Why is wedding so expensive?!

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I agree with this! We are keeping ours under 10k - and we have almost 100 guests invited.

If you haven't booked your venue yet, don't rule out all inclusive venues. At first glance they seem to be a more expensive option, but when we broke down what it would cost to obtain everything that was included it saved us a lot of money. Your cost will be directly related to how many attend. You may be surprised who will not be offended if they are not invited. DH and I cut out a lot of extended family who we would only see once every few years, there was just no need to include them and we never heard a complaint.

It doesn't have to be. My husband and I paid for everything ourselves and did everything on a budget. Paid everything in cash

When I started wedding planning I thought no way would we come even close to our 10k budget, but it's insane on some wedding service pricing! My main strategy was to cut corners where I could without compromising my vision. I'm doing fake flowers, a Sunday wedding (saves on venue rental price), TRYING for no more than 100 folks, and stocking our own wedding bar (you should really look into that if you plan on serving alcohol, it'll end up saving us at least $700-$1000). I think one thing to avoid unless you find a great deal is a venue that requires specific vendors only, they're generally more expensive. Hope this helped!

Where are you getting married and how many are you wanting to invite? We want a really nice wedding and in order for us to stay on budget, we cut the guest list to 60. It allows us to have the things we want.

That’s unfortunate. I guess you can decide what’s most important to you.... having a wedding that’s more than $15k because it’s your childhood dream.... or getting married to your love and staying within $15k

You can stay under 15K. You are going to have to do some research and possibly cut the guest list. Also DIY .

I contacted probably 12 or more venues before even narrowing down who we could afford and then visit. We went all inclusive for ease and it ended up cheaper. It is a nice redone warehouse downtown that is not quite as popular because it isn't a country club, but it is nice and I get to make it my own.

If your going to get a part time job try for a place that will give you a discount you can use for wedding stuff. Like if your going to diy try for a craft store. I'm working a second Saturday job at a small business in my town. They were only looking for someone for Saturdays so it was perfect for me. Also a quick (not easy, but quick) cash job could be at a resturant.

My fiancé and I have been planning our wedding for two years, and we have 319 days until our wedding. We have everything planned and budgeted for $5,000. It’s doable and not be seen as “cheap” or tacky

Because they are a luxury and fewer and fewer people are considering them necessary so vendors have to charge more and more to pay their bills. If you are tight financially, put it off a year or compromise on what you want.

View Quoted Comment I completely agree with Candice. There are a lot of things the wedding industry says we need or have to have; that isn’t really needed. We decided to have a very small, intimate backyard wedding, with only 36 guests. We are only 2 months away from the wedding and have spent less than 5k.

We are going to be engaged a month short of two years just because we didn't want to go in debt planning our wedding. I say push it back a year the way you you get the wedding you want and don't have as much stress over the prices.

I set a budget of $15K for 30 person destination wedding in Utah. Fiancé only wanted to contribute $12 and said that’s the budget but my compromise was anything over his amount was my contribution. I’ve pinched and cut things here and there and did some DIY as well as all paper and invite designs myself. I’m currently looking at being $1600 over my initial budget for the wedding which includes two airfare trips to UT and lodging. When you add in misc bridal expenses, excursions and my grooms gifts, that’s about another $1500. So $3000 over total but we’ll be paying for the rehearsal dinner so that’s another expense and any other excursions during the 2 weeks we are there. All our family said my budget was grossly over estimated and we shouldn’t spend that much. I have no regrets and we paid for it out of pocket. I’d say if I set a $20K budget I’d be under, lol!! But for the 2 week vacation and wedding - plus Bach parties and bridal party and rehearsal dinner, I’m happy with what my total came out to.

I agree that everything is wayy more expensive than anticipated.

Here are some wats I'm cutting costs.
-We're getting married when the wildflowers are in bloom and will be picking all of my flowers.
- We didn't rent a venue, we're getting married on FH parents property. It has a nice backdrop 👍
-We are skipping a DJ and using our own P.A. gear (yay for me being in a band previously and FH is a sound engineer) and using playlists.
-my good friend is playing guitar for the ceremony, we will be putting money towards her travel or accomodations.
-all decorations will be DIY-foraged greenery, tulle.. etc. Everything will be minimal overal.
-skipping real flatware for realistic plastic pieces ( in my area is $ 1.50 for ONE fork!!!!)
-officiant will be FH sister
-FH is building the arch for the ceremony.
-going to have a self serve bar with beer & wine. Not sure how I'm pulling off my signature cocktail though (my friend who is playing ceremony music is a bartender tho......hmmmm).
-Im going to start trials to bake my own cake.

In the end I hope to only really pay for:
- my dress, alterations, make up & hair, FH attire, bridesmaids dresses, booze, and really good food!

Lol I almost made my own dress!

Oh my god yes! I feel you on every level. Our budget was 15k as well. My parents offered to pay for half. But then things ADD UP. I feel awful, because obviously (and everyone reminds me) it's not about the flowers and the Etsy centerpieces, but I really want those etsy centerpieces and flowers.

Oh yeah and tables and chairs.
I live in a place that is popular for destination weddings, everything is jacked up around here. Its crazy!

There are 4 ways that help me to save a huge amount of money. My upcoming wedding only costs $5,000. First is to do everything thing by yourself. My team only includes venue, catering, photographer, and makeup and hair artist. I didn't hire a planner, designer, or florist. I did the invitation design, reception and ceremony decoration, and every other thing all by myself. And I am gonna iPod my wedding instead of hiring a DJ. Second, cut your guest list. Third, chose weekday night for the wedding. If you are really really low on budget, then you can try to choose weekday night or daytime of a weekend for your wedding. I have to choose to hold my wedding on Thursday night before Labor Day which saves me 1/3 of the fee for holding a wedding during the weekend. Last but not least, if you have enough time, try to order your wedding gown from CHINA! I only spent $500 on 2 dresses and they are AMAZING! Both of them have 7 layers and grate designed. They are way much better than every dress that I saw in the bridal stores here (well, I didn't check anything over $2000 at stores). People thought they must cost at least $1000 but they are not. Also, they can make it according to your measurements so you don't have to pay extra for alterations.

We were in the same boat and didn’t want to spend more than $10k. So we are doing a destination wedding in Mexico! Everything included (dress, venue, photographer, decor, etc) plus our 11 day stay (wedding and honeymoon) is close to 10k, just a little over with all the little extras!

View Quoted Comment Maybe try a job that you can do from home or on your own time. (Shipt, instacart, Uber/Uber eats, doordash, postmates, transcribing, VIPKid, etc)

My wedding was tiny (34 of us total!) But we kept well under our budget and ended up spending about 6k on it. My biggest recommendation is to set a budget and then make a list of all the things you want out of your wedding. Prioritize that list, and the things that don't matter as much to you can be diy or cut altogether. My husband and I did a lot of things ourselves (decor, flowers, hair, makeup, favors, wedding playlist) and found friends and family to help us out with things we couldnt do on our own. We also saved money by using an all inclusive venue that provided our catering and cake! It's possible, and you can do it!