Low Cost Alternatives

Honestly, it’s hard to give ideas when you don’t provide your budget, location (Cali is a big state after all and costs vary greatly), and guest count. Knowing what you do expect and what your must-haves are would also be good too. What type of wedding are you wanting? Like are you hoping for a reception that follows some sort of schedule with reception events (bouquet toss, speeches, first dance, etc.) and dancing? Or something more like a Memorial Day/4th of July celebration where it’s a super causal BBQ get together and people could toss a football or play yard games?


The main thing to remember is that the more DIY you go, the higher the stress level is to make it happen and the more likely you’ll end up spending money on things you didn’t think about before, or last minute items, especially if you’re trying to plan fast. For example, you might be saving money on food and venue fees, but you might be spending money on decorations and rentals for tables, chairs, linens, etc., which aren’t cheap. You’d also have to coordinate when they come and set up, and when they clean up. As far as food goes, would you have family or friends cook or do BBQ catering (which is actually pretty cheap)? Based on what I’ve read, many people who have catered their own weddings, or been to weddings where the bride and groom or their family catered themselves wouldn’t recommend it for a variety of reasons. Assuming this would be served buffet style, is there enough space to set up a buffet line? If you’re doing alcohol, would you need a bartender? Are there any city requirements for serving alcohol for events, like requiring a license of some sort for either you, your friend, or the bartender? How would you deal with the possibility of potential damage to the backyard, say from someone overly drunk or a fight broke out? Would you have event or wedding insurance to help cover the costs to fix it? You also have to think about the bathroom situation. If you have 50 people and the friend is only allowing her downstairs bathroom to be used, you may want to consider renting at least one additional bathroom. Assuming this would occur in the evening, is the backyard sufficiently lit? Many pictures of backyard weddings I’ve seen have stringed lighting set up. If this is in the evening, it’s a good idea to look up noise restrictions. In my area, outdoor weddings often have to end by 9-10PM depending on the city for this reason. If there is music/dancing of some sort, assuming it’s not in the budget to get a DJ, who would keep an eye on the playlist and what is the plan in the event that certain songs turn out to be a bust on the dance floor? What about if the speakers or the microphone doesn’t work? Who would do the announcements? I personally went to a playlist wedding that ended up a disaster because the bride didn’t pick dancing music, so the dance floor was empty the whole night, and the speaker system didn’t work, so no one could hear announcements. She also threw up bridesmaids at the last minute without a script to do announcements and they definitely sounded unsure and unprepared. Also you have to factor in set up and clean up of the reception itself and who would participate in that.
I’ve read of many people who do a simple courthouse ceremony and then went to a restaurant afterwords to celebrate on a budget. With enough people, you could reserve a private room. This way, you wouldn’t have to worry about food, alcohol, rentals, bathrooms, or set up/clean up (though there may be a little if centerpieces are involved, but that’s something to discuss with the venue). Restaurant weddings tend to be much better bang for your buck because of this and often times, they won’t charge a venue fee. There’s definitely some nice ones in Cali that have wedding experience. Some even have designated areas for ceremonies. I’m not sure what part of California you are in, but places like Five Crowns in Corona Del Mar and Salt Creek Grille in Dana Point (SoCal places) do a lot of weddings at reasonable costs. But any restaurant with private dining options could be considered.
You could also consider doing a brunch wedding, or a Sunday/Friday wedding to help save more money, or just elope.
Anyways, I’m not trying to be a downer on your idea, but wanted to give you realistic food for thought, especially if you aren’t doing a micro wedding. For my under-100 person wedding, I planned it completely myself at a 100% DIY outdoor venue, and these were all things I had to consider and plan for. I’m sure there’s even more that I’m not remembering at the moment, especially when it comes to specific vendors. I did splurge on certain key vendors, did budget vendors for others, to avoid dealing with many of those issues.

View Quoted Comment Thanks for your reply!


Date: 4/10 or 4/11/21
# Of Guests: originally 150 for wedding, but we don’t mind hacking away at this to below 50
Location: Los Angeles, CA (SFV or AV work, too.)
We’re looking for a wedding reception alternative, so no fancy music handling, decor, or buffets. Super casual.
No bartender, just beers in a bucket could work fine.
No worries about permits or noise, especially out in the AV, late-night party central. No one ever complains out there and if they do, all good.
This would honestly just be thrown mostly for our family to enjoy; we’re leaning towards courthouse and calling it a day. Long term wealth is our top priority.

View Quoted Comment Yeah, I’d say the number one thing you can do to cut costs is to cut the guest list. 150 on any “budget” budget is tricky. I planned my wedding over the course of just under 2 years so that I could think through all the DIY, but if you cut all the details and just do the basics, it’s possible to do it fast, but again, costs do add up. I do think in your situation, courthouse and a basic restaurant meal would be the easiest to plan fast with the least stress, then maybe opening up the backyard to people who want to hang out afterwords. Of course you do you if you choose to cut the reception part entirely, but I think it would be nice to at least provide a meal or at least appetizers to the guests that took the time to come celebrate, especially with 50 people.

Honestly, backyard weddings are NOT cheap because of all the rentals (and who wants to spend wedding money on extra bathrooms? 🤦‍♀️) Here are a few options:


1) For 150 guests, a 2 pm church/temple wedding followed by a simple cake & punch reception in the church/temple hall. Hopefully, chairs and tables are available. All you’ll need to rent is linens.
2) For less than 50 guests, a brunch wedding wherever you wish. Brunch is a lot cheaper. You could marry at a courthouse and treat guests to a brunch/lunch meal at a nice restaurant. Or a nice venue (hotel, winery) might have options.

Update! We found a golf course that can do all-inclusive for lower cost! The key was to go to a suburb an hour outside of our city.

Venue includes: ceremony/reception site, arch, tables, chairs, linens, food, food serving staff (inc appetizer tray-pass,) silver/glassware, bartender staff, onsite coordinator, and even a projector!