What is a budget friendly way to do a wedding

Minimize guest list, beer & wine instead of mixed drinks, sheet cake instead of a tiered cake, choose an off day, have an early ceremony & reception, choose out of season...

Hit send to quick... we are trying to save some
money so we opted for an early ceremony & reception and keeping our guest list to inviting 100. Everyone’s idea of budget friendly is different.

I feel one of the biggest way to save on budget is to cut the guest list as much as possible. Also depending on the place the time and day of the ceremony will help you a lot. I’m doing mine on a Sunday. Research a lot a try to talk about options to your vendors so you can get the best deals

Look in to park rentals, or something where you have more control over vendors. Do cheap catering like pasta, Mexican, or pizza. Limit your guest list as low as possible. Hit up your local grocery store, or online companies for flowers. Don't do an open bar. Look in to cheaper dress options. You could do a decent wedding this way for relatively cheap

For 100+ guests? Do a 2 pm ceremony followed by a cake & punch in a church, temple or community hall.

For less than 20 or 25 guests, you can have a courthouse ceremony then treat guests to lunch or dinner at a nice restaurant (in a private room). Some nice resorts might give a special deal for a weekday wedding if you have a small “private ceremony/elopement.”

Those are the cheapest options.

Pick a few things that you HAVE to have and then start cutting from there.

Parks are a great resource, I know a lot of parks around me have both indoor and outdoor spaces you can rent for really great prices. The only thing I would note is keep in mind that if you want to have alcohol at a park you'll need to pay for extra permits and possibly a bartender. But skipping alcohol altogether is also a great way to save money.

If you're open to it, buying a dress second hand can save a ton of money as well. So can getting a sheet cake instead of a tiered cake. You can skip favors, unless those are really important, and get a lot of stuff on sale (Always check the clearance aisles in Hobby Lobby and Michaels)

Basically limit everything you do.

-Cut guest list

-Minimize decor

-Focus on what's most important to you.

Less decor, no party favors, small guest list, limiting or no alcohol at all, ask people to borrow stuff so you don't have to buy it aha. Find your attire in non traditional ways such as a white dress vs a wedding shop

Firstly, make a list of things to splurge on. What is the MOST important for you? Mine was photography and my dress.
Here are some unique ideas
-Shop Ross/discount stores for shoes. If you have a long dress, no one sees them.
-Have a friend do your makeup, or do it yourself
-Do a simple blowout at DryBar instead of something elaborate
-Go out to a restaurant for your reception, or pickup food instead of doing catering
-Shop used wedding dresses first
-When you find something you want for your wedding, consider trying to find it on Facebook Marketplace or EBay first. Sooo much cheaper.

Research, research, research!!

There are lots of ways to save money, as most of us are on a tight budget (some tighter than others, lol), so I agree with all the tips people have said here. But it helps to do your research.

The majority of your budget (for most of us anyway), will be for the food/beverage for your guests. This is why people suggest a smaller guest list to save money. If your catering/bar/venue is going to cost $100 per person, then you're looking at $7500 to fee 75 guests, etc.

Other ways to save are to eliminate anything that you and FH decide is "unnecessary." My FH and I had to do this. Example: favors, programs, large traditional cake, hard alcohol, escort cards, floral centerpieces, all got the ax when I was slashing my costs. These are things that did not matter at all to us. But everyone has their own priorities, so talk with FH about what is most important to the two of you. For us, the most important aspects of our wedding were: good food, good music, great pictures, and good people. So, most of our money is going towards the catering, DJ, and photography. I'm only spending a very small amount on artificial flower bouquets for me and my girls, bouts for the men, and then very minimal non-floral decor. We got a free engagement photo shoot with our photography package, and we worked a deal with our photographer to get 100 STD cards thrown in. So, those are only costing us postage. The invitations I have designed and saved on Ann's Bridal Bargains. I'll order them when they have their big Black Friday/Cyber Monday sale, as that's when they will be the cheapest.

So, there are lots of ways to save money. You just have to do your research, and figure out your priorities.

We are cutting the guest list and limiting it to just family and 3 friends. Also, we shopped around for a reception place which is basically a really pretty restaurant. We didn't skimp on our wedding venue though and I bought a cheaper dress than anticipated. I'm still trying to decide whether or not to get a 3 tier cake or separate cakes.