How to plan a wedding on a 1k budget

An officiant in the Baltimore area will take up nearly half of your budget for a Saturday ceremony. If you have your heart set on the date your only real option would be to have a ceremony at your home and then weigh out your options to host dinner.

A potluck would be nice!

My friend got married in Jamaica and looked for a really good deal for a flight. She made a call to the resort they were staying at and the resort set up the officiant and the food etc. if you book right you could probably do something similar.

I'm thinking this

A potluck would not be nice. Unless of course you meant to end that sentence with, "A potluck would be nice for everyone to get food poisoning."

@futuremrs moakley - sarcasm, dear.

JOP with immediate family, followed by a nice dinner at a restaurant. You can find a great dress in formal or online

Decide what is most important to you. You have over a year to save up. Just do the things that are most important to you and your fiancé.

Cost in Baltimore for JOP and license is $35 for the marriage license, $25 for the ceremony, and $5.50 for the marriage certificate. So you're talking under $100 for that part. Then the question is what you want to do with the rest of the money.

If you don't want a courthouse ceremony, you could:

* Get a friend ordained and have a ceremony at home or in a park.

* Have an off-peak elopement package. Here's one for only $295, including the officiant and venue: http://www.themarylandweddingofficiant.com/services

Biggest cost is normally food and drink. And the cost of that increases as you add more guests. But if you limit your guests to immediate family, you could either make dinner for them or take them to a restaurant. Or if you want more guests than that, you could limit your reception to cake and punch.

But whatever you do with $1,000, it will be fairly bare bones. You'll likely need to wear an outfit you already own, either do without flowers or just pick up a few from a supermarket, skip professional photography, DIY hair and make-up, buy a supermarket cake or skip cake altogether, etc. If you want something fancier than that, you'll need to wait until you can save up more.

Get a pretty dress and some rings and drive to DC. Elope there. If you like, bring your mother and his parents and take them for lunch after. Then they head home and the two of you use the remaining budget for a weekend at a lovely B&B.

Great idea!

I would say the same thing as the other ladies park and family dinner afterwards

Sorry to hear about your father. I think you have three options.

1) Invite your parents, siblings and grandparents and get married at the courthouse. Take them out to lunch afterwards. It doesn't have to be to a fancy place. Have one of them take some photos on their phone during the ceremony. The photos probably won't be the best, but at least you will have some as you likely won't find a photographer in your budget. If you want flowers, get them from a grocery store. Buy a cake from a grocery store or see if the restaurant serves cake. Buy a dress from a dept store or one of the $99 dresses from David's Bridal or Alfred Angelo.

2) same as #1, but have a friend officiate at a park.

3) Postpone the wedding and save more.

Do not self cater. Do not do a potluck. Do not do a cash bar.

Lovely idea

A $1000 wedding is a great idea. Make it a potluck with BYOB.

Sell tickets for your wedding. If people want to come badly enough they'll shell out the money. Also, potluck, byob, byoc(bring your own chair), and don't bother with renting china. Go the the Dollar Store and pick up some paper plates. No one will remember what they ate dinner off of.

I am sorry for your loss.

I agree with those who said to have a friend get ordained. Are there any family members that have spacious/scenic yards for you to use for an outdoor wedding? My aunt has a gorgeous backyard and lives near a lake with lots of flowers so my cousin got married there and it was beautiful. That would really help with venue costs!

You could have an afternoon reception with cake/desert and punch and you could see if there are any photography students in the area that would be able to do your pictures for a lower cost.

I hope these ideas help!

You have over a year to save so you can have a REAL officiant and a nice tiny party.

If this is going to be your only wedding, it should be nice.

https://www.weddingwire.com/wedding-forums/wedding-budget-under-1000-is-this-doable/34540957e820297b.html

https://www.weddingwire.com/wedding-forums/wedding-under-1-000/f8130d098c7b9eb2.html

https://www.weddingwire.com/wedding-forums/under-1-000-wedding-what-s-your-advice/66de8622fc6ddbe8.html

https://www.weddingwire.com/wedding-forums/wedding-reception-budget-under-1000/e004f617b447d261.html

Save save save. In a lot of "destination" spots, you can find great elopement packages. One near me is $1700 and includes officiant, simple flowers, venue, food, cake, and beer/wine for up to 10 people. You just have to buy a dress and rings.