Budget frustration

Halloween/spooky fall wedding here!

No wedding favors. Saved $300
No champagne toast. Saved $700
No real flowers. Ordering handmade bouquets for bridal party will use as flower pieces at reception.
Minimal center pieces because venue offers lantern center pieces so I can put a little pumpkin or flowers and a candle in each.
Candy bar will be candy I buy at discount after Vday and or Easter.
Venue offers desserts so the wedding cake will be small and really only for bridal party.
I also shop at Goodwill often for cute pieces that can accent my wedding decor.
I also took off some guest that the parents invited. If I asked my FH who this person was and he wasn't sure, they didn't get an invite.

You don't need to skip flowers entirely but maybe you can look at Sams Club or even your grocery store will have pretty bouquets. Trader Joe's has really nice ones, and if you are not set on special flowers or colors you can probably get something for $20. Beyond that...weddings cost $ and your FH needs to realize that to host people properly, there is only so much you can cut. Sit him down and go line by line through your budget. What does he think is reasonable for each category, and then show him what you can get for that. Go through your guest list again but I really wouldn't cut Grandma. Are there coworkers, friends that you don't really see that often, parents friends, distant cousins, etc?

I don’t know about you but also PA bride here, my venue started at 48 a plate with open bar and you could add apps for 7$ each a person. Plus tax and gratuity of 26%. Total I’m coming up with $8316. I’m paying more for a more expensive meal but there are options out there. And you could do candles for centrepieces, I think they’re romantic.

I'm kind of in the same boat. Unfortunately I have champagne taste on a beer budget! If you get creative, you can have your dream wedding on a budget and cut costs for things you don't really need. Someone mentioned most guests won't remember what your flowers looked like or a specific candle votive, which is true. What they will remember is the feeling of have a good time and celebrating with you.

Some things I'm cutting out are wedding favors (why? I'm already throwing you a party), programs, tons of flowers, sit down dinner, a full cake....there are lots of articles on this. We have train depots that are renovated into beautiful venues here in GA, so maybe y'all have something like that available too? Libraries, museums, state/public parks, community centers, someone's backyard, or even an Air BNB are great options! You can do a small wedding cake and then cupcakes, use a wedding website and use an online RSVP system. Or hey, use email for save the dates or even invitations! People sell old wedding decor and even dresses online all the time!

Look at the little things and do you research. You can absolutely pull off a beautiful wedding on a budget!

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Having friends cater is not a great suggestion. There are so many liabilities with that, also you're not really "saving money" as you're just pawning the cost of food and labor on to someone else. I can't even believe you are asking the mother of the groom to cook on the day of her sons wedding. You're also risking a lawsuit when someone gets sick. People have died from botulism and poorly cooked meals in unprofessional environments.

-Have a cash bar at the wedding instead of an open bar.

-Shoot for a low cost wedding dress. My friend went in with a budget of $500 and found a GORGEOUS dress for $350 at a bridal consignment shop. Otherwise, as other posters have said, David's Bridal has an amazing sale going on, or search "bridesmaid dress" on Amazon, select white, and you will be AMAZED at what you can get for $40.

-No DJ. Get Spotify Premium, create a playlist and go! You can also have a musically inclined friend hit stop here and there or select the song when it's time for a special dance. No reason to spend a ton on a DJ!

-You can get a cake made by a grocery store that will be way cheaper than having it made by a specialty cake place. You can also go for cupcakes!

Have you thought about see if there is a place you can rent decorations. There is an event shop where I live here in Florida and I can rent decorations, candles, lights, ect for a fraction of the price it would be to buy them and afterwards I can just return them.

Surely there are things you can eliminate before HIS GRANDMOTHER!?!!?!?! I find it hard to believe this is the only solution.

Check out wedding resale groups! I’ve picked up a ton of centerpiece items and decorations for way cheaper just through Facebook groups as people are selling things they bought for their wedding.

Did you have a budget for your honeymoon? We are finding costs are going up for things and the first thing we are having to decrease is our honeymoon budget.

Join the Lancaster wedding resale group!! People sell decor, dresses, etc. All of the time! It’s been a great resource for picking things up for my centerpieces so far. Tons of vendors comment with discounts to their packages too.

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No please do not do a cash bar, it's tacky! Do a consumption bar if necessary.

Have you looked at Costco for flowers? They have beautiful selections many for less than $99 which will cost you much less than using fake.

Unfortunately, wedding vendors cost a lot. It's not even a matter of being picky, it's just really hard to find people willing to offer their services and artistry for a low price when they can command more based on the market. My PA wedding is going to be 24K and that's with doing my own fake flowers and not doing any kids of rentals like linen, chargers, chairs, uplighting, draping, etc., no videographer, DJ instead of band to save cash, doing sheet cakes plus a dummy cake instead of a real 3 tier cake, and using a very inexpensive country church and reverend for the ceremony, although we will have a sit-down dinner and open bar. The only way to significantly lower costs is to cut the guest list or to make drastic changes like having a brunch instead of dinner, a weeknight wedding, or using a friend as a vendor (which I do NOT recommend). It's just supply and demand so there's often not a ton of wiggle room.

Trimming the guest list is the most effective way to cut costs. I know it’s super hard, but have you applied the suggested questions? (Has this person met my fiancé? Have we seen them in the past year? Will we absolutely be disappointed if they’re unable to make it?) For us, including family (extended, etc) is a priority over co-workers, friends, and our parents’ friends.

View Quoted Comment What?!? I’m getting married central PA too!

Definetly check out our state parks- I’m getting married at the bald eagle state park and having a dinner only reception (which already cuts back loads of $$ on DJ and alcohol) our budget is $6,000! Not including our honeymoon.

120 people! Def cut the guestlist. It is almost unrealistic, and at the very least super stressful to try to stretch 13k to host 120 people. Go through the list once more and cut 30 to 40 guest. Make your life easy.

Wow I feel your pain. Increased mines from 10k to 15k but 4k is from jewelry alone. Have you considered beer and wine? I know were doing cocktail style so our reception start at 7 and were doing hor de vours instead of seating. Some of our guests already RSVP and thanked us for shortening up the reception because it is on a Sunday. I also took up a weekend job at Davids Bridal and my FH donated plasma. It beings in an extra $400 a month that is just for the wedding. Try DIY also. That may help

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I agree firstone, but frankly I would be afraid of what fiance would suggest!!! LOL! "They can bring their own chairs!! BYOB!" Not picking on anyone's fiance in general, sometimes men have different ideas on how to save money......

OP - cut out any props/entertainment for the reception. No photobooth, magician, poker table, none of that. Invites from Zazzle or Ann's Bridal Bargains. Skip favors and Save the Dates. STD's are invites, once you send them you are locked in. Small or no bridal party.

Candles on the tables are fine, don't get too wound up on table decorations. Most people don't remember them - sorry to be blunt but they don't.

Look up bridemaids dresses or formal dresses on Amazon, see if it comes in white/ivory/color you want.

Guest list: go through it again and ask yourself "Would we invite this couple/person/family out to dinner and pay for the whole tab?" If no, cross them off.

We made a budget and added things we just wanted or didn't realize we would want for example my dress budget was 200 but I ended up falling in love with a 550 dress, or I was going to diy fake flowers thinking $65 would do it, but I'm so busy we changed it to $200 in corsages boutonnieres and 16 bouquets I'll play with from costco, we are just finding ways to make more money and doing what we want and saving on other things, I spent probably 3 days total broken up finding best prices for misc items, now that I'm done and they are purchased, time to work lol but I saved over $400 doing that. Making the time to make money for something a little more than diy actually has shown to save money. I would say do what works for you guys and make it what you want by just making more money on the side if what you want means you need more funds

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Exactly this! The two of you should be on the same page.