My dream wedding with a dirt cheep budget tips:

Thank you these are some good tips and advice.

Since I did it, I’ll say that serving snacks instead of a full meal isn’t necessarily cheaper. It’s a lot cheaper to make a big tray of pot roast and mashed potatoes than a bunch of individual snacks. You CAN do it cheaper, but you need to watch to make sure.

View Quoted Comment Depends on what snacks, I've estimated a budget of about $350 for 150 people

View Quoted Comment What time of day is your wedding? That amount does not seem like it will be able to feed your guests. That's about $2 a person.

Many venues don’t allow homemade food due to liability and food safety issues, where you will be responsible if anyone gets sick. There are countless food options that are budget friendly without making your own. A full meal is not required contrary to popular belief, and some social circles don’t serve full meals. Drop off catering from a favorite local casual restaurant, pizza delivery, cake and coffee and call it a day. If you go the snacks route via a caterer, be aware that they are much more expensive than a full meal unless you are serving them at a non meal time, and then you skip the alcohol, which is also optional.


Faux flowers are not cheaper because you can get fresh flowers from the local grocery store at a lower cost. Same for Fiftyflowers.com or Costco.
Does everyone have confidence and skills to do their own hair and makeup? Not all women do.

On #6, per many WW posters, a backyard wedding is actually quite expensive with individual rentals, tent (or other weather related backups), Porto potties, and liability insurance. The cleaning and lawn care alone are intense, and one has to be even more organized with so many different vendors. Plus, not everyone has a house or barn or a generous friend with that real estate. On #2, if serving snacks, I suggest a non meal time and to expect a 2-3 hour reception. Nothing wrong with that but expectations should be clear to guests ala "light refreshments to follow" on invites. On #3, not sure what you or anyone else means by "traditional". Everyone's so afraid of being cookie cutter, but if you are the host of the party, then it's uniquely you already. All you need for a wedding is a partner, an officiant (in most states), vows, 2 witnesses (usually), and a legal license. Everything else are things and guest experience.

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That is very very low. You cannot even get a burger at McDonald's for $2 anymore. If you are having your wedding over a meal time, you need to have enough food to fill our guests. Also please make sure your guests know what to expect, especially those who may have to travel. If I had to travel more than an hour for this type of event and didn't get at least something to sustain me, I would be annoyed.

My cheap snack food: I am borrowing a popcorn machine for free, just paying for kernels and oil, making box mix brownies and having fruit and oreo balls. My guests are aware that there is not a meal. I'm only expecting 100-150 guests.

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Okay! I like the dedication to staying on or below budget. How long is your reception?

View Quoted Comment 2 hours, there's no meal or drinking, just snacks and dancing.

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I'm sure everyone will have a great time.

I'm just going to state the obvious but yet unspoken: the wedding gifts you receive will be directly proportional to how guests experience your event. People still assume to pay for their plate at weddings. So I will tell you, palm-size or tiny snacks will lead to smaller (<$25) or no gifts. 100-150 ppl is actually a larger wedding to feed and most ppl will not want to dip their hands into a communal bowl of popcorn. So if keeping to DIY, plan to bake trays of brownies for a few hours or just consider outsourcing catering for at least a variety of desserts. A wedding reception is a thank you to your guests for taking their time to witness your marriage commitment. It shouldn't be an emotional and financial burden for the couple, but effort or lack of effort always gets noticed.

View Quoted Comment This may be true in some social circles but never assume that it is done in all social circles and families everywhere. In some groups, this way of thinking for the value of any gift is extremely offensive. Because a number of social circles do not give cash gifts, what are they supposed to do, given the above scenarios, with a physical gift? Unwrap and leave half or walk out with all of it? We’ve seen people take wrapped gifts home for being told they were invited to a wedding that was actually a post elopement vow renewal/reception because the couple was not honest calling it what it was but have never seen someone take home part of a gift because someone had a budget wedding when a guest erroneously believed it would be fancier. A gift is not a transaction or an entry fee, because it is not the guests’ responsibility to reimburse the couple for the amount that the couple graciously chose to spend. Likewise, it’s not the guests’ place to assume that a wedding has a value of A vs X depending on various factors that, unless the guest is financially contributing to during the planning process, are irrelevant to anything.

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I agree with you philosophically as a gift is meant to be a gift and should not be viewed as required entry to a wedding (by guest, host, and parent). One couple is no less deserving than another. So I asked my husband about the "pay for your plate" mentality as he was raised in a different wedding culture from mine. He believes gifts, aka Cash, defray part of the couple's wedding costs so he gives happily and generously. Moreover, he uses the fanciness of the wedding as a guideline to not give too under lest he become that cheap or poor friend. Idk about competition, but some men are more transparent about financial comparisons. Our other gift guidelines are closeness of the relationship and if we incurred travel costs. But, at minimum we both believe that if we both attend, ie 2 persons, we gift more than if only 1 attended, which is still in keeping with pay per plate. But, your comment on knowing your social circle is quite important. For in my social/cultural circles, not providing ample or even enough food to your guests would be seen as extremely disrespectful to the point of the guest becoming personally offended. Even if someone has very little, they still feed their guests. So truthfully even though I believe persons and events should not be measured in [my] money, if I gave my time and received 50 cents of popcorn, I'd probably remove hundreds of dollars from my wedding card before the night was over.

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You may think the event is 2 hours, but you have to figure in the time for everything else. Time getting ready before event, travel time to event, event, travel time home. That could very well be 4 hours with everything added in. You need to have real food. Also, a wedding with 100-150 people is a pretty big wedding.

Please rethink your plans and be a good host. You cannot expect people to get dressed up, travel, and get you a gift and all you give them is a handful of popcorn.

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Guests can purchase gifts at the wedding, that is what an online registry is for. This type of event especially with a 100-150 guest list is a very obvious gift grab.

View Quoted Comment Also, an invitation does have a place to decline if you would rather not attend. Making sure that guests are comfortable within your budget is not a gift grab. The guest list size is irrelevant.

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Inviting a bunch of people who the OP cannot afford to feed or even give drinks to is a gift grab.

View Quoted Comment Cake and coffee has been the norm for decades in some circles without any issue. And it is appropriate refreshments. If you were to have just a fake cake for display, not serve any of it and just have bowls of mints and nuts with bottled water for hours, that would be inappropriate, but it’s not what is being described. Alcohol is always optional and many circles don’t serve it for a number of reasons and people still enjoy themselves. Don’t serve it if you can’t afford it. Again, nothing you are describing is an actual gift grab. There are couples who do have gift grab weddings, but guests are provided refreshments in the above scenarios. Inviting random people you don’t have the first clue who they are and they are not a partner of your invited guests is a gift grab. Having a lavish wedding beyond your means completely on credit cards to fit an aesthetic is a gift grab.

View Quoted Comment A cake & punch reception is perfectly acceptable. I agree that a handful of popcorn isn’t good hosting, but you’re the only one saying that’s what it will be. A snack reception is fine, as long as you have food and drink (not necessarily alcoholic) for your guests.