awesome DJ. A lot depends on what’s most important to you and what your venue will include and where you live. Good luck!! And congrats!!

We are definitely trying to stay well under $10,000. My goal is really $8,000, but if I include services we're getting as gifts for the wedding, then we're probably talking like a $12,000+ wedding for much less.
When I contacted venues initially, I was really straightforward and said our budget is $5,000 for venue, catering, and drinks. Can we consider your venue as an option for our wedding? I was surprised at who was willing to work with us! We're getting married on Monday, December 30th, so that also opened some doors for us because what venue is going to normally make $5,000+ on a Monday in the winter?! We decided to go with a hotel, which I wasn't initially considering, but it solved a LOT of logistical problems (driving between ceremony & reception venues in the winter, all my family is in another state, etc.). Plus they are giving us a free suite the night of! Our venue was able to get us to $5700, including catering, cocktail drinks + snacks (not many, but at least a little something for everyone!), and the venue itself (which is technically free with the f&b minimum).

It's hard. Whenever you say wedding things triple in price...but you can do a wedding for a 10k budget. Im not sure if you're set on a Saturday wedding but Friday weddings cost less than Saturday. I'm still planning our wedding but I'm hoping to keep it closer to 10k as possible. So far I've been able to stay close to my budget amount by finding an all inclusive venue, doing minimal florals that will be repurposed for the reception. And having a photographer for the main event only. Oh and our intended guest count is 70 to 80 people.

View Quoted Comment That's all such awesome advice Megan, thank you!! I think I'm going to have to start reaching out to venues that way. Did you touch base with them first, or just open up contact with "this is what we can afford, can you work with us?".

I personally dgaf about having a summer wedding EXCEPT for the fact that winter goes like this: November is Thanksgiving, December is Christmas, January is his birthday, February is Valentines Day, March is my birthday. Not to mention New Years and Halloween...we're so burnt out by February we don't even celebrate Valentines Day! So I just feel like this is the one "holiday" we get to choose, and having a midsummer anniversary would be an excellent excuse to take a vacation or whatever. But I'm open to weekday weddings, as well as daytime/brunch.

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I reached out right away and said we are interested in your venue, would like to really consider it, here's what we can do. I took a financial class this winter and they really encouraged bargaining for things, so I was trying to put my skills to use!
Your winter definitely sounds busy! Timing just worked for us to do this winter: we just got engaged and don't want to wait until NEXT summer, and as a teacher this upcoming year I have a two week break for the holidays, which builds in a lot of time off where I don't have to try and get a sub/write sub plans while pulling off a wedding/worry about my students - ha!
I honestly think we would have a cheaper wedding if we were getting married in the summer, because we wouldn't be using the same kind of indoor venue and instead go with a nice park. My friends have had really nice weddings in parks where there was an outdoor amphitheater & nicer shelter houses/patios, which means you can bring in your own catering, which lowers costs and the venue itself is VERY inexpensive. One of my closest friends was able to do about $6,000 like that on the first Friday in September and they had Buca di Beppo cater (they bought gift cards at Costco, which are discounted, and those can be used for catering!). We're in the Twin Cities, so definitely more reasonable than some East/West coast venues with lots of beautiful parks around.

View Quoted Comment You know, I read a budget breakdown on a wedding reddit where the couple paid $1000 for Olive Garden catering for 80 people. Then they paid a teenager they knew $100 to man the self-setup buffet. She said something like "The food was delicious and everyone loved it" and I thought yea...I could get with something like that. Really, who says we need an actual wedding caterer and can't go with a common and popular restaurant?

I need to freshen up my bargaining skills. I'm horrible at it! I work in auto sales and spend all day on the other end, and I cannot tell you how ridiculous most customers sound when they try out different "negotiating" tactics, and so something about being on the other end of it just feels weird! But at the same time - it NEVER hurts to ask. I suspect if companies were unwilling to negotiate, they would say so. "Our rates are firm" or "Price is non-negotiable."

Anyway, thanks so much for the encouragement and congratulations on your wedding!

View Quoted Comment That gives me hope because I had a few of the same ideas. Photographer for the main event only (I was thinking an hour before the ceremony, during the ceremony and then portraits during the cocktail hour - so like 3 hours total), I'm definitely open to Sunday or even a weekday, and we expect about 80 guests.

Good luck to you!

View Quoted Comment Thanks! I'm sure everything will work out for you as well!

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Right?! Buca for my friends came with servers too, so it was a good deal! Plus there was SO MUCH left over. We all ate Buca for days. We're doing a taco buffet for 135ish people (unless all 155 come...) because who is going to be mad about a taco buffet?! Those are not the kind of people I have in my life! haha!

That's where I'm at, too -- it NEVER hurts to ask!

Oooh, I'd love to hear what some of the bad "negotiating" techniques are! Real insider information, there!

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The negotiating tactics that make me cringe are things like -

Threatening to walk/calling our bluff when they're going to end up buying the car anyway.

Claiming to know the owner's mom's sister's husband and insisting they should get a deal. Asking to speak to the owner/the "man" in charge if I'm not budging on the price (he literally pays me so he doesn't have to deal with people like you).

OH!! And the cringiest one of all is "I saw the same car at such-and-such shop for $2000 less." WELL GO BUY IT AT SUCH-AND-SUCH SHOP THEN, why are you even here harassing me about my price?!?

Then regular stuff like low-balling, because they think I'll counter and then they'll counter and then I'll counter and we'll end up at the price they really wanted in the first place. It's transparent and awkward - please, just make me a reasonable offer and I'll run the numbers and let you know.

All in all, I'm not mad at them - they just want the best deal they can get. I don't make a commission percentage, I get paid the same amount per deal, so it's in my best interest to get them the best price possible! But people don't realize that lol.

Hey Katie—oh boy do I relate to your post. Pretty much the exact same circumstances. Our budget is $10,000 and we live on the Jersey Shore next to multi-million dollar homes too perfect for HGTV. It took me months of calling vendors, venues, and visiting community halls on the weekends to find something that would work, but we finally did it. My advice is don’t spend too much time on Pinterest—it’s either unrealistic perfection that will make you feel dissatisfied or supposed budget-friendly DIY ideas that end up costing more than you think. We cut things like favors, a limo/trolley/driver, pew decorations & aisle runners, buttonieres (sp?), videography—anything we could think of that was unnecessary. Even so we are at almost $13,000 but we did it! 67 days to go! It is possible with a lot of persistence, patience, and realistic expectations. If you end up married to the person you love at the end of the day—you did it right!

Try the sunrise event center in Carmichael ca (Sacramento area) they have all inclusive starting at $35.00 perperskn including food