How to plan a cheap wedding?

We stayed under 15,000$ and had 85 guests, including my dress and alterations. We did...

DIY: table numbers, programs, invitation inserts, mantle decor, signage was all done by my little sister with wood that my brother in law already had.. we also only had 2 signs (welcome, and "pick a seat, not a side, either way its for a bride.. then the 2nd sign flipped to have our hashtag on it during the reception)

We got great deals for: photographer (having a sale when we booked), DJ (a DJ that had great reviews but was just starting out so cost less).

Saved money because:

- coordinator we hired actually had a lot of the decor included. We had access to all the decor she owned so our centerpieces were completely included in her cost which was AMAZING.

- we did single stems for bridesmaid bouquets and my bouquet was the size of a standard bridesmaids. I am not a huge fan of carrying things and having things in my hands so I went for a smaller one. I wanted the bridesmaids to have something but nothing too large since the MOH had to hold my bouquet anyway, so I went with single stem and it saved us a ton of money.

- my hair and makeup was done by a friend who is STELLAR at it and has done my hair and makeup for me before.

- we had a friend of ours officiate. He had officiated several weddings prior to ours and it was a running tradition for him to officiate weddings for people who work in his lab (my wife worked with him for 7 years)

- we did not hire a videographer. This was mostly because we blew our photographer budget out of the water. Friends went around with a video camera. I have some regrets but most of me is happy with what we got.

- we had the ceremony indoors and the venue came with "reception chairs". They allowed us to use the reception chairs as ceremony chairs as long as our event was inside. This also meant that we didn't have to buy decor for an "altar" in addition to fireplace decor for the reception. It was all the same.

- We selected a venue that was beautiful on its own and didn't need a lot of decorations because we knew we wouldn't be able to afford more decorations.

- We used Birthday invites from Costco as our invitations because they fit our theme perfectly. We also severely limited our paper usage and did not do many inserts (just directed people to the website) because wife is a marine biologist and very environmentally conscious

- FedEx wanted a lot of money for printing our seating assignment directly onto a foam board. So my mom had them print it on poster and then used double sided tape to stick it on to a foam board she got for 99 cents. Worked PERFECTLY and about $40 cheaper.

- simple simple simple decor. Centerpieces were just candles in a lantern OR pillars, then our table number, and petals all over. Beautiful, easy, cheap.

That's what I can think of on the top of my head, I hope it helps!

Where are you getting married?