Wedding budget $10,000 or less

$10k budget. For 110 in Atlanta. Sunday Brunch--- has saved us tons!

A community hall is your best bet. Depending on your area they can rent for as little as $300/ weekend! Also it gives you the option to bring in your own caterer or your own food which can be a huge savings. It's totally do-able. Set out a budget, cut out unnecessary extras and you will be totally good. Good luck!

I think it is doable. It depends on prices in your area though.

Our costs so far:

Caterer $4500 - 250 guests

Venue $390

Dress $350 (not including alterations and accessories)

Flowers $400

Photographer $850 incl e-pics and rights to reproduce

Decorator $1700 includes extra items

Cake - not ordered yet but estimates are about $300

My wedding Band - $306

His not yet bought but the ones he likes are $300-$400

Officiant $100

Ceremony Musician $100

DJ - Free - gift -family member

There will be more costs we did not get invitations yet but I estimated it would be about $200 plus the postage. There will be more things but we are not doing anything DIY because I am not crafty and I really don't have the time or inclination. We are not doing favors but instead a chocolate fountain and other snack type machines. We are not planning on doing programs for the church as everyone will be introduced later and we don't think people will miss them.

We have budgeted 10k-12k and so far I think we are in the range our parents are helping with some things. My parents bought my dress, his parents are paying for 100 suppers. We might end up a bit over and could have cut out or cut down some things but decided to go with what we wanted within reason.

Itb will be tight but doable. I am spending about 4,000 for 50 people. But it includes everything. I did a lot of DIY and things only on sale. Lots of black friday shopping. I also did a lot of candles and baby's breath. Things that cost the most are flowers so try and limit, also keep in mind food and alcohol. Don't overdo either. On WW you can also create a budget I would start there.

Future Mrs. Martinelli, I sent you a message to connect. Since we are in the same area and have similar budgets, I thought we could help each other out or at least offer a sounding board.

We did 110 people on Maui for $8k

do you have any advice, tips/tricks?

Yes, pull strings! use your connections and go simple. Prioritize the things that matter the most (i.e.: dress, cake, venue, flowers, open bar)

My dress was borrowed and used, my cake was a splurge, the venue was our local church for free and his momʻs backyard for free, the flowers were bought wholesale at costco, open bar was stocked at costco, the food was a mom & pop restaurant.

How is it going/did it go? It was the perfect day, we still talk about it

Are you doing/did you do lots of diy? I DIY the place settings/favors

Did/are you staying in your budget? We came right at budget and broke even on cash gifts.

I have purchased custom made tuxedo couple of months before. My price was just 200 bucks that's why i was looking for a cheaper option. After searching for few days i finally got a website selling Bond style suits just under my price range

http://www.jamesbondsuits.com/products/Skyfall-Midnight-Blue-Tuxedo-Suit.html

I bough tuxedo from them, and guess they delivered one of the best outfit of my life. It's definitely worth spending, i received tons of compliments in it1

I am getting married in downtown St. Paul, MN and my budget is also at 10K, but at this point I think I will actually walk out closer to 8K which excites me LOL! I think alot of it is finding out what is super important to you. Ex: my big thing with so far with planning is CHAIR COVERS! Do they make the space look a little nicer? Yes. Almost 700.00 nicer?!?! NOPE! I think back to every wedding I have been to, and try to remember if they had chair covers. Guess what? I can't! Its something so expensive that really is NOT important. I also did ALOT of research before choosing any of my vendors to make sure i was getting the best price for services. Alot of DIY. The average card box costs over $100.00....it's a darn hat box with some bling on it! You just have to be wise about it is all. Good luck to you!

I'm going to do a super glam wedding for less than $10k (right now on track, too) I'm gonna go for $7k if I can. You have to figure out what you want the most. My photographer and videographer are $2500 but they are amazing and that was one of the places where I didn't want skimp. We wanted to splurge on that because pictures and videos will last forever. My biggest piece of advice so far is never be afraid to get a second opinion/price/etc. I want the whole nine yards with drapery and uplighting and was originally quoted $240 for 20 feet of pipe and drape and then $45/per uplight (mind you, I want a lot of uplights and some pipe/drape) Well I had a feeling I should look around and called another place who quoted me $56 for the same amount of pipe and drape (same quality and everything) and another place who quoted me $17-19/per uplight (just depends on how many I want). So right there is already a huge difference on me just picking up the phone and doing a little research.

Getting married in Naples, FL and invited 220 guests.

@Tania Lynn I think I sent you a message? I am not 100% on how it works.

Girl, my budget is half that for 120 people. Here's my input:

-Book an event space that allows you to cater how you like, stock your own bar and hire a bartender. Liquor was important to us because our friends are drinkers, but if yours aren't, stick to wine & beer. Make sure they supply tables and chairs because renting them can be a big hidden cost.

-Have your ceremony in the same place as the reception. Two venues=two charges.

-Think out of the box with catering. We are doing awesome Hawaiian BBQ with servers for $1800.

-Don't go crazy on flowers, and DIY them if you can. Check Costco or other bulk flower sites. A $1 vase with a simple bouquet will cost less than $5 a centerpiece.

-Shop, shop, shop for your dress. A beautiful one can be found for way less than you might think.

-Ipod your DJ. Look online for awesome playlists and advice on this. I'll let you know how it goes

-Skip the giant wedding cake. Do a dessert bar or cupcakes instead, with a small cake for you to cut.

-Do your own hair and makeup, if you feel confident enough.

-Have fun!!!

Hey, future Mrs. M-- keep your eye on the goal: getting married. If you do that, you can stay under $10k, easy. Cause you're just as married as the woman who has a five course plated meal, even if you serve Costco pizza and soda. And you can take it from my friend who spent over $40k on her wedding and got divorced 4 years later, an extravagant wedding does not equate a happy marriage.

So figure out what's most important to you-- flowers? Your dress? The venue? Lots of booze? Fancy food? Add things in till your budget's gone and *boom* that's your wedding!

We had around 120ish for around 6k. We pulled strings, called in favors, etc. Also, we're pretty simple people so we opted for fun rather than fancy. We also weren't afraid to get our hands dirty - literally! We cleaned the place afterwards (it was a rental hall kind of place). I know the the thought of that horrifies some brides on their "special day," but sometimes a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do.

The bullsh*t, (i.e. favors, table overlays, guest book, card box, etc.) all added up to about $500 and we did it all. I cannot fathom why you can't get your guest list under 150 people, but that being said, you are going to HAVE to sacrifice quality for quantity. Open bar? Nope, just have beer and wine. Steak and salmon entrees will have to be chicken or barbeque. Venue will have to be at a park, instead of a fancy hotel. That $1500 Maggie Sottero dress you had your eyes on? Think the low end of David's Bridal. Find the cheapest photographer you can find and hope for the best...OR cut the guest list.

$5,000. The trick is finding what talents your friends and family have. My mom does flowers, boss does photography, MOH already does wedding cupcakes, etc.

I just got engaged and I am hoping to keep it under 10,000. Haven't started planning yet but already nervous I might not be able to.

It's totally doable. You just have to really think about what is important to you and what you can live without.

Our budget is 4500 plus food (parents are paying so lets say 2000ish)

Officiant-$339

DJ-$650

Venue with arbor rental, linens and bartender- $530

Photographer-$500 pre-ceremony, ceremony and post shots only. Print ourselves.

Dress-$165

Shoes-$20

Sash, and all other accessories-$35

My ring-$80

Cake/cupcakes-$250

Etc... We don't have a videographer, florist, fancy transportation, engagement pics. We can live without these things. I'll say our guest list is around 75 people.

I am also in chicago - doing a wedding for $5k for 115 people. I got lucky though and got my venue for free (my work place), I am doing a Taste of Chicago dinner (Lou's, Portillos, Chicago style dogs) and bringing in my own alcohol. I used Jolie Images for photography ($1,000) and will probably send STD via email and work with Ken's Quick Prints on well priced invites (call him, tell him you know Allison from Lakeside). Feel free to reach out to me, I was an event coordinator on the north shore for a while, so happy to connect you with vendors. Its tough to do a small budget wedding but as someone else said early, don't fall for the gimmicky "wedding" necessities. Get create with the small budget. Good Luck.

Ours sounds similar to Melissa's. It looks like we are going to be spending around $7,500 for 100 people. 124 are on the guest list. Thinking it's possible 100 would come but could even be closer to 70 or 80. Here's some of the things we are doing:

*Ceremony at a city park. It rent's for $50 per every 2 hours. We rented 4 hours the day of and 2 hours the day before for rehearsal. So $150.

*Rented the city community center for both the rehearsal dinner and the wedding day reception for $835 total.

*The community center allows us to do whatever we want for the catering and alcohol so we are just going to purchase beer and wine ourselves. No hard liquor. We are going to do a heavy hors d'oeuvres afternoon reception. The food is the biggest cost. Will be about $1,500 for 100 people. Around $1,200 if 80 people.

*Found a great deal on a great photographer. Since we're doing a shorter afternoon reception we only need her for 4 hours so she's doing it for $560. She quoted $600 through email at first but then we met and booked her through a bridal show where she was giving a 10% discount. Her flyer at the show said her normal cheapest package is $1275 for 6 hours. So we got a great deal! She did our engagement pics too and we got some great ones!

*A DJ probably isn't right for the type of reception we're having but if we do have one it won't cost us anything. Both of us and a lot of our friends DJ ourselves.

*Got my dress when David's Bridal had one of their $99 sales. Got a $700 dress for $99. Although I doubt it ever sells for $700 lol. They've had it on sale for $249-$349 ever since the $99 sale ended.

*Planning to order flowers from Costco. They have 100 roses for $89.99. Planning to get those and DIY my bouquet and my bridesmaids' bouquets.

*Making DIY centerpieces for about $ 5 each. Got the $1 heart shaped bowls from Dollar Tree. Got some vase filler beads, and floating tea lights.

*Got good deals on chair covers, chair sashes, and tablecloths from linentablecloth.com and tableclothsfacoty.com

*Not planning on doing much decor other than tablecloths, chair covers, and centerpieces. Sort of because of the cost but also because I just don't know what to do lol. I'm not that creative and they won't let us hang anything from the ceiling.

Basically just shopping around for everything to find the best/cheapest deals. Got a personalized knife and cake serving set from The Knot Shop for $12.95. Found a print yourself invitations kit on clearance for $9. Got save the dates from Vista Print etc.

Well our budget is $10,000 although it will end up being about $13k. Yikes. Not too bad I think being a little over original budget. ANYWAY. I would just advise mainly to figure out which things are really important to you, splurge on those, and cut back the rest.

For example, photography was my #1 must-have quality work. So, we spent about $2000 on an amazing photographer (which is still a steal of a good price in my area) and I couldn't be more happy. And we determined that a cake, flowers and lots of decor were not important to us - so cut that entirely (except for centrepieces - no flowers though).

We are also not going on a honeymoon to save money. I am bummed about that, but that's the way the cards fall. We had to decide if we'd rather celebrate with family and friends, or go on a honeymoon, so we chose family and friends.

You will have to make sacrifices. But by determining first what's most important to each of you (and compromising!), it makes the process easier. Even though I am not getting all my "wants" on my list, I am getting all my "must haves" so I am really excited for our day.

Hope that helps.

Also - totally use the budget tool here to keep track of spending. I've found it very helpful.