Budget Frustration

My entire budget has been cut twice...started at 5k, then was 3K now it's just 1,500. i'm being creative to be able not to cut anything I really want

We've just found a lot of deals on facebook and the like. We cut corner in the "small details" department, going thinner on flowers, DIY decor, buying disposable drink ware instead of renting real glasses, buying used formal clothes and linens. That kind of thing has saved us almost a thousand to our budget already and we still have a year to go. We set a budget for each and every thing from table decorations to photographers and so far have come in at least 20% under budget in every category. It might not work for everyone but that's how we have done it.

We're staying close to budget, by parents gave a us a very generous gift. We could go over, but decided that it wasn't worth it. Cut the things that don't matter. Signs, favors, etc. Cupcakes instead of wedding cake. Be mindful of the guest list. More invited, more expensive. Only MOH/BM = less money on flowers. Just keep your guests well fed. People only care about the food and booze.

Yeah that's what i'm afraid of LOL i'm not exactly what you'd call "crafty" and I have no one to help me. I have found a picture of a centerpiece I like, and luckily it was from dollar tree, so i'm hoping to create it. Looks sorta simple

I did a ton of research ahead of time and we came well under for every line item.. I padded in about $500-1000 for every large vendor. That was until my husband and I decided to upgrade our catering to a much larger package. It was well worth the upgrade, but I think it ended up being about $1.5k over my originally budget (but only a few hundred after the savings).

I always suggest heavily padding the original budget estimates.

We may just be coming in at our budget if everyone we invite shows up (which I doubt will happen). Admittedly our venue/catering is a good 75% of our budget but I knew we could save elsewhere.

So far we've been able to decorate our entire wedding for less than $400 thanks to sales and FB Marketplace. All of our stationary and postage is less than $200 thanks to sales and free things from work .

We're saving $150 on the flowers by picking them up ourselves the morning of the wedding. Our DJ and officiant are friends so combined their going to cost me less than $500. Our photographer is another friend who's services are $1000; more than what I wanted but she's a single mom so I knew the money was for a good reason.

I saved $50 on my dress and FHs tux is free ($190) after everyone in the party gets theirs. And our hotel suite is free ($200) once we get a certain number of guest rooms booked.