How much is too cheap?

@ Kristin Pictures sure are important and if she's lucky like myself she can find a professional photographer who she's close to or close to a bm or someone she knows who will do photography as pretty much a gift. Hiring a professional you know isn't skimping!

I agree with @little demon if anything utilize friends and family to help you find good professionals

Just commenting to put more emphasis on what Little Demon said.

Day time weddings are usually less expensive and it is more acceptable to serve beer and wine which is significantly cheaper. Food also can be less formal for a daytime wedding.

Watch the liquor sales each month and pick up a few bottles a month.

Look at auto alive dresses for wedding dress. We have bought a lot from them.

Right now is a good time to buy things on sale after the holidays. I bought pillows for lounge areas in the fall at $2 each.

Use coupons. Joanne's has a 60% off one item coupon I print a bunch of. You can get table decor there.

In Pittsburgh we do cookie tables. We get together and bake bunches before events and freeze them a few weeks before. The most you can do before two weeks out is best

I'm getting married in TN. We are spending roughly $10k for about 50-60 peeps. That is everything including cocktail hour, sit down dinner and consumption bar for the reception and chapel fees.

I'm spending 12k on 60 people. But it all depends on your location, so.

You can do a properly-hosted wedding for cheap, just cut corners wherever you can. I have the blessing of a free venue (chairs and tables and all), but the rest we are making happen because of discounts and sales. Extreme couponing and deal-searching is your friend

What state do you live in? If you are in Atlanta I'd be happy to help point you in the right direction!

I'm outside of Philadelphia, close to Wilmington and Chester. My wedding is 110 people and our budget is 9K while being as cheap as possible. Our biggest cost is caterer (a MUST- 2K) and our photographer (2K as well). That does not include my dress. I also opted out of a photo booth and a limo.

I have $5,000 budgeted for mine & so far, we are staying well within it! It's not been HARD at all, but some things just take a few more minutes to figure out so that I can make sure I'm not cutting corners or leaving anything out. I have 90 guests, a semi-Large bridal party, dj, fresh flowers, catered meal, free alcohol, and an amazing venue on the water. If you'd like to talk/compare, just let me know!

I'm all ears for this post!

Cut programs, menu cards, place cards (if your caterer is ok with it), and go with the cheapest invitations you can find that you like. If you are providing the alcohol for the bartender to serve, try asking if you can return unopened bottles after the event. There's no need for favors or elaborate decor, and try consignment shops or look at ivory/blush/champagne bridesmaid dresses for your dress. People will remember your food, the booze, the music, and how much fun they had. Everything else is just extra!

All kinds of crap advice upon this thread. I noticed @Traveling likes to post crap advice abundantly on different threads as well. Great. Noobs giving bad advice. Just what we needed.

First off, to ALL the noobs who don't know better yet, friendors are a bad idea. ANYONE that you know that "does ___!" is not someone to hire. Basically, if you wouldn't be comfortable suing them for breach of contract, or they're close enough to receive an invitation, then you shouldn't have them working at your wedding.

As for self catering, let's copy and paste from my form post, shall we?

Self catering is a very good way to give people food poisoning. While yes, it is also a risk with catered meals, the caterer has had training to avoid it, AND they have insurance to protect and pay hospital bills should it be necessary, a liability that falls firmly on the couple (and can easily bankrupt them for life) should they choose to self cater. The same goes for a fully self run bar, as the bartender would act as the liability holder in this case. This is also a good point for dry weddings, as guests who bring their own alcohol (and they nearly always will!) also bring liability to the couple should they drive drunk and injure or kill someone. The couple is liable for that person both civilly and criminally.

Self catering also puts you and your family in the position of working frantically all day on your wedding day. They will not be able to be guests, as they will be prepping and serving food. Who wants to smell like a greasy kitchen on their wedding day?

Food is very unlikely to cost less. Caterers get food is bulk, much more than individuals do when going grocery shopping. Therefore, they have contracts with suppliers, and they receive discounts. A self caterer won't have those discounts and will likely spend the same amount just for the food as if they'd hired a cheap caterer. Also, if you have no experience cooking for large groups, or access to an industrial kitchen, you don't realize how different it is from making thanksgiving dinner for 35.

That brings me to the ones who say it's no different from a big thanksgiving dinner. At home, you have access to everything at your fingertips: a fridge, stove, oven(s), roasters, crockpots, etc. It's relatively easy to keep things at safe temperatures while other parts cook. If you're self catering, you're either going to have to cook everything at home and use sterno (which most people have zero experience with) or ice water baths to keep foods at proper temperature, BUT you also need to keep food at temperature during transportation. If there IS a kitchen on site, you *still* have the transportation issue, plus working with an unfamiliar kitchen, which is a much bigger issue than it sounds. (Does the oven heat to the right temperature, or is it off by 50-100 degrees? How cold is the refrigerator setting? Maybe yours at home is cold, but this one freezes food if it's too close to the freezer wall, etc.)

There are a ton of factors that all come together to make self catering a phenomenally poor choice, as well as an incredibly dangerous one. It is literally playing Russian roulette with your guests. For instance, say you serve potato salad with your meal. Out of 150 guests, nobody may get sick, BUT your two pregnant guests may experience a miscarriage or even stillbirth thanks to a listeria infection (which doesn't cause symptoms in normal, healthy individuals). Do you want to live knowing that was your fault, live with your guest knowing her child died because of your wedding? What if a few people get mildly sick (not needing hospitalization), but one immunocompromised guests ends up fatally ill from salmonella. Do you REALLY want that on your conscience because you decided to self cater?

I honestly don't remember a single centerpiece or floral arrangement at any of the weddings I've been to. Most of the wedding favors were meh at best. The only things I remembered are food, drink, music, and how incredibly happy the couples and families were

You can save money and forget the favors; Really! no one want them as much as you think they do. And bonfires stink. I come from a family of asthmatics and we couldn't even stay.

@Dreamer the bon fire will be plenty of distance from the reception site so if someone knows their astmatic hopefully they'll stay inside.

@PerfectlyPolin I'm in Vermont. The venue we choose is a ski lodge

@Future Mrs H I would love to talk and compare! You're the first person that jas actually reached out and offer further conversion. I have three brides maids and he only has a best man. The 90 people includes the wedding party and all guests. We've cut the guest list a lot making it only 1st cousins not second or third. This alone cute like thirty people because we both come from large families and all or our cousins have children of their own.

Thank you everyone else it's much appreciated less than 300 days eek I'd better get a move on.

My budget is $10,000 for 100 guests but I don't plan on going anywhere near there. I'm doing as much DIY as possible and keeping it low cost

Everyone can cut their guest list. Everyone, including you. And that is the fastest, least stressful way to keep the budget in line. Because you cannot treat 90 people well for no money. Yes, you can get 'meat and three', but what about hors d'oeuvres? What about seconds? What about cake? A wedding isn't like going out to lunch. It's hours long, it is supposed to be special

And then you have a DJ, photography, an officiant...

Don't self cater, don't do potluck and for crying out loud don't buy plates. Don't think that you can just serve hors d'oeuvres; it won't be cheaper.

Sometimes I wish people would just get the idea that no everyone can afford what they think they want. We make these compromises every single day; cars, colleges, clothing. A wedding is no different. You do what you can afford.

So far my biggest money saver was using a restaurant for the reception versus a traditional wedding venue (such as a country club). We are renting out the whole place for only $350, and their food (which we've had before and is delicious) is only $17 pp.

Instead of paying a set per-person open bar price, we are leaving the tab open and picking it up at the end of the night. (This may not be a money saver for everybody though. Know your crowd situation. Our crowd doesn't drink a lot.)

I plan on shopping for my dress at DB since they frequently have good sales.

No STD's, no favors, no menus. Small bouquets and small centerpieces.

I'm in western MA, if that helps. I'm not sure if that's considered an inexpensive area or not, but so far I've been able to find good deals on vendors, allowing me to stay within my budget.

It requires more research and more flexibility, but it's possible.

ETA- I know you said cutting the guest list is out of the question, but I urge you to take a second look. It is by far the easiest way to make your dollar go further.