Wedding budget $6000. Is it possible?

This is absolutely doable. Since you're asking for other suggestions outside of the most obvious (small guest list), consider a Friday or Sunday wedding. Most venues have cheaper rates for any day that is not Saturday. You could do an earlier wedding with just a simple cake and punch reception. Check out trunk shows, consignment stores, etc. to save on your dress. It's possible, but please don't expect to get services "discounted" or for free. You'll end up disappointed.

Small guest list, buy a "bridesmaid" dress as your wedding dress, have food trucks instead of a catering company, only have champagne with non-alcoholic drinks, buy your wedding cake from Costco or Sams, skip stationary, have your ceremony on a weekday at night or Sunday at mid-day, see if one of your friends will do makeup and hair, just buy your bonquet, venues that are outside are cheaper, and buy your shoes from a discount shoe store but still have an amazing photographer!! Don't skimp on that!!

View Quoted Comment Thanks for sharing your experience. Were you able to maintain your 6K budget or did you extend it?

Absolutely! As many of these fine woman are saying, small guest list is key. Also, look at all your options for a wedding! It’s cheaper to get married on Friday or Sunday. Instead of a fancy elaborate venue for reception, maybe a family owned venue or a hall would work! Halls or open banquet spacing is good for being able to get your own caterer! Don’t be afraid to ask if they have deal/promotions.

Our wedding is costing us just under $6000. Our guest list is 70 and we are getting married in a beautiful garden. All my decorations I purchased on sale at michaels (lanterns, wood cuts, Moss, fairy lights) my dress from David bridal is gorgeous and only $300 we are only having one matron of honor and one best man. Our cakes we went to a bakery open house and if you bought the bridal cake, you get grooms cake for free ($380 for both cakes) it’s just shopping smart and knowing what you want and for what price. Our venue for 6 hrs is $650 it’s in a garden that also has a historic indoor option and because it’s a historical marker it some how is really affordable. You can absolutely do it!

I did my wedding on a $7000 budget and we came in under budget. I am in Indiana and we had 127 guest invited and about 80 rsvp. This is what I did. I found a community room in a near by small town that my baker suggested. It was a ballroom and beautiful. I got the ballroom, kitchen, a dressing room, the garden area, all tables, chairs, and linens from 10am-10pm for $365. I gave them a diagram of how I wanted the room setup and the day before my wedding I just walked in and decorated. Since it was a park we were not permitted to serve alcohol so I hired a local barista to serve fresh fruit smoothies and Italian sodas. Everyone loved it! I forget the price but I believe it was around $400. Catering was $1300 and we had hot ham sliders, cold salads, fruit, veggie, and relish trays, cookies, pies, nuts, lemonade, coffee, water. It was nice for a July wedding. My dress came from David's bridal off the clearance rack for $99. Alterations cost me $50 done by a private seamstress. My shoes were purchased as a gift for me and my cathedral length veil came from China for $12. My wedding jewelry was purchased by husband as a gift. Our photographer was local and was $1500. She brought 2 other shooters and an assistant. Pictures started at noon and didn't stop until 9pm. Centerpieces were like less than $200, diy. Favors were small bags filled with Hershey kisses. I paid a very close friend to sing at the ceremony fo $50( get a contract even when hiring friends). My daughter's dress was $25 and her alterations were like $15. She purchased herr own shoes. My husband's outfit cost us like $45 because he waited to long to rent a suit and getting a suit altered 3 weeks before the wedding wasn't going to happen so close to a national holiday weekend. We didn't do a DJ or live music. We hooked up my husband's phone to his amp and just played background music. It worked for us. My wedding started at 5:45pm and reception was over promptly at 8pm so everyone could make the local fireworks. I got married on 4th of July weekend. It was short, beautiful, and about $300 under budget. Good luck.

I for about the cake. I purchased 80 cupcakes and a small 10inch cutting cake from a local family owned bakery for $110. No cutting and serving fee from the caterer. Sorry, I forgot to put this information in my original post.

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Oh my! Thats awesome-What city/town is your wedding venue? I have same budget for about 175 guests and its not looking good. I live in Chicago/South Suburbs

If you actually want to save money, ditch the catering. Catering is two to three times the price of simply buying the food from a restaurant or bulk store and laying it out. We are doing around 7k with 120 people and that's how we are doing it.

Look at community centers, or smaller golf course lodges, a state park with a lodge, etc. Definitely cut liquor out of the equation. We have saved a TON of money by finding a venue that does alcohol by consumption--they'll only charge us for what we use. Our venue also does kegs and cases of wine which cuts a lot of costs from bottled beer.

You can always save on flowers by doing grocery store flowers or finding a DIY place. There are some florists that will order in bulk for you and then have someone help you and your bridal party or whoever you bring a couple of days before your wedding to put together your bouquets, etc. Think about centerpieces without a lot of flowers.

I bought my dress at an off-the-rack designer boutique and saved big that way as well.

My brother got married at the courthouse and took everyone out to dinner and did a $30pp with drinks for 2hrs and desserts included..it may have been cheaper than that and it was a Friday night

The best thing to do is dont have anything set in your mind. Small guest list 50 or less, with appitizers only or a three choice buffet only, not both. Beer and wine options and ask venue about standing options for your guests. It's not about other ppl, all that matters is your vows said to each other. Find a venue that just allows a site fee of 400 or less.

1. I am DIYing my own centerpieces. (Got wooden boxes from Joann Fabric store and stained them myself, bought packs of mason jars, chalk paint, painted them myself and distressed them myself with sandpaper)

2. I got a lot of decor ideas from Pinterest and have gotten ALOT of my decor items (vintage chair, old shutters, window panes, 2 rustic shelf ladders, decorative signs, table runners, etc) off of a buy, sell, trade group im on on facebook. Everything I've gotten has been dirt cheap. $5 here, $10 there, $20...

3. I am not hiring a DJ. I am just making my own playlist and having a wedding guest be an MC to announce things.

4. Didn't spend a lot on Bridesmaid gifts. Went on Etsy and found wine tumblers. (Similar to yeti style cups) Found decals in a pretty cursive font to stick their names on their tumbler. $100 and that covered all 6 of my girls, me, and one for my mother.

5. Offered to pay half of my girls hair/makeup. They are responsible for the other half.

6. Found an officiant that doesn't believe in charging couples an arm and a leg to stand up there for 15 minutes to marry them

7. Found a venue that provides ALOT. For the amount of guests I'm having it is $2800 but includes tables, chairs, linens, access to venue to take engagement and bridal portraits, lights, sheers, sweetheart table, 7 hours on wedding day, gift cart, golf cart, and a wedding coordinator!)

We're planning on inviting 130 people and our budget is $5000.
- no DJ, just downloading a Spotify playlist on a laptop and hooking up speakers. My brother is an amazing musician and he will be playing live for the ceremony music.
- my mom is making the food (it's kinda a tradition on her side of the family) and we're planning on having pasta of some sort as the main dish since it's cheaper to make in bulk
- my dress is a white, long formal dress but it's not marked as "wedding". I actually spent $50 and need no alterations
- my venue cost $2000 but they have all the chairs, tables, benches, offer transportation to and from the ceremony/reception for guests, and have an amazing kitchen for setting up the food. It's also only 45 minutes from my house
- we're not serving alcohol, my fiance and I both know people who get too out of hand when they drink and we don't like it ourselves.
- we hired a friend who is a college student studying photography for the wedding and since we're her first wedding to shoot it'll be $450. She's bringing a second shooter for the ceremony and all the pictures will be digital rather than print so that helps with the cost there.
- for the decorations I'm looking at yard sales, thrift stores, and online wholesale companies.
- I'm buying wholesale flowers from Sam's Club for the boquets and making them. We did this for a friend's wedding and it was really fun.
- I'm relying on my bridesmaids to help with my hair and makeup because I'm not a very girly-girl (literally can't braid my own hair).

We're definitely planning a more casual sort of wedding and we're coming at it with the mentality of wanting it to be nice but also wanting it to just be a fun time to celebrate the day with our friends and family. I would recommend sitting down with your FS and talk about the things that matter most to you and the things you're willing to DIY on the wedding. Be ready to think outside the box and do a LOT of goggling lol.

With everything planned out were trying to keep budget around $5,000 if possible I looked on line for a lot of my stuff and kept looking using coupons where I could and I have a crafty bridesmaid whose making my center pieces and our bouquets and boutonnieres. I also looked on facebook in my area for people selling stuff from their wedding

Yes I would like to know. My name is LeToiya.