how can i have an elegant wedding for 10000

Dont stress out you can have a gorgeous wedding with 10k. My budget is 10k for 80 guests. You just need to DIY a lot. Im making my center pieces, my bridesmaids gifts and I even made my wedding invitations. Is all about organizing yourself, first thing after you set your budget is to set the number of guests then look around for banquet halls because they get booked fast.

Sounds hard.... but soooo easy! lots of internet researching. where to buy what, and DYI a lot. I have the same budget and it seems to be working out for me with 120 guests

My budget is tight also and we are aiming for a pretty formal wedding. I'm doing most things myself to save money and no one will know the difference. I'm doing my std's, invites, centerpieces, boutonnieres, bm's bouquets and a few other things. You can make it look elegant, but save money too

I agree with the rest of the girls it's doable. You can do a lot of things yourself, your biggest cost is probably going to be the reception venue and the food after that your on your way. I found it extremely helpful to post what your looking for here, it's you best resource it's like having thousands of internet researchers. I gotten a lot of great ideas and savings reading the posts here.

Are you near Baltimore, MD? Prices are pretty reasonable in that area. You can buy a previously owned dress and get an incredible deal. What is your definition of "elegant?"

The big thing is Location. If things are very expensive in your area, consider going to a different town/state where things are cheaper. 10K in SC will make for a beautiful grand wedding whereas in NY, it might not even cover the venue.

It's definitely do-able. You just need to make a good budget and shop around with vendors, etc. Figure out what things are most important to you, and those are the things that you splurge on. The most expensive things are usually food/beverage, flowers, and photography, so as long as you get those under control you should be fine. Good Luck!!

I agree w/ Shannon it all depends on where you live. 10,000 where I live is way more than is required. If you live in a big city go to a city right outside out town it will save a lot of money. And DIY is a brides best f

Friend. Good Luck. Don't know why it didn't finish. lol.

There are budgeting tools that show you an expected amount you should spend on each category. When we planned out weddings we sat down our budgets, the # of guests we couldnt live without inviting and then ranked the items as most important. At the end of your list should be things you would like but can live without (Ex: candy buffet, photo booth etc) If there is money left in the end then get those things but if not at least you have your main stuff covered.

Just remember low price doesnt mean cheap but low price may be a sign....dont rush into anything do a ton of research and you can without a doubt pull off a beautiful amazing wedding for $10,000 or less. Goodluck

It depends where you live. Where I live (Miami) you don't get very far. But we are getting married in Islamorada, which is worst! but I'm saving on invitations, I'm DIY, I did the save the date and they are beautiful, you just need good organizaiton.

You can also consider things like... with photography. Do you have to have the album of pics right away? Or would you be happy with a photographer who gave you a disk with all of your wedding pics and gave you the rights to be able to copy them and print them as you like. We're doing this and it's saving a lot. In all honesty, we aren't "photo album on the coffee table" kinds of people. But we will really enjoy being able to put the pics on a digital picture frame or using the pics as screensavers on the computer or wallpaper on my phone. I also plan to just make copies of the disk to give to family and then they'll get ALL the pics and they can print out whatever they want. Some photographers won't do this, but some will, so check around.

As Shannon said, you can talk to a lot of vendors and see if they can customize a package.

Shannon- You may want to look into photo sharing websites, it may save you time/money if you uploaded the pictures and let your friends/fam look at them instead of burning discs for everyone. Just make sure you have the permission of the photographer for printing and everything which it sounds like you already thought of - good advice though.

There are alot of budget friendly vendors in the industry. You may have to do alot of research to find them but your budget is durable.

Very doable. Lots of budget friendly vendors, and there is so much you can DIY that no one will even think you did it and it wasn't a purchased item b/c it will be soooo beautiful.

Ask us, we have lots of ideas!!! We are happy to share, we are a library on here! You are also lucky that your date is next year so you have a lot of time to do research and compare.

Ohh, I just noticed we have the same date!! Way to gooooo!!

@DaelanDe-- Yes. We already talked with the photog and made sure that we had full rights to printing and copying the disk before we hired him. We told him up front what our budget was and what we wanted and he accommodated us. And as far as making copies, it will likely only be a few copies. One for my parents and one for hers, so I think it won't be that big of a deal to make the copies. We'll possibly be able to do that in less time than setting up an online account. LOL.

@tricia and Dianne-- I'm getting married the next Saturday after you guys. WooHoo!!!

I'm doing an elegant wedding for 12000 but if you take out the wedding planner that's 10000. (And trust me that's probably my biggest mistake so far...didn't need the wedding planner!) The biggest thing I did was decide on a SMALL intimate wedding, 24 people. Then since it is so small I was able to go to the top of the line choices, high end hotel, great food, etc. The best part- I am sharing it with my closest, most loved peopel around me and it should be awesome!

We are doing my daughters wedding/reception for less than $10 and it is formal.

Check with local hotels....many are willing to waive some fees right now, due to the economy.

As others have said, you can do a lot of DYI...also..I found Vista Print a great resource for some printing. We did use an actual "printer" for the invitations, RSVP's and thank you notes. We did not send out STD's.

I have been the wedding planner, so no expense there and my sister and her friend (who is a florist) are doing the flowers....my sisters gift.

It can be done and be the perfect day!