Budgeting for a wedding.

My over all budget is no more than 2,500. Courthouse ceremony and garage reception/party. Only 25 invited (including families) and im DIYing everything, food, decoration and even the cake.

It does help that we are having a 2 year engagement.

Guest list is #1. Inviting less people saves you money.

Where do you live? I'm in rural Midwest which makes everything SO much more affordable. Take advantage of your location if you have it.

Consider less wedding targeted venues. My reception is at a Knights of Columbus Hall. Using a more modest venue like a VFW or American Legion can save you $$ and can be decorated to fit lots of visions.

I am DIYing a lot. Sola wood flower bouquets, wood lantern centerpieces, table numbers, and reusing items from family members past weddings.

Look for your dress off the rack. I got my dress for a steal at a store closing sale.

Have realistic expectations. Your wedding probably won't look like something out of a magazine but it is YOUR day and you are marrying the person you love the most. No amount of money or fancy items can compete with that.

Our original budget was about 10, now we are probably going to down about 11.
Cutting the guest list down is a big one! We are saving 8K+ because our list went from 170 to 70. I also am doing a lot of DIY.

We’ve found a church that only costs $1,500 and we are doing the reception at a Hall. We will diy most of our things because our budget is cheap.

Great to see Im not alone. Thank you everyone for the wonderful input and suggestions.

View Quoted Comment This is such a great tip, thank you!!

Keep the guest list small, maybe find a different type of caterer (we're doing tacos), DIY the crap out of whatever you can... whilst not taking on too many projects that'll overwhelm you!, find a less traditional venue, don't worry as much about decor because I think guests will mostly remember the food, drinks and music.

Yes! We're trying to keep everything down, so I found my dress for less than $200 used at a place that takes donated dresses and sells them for a reduced price. Getting my veil from Amazon for less than $20.

We're getting married in a church, because dedicated wedding venues will cost you!

I'm printing the invitations at home - black font on brown cardstock I bought at Michaels ($3 for 50 sheets, or 100 invitations, with the 50 percent off coupon).

I got all fake flowers from Amazon - each bridesmaid bouquet cost maybe $5 or less. Bridesmaids are wearing JJ's House dresses, which start at $80. You could also look for nice dresses from Amazon.

For music, we're gonna iPod it.

My parents want to get a caterer for mine, which is fine, but when my friend got married, they got food in bulk from Sam's Club and Costco and just had a bunch of friends help set up/clean up. We'll probably look for a plain cake from Costco and just decorate it with some flowers.

View Quoted Comment Thank you for your suggestions. I was a little worried about DIY because I don't have a creative bone in my body but I got some great offers from people in exchange for a wedding gift.

View Quoted Comment Oh nice, you have given me some great ideas on how to cut corners. Im starting to think I can lower my budget.

View Quoted Comment

Yes! So many people stepped up to help us out with things like signage and bouquets. I purchased a chalkboard easel from Ikea for like $15-20 (for our welcome sign), 2 standing mirrors (for our seating chart) for $15 each, and then scrounged up mini chalkboards and letter boards we already owned for other signage (bar menu, dessert table sign, parking sign, etc) around our venue.

I DIYed my invitations with Canva. I designed it on there using a pre-made template and changed things here and there. And then I saved it and took my design to Vistaprint to print out the invitation and RSVP card. I did my RSVPs online so I didn't have to pay for additional stamps for them to send back to us. Total for about 60 of each the invite and the RSVP (which includes envelopes), I spent about $65 on it. Design it in advance and wait for a sale to come around!

For centerpieces we did something super minimal. Honestly, you could get $1 fish bowls from the dollar store and do like a floating flower centerpiece with some tea light candles around it. Maybe a glass mirror underneath it if you want to glam it up even more. Or some wine bottles painted with some little fairy lights inside?

My dress was $95 and with alterations, it came out to about $175 total. I'm wearing $20 heels from Target because nobody will really see my shoes underneath my dress. I'm doing my own makeup and enlisting my sister to do a simple braided hairstyle for me. FH purchased his suit from Macy's when they were having a friends and family sale.

We are catering our own dessert table. I purchased a babycakes donut maker and will be making donuts and frosting them myself, purchased some rice krispy treats and will be drizzling chocolate on them, purchased bulk candy, will be buying some baked goods from the local grocery store, maybe purchase some brownies from costco. Paying way less for all that than if I were to do a full on wedding cake.

Another way to cut costs is to limit the number of bridesmaids and groomsmen you have. The more you have, the more you may need to spend on gifts to thank them and all that.

My budget is $15k as well, and we're 2 weeks away and we're at about $14k right now! Will probably hit 15k after we tip all our vendors and make any final purchases.

We are between 13-14k. Kept final guest list at 130 and had to choose a Friday because venue was much cheaper. Had my heart set on early fall so wasn’t willing to do off season. Most of remaining budget went to vendors and paper supplies. I went with Shutterfly and kept waiting for the best deals to place my order, worked out well! I cut out chair covers, favors and popcorn bar in order to stay in budget. We’ll have appetizers, dinner, cake and an open bar so I’m not worried. Good luck!