Is a $6000 budget realistic for a nice wedding?

Instead of a fancy venue have you tried looking at some halls that are nice and will let you book your own caterer?

Usually halls are cheaper than a venue. Then you can splurge a little more on a cake and decor. Also, having the peace of mind knowing that your guest with health concerns arent outside during octobers weather, may be worth it.

If you have to get a lot of rentals in order to have a park wedding then that might eat up your budget. You want to go with a park that has some sort of amenities or look into something more all inclusive. Think outside of the box. Some restaurants have big private rooms for rent as well.

This sounds doable you just will need to do more research on the venue. I think it's important for your guests to be comfortable. Usually the most expensive part is food and booze. Sounds like you have a good idea on what to do with food, and there's a bunch of posts on this site about people who do buy booze on a budget. Don't give up just yet, you just need to keep searching!

I've never heard of a public park that didn't require a permit. That said, the permit costs are usually pretty low. However, you then have to rent everything you need to have a wedding (tent, heaters, chairs, etc.)

Halls (of any kind) are usually a lot cheaper than traditional wedding venues, and sometimes have the added bonus of already having tables and chairs that you can use. You still may need to rent some things, like dishes, linens, silverware, etc. but it won't be as costly as doing it at a park.

I think if you can DIY a lot, you can definitely keep it at $6K. For your vendors, look at places like Facebook for recommendations, or Thumbtack, which has a lot of vendors who are just starting out, or don't yet have a storefront, and whose prices are generally cheaper than established business.

I agree with other people here that non-traditional venues is what you should be looking for with that kind of budget: restaurants, museums, aquariums, art galleries, and yes, community halls. Those halls (like the VFW) aren't much to look at from the outside, but with a careful touch, can be made beautiful and elegant on the inside. Good luck!!

Tent rentals are expensive, like $1,000+. Heaters will be $100+ per heater most likely. You'll probably also need bathrooms, coolers, lights, generators, etc. I would just get a grocery store cake, don't try cooking one.

Where do you live?

Some historic properties are gorgeous and much cheaper as they are rented out by the government. They also typically allow you to DIY food/alcohol.

My budget's 4K and we're just renting the local Fire Hall. It's not the Ritz but that's not what our wedding's about

It's totally doable! I would recommend an airbnb or vrbo which may give you an indoor/outdoor event venue. We are renting a beach house for the weekend for $2200.00 and having her friend's son do our catering. Another friend has a tent just in case and we're spending less than $250 for tables and chairs with delivery and pick-up included. What I would not do is try to DIY your cake if neither of you are bakers. Either see if the boss can make a cake or cupcakes, or find a bakery that can fit your budget. We are getting a single tier cake with 4 dozen cupcakes from a bakery down the road from us for less than $200. If you want DIY but aren't overly crafty, check out Etsy. Some of the stuff is really reasonable, but there might also be simple but elegant ideas to be found on Pinterest you could try. Good luck!

I'm not sure where you are located but my wedding is 16k BUT that includes a 6k budget for lodging for the week for us and our wedding party! we rented a 9 bedroom cabin. This brings us to 10k for our wedding. Now that broke down to $3200 for our venue (which includes all tables and chairs and linens, its a beautiful barn in TN). www.4pointsfarm.com for our wedding ceremony and reception. another 1900 was my dress. 600 for transportation day off. 1500 in catering no cake though (we don't do cake) and then misc things here and there and our photographer coming in at 1200. If you take the bare basics:

Venue- $3200

DJ - $700

Photographer - $1200

Catering - $1500

this put us at $6600 before adding in anything else. Now our wedding is also a 100 person wedding and we are DIYing a lot of our stuff (decorations and flowers).

I think 6k is doable but it just depends on where you are located. We also opted for prime wedding season but had we chose a different month we would have been looking around $2500 for venue.

Totally doable! Does your date have any flexibility? A park wedding (which would probably require a permit) would be a lot easier in August depending on your location. Also, look at your local parks and recreation website, they may have a chalet or public building that you could rent for low cost and would include tables/ chairs.