How nontraditional are you to be unique or save money?

I barely had any decor! I just felt like I didn’t wanna spend thousands of bucks on flowers so I bought my bouquets artificial from michaels and did candle centerpieces

Visit quickcandles.com and cvlinens.com to save money on decor and tablecloths! Like Melle said, candles are way cheaper than real flowers and did such a nice warmth if your venue allows flame. If you want to save on cake, Sam’s Club makes delicious wedding sheet cake. You could have a small cake for cutting and then serve everyone else from the sheet. They won’t know the difference! Or order cupcakes but don’t mention that they’re for a wedding! Some bakeries will upcharge when you say the W word.

A big saver is literally just never saying the word wedding unless absolutely necessary when asking for quotes/pricing -- or wait until you have a quote *in writing* before you drop the W word.

Specifically for us, we saved by finding a beautiful venue that didn't need extra decor. We picked a brewery restaurant with exposed brick and beams, Edison bulbs, and a generally charming feel. Throw some candles on the tables and you're done!

Flowers have been mentioned before I'm sure, but honestly, who cares about bridesmaid bouquets? Hold something else, a book, a paper fan, a photograph, something more meaningful for the couple!


Also I feel like food is a great way to show your uniqueness and break tradition. Go to a diner every Sunday? Have breakfast food! Love tacos? Have tacos! It turns out lots of restaurants would love to make you food that aren't traditional caterers.

Where I live, $30k is considered "cheap" or "budget-friendly" - and that's about what we kept it at.

Fake flowers, got my dress at a sample sale, kept the guest-list on the smaller side, and we also planned within a year, so we were able to get good rates because they wanted to fill the date. Additionally, our venue didn't need decor, as it had an amazing view.

Also, keep it simple. A lot of the things that drive up the price end up being "extra" and unnecessary for a good time (photo booths are very fun, but they are super expensive, and take your guests off the dance floor).

I used my family's competitive nature against them( 7 aunts a who grew up together) and said if you feel like you you could bring your delicious... literally the best food( like Thanksgiving but without holiday restrictions on family recipes) and almost no cost... we smoked a salmon and beef with some side just in case. And didnt have to pay for catering other than the electricity for all those crackpots. I also went down to mexico for a bach party my friend through for me. A) I live in Colorado and so the beach getaway with good Mexican food was amazing! B) cheap good tequila for the reception C) they have this insane garbage sale thing, like a flee market but with better prices, where we bought great speakers, decor, sola flowers, outfits almost everything. All for the price of gas and food, since my friends family kindly let me and friends stay there on inflatable matress , it cut alot of the costs and I had a blast! We also had a drink tent with all the adult drinks( premade batch drinks, beer and wine)

We kept the guest list to 50 people (and it was hard!), no dance, afternoon lunch reception (people could order a drink which we paid for but few people drank), no flowers at ceremony site (it was an Arboretum) and the private dining room was so gorgeous we did nothing to decorate it. This was my second wedding (his first) and he is low key and frankly, I did the church wedding followed by dancing and was like, no thanks on that again, lol.

Our wedding was done by 3 and we loved it!!!

Like a previous poster said, if you do cake have a small one and supplement with a sheet cake.

For reception sites, don't dismiss VFW's, Elk's Club, etc. Some of them are pretty nice inside, they are affordable and the food is YUM.

I plan to rent my florals from Something Borrowed Bouquets. They look great and won’t completely break the bank.

View Quoted Comment Have you looked into https://www.budget-bride.com/ or if you want real flowers but are worried about cost you could always donate them, make someones day and get a tax deduction

The bulk of our cost has been on the vendors - our venue (including food, all table/chairs/place settings/food/some decor/etc) has a 5 minimum that we're planning to try and hit as close to as possible, then there's a 21% service charge on that - so about $6k for all that. Then $2800 for the photographers, $1300 for DJ, $1000 for artificial flowers (a large cascading bouquet for me, 6 corsages, 11 boutonnieres and 10 centerpiece arrangements) and $1800 for the DOC. Adding in the other decor, our attire/accessories, hotel stay, my hair/makeup - we're sitting at around $16K total for the big wedding.

BUT, we've now had to postpone that out a year (we were able to retain all the vendors we'd already paid for thankfully), and are planning a small elopement and backyard cookout for this year too. So far looking at an extra $200 for the new venue for about 12 guests, $750 for our photographers to work with for this ceremony too, plus probably up to about another 1K in food and drink for about 25 people for the cookout.

View Quoted Comment

Thanks for the recommendation! I will check it out.

You answered your own post. Don't drop the "W" word until you get a quote. Service is service whether for a wedding or a retirement party.

We're eloping. We'll tell our families before we do it, but there will be no guests. Just us, our officiant, and our photographer.

Budget is very important, so we'll save wherever we can. My dress isn't from a bridal store, and neither will my accessories be. My flowers are less than €30.

My FH won't be in a tux or suit.

If we decide to have a cake, we'll make it ourselves.

I won't have something old, new, borrowed, or blue.

And I'm walking down the aisle to a heavy metal song.

When I saw that average number recently I was just like WOW! I couldn't even imagine spending a year's salary on one day celebration. Just no. I mean I do know things cost differently in different areas. I also think that's ridiculous that vendors charge more just because it's a wedding versus other functions. I was also pretty outraged at the price of venues period.

So here's my nontraditional budget cuts. Although I'm pretty sure I could've had my wedding ceremony at my church without much of a fee if any, there would've been a fee to rent the fellowship hall, but I wanted my wedding to be outdoors and near the trails. We're having it at a park that's operated by my county's parks & rec, and the fee is super reasonable for the amphitheater and the community center.

I've used Facebook Marketplace to find some of my decor (wood slices), and I'm also working to minimize the "one use only" decor items. For instance, I've already looked at some projects for wood slices to be used as home decor so that I could just reuse them. I am spending a bit more (in my opinion) for favors, but I chose plastic reusable cups (think Kona ice) with our names & wedding date and colors because they'll be used for the reception, thus I don't have to buy throw-away cups and can be taken home and reused for years. Also any leftover favors can go into our house and be used for this that and everything (paint watercolor cups, drinking cups, animal feed cups, etc.).

I'm also planning for my wedding to be a simpler affair. No hired DJ or caterer, no hired DOC. Family & friends will help me set up and tear down, I asked a friend to MC for us. Another friend volunteered flowers. Food is being provided by family. My biggest 1 item purchase is my photographer, but I was lucky to find someone local with local type pricing. Just below $1,000 for 6 hours, including travel fee because my getting ready location is a bit further away.