What kind of wedding can I have on a 15 - 20,000 budget

My best budget advice would be to shop around. I know when you first start talking to various vendors it can be really exciting and you'll want to start signing contracts left and right but make sure you look all of your options. You'll want to get the best price without sacrificing quality.

A previous poster said to go with a caterer that's affiliated with your venue. I think this is a good option. It might not necessarily be the cheapest option but they often have packages that make it more affordable and the staff will be familiar with the venue, which will make things run smoothly.

Set your number of guest and stick with it! Know how many guests you can properly host in your budget and do not stray from that number for any reason. Trust me, your parents, aunts, uncles, cousins, and coworkers will come out of the woodwork with extra people they think you need to invite. They'll try to bring all their kids, kids friends, the mailman, and the lady that does their taxes. Stand firm. Tell them you have a set number of people you can afford to host and that you are unable to accommodate extra people.

The biggest budget issue I had was the tendency to see this large number of money I budgeted to spend and when I saw something cool (extra) that I wanted I'd say,"what's an extra couple hundred dollars?" Don't do that!! It really adds up.

Good luck!

You can have a very well hosted (top tier open bar, abundance of food) for 60(ish) people. You can have a 2nd or 3rd tier food (which still tastes the same but not as many options) and a house level open bar for 80 people. With a beer and wine open bar and a buffet, you can host 100 people. This is at a semi-inclusive (includes food, nothing else) wedding at Hudson Valley, NY.

We were quoted $80/per person at a all inclusive venue (includes everything, including centerpeices) if we went the all inclusive route. This was at a popular venue in Queens, NY.

So it depends on location for sure and what route you want to take between the mostly diy wedding or not.

OP, I'm in South Jersey and I just had a beautiful wedding for less than your budget. I had 70 guests. You'll be able to have 100-125 with your budget, you just have to plan carefully.

What kind of venue are you thinking about? If you want to do a country club, check out the Ron Jaworski golf courses. Blue Heron Pines is farther south in NJ, but I don't know if that's the most southern one. They're affordable and beautiful, plus they include a lot for the money.

I agree with the other ladies. It depends on your location and number of guests. Your wedding is over two years away so you should be able to get the venue you want and the date you want then create a guest list, and go from there.

My wedding cost about $15,000 total, but I was married in the mountains of Western Pennsylvania which was definitely less expensive than getting married in Harrisburg where I live.

20k is a lot of money! You can definitely have a beautiful wedding with that budget. Some advice....

*Consider Friday or Sunday for the wedding

*Cut the guest list! (like others have said... this will save you the most $$. I wish we cut our list more!)

*Have a SMALL bridal party. Aside from saving you $$ on gifts and transportation, it will def save you stress from coordinating a lot of ppl.

*Lastly, commit to your budget and stick to it! Get off Pinterest and don't second guess yourself!

It's very possible but like everyone says it all depends on your location and guest count. I'm having 134 guest and am spending less then 20k on my wedding. My planner has lots of decor that I can borrow and caterer is providing the linen. The most expensive things are catering and photography and videography. Central FL has really affordable caterers thats provide great food for less then $40 per person. I'm also using wine bottles which I've saved throughout the yr. For crnter pieces since my FH and I love wine. Shop around before committing.

Cut things like

1. Wedding favors

2. Programs

3. Save the dates

Hope this helps!

Also one peice of advice - try to lock down your venue, catering, and major vendors this year. All our vendors increase costs each year and by booking in 2015, we got to lock down 2015 prices. They were also very, very open to negotiating because I was booking that early.

Start with your guest list and go from there. The number of people you intent on having there is going to make the difference. My budget is half of yours and I have managed so far. We cut a few things like STDs, favors, photobooth, programs, and videographer (which was optional for us anyways) so we could focus all of our funds on the most important things to us. I guess it also depends on where you are. Our venue has an amazing pricetag, but we have to put more work in to set up and tear down. worth it for the beauty of it and cost though. ETA:Monday grammar issues