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If you haven’t already, do a search on the forum for budget ideas. Don’t make any planning decisions until you agree on a budget and what your priorities are for a wedding and the type of wedding you want.

Browse Yelp.com and thumbtack.com in your area for vendors. Be aware that this is an international forum so no two people will be paying the same prices or having the same services.

Set a budget first. You can have a simple backyard wedding or a wedding at a park for relatively cheap, but my idea of cheap and yours might not be the same. So talk to your fiancé and set a budget. Look at Facebook groups for your state and then wedding planning and you can find good deals on used wedding dresses that day.

I don't really think getting married at the courthouse then having a big party later will save you much money since most of the money spent for a wedding is the reception which is basically what the big party would be. My advice is to figure out your budget then start researching venues. Non-traditional venues are going to be cheaper. I would avoid hotels or country clubs because they normally have a food and beverage minimum. For example, we got married at a hotel and we had a $7,000 food and beverage minimum.

Simple and cheap.... you're speaking my language.

I would start by determining what the most important things are to the two of you. Based on what you wrote - I'm thinking family attendance and budget friendly. Next, I would come up with a list of people you ABSOLUTELY want present for your day. Resist including old friends that you don't really talk to anymore, co-workers who you are kinda close to now but who will realistically not be in your life after a job switch etc...

Do a search on "unique" "creative" "different" wedding venues to start thinking of creative options that you may be able to use instead of the traditional banquet hall / hotel ballroom / country club settings. From one super cheap person to another - these are where a lot of brides start racking up expenses that aren't necessary if your goal is to keep things simple. Some examples of alternative venues are parks/pavillions, libraries, local historical buildings, backyards/homes, restaurant function rooms, campgrounds, local Club facilities (Knights of Columbus / Italian American Clubs / VFW's) etc...

Food can be as simple as cake/dessert and punch, light lunch, brunch, or full catered meals from a local small business place you like - or many chains offer corporate catering packages that will work (ChikfilA, Olive Garden, Panera, Mission BBQ for example).

Things I would avoid to save money (and stress) : Anything related to a box: bridesmaid proposal boxes, groomsmen proposal boxes, bridesmaid gifts, groomsmen gifts, (just scrap the wedding party or keep it very small), traditional wedding cake bakeries - use a local grocery store you like - get plain sheet cake or rounds - tastes better at a fraction of the cost (don't mention a wedding or costs go up). Don't like cake? Skip it and offer brownies/cookies - whatever you want. Don't get caught up with florals - stay the hell off of pinterest. Use whatever is in season in your area. Keep it simple. When you start looking at other people's choices, remind yourself that some ribbon wrapped around a Trader Joes or Costco bouquet is very pretty and does the job.

Dress: If you are leaning away from the traditional boutique experience - do some online shopping to find something cheaper and in a lot of cases much more attractive. Check all the stores you like for white formal dresses, or go with another color if you prefer. Lulus sells many white floor length dresses that work well (buyers submit many pictures of their dresses in use to get a good idea of how they really look) There are many used wedding dress sites - stillwhite for example and if you find yourself in a boutique - check the sample rack first. Your groom can wear a suit he already owns, or buy new clothes that he will wear again.

Ok this is turning into a novel...my best advice is to not get caught up thinking that you HAVE to have certain things included for it to be an actual wedding. A wedding is whatever you want to have with some paperwork submitted at the end to make your marriage legal. It's one day - you CAN create a beautiful and simple experience for you and your guests without breaking the bank.

Final advice: Don't share your plans/ideas with others until you and yours have a solid idea of what you want. Family/friends with good intentions can easily cause stress/confusion with unsolicited ideas/thoughts.

GOOD LUCK!

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These are all excellent ideas!!

YES to everything NewEnglandSettler said.
My wedding is a $600~ budget- dress was 1/3, cake was another 1/3. But those were my important things- others might have said food and photos. Otherwise we have my FIL Manning a grill, my BiL making an apple account playlist, and Sola wood flowers. So super cheap (though challenging in its own way to plan). Set a budget and communicate with your SO a LOT!

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Nice. Family at the grill, good music, pretty dresses AND a honeymoon in Acadia?? You two rock.

Girl I feel you!! I am super cheap and I got such bad sticker shock when I first started planning that I had a panic attack. Luckily, mine and my FH parents are very generous and paying for the majority of the wedding. There are some great ideas on here already. Definitely figure out a budget first and your top priorities. One of the best ways to keep costs down is to keep things small. Here are some ideas for affordable options for each category:

Venue: backyard, park pavilion, VFW, firehouse, orchard (some can be expensive when they have a formal wedding space but some can be very affordable)

Flowers: diy buckets from costco or Sam's club and keep it minimal

Music: spotify or pandora playlists and designated 'DJ'

Food: local restaurant catering, BBQ, food trucks

Dress: lulus, H&M, David's Bridal, truck shows or sample sales

Photography: disposable cameras on the table or a family member or friend takes photos.

Cake: do a very small wedding cake to cut and have a sheet cake in the back for serving. Sheet cakes are way more affordable and do not have to be decorated.

Figure out what things you don't care about and just nix them entirely (these can be things like save the dates, favors, arbor, centerpieces, professional hair and makeup services, etc.)

Hello! I think the first step in this is to make your budget and decide what is most important to you. For us, we wanted nice photos so I was more willing to pay more for a photographer than other things. Our wedding isn't necessarily cheap, but I did have a friend who had a cheap wedding and my mom is planning a cheaper second wedding so here's some of what they did/are doing!

My best friend found a hall along a river that was really nice and only cost about $100 to rent for the night. These are by far some of the cheapest venues you will find. Also, check out some parks, some of them will have a rental fee to use the space, but others might say you can do a ceremony/reception for free, there just might be other people walking around.

For food, BBQ is always on the cheaper end of things. My best friend had a local BBQ company cater her wedding, total was about $3,000 for around 150 guests. My mom is getting a food truck, which is a little more pricey but still really reasonable.

Florals...do you want real flowers? If so, check out your local grocery stores. They can sometimes do floral arrangements for you for a fraction of the cost of regular florists. Also, places like Sam's Club and BJ's offer wedding packages for like $300 that get sent right to you. If you don't mind fake, my best friend did ALL of her flowers for less than $200 by going to the craft stores right as they were switching seasons and grabbed a bunch of flowers on clearance. They were all different, but they actually looked pretty nice.

If you're crafty you can DIY a lot of things vs. paying someone to do it. Start talking to your friends, see who is crafty if you aren't. 2 of my friends are experts with the Cricut so they're doing a bunch of my stuff for me and I'm just paying them for the materials. My best friend is a graphic designer so she's designing my invitations at no cost other than the materials. This can be a huge help because those little things can add up.

Best of luck!

One thing I will say is I highly recommend NOT self-catering/cooking any food yourselves. It's stressful for whoever ends up cooking/serving and they don't get to enjoy the day. Also it puts a lot of liability on you in the event someone were to get sick.

Watch for deals and go to the occasional bridal show. A lot of vendors will offer discounts or special deals.

The easiest way to cut your costs is to cut your guest list. Start at the bottom and work your way out. That means you and the groom, add immediate family you can't imagine getting married without, then the friends you can't imagine getting married without. Stop there for a minute and imagine what you can do within your budget for just those people. Then add on the people you'd like to have, but wouldn't have a meltdown if they missed it. Aunts, uncles, coworkers, etc. and see how your budget has to stretch and lose some cooler things to accommodate more people.

Girl, I am literally there with you. I would say the highest priority would be to set a budget based on how many people you think you will invite. Our list was going to end up being like 200 people (which is on the low end for a large Mexican family) so I had a hard time finding a venue that would be cheap but large enough.

Not sure where you are based in, but here in Los Angeles, I got a sweet deal on a venue by looking at the LA Parks venue spaces and it included tables, chairs and security. I would check the park services in your are and see if they have any spaces to rent. If it's smaller guest list, check out peer rental spaces on Giggster and Peerspace.

If you have any friends or family that can help with hair/makeup, food, music, see if they will help. Our catering, hair/makeup, and flowers are all being done by people we know for discounted prices.

Also having an early brunch/lunch wedding can be cheaper as well.