Skimp or spend?

I'm being cheap with practically everything. For one, my FH and I plan to elope or have a tiny wedding of 10 guests or less. This cuts back pn money significantly for food. I'm only considering to splurge on photography.

I splurged on a photographer/videographer, my dresses, flowers and transportation. I saved on my veil, shoes, Undergarments, flower girl dress/basket.

We’re saving on flowers, centerpieces, the cake, & decorations.

SPLURGE:
Photography
VenueVideography Coordinator Dress CateringDJ CenterpiecesHair
SAVEo my own makeup Silk bouquets (not really cheaper for me lol)DIY signage (dollar tree chalkboard signs, flowers, ribbons, metallic markers)Flower girl dresses ($11 on tableclothfactory)Guestbook (cute metallic journal from Tuesday Morning clearance look)Tiara/earrings: ($25 from Walmart but they sell the same one under Vera wang label at DB 😱)Dessert table: Costco small bites and cupcakes from bakeryFavors: mini hand sanitizers and custom labels (assembled myself from amazon and Etsy)Flower girl baskets: thrift store find, sprayed gold, hot glued ribbon and flowers

(I hate the way the app formats the texts all jumbled,..sorry!)

I personally don’t think your paper goods should be splurged on, most people don’t keep them for the long hall. Programs and stuff are also things I feel like you should just make signs for. In general I think things that contribute to your guest experience should take a bit more money. And things that will last forever (e.i. Photos and videos). Even favors aren’t really worth spending too much on, guests forget them/or just don’t want them sometimes.

The quickest way to save money is to keep your guest list down to the bare minimum. More people = more money! You can skip guest favors- most people don’t care about them or don’t even take them. Buy your invitations on a cheap site like zazzle- much more affordable, completely customizable, and good quality. Have people RSVP on your wedding website instead of sending paper RSVPs (saves you on cards, envelopes & postage). If you are creative, you can DIY your flowers. I know people have gotten beautiful flowers & greenery from fiftyflowers.com, Sam’s Club, and Costco. Or you could skip flowers altogether & do alternative decor. If you want to wear a veil, there are lots of shops on Etsy that make beautiful veils for like $50 (compared to $200-500 in bridal boutiques). Wear cute comfy shoes you will wear again instead of expensive blingy heels that will break the bank & kill your feet. If you are good at hair or makeup (or have a friend that is) you can save on hair or makeup artists. You could have a friend get ordained to marry you (our officiant is costing us $400).

I really wanted good food so I absolutely spent on that

We splurged on a top rated photographer, and decided not to have a videographer. Our DOC used a go-pro to capture our ceremony, first dance, speeches, and cake cutting. In my opinion, photography is one of the most important things to splurge on. I personally don’t regret not having professional video, but I know that can be important to a lot of brides.

The things guests remember at the end of the day: food/drink (was it hot enough, was there enough so people didn't go home hungry, was it tasty? did guests have to open their wallets?) , entertainment (was the music variety good, was the dj personable or obnoxious, etc) and hospitality (were the couple gracious hosts or selfish?, did guests enjoy themselves?).


What the couple remembers at the end of the day: did they have fun, did their guests have fun, and photographic memories.
Beyond that, everything else is optional.

You can get delicious food at a fraction of the price and lots of it by having a favorite local restaurant cater. If you feel that a full meal is a must have.
Get a cake from a local grocery store or Costco.
Don't serve wine only if your guests prefer sodas or liquor.Check out Peerspace.com or Eventective.com for venues.Skip the champagne and guests can toast with what they're already drinking if you are having (optional) speeches DIY flowers through fiftyflowers.com or pick up a bouquet at Costco. LED candles for centerpiecesSplurge on a photographer within your budget since that's all you'll have at the end of the day besides memoriesSplurge within your budget on a month-of coordinator so your guests don't have to work

-We had my brother officiate

-We had a spotify playlist instead of a DJ

-We DIYd bouquets, and had no flowers other than bouquets

-Basically no decor except for a few DIY signs that I printed myself and put in picture frames (and of course we reused the picture frames after the wedding)

-Our bar was wine only

-Had a Sunday afternoon wedding which made it so people would drink less overall

-Did my own makeup

-No favors

My uncle is officiating, my MIL and SIL are making our cake, SIL and her family are playing music for our ceremony, we are borrowing an arch from family who married before us, our "venue" is grandparents land with a pretty pond..basically any help that your family offers and/or would mean something special to have them help with, let them help! Unless you have circumstances that make you iffy on that. Everyone jumped to help us with everything and we couldn't be more grateful.


We spent the most on the tent, and I chose the cheapest photographer that I could find that was still professional.

Skimp:

Sample sale dress

Fake flowers (bonus: avoids allergies!)

No favors

Venue with view = no need for decor

No signs

Coworker is up-and-coming filmmaker = get discount on videography

Friend is HMUA (licensed) = get discount on HMUA

Plan wedding in less than 8 months = get same year pricing, as vendors are eager to fill date

Limo = don't "upgrade" to white limo, they just charge you for the color

Invites: Etsy, keep them simple

(Dark humor skimp: tick off the majority of your family and watch that guest list SHRINK!)

Splurge:

Venue/food (..though we ended up at the "cheapest" place for our date/region, because we liked it best. Mind you "cheap" for NYC is $150/head/)

DJ

Photography

We really didn't splurge on anything. I believe our money went towards the Photobooth and Venue. Everything else I got a good deal on. Shop around.

Splurged on food, alcohol, dj, photobooth

Saved: flowers, decorations, and jewelry and invitations

Skip the favors and programs and put the money toward food/drink/entertainment

We splurged on the venue which is a little over half our budget. We were going to splurge on photography, but we were able to snag a black Friday deal (8 hours of coverage for $750!) We skimped on: my dress (JJs house $178), grooms outfit ($40), no favors, BYOB beer and wine, family catered side dishes, Doing all our own hair and make up, making my own wedding cake, hand making invites and all decor, and DIY florals with sola wood flowers.

DIY doesn't always save money, and nearly always costs time. If you have people who really have a knack for certain things or hidden talents related to wedding stuff, I'd ask them to help out in lieu of a wedding gift, but otherwise I'd caution against DIYing in areas you have no skill/expertise just to try to save money.

We had a friend make us a macrame selfie wall backdrop for our wedding that we could later repurpose as decor in our home. She's super crafty and LOVES helping with wedding things so it was an ideal fit. My mom is really good with floral arrangements so we were going to have her do our table decor with bulk flowers while leaving the bouquets and special installations to our florist.

Look into all inclusive venues. Mine includes rentals, officiant, catering, cake, a venue coordinator, and alcohol. All we had to bring in was floral, DJ, photo/video, HMU, and our planner.