Budget!

I think it’d be helpful for you and your fiancé to put together a list of your priorities for the wedding. Is the venue the most important, or the food, or the dress? I would create your budget while keeping in mind what your priorities are for your wedding day and to not lose sight of that.. I also think keeping your guest count relatively small will help you stay cost conscious, as well. Good luck planning ❤️

Utilize the dollar tree & amazon. I found my wedding dress on black friday for 50%off. So that may be an idea if it can altered in time for the wedding. Skip out on favors; that saves money. If it's a small wedding(under 100) maybe consider holding it at a community center/VFW. Do catering either with your local Shoprite or Costco? Or even italian and Mexican is pretty inexpensive. Limit your alcohol. Beer and wine. Cake from your grocery store? I even got my wedding shoes from Boscovs for under $30. There are plenty of ways you can save. Especially by cutting down on your guest list and alcohol.

Yes agree with you Brittany! Talk with your fiancé and list your priorities! What are your most important details of your wedding! We absolutely fell in love with our venue but are only have 100 guests, we love bbq food so we found a local bbq establishment to be our food vendor, sams club has beautiful flowers or look for flower marketplaces! Also, my city has a local Facebook group for wedding advice and tips which has been soooo helpful! I used Etsy for my save the date cards 75 for $40! Good luck ♥️

Decide what’s most important to you. What do people remember? The flowers, invites, and party favors? No. They remember if they had a good time (good music usually), if the food sucked or was good, and you and your partner. I am doing my own centerpieces that are combo of items-candle from IKEA omg so cheap - with some clear rocks bought at Michaels 40% off and some pink hearts bought at dollar store. I’m using the venues mirrors and votives. Flowers are going to be Sams Club or Costco. Invites were Costco. I sent postcard STD as stamps are cheaper on a postcard. No photo booth, no special lights. My wedding cake is a two tier cake from local bakery which I will transport. Dessert is cake from Costco. I bought a headband on Etsy. I bought a box for cards on Facebook marketplace.

Here are some of the things I learned over the last year of planning for my wedding that turned to a smaller wedding/elopement. Just as reference my wedding date is 7/12/2021. Sorry this is long.

Be very firm with your budget. If you don’t budge, you will find alternatives... if not you’ll quickly realize there are things you don’t care for. We set our budget for 8K a year ago... and at first it was impossible to find anything that would keep me in budget on all these wedding websites. My advice for this... research early. If you don’t have a preference, look at local community centers or parks & recs for your state as possible options for venues. I was dead set on shrinking our budget. I think I have the total budget down to 4K for 30 guests currently.

For the dress, use StillWhite, Poshmark, Etsy, Facebook Marketplace, etc. There are tons of brides wanting to get rid of their dresses for cheap! It takes some looking, but at the end of the day, you could save so much. Oh! Make sure if you use StillWhite that you select your own country to avoid hefty shipping fees from other countries.
Other quick tips: Try to keep the guest list short if possible. Keep the favors (if you have any) simple. Print your own invitations or have them printed... I’m super computer savvy and I designed my own and will print them out. My A7 and A2 envelopes were from Etsy. I was originally gonna make my floral arrangements using a local wholesale florist... I’m now gonna use the pre-made bouquets from FiftyFlowers.

As others have said: prioritize, prioritize, prioritize.

On top of that: RESEARCH! It's your best friend.

Ask your friends who have gotten married for recs, consider fake flowers, and don't ever feel pressured to have something "because everyone does" (no, they probably don't). If you don't remember it from someone else's wedding, it's not important. Look for venues that don't need decorations, go to sample sales for your dress, but do be careful of the DIY trap. Sometimes, it *is* cheaper to pay a professional to do it!

You and your fh should make a budget that you are comfortable with. Make sure that you have some ideas as to what you want for your wedding, like venue and food. Also, do your research and see if you can find deals for your wedding such as invitations and std. Considered you guest count bc your guests will affect your budget. You may want to do diy projects to keep cost down. Good Luck.

I think what i learned when i planned my wedding is look at what means the most to you. for me, that was having good food. so it meant that everything else were details i didn't care as much for. keeping it simple also means keeping it more budget friendly.

My daughter decided on an outdoor ceremony at a historical site (run by city park/rec dept) and is having a catered brunch reception (half the price of catered dinner). She is having a Coffee and Mimosa Bar instead of full bar and we'll be doing her flowers using Fifty Flowers. Instead of cake, she wants tiers of cinnamon rolls. Her wedding will cost $15,000 in the CA Bay Area.