Budget

It definitely depends on a lot of factors whether it’s doable or not. Your location, your vision, what you’re willing to compromise on, how many people you want. It’s possible, but super difficult to say without those factors stated.

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If you keep the guest list really small, I think you'll be okay! Look for vendors on Facebook and here on WeddingWire as well. Shop around and compare before making final decisions. Flowers from Kroger, Sam's Club, etc. are much cheaper than a traditional florist. I highly recommend having a cake and punch reception at a non-meal time.

I hope these tips helped a bit! Happy planning

It is going to depend onwhere you plan on getting married. What I mean by that is for a brief second my fiance and I were considering Sarasota Florida and almost all the venues there working the thousands just for the ceremony. 3000 isn't much to work with but you are going to have to do a more simple version of a wedding but it can be done. I would look at some blogs on Pinterest about how to do a cost-effective wedding. My friend had an intimate wedding more or less this past May and basically her husband and she went to a local park and decorated a little nicely and had one of their co-worker officiate the marriage there. She's an assistant principal for high school and for some odd reason she found it a good idea to have her school's band play. I'm a teacher and I love my students but I would not want them attending my wedding unless they were graduated and we were good friends hahaha. Afterwards at the clubhouse of the Villa she used to own they held a reception with a bunch of party trays from a local grocery and they got the cake from the store too. Plus they just had some wine and leftover liquor from their engagement party and beer. Some tips that I learned when we were going to do a small wedding was that you should hold it in between meal times such as breakfast and lunch or between lunch and dinner. Do not do it in the evening because people are going to expect a dinner and it's going to be more money. Also look at any day but Friday or Saturday because that's typically when venues charge more. Another option you may want to look into in your area is a travelling officiant and sometimes the officiants not only notarize and filed the marriage license for you but they also sometimes for a small fee will decorate a venue that they work with for you. Try to look for a venue that needs little to no decorations like a place with a garden area. Also consider just having the reception at a restaurant and maybe pay per head. Nowadays A lot of people are doing American fare such as burgers or chicken sandwiches and fries. Or you could just have the reception afterwards at your house or at a friend's house and just do some party trays. I hope this helps and you can definitely do a wedding on that budget but just factor in what are the things you want to splurge on such as photography and what has little to no importance. Plus always remember it's really the reception that can be costly sometimes more than the ceremony itself. Good luck.

Agree on the park idea. Where are you located? Depending on the season, there are some great park venues that could cost little to nothing. Make sure you have a backup plan for rain and know what the catering/drinks rules are. You’ll need to limit guests, I think.
Consider alternate party options - brunch, punch and cake, etc.

Have you ever considered eloping? I’m eloping June 2020 and I paid 2800. You can even invite up to 25 people!

It's definitely doable. Small guest list, park or church that is low in cost, consider online wedding dresses or discounted dresses, DIY decor and flowers (lings moments are really great for artificial), cheap catered meal or pizza type dinner, consider alternatives to a big cake like cupcakes, Costco or Kroger cakes, or a rice krispie cake.

Depending on what you can cut, it’s very doable. My fiancé and I only really have to pay for the cake, wedding decorations, a tent rental, food, and our Spotify account to be ad free. Obviously we are also paying for our outfits. Right now if everything stays the same, we are looking at about a $3,500 wedding.

It’s possible but you will compromise on many things. Affordable or second hand dress, maybe only a homemade bouquet or fake flowers, free venue like a friend’s backyard , park etc.


I do think the small ceremony or elope package should be considered!

It definitely can be done. Ceremony and reception at church or park. Or reception at a restaurant or at home. Catering such as tacos, Italian,BBQ or a food truck and $10pp. Cake from walmart or sams and they are good flowers from Grocery store

I think it’s definitely doable. Our wedding was under 10k and our original plan was 2k, we could’ve left it at that but we ended up doing more like hiring a dj and photographer last minute. Write a list of absolute must haves, and prioritize it, the rest can be negotiable. If there’s anything you spend extra money on, make it a photographer. I am so glad we decided to hire one, we found one for 200$ for 2 hours and she made the absolute best out of it. So many people had told me that’s something the regretted, not having a professional, and I see why. Looking at the photos others took, and then hers. The lighting, the angles, everything was so much more.. in the moment, real and something we will always look back on proudly.
We hired a DJ last minute too, 250$ for 3 hours, but we regretted most of that. We really only needed him for the ceremony. But we thought music would be nice playing during eating and cake cutting etc,. But he didn’t even play the songs I gave him after the ceremony. He played a random mix (a lot of songs I didn’t know/ we didn’t like) I brushed it off but we regretted having him longer than for the ceremony.
I also originally wanted professional makeup/hair etc,. And in the end, I did my own makeup, my mom did my hair and I did my own self tanner. It all worked out, my makeup was great, my hair was great and my tan looked real. We saved a lot of money there. A lot of DIY decorations and help from family and friends made things better too. Just prioritize what y’all really want, and keep the rest simple.

All of suggestions have been very helpful thanks so much!

It's totally doable. Mine was less than that, and I managed to have a beautiful wedding! i'd start first with an affordable venue, like what we did. We got a community center for 275 bucks for 10 hours. We did ceremony and reception there. We got food from a local chicken place, and we brought in our own drinks too. I lucked out and have a friend who is a photographer, and a friend who is a DJ gave me a heavily reduced rate. You can find a great dress at David's Bridal. I got nearly all the decorations, including bouquets on Amazon. I also got my plates, plastic silver ware, napkins, and cups on there too. You can have a friend get ordained to do the ceremony. I got my invitations on Ann's Bridal bargains. I got 75 invites, RSVP cards, 75 inner and 75 outer envelopes for just under 60 bucks when they were offering 24 Percent off with no minimum,. something they do a lot.

It is do-able. It all depends on what you want. I agree with the idea of getting married in a park or even get married at the courthouse and then have the reception at the park. As far a vendors go, I would say look on Facebook, on here, or ask friends if they know anyone who could help you out. My FH and I saved a ton of money by asking friends if they knew someone who could make our cake, be our bartender and our photographer. Our photographer and bartender are friends of the family and our cake is being made by someone I work with's wife - who is a professional baker. For all three we're only paying around $700 total.

I was in a wedding when I was younger and they spent around $3,000. They had their ceremony in a public park (no seating and no flowers or decor) and their pastor did the ceremony (free). They didn't pay for transportation or lunch for the wedding party. She had a seamstress make her dress for $100 and did her own hair & makeup. Their only flowers were baby's breath and they did all the bouquets themselves. No hosted rehearsal dinner. The reception was in their church's gym and they used plastic tablecloths & had a buffet style meal that the parents & local church members cooked (it was just a hawaiian style meal - it didn't turn out great since some chicken was undercooked and I found a hair in my pasta salad). They made their own cupcakes for dessert, didn't have any alcohol, no favors/menus/programs, they had a friend take their engagement pictures. The groom's brother was the DJ. It was VERY VERY simple but that was what they wanted. It wasn't ideal but they were happy with it.