Under $5000

There are lots of posts on this if you do a search. Cut the guest list to 20-30 people. Get catering from a local restaurant (Italian, BBQ...) You will need to rent tents, tables, chairs, and adequate bathrooms

I’m having my wedding at a park with a lake. So not a backyard wedding, but my budget is $5000 and it’s pretty laid back. 80 guests (including kids). I literally am DIY-ing everything in some way. We have a professional chef who is a groomsmen who is making the food, but bringing help for serving etc the day of. I bought my own linens and made my centerpieces. I’m renting chairs for outside. Luckily my venue provides tables and chairs inside so that saved on costs for us.
The picture is of the arbor outside. Don’t know why ww flipped it lol

Do not let people discourage you. We are also super laid back people Yes rentals are ridiculous and it all adds up fast but we are having a wedding with 200 people including 5 kegs of beer, soda & water, food, cake,rentals, bounce house,dresses,flowers,dj,photographer etc for under $8,000. It is possible. Good luck and congrats!

My fiancé and I are getting married with a $5000 budget as well. Hopefully we stay under, but if we go over, it won't be by much. What we are doing to save costs is, well, pretty much everything! haha! We are getting married in his parents backyard and are going with a Rustic theme. We got a bunch (a BUNCH) of free pallets, and thanks to the ideas found on Pinterest, he made the dance floor (pallet base, framed by 2x4's and covered with 3/4" plywood that we also found an amazing deal on), tables, some benches, pallet wall backdrops, and the cake stand. We are also making our own centerpieces using bottles with flowers (flowers were on sale 50% off at Hobby Lobby, so easy peasy for the table décor). Frames we found at The Dollar Store for the tables. Table runners are being made out of canvas drop cloth. The wedding cake and groom's cake are being done by family. Our photography is a friend's sister, so only $200 there, and the DJ is costing us the same. We are serving smoked chicken (which we will do ourselves), rice, salad, and rolls. Meatballs, cheese, crackers and maybe some chocolate covered strawberries (his son can make those) will be out for cocktail hour. Honestly, if you don't mind DIY and you enjoy Pinterest, you can find a lot of ideas that can be done very budget friendly. You can totally do this! My wedding dress is "something borrowed" from a friend of mine who told me I could do whatever I wanted to it.....and all I am doing to the gorgeous gown is adding straps/sleeves to make it more me. And because my FMIL did the alterations, my total cost for the dress was the $80 dry cleaning charge.

I don't see how you can do this for $5,000 for 100 people. Using "friendors" is a bad idea. I've read a lot of posts where brides got burned by their friendors.

Does this land your bought include a house? If not, what's your plan B if it rains or is very windy? How are you supplying power?

I ordered my dress off of Etsy which is a convertible wrap dress. Flowers are not an issue because our land provides that. The only other things we really need to pay for is the food, which we have discounted because we both work in the restaurant industry, kegs, wine, nonalcoholic drinks, and we are already building a pavilion on our land for multiuse but also for our day

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Have you looked into permits and everything as well? Each state is different, but in order to serve food to people you have to obtain the proper permits and all that.

Is the pavilion big enough to host your entire guest list? Is the ceremony AND reception taking place in it? Do you have tables and chairs? Do you have restrooms? Do you have proper eating utensils (which, in a backyard wedding can just be plastic plates and cups, it doesn't have to be anything fancy)

We did it!!! Lots of people on here will tell you it's impossible. But it totally isn't!
Ways to cut back are: fake flowers. Diy bouquets. We did this, and my budget for flowers was $100. I went to dollar tree and got all my flowers, and supplies for less than $40 bucks!!
Decor: dollar tree has lots of decor as well. They have vases, and candles, and trays/platters. They even have plates and silverware. Also oriental trading website has lots of great stuff for any theme! And it's all cheap.
Venue: I think having the ceremony on your own land is great. Just keep in mind you will need chairs and such. Idk where you live but we found a place that rents chairs for $1 a piece. Look around and I bet you find something like this! They weren't the prettiest bit get some cheap chair covers from Amazon and you're set.
Dresses/attire: my dress came from David's bridal. It was on sale for $500. It's the second most expensive thing we got. But they always have $99 dress sales so keep your eye out! Also my sister wore a white prom dress and accessorized it like a wedding dress. No one ever knew and it cost her like $50. Also my flower girls dress came from Amazon and it was less than $40.
Music: we aren't having a DJ. We made a Spotify Playlist and are paying for premium so there won't be any ads interrupting. Someone will be I'm charge of playing the correct song at the correct time.
Cake: when talking to bakeries don't tell them it's for a wedding. It automatically shoots up the price if they know it's not wedding. Just say it's a special occasion and the pricing will be easier on you.
Pgotographer: do you know any photographers? We hired a good friend I went to school with who is a photographer. Shes an amateur but has taken some pics for us before and they were wonderful. We're also having a hash tag where any pics taken of us thay might, ppl can tag us and we can see things from everyone's point of view.
Food: we are doing a BBQ style buffet line.
I can't think of anything else. Just some ideas. It worked for us, and it has for many many people. Don't let ppl tell you you can't do it.

We are very non traditional so we don’t want a big fancy thing. Many in our friend group have done the same thing. We are more live off the land type people. So our guest know what to expect

100 people? Cut the list by half.

We were going to try and do that too! But once I had to start coordinating things it got tricky. Then i realized we’d have to use porta potties!! 🤭 so we went to a venue. Although my sister pulled it off for $7000 but her in-laws had bathrooms on the property in a shop. That was with self catering too.

Is your kitchen equipped to handle making food for 100 people? If not, you will have to rent the equipment. I ended up canceling a contract with a venue and a caterer because the cost were so high. Over $3000 to rent ovens and stoves, then another $1000 to rent tables, mats for chefs and servers to stand on, and partitions. I ended up having my wedding at a restaurant where my costs were to meet the food and beverage minimum, and I didn't have to pay for tables, chairs, etc.

Forgot to add that cost didn't cover the cost of the food, beer, hard liquor, and also didn't cover the cost of the head chef, sous chef, chef, and 6 servers.

Here’s an example of my friends backyard wedding so you all get a better idea. It’s not a fancy expensive affair, but it was the best wedding I’ve been to.

I am all for this! Go for it because it seems like the group you will have will be pretty laid back as well. Find a caterer that can bring in some buffet style food. I know this was years ago (almost 30) but my parents had a very low key back yard wedding for about 75 people. If you are not going to get hung up on little things then this seems like a good plan for you guys. Make sure there is some type of tent or something set up for weather. I am unsure what area you live in. In our area we have backyard graduation parties that have over 100 people, serve alcohol, low key friend music, tent, etc for under 5,000 for sure.

View Quoted Comment Would you mind sharing some links to the cabins/planner/ other vendors you used? I’m planning on getting married in Hocking Hills for under $5,000 too, and so far it looks nearly impossible!

We were married 7/21/2018. We held our ceremony and reception at Marsh Hollow cabins in laurelville, oh. About 30 minute from the hocking hills trails/caves. They have 3 cabins to rent and a shelter house to use. We rented a tent, chairs, tables and portable ac unit from Taylor rentals in the area. They delivered and set up the tent. For a fee they will set up and tear down chairs and tables also. We catered bbq with 7 mile smokehouse out of chillicothe, oh. They delivered. Our cake was made and delivered from hocking hills bakery. Our day of wedding planner was Angela's premier designs. She also officiated. She had almost all the decor I needed and was included in her cost. All my vendors can be found on facebook. I can also give more info if you would like to email me. ******@*****.***

View Quoted Comment Sarah if you need more info , shoot me an email. I'd be glad to help. ******@*****.***