Cheap vendors

Thanks

When it comes to weddings, no vendor is cheap.

Usually vendors who can't convince people to use them for any other reason than they are cheap. You know them; the DJ who's mic cuts out in the middle of the speech and pronounces your name wrong. The caterer whose food is lukewarm and uniformly grey. The cake baker whose 3 tiers are all lopsided. The photographer who cuts off your head in half the photos and misses the kiss.

The officiant who is late, underdressed, reads your ceremony off a piece of paper and calls you the wrong name. Any vendor who does this for a hobby so you can never get ahold of them, they probably don't have the insurance your venue will require, and they do it so infrequently they don't ever get good at whatever it is they promise they can actually do.

Those are your cheap vendors. And that's why they can't charge more. Because they're usually terrible. Do you want to trust your one wedding day to them?

Wedding Wire is littered with the stories of vendors who were bargains and didn't prove themselves to be crap until it was too late.

Cut your guest list, move your date to a non prime date and figure out a budget that will let you host your guests in a non-cheap way. After all, they are your guests, right?

Find a caterer first as that will be your biggest expense

Thanks guys that's all I needed to know y'all all have been a great help

Consider using the term "best value" as few like to think of themselves as cheap.

The only thing I think you can get cheaper are DIY flowers. In looking for less expensive photographers, there is an immense difference between the ones that charge 1-2k vs the ones that charge 3-5k. On their websites you will see what they believe is an example of their best work. The cheaper photographers look like an ok photo that your sister took. Some of them aren't even in focus. It's a bit ridiculous these people are even charging money.

For a venue, you could look into a restaurant to host it. They're usually on the lower end of the wedding spectrum. But you'll need a short guest list, which if you're worried about cheap, you should have anyways. I'd recommend keeping it under 20 to allow for the most cost savings.

You could also host a more dinner party type wedding, and skip the DJ.

You can also skip the flowers, as they're really inessential in the grand scheme of things.

You can get a bunch of delicious sheet cakes to feed your guests instead of an elaborate wedding cake. It's the same thing really, just less fancy.

There's tons of ways to host properly while saving money. Just cut any non-essential items (a good caterer and open bar are NOT non-essential) and you'll still have an awesome day! In the end, if you're married, it was a success!

We surprisingly found a hotel to be one of the best values as far as venues. Mainly because it includes the food/beverage, space, coordinator, tables/chair/flatware, servers, lounge furniture, etc. We're not having to rent anything from outside. So consider what all your venue includes. That being said, we have mostly out of town guests who are booking nearly the entire hotel. Best of luck!

Please heed Celia's warning. I had a budget photographer and a budget DOC

Rn Im struggling to pull together an album because we have less than 50 useable pictures from our wedding day. We paid extra for getting ready shots and we have no pictures of my bridesmaids and I getting ready. I got a picture of my shoes and my ring inside a champagne glass. She also had a second shooter who was so unprepared that they both missed our first look and we had to fake a second one. She missed our first kiss as husband and wife. She missed my entire father daughter dance. You really get what you pay for.

Our cheap DOC got drunk and ruined my wedding. Amongst the shitty things he did he screamed at my guests, showed up in jeans and a t shirt, threatened to assault my MOH, got drunk and tried to steal our extra wedding food, and threw away our wedding cake at the end of the night.

You get what you pay for. I'd recommend finding an experienced and well reviewed vendor who you can reduce your time with. In retrospect I wish I would have got an established photographer for only 3 hours for first look, ceremony, and first dance/cake cutting.

Cut the guest list, DIY some decor, don't get "cheap" vendors or you will end up regretting it in the end.

Google can help you super quick. Search that particular type of vendor in your area and make phone calls.

Not necessarily vendors, but ways to save money. I see your wedding is about a year away, even though it's a little early to send STD's, and invitations, you could purchase them on Black Friday/cyber Monday. It seems like there are a ton of great discounts, I've seen some places offer 50-75% off!

DIY floral arrangements are also a great way to save money if you have the patience for it

Thanks

Be honest and tell your vendors you really like them but can't afford them and if they would offer a discount . I did that with my DJ and he gave us a 500 dollar discount!

Good thinking

Would you like to do your job for less, just because someone asked?

Dear lort.

I'm sorry did not mean for this conversation to get out of hand I was just wondering if anyone had advice about what venue was reasonable that's all

I'm trying not to spend more then 1000 about 40 or less guests I'm located in North West Arkansas