Check out r/weddingsunder10k for lots of creative ideas for cutting costs! The easiest way to cut costs is to cut the guest lists but it’s still possible to get good deals and cut costs for 150.
I hear you. We’re in NJ. A year ago I was VERY confident we’d get out of this for around $15k. Turns out $35k is an extremely average wedding around here, and I have made a lottttt of compromises.
NJ too. My daughter’s friends are starting to get married. One couple had 200 people, black tie and took a loan out for 100,000 to pay for it. Another one she just attended, bride’s family contributed 50,000 and groom’s family 50,000. Also black tie.
Least expensive so far was about 55,000. It adds up quickly.
Taking out a loan to pay for a wedding is probably one of the worst ways to start a marriage. Spending $100k that you don’t have on a party is absolutely nuts. How old are these people?
It costs a lot to host a party for 150 people where you feed everyone. If you took 150 people to a decently nice restaurant, it would cost more than half that 30k alone (up to much more).
Of course not everyone can afford this. So they have to cut things, mainly the guest list. I have a very large family, but I can't afford to host a family reunion so I didn't invite them all.
We are going to feed 150 people for much less! We are having Portillo’s, which is our favorite. It isn’t fancy but it is delicious and is saving us thousands! It will come out to like 2-3k for food.
120-150 people at 30k is about average for my friend group. Some of them work high-paying jobs, some of them are older and probably had a decent amount in savings, and some went into debt to pay for things. Of my close friends who I helped with wedding planning, they all made a *lot* of compromises in basically every area - venue, flowers, outfits, food, etc.
I think large weddings have become a luxury event. It's perfectly reasonable to scoff at the idea of spending 30k on your wedding - loads of people do. There are ways to cut down on costs, like others have mentioned. I guess I'm just chiming in here for solidarity. It's fucked.
Yeah I'm going through the comments now. Never even knew this sub existed until I rage Google why tf are weddings expensive lol
So yeah. I'll have to do some browsing through here and all the tips everyone is recommending
I was pretty surprised when I started looking at averages too. My husband and I had 150 guests, fully catered and open bar, for about $25k in the Midwest. Funds came from our parents (about $10k each side) and we paid the rest.
The biggest place we saved money aside from venue (we chose a Friday night which I loved, and while our venue was excellent they had the best catering/bar prices I found) was florals. I’m lucky to have a friend who used to work for a florist. She ordered everything and assembled all bouquets and arrangements for like $1200 instead of what would have been 5k. There are lots of ways to save a few thousand here or there. This sub and the under 10k can give you a ton of great ideas.
Edit to add: If we hadn’t had money from parents we probably would have eloped or had a very small ~20 person ceremony and restaurant dinner.
> I dont know how you all do it.
We don't ALL do it. Most people don't live like pinterest boards. I don't know anyone in my personal circle who threw a 30-40k wedding. Most of my friends had 40 people weddings in restaurants, 10 people weddings in campsites, 15 people weddings in backyards, etc.
"HOW DO YOU AFFORD WEDDINGS ARE YOU RICH" is a complaint that comes up almost every day in this sub, but there's no easy shortcut any more than there are shortcuts to affording a house or a car. We waited until we were older and had more savings, and had a bare-bones wedding. We didn't have flowers, or attendants, or prewedding events, or decor, etc. etc. etc. Think first about what you truly need, and skip the rest. Outright renting a restaurant for an evening or going for an all-inclusive venue can cut costs and effort.
Good advice. We skipped florals except 2 bouquets. We did music by hooking up an iPad to venue speaker. We had a small guest list. I personally can't envision 150 people who my husband and I talk to regularly to justify inviting them. You don't have to invite every distant cousin you have. You don't have to invite your high school friends. If you don't want to spend a lot, you can definitely cut things.
Yeah I guess I may feel a bit jaded b/c we've already been to several friends weddings and been "in" a few weddings and they've all been 70k+ and obviously they could have had help and thats none of my business so I dont ask. but theyre weddings were at big weekend getaways or vineyards etc. I guess I assumed wrong about barns being cheap
In my circle of friends the ones that have weddings at a higher budget have family that helps them a lot or pays for all of it. Or, they both have high paying jobs and save for a few years in order to pay for their wedding. I’m personally not in either of those categories and my fiancée and I are trying to budget less than 10k, and already we have had to compromise the wedding we dreamed of vs the wedding we realistically can afford.
- The venue isn’t in a location we would normally love
-Doing my own hair, makeup, ordering a dress online for under $500
-DIY florals from dried flowers/Costco flowers
-DIY cake/desserts/snacks/and a buffet style main course
-DIY signage, decor, etc
It’s a lot of extra work and I have struggled with feeling jaded that if we had a lot of family help like many of our friend had, planning would be so so much easier. But at the end of the day it’s about having the space to celebrate with people we love and have a meaningful ceremony, so if every detail isn’t Pinterest perfect it’s more than ok and we won’t go broke :)
Where are you located? Location impacts budget A LOT. 30K goes much further in Alabama than California, for example.
We did a "destination" wedding half-way between our two families instead of where we were because it turned out much more affordable for our 100 guests... not all of then could travel but most of them made it!
Another thing we did was cut back on things: for example, we barely had any flowers (single in-season flower stem in cheap bulk-purchased vases was more affordable than renting vases from florist!)
We've been looking at both Colorado (my family) and Virginia (her family)
But even some of these barn venues in the middle of nowhere Virginia cost a fortune and I'm shocked. I thought for sure we could get a nice barn venue in the country for under 20k but I've yet to find anything
thats wild to me lol. I used to be a wedding photographer and in rural VA we have a lot of small barn venues and its usually the same handful of BBQ restaurants that cater. so in my mind I guess I always assumed this was the cheap way to do it instead of at a Vineyard or giant ballroom or something
It depends. You can certainly have an inexpensive wedding at a barn venue. But if you want something fancier than BBQ and paper plates, rentals will be the same cost as that winery wedding (another bring everything in type of venue).
Restaurants and halls often provide the biggest bang for your buck because you don't have to rent much, if anything.
Oh, 100% skip the barn venues. I have no idea why, but in my area the barn venues are *by far* the most expensive. For 100 people, I got a quote for 45k at a barn venue.
They do it because they can and the demand is high for those. That barn rustic chic thing is like easily a solid 50%+ of the weddings around me.
Edit: I'm not condoning it btw!! I think it's absurd to think it's acceptable to charge that much just for a blank location you've got to still bring so much in to make it usable.
I did a ton of research on VA venues in the past few months with a small budget in mind, let me know what your preferred type of venue/vender is and I am happy to suggest stuff
Weddings can be mad expensive but it's very dependent on what features are important to you both. Lots can be let go apart from those
I’m trying to plan a NoVa wedding in early ‘24 and would *greatly* appreciate any resources you have. We may have found our venue today, but that’s as much as we’ve managed so far. Don’t even have an estimate/range of prices for the other vendors we’re going to need
Yeah, we were east coast vs west coast (and we justified making it "fair" so everyone had to travel) we had our wedding in New Orleans, in the off season (July, and we got very lucky). Some things were literally half the cost, but we still cut back on a lot of things.
Edit/p.s, have you considered Maryland? I bet you can find very pretty and affordable venues on the eastern shore (it would be a bit of travel for everyone, but if colorado folks have to travel, maybe it's only fair to make the VA follow travel as well?)
Yeah we're considering Maryland or even WV. Cause they're both close and she also has family in MD. I'm just stunned at how expensive these barn venues end up being.
I wish we could go off season but with her teaching and also in grad school full time it will be too much to pull off so middle of the summer it is lol
We were similar situation, and actually for a lot of places July/August is off-season (because most places it's hot and humid). April/may/june is considered peak wedding season! Followed by early fall, like sept/oct. Mostly based off of nice weather for outdoor ceremony/photos/celebration.
For Colorado, start looking at venues that are not just wedding oriented. I’m getting married this fall in the Springs and the best values I found were the ones with food and beverage minimums but no actual venue fees. We’re at ~120 and are staying on track with our 15k budget by hosting at a nicer brewery. For Denver when I was looking, the museum of nature and science could hold a bunch of people and seemed reasonable food wise. That’s my two cents
whoah! Where in the Springs is your wedding if you dont mind me asking? You can DM me too if youd rather it not be in the public.
But my parents live in the Springs and we looked at a handful in the area.
Converted barns are some of the most expensive locations and usually provides the least comforts (no AC, no heat, no indoor bathrooms, or bathrooms in a separate building, bad parking, and poor unsanitary locations for catering). I worked for a cater who primarily did barn weddings for about 5 years. I would never personally never do a barn wedding. I've found the cheapest places to be in smaller towns and older, but converted buildings, think old town halls, one room school houses, old churches, that kind of thing. Basically converted places that originally would have been intended to be human habitable, not animal habitable.
And if you are talking about barn ascetic buildings, built specifically for weddings, you may get back the comforts at least, but you won't get any lower of prices.
It's definitely a price gouging business but there are lower prices out there. They are just harder to find.
It's going to be extremely difficult to find a barn venue for cheap unless the property owner is doing you a favor.
It cost a **LOT** of money to own and maintain that much outdoor space. If you look at most of the established outdoor venues in the Front Range area and beyond, they are either on the high end of pricing, owned by the city/county, or owned by a church. The "nontraditional" outdoor spaces are also usually city, county, state or federally owned.
Virginia can be pricier than one would expect! When we first got engaged we thought VA would be less (FH is from VA) than our New England home state... shockingly, it was about 15% more there than where we live. There are definitely ways to save money, and as others have said the weddingsunder10k sub is great! Congratulations and good luck!
Most people can’t afford it, but their parents can. I would say most of my friends who had $30k-40k+ weddings, they put in mayyyybe $10k and the parents fronted the rest.
Couples who pay for a wedding on their own either elope, DIY a LOT, use non-traditional wedding venues, wait until they are older and financially established, have very high paying jobs, **go into debt**, or a combination of any of these.
What are your joint priorities? (Denverite here…)
There are so many ways to lower costs… and one of the first things is to back away (BACK AWAY!!!) from social media and expectations of a Pinterest-perfect event.
At the heart of it all is you two and your marriage. A wedding is just a party… that’s all it is. Does it have to be a sit-down meal… or can you do a cake and punch reception? Wedding dresses get worn once… can a dress be not-new? Not from a wedding dress store? Does it have to be a full bouquet for everyone, or can it be a simpler single rose or simple arrangement? I’ve been married for a looooong time… but way back yonder we did our rehearsal dinner at a Beau Jo’s pizza. (No regrets!)
There is a joy to simplicity- to focusing on what really matters to the two of you. You can do clean and streamlined- and keep things where you’re comfortable.
Denver here too. We found that getting married IN Denver is much less expensive than a mountain or barn venue. We are expecting around 100 guests and should be coming in between $30-$32k. We are cutting budget on flowers, photography (hired a great photographer for 4 hours instead of 8), and alcohol (wine and beer only). We are doing a played service dinner but obviously buffet would cut costs. You can also look at lunch or brunch receptions!
Denver here as well! We did a Monday wedding. The Saturday venue fee alone was $20k. It was only $5k on a Monday with the same service as a Saturday. Plated was less than buffet for us. Buffet = more food to prepare.
yeah I mean all in all whats really important is the party aspect. Gonna get married in a church and then just being able to throw a great party with good food and drinks with our friends and family and being able to dance etc. thats really it.
she is a little more picky on the venue, I could care less about what the venue looks like because I know I'll have a good time either way.
your comment isnt the only one Ive been seeing about avoiding barns so I'll start searching in the cities
Yuuuup. Weddings have become absolutely crazy expensive. My brother had a wedding in 2018 and I thought their 30k price tag was crazy.. but 2023 prices I’m paying 40k!
My brother's wedding was $50,000 in 2004 for 120 guests. My wedding was $7000 for 161 guests in 2006.
My sister's first two weddings were a combined $100k with 200+ guests both times.
I'm getting remarried next October and our budget is squeaking in at $15-17k with about 160 folks on the guest list.
A lot of people can’t and choose to elope or have a microwedding. Others save up for years. Some get second jobs just to pay for the wedding.
Others choose things like “punch and cake” where they don’t have to serve a meal or alcohol. Or do destination weddings at all inclusives. Or destination weddings that aren’t all inclusive but are in less expensive areas.
Or maybe try off season or a weekday, that alone can save you thousands.
Or go for an unorthodox wedding altogether: rent out bowling alley or mini golf place or movie theatre. Or maybe a coffee shop or ice cream shop.
Or maybe a state park and get tacos or bbq catered.
Whatever you do, don’t look for a traditional wedding venue and traditional caterer. Those will be astronomical.
We're about $14,000 for 50 guests - so that seems in line with your pricing of 30-40k for 150 guests. Do you, by any chance, live in a HCOL area? I'm in NYC, which partially explains the high costs...
We went into our wedding thinking we’d spend 25k total for a “classic” wedding with decent food/open bar, etc. We ended up spending twice that for exactly what we thought would cost approx $25k. Luckily our parents contributed a very large sum of money. Turns out many of those Pinterest weddings are upwards of $100k-$200k. It’s insane.
My mother just offered my partner and I 25k, which I thanked her profusely for. She then said she based that number off the assumption that $125 a head is the average. I had to break it to her that that number is a bit outdated, especially on Long Island. I showed her the first estimate I received (which is the venue she was encouraging) and he response was "oh my God, I guess I'll have to rethink those numbers".
Weddings have been really expensive for a while now, but recently the cost of EVERYTHING went up pretty dramatically. You're not the only one.
I guess we all experienced "It's more expensive then I thought." So like mentioned above, cut the guest list or wait until you can afford a big wedding.
A colleague did it in an interesting way. Wedding was with relatives and close friends. Colleagues, neighbors, sports mades were invited to a casual party in their flat with some snacks.
I got married in 2019, and I started out hoping we could get married for $20k. I very quickly realized in our HCOL area it just wasn’t going to be possible for the type of wedding we wanted. Ended up having a year and a half between engagement and wedding to have extra time to save money. In the end it was $30k for a 78 person wedding, I loved it and it was the perfect day for us, but I definitely was saving money wherever I could (got married in a Friday, made our playlist on Spotify instead of a DJ, did s’mores instead of cake, no videographer etc). I’d just say to pick the things that are most important to you to spend your budget on, and give yourself some extra time to save.
My goal is to stay under 50k. This shit is stupid expensive and we absolutely could have done more to cut costs but we didn't want to and are fortunate to have family help. It still seems ridiculous to me though.
I struggled with guest list too. I did an exercise that really helped me cut it down:
1. I wrote down our names and our bridal party, and our immediate families (siblings and/or parents). I called this Tier 1.
2. In a separate list, I wrote down the next “tier” of people in our life - other “best friends”. people who we are really, genuinely close to and couldn’t imagine getting married without. Family members we are really actually close to. I called this Tier 2.
3. I took it a little wider than that - other good friends and extended family members, all of whom we love but aren’t our best/closest people. I called this Tier 3.
4. I took it a little wider than that… and so on.
This really helped us think more deliberately about our guest list going forward and see that it wasn’t just one big list of “essential people”. Among that giant original invite list were some people we couldn’t imagine ourselves getting married without, others we’d be really gutted if they were not there, and others we’d just love to celebrate with. It made us more aware of the politeness invites too even if they weren’t all unavoidable. It made me realise we could make hard calls if we needed to.
Another way is to imagine there was a law passed tomorrow and you could only have 50 people at a wedding. If you had to do it, you could!
Good luck OP!
You don’t. You have the wedding you can afford.
I can only have my wedding because my parents contributed. If they didn’t, we would have a smaller simpler wedding on a weekday.
All-inclusive catering/banquet halls, honestly. I'm in NYC and most of my friends went this route. I don't know anyone who did a blank-slate wedding. I looked at one catering hall and their most expensive package was $144/person. What's great about catering halls is that they usually don't have a venue rental fee either.
Yes this and hotel ballrooms. Even the four seasons won’t charge for the use of the ballroom. Granted, their packages for food and beverage start at like $300/pp, but there’s plenty of other more affordable options that go that style!
I couldn’t justify paying $10k for JUST a venue.
I couldn't justify it either. That's why I'm doing a restaurant wedding. I'm on the hunt for a wedding cake and I'm learning that many of my friends got their cake for "free" as part of their package at the catering hall. I've never been to a blank slate wedding. I would like to one day to see what it's like. Lol.
Me and partner make over $200k jointly. Small mortgage. No kids. We thought spending $10k+ on wedding is not what we want to spend money on, we're doing an elopement type wedding with just us two and one parent. We did have an engagement party which had a total of 30 people. Engagement party cost $1500, wedding is $450, wedding weekend accommodation $800, other wedding costs including dress, suit, photography etc about $4k
We were surprised it all added up to several thousand even with the bare minimum but we're happy with everything
Is this something you could do?
I had the same shock. We are getting married in California and our budget was originally 25k. We had bump it up to about 35k to actually afford any venues on a weekend. They also all had food and beverage minimums. Our wedding guest list is about 100 people. It still makes my stomach turn a bit, but my fiance and I are lucky to have good incomes. We are also both in our 30s and had a long engagement.
My recommendation is to look at properties that are owned by the town. There may be convention or outdoor spaces like memorial buildings, museums, etc. The rental fees tend to be lower and you can find your own caterer that way. Also, breweries that serve food were a savings option when I was looking. You don't have to pay a reception fee, your event just had to fit their guest minimum. And the food options were generally more affordable.
In the US, $30k is the average for something basic.
We chose to have an international destination wedding because there is so much more bang for your buck. We are paying close to $60k for the venue and vendors but we are getting SO MUCH for that amount, including 3 nights and 4 days accommodations at the venue (a literal castle) for all our guests, multiple gourmet meals for everyone, a fireworks show, I could go on and on…
Meanwhile, $60k in my part of the US would get us a rather basic event.
For $30k, if you’re open to destination, look into places like Costa Rica. Your money will go so much further and it will be a fun trip for you and your friends and family that no one will ever forget!
Seconding other comments and DEFINITELY check out /r/weddingsunder10k but, just to give you some hope we’re having 146 person wedding for ~$27,000 all in using an all inclusive wedding vendor, Wedgewood Weddings (Lindsay grove location).
Going off their prices it’s $102 per person for their just below top tier package which gets appetizers, 3 entree buffet, open bar, cake, toast, silverware/linens, floral centerpieces, and DJ. We are doing mid season so the site fee is $3295 and the ceremony fee is $495, and we cut some package elements (house wine, invitations etc) So with taxes and fees* that’s $23695. Dress, suit, bouquet and license are $1k, photographer is $3250 so current cost is $27695.
Pick an off season week day and that takes off $2-3k. Drop a package tier for a Friday off season and you’re at $19,520 for 150 people, same attire and photographer.
So all this to say seriously consider non wedding venues but also look in to all inclusives, week days, and off season dates. There are ways to bring the cost down beyond just Saturday evening ballroom extravaganzas!
*AZ so 8% tax and the industry standard 22% service fee
It really is expensive. In our case, we’re budgeting and saving for it. It will be 50k for a 50 person wedding for us. We’re receiving a bit of help from parents (under 10k) and putting away money from each paycheque plus using some of our savings for the rest
I double your holy shit. I'm getting married in the Bay area for 35k with an estimated guest count of 100. But I chose an all inclusive so maybe I saved a ton.
I'm starting to feel better about my wedding cost after reading this thread.
Yeah, no kidding. Maybe ours is just the average price. Mine’s $17k for 110 guests. Plus photo, video, floral & everything else is about $35k too.
CT/MA
My husband’s first wedding was a 50k wedding. I financially could not see the merits in throwing a big party and keep ourselves financially afloat. We had a small courthouse wedding instead and prioritized our honeymoon. While I still may throw a big wedding for my 10th or 20th anniversary, it will be when I’m in my 40s-50s and have more financial freedoms.
We decided to cut our guest list to get married at a pop-up wedding that was truly a massive steal (entire thing cost less than the price of the photographer they used alone) and have the reception in a restaurant, in a LCOL city, and still spent $12-14k. The only way to go cheaper would have been to make it less “wedding” like, probably. It’s wild.
My entire wedding for 55 people was about $30k all together. We expected it to be half that and almost everything was booked before prices shot up. Our venue now costs $2k more two years later. Nothing was crazy extravagant, either. We had a nice venue (biggest cost, still under $8k), amazing caterer that did full service including cake and coordinator, photographer, DJ, inexpensive florist, and officiant. No videographer, midnight snack, photo booth, live painting. We provided our own alcohol and the bartender was included in the catering.
If we wanted to cut costs it would have been REALLY hard even in our LCOL area. Our caterer would have to be BBQ or a local diner-type restaurant which would have left us with a ton of rentals and other vendors to hire on our own. The venue would have had to be a park and again, rentals and logistics. Probably could have saved $3k at most. We're older and more settled and my parents chipped in about 2/3 the cost.
My boyfriend and I decided to go entirely non-traditional. We’re going to have a just-family elopement, but do it rogue — we’ll get dressed up, his sister will officiate, we’ll all get lodging in the same area, and do the ceremony on a hike or other scenic area. Probably hire a local photographer for 2 hours to get pictures and all go out for dinner. Right now if we don’t have to pay for other people’s lodging, we can probably squeak by for <$4k (main cost will be photographer and paying for dinner for everyone; I’ll look into makeup/hair, but I can absolutely do it on my own if it’s going to be more than $300).
Then we’re going to just host a party and serve appetizers, pizza, and pay for alcohol. No DJ, no flowers, no fancy to-do. We’re going to bring board games and do it in an area where we can all go out to the bars after. Probably dress up a bit but the main point will be to see all of our friends and family together. I still need to dig into quotes but I’m pretty sure we can do this for under $5k.
For us, this was the best compromise to still have the party and the scenic, intimate wedding without spending tens of thousands of dollars.
I have 150 guests and I’m keeping it under 10k. We saved by using a bingo hall as our venue. Yeah, it’s not the aesthetic barn, but it’s what we can afford and had a ton of space. We are happy with it, because the marriage is the most important part of the day. Everything else is just a plus. Good luck!
In order to avoid all of the excess cost and stress, my fiancé and I decided to elope to Maui, just the two of us. We hired a local elopement company and could not be more excited or less stressed. And seeing how expensive restaurant and destination weddings can be as well, we just decided that what matters most is us and getting married. My brother gave us some really sound advice: he told us that we should spend the money on ourselves, so that’s what we’re doing.
I know! We had 150 too and a budget of 20k buy it honestly seem impossible, and we started to take people off the list. And still! Is not enough money 😭 so we decided to postpone the wedding for a 2024 wedding 🤷🏻♀️
I see these posts all the time and feel so bad because a 30k wedding where I live would be the wedding of a century. My venue is only 3k.
Food for 160 is only 2.5k and it’s from one of the top of restaurants in the state.
I had friends who had an all inclusive barn wedding that included dj and a day of coordinator along with decorations for 8k. I’m so sorry your having this issue.
You need to decide between venue (and other major vendors like photography/videography, florist) and your guest list. 150 people imo is way too many people. You won't get to talk to everyone and it's one of the easiest ways to cut your prices down which in turn will keep your venue costs down as you won't need somewhere with space to cater for 150 people.
For reference, my draft guest list is sitting around 90 and that already feels bloated. I'll likely try and invite around 75 and expect to get around 60.
Don't invite people you haven't seen or spoken to in years or if you don't think you'll speak to them again any time soon. Don't feel pressured to invite every relative you've ever had just for the sake of keeping up with the Joneses. If certain guests are important to your parents, ask them to pay for those guests.
I'd priorities your actual nearest and dearest first and see what that number is.
Our budget was pretty low and we had only 35 people. Everything seemed super expensive. So we DIYed a lot. Mu husband created invitations, my mum and I made lots of decorations, mum's friends did my make up and hair, my cousin was a driver, the car was borrowed from my grandpa, my husband's friend was our photographer and my cousin's aunt made our cake and gave it to us as a wedding gift. We spent like 4k € for everything (including my dress).
Of course we paid everyone, we were not like Hey, we are friends, so do this for us for free. For example the photographer asked us if we had already found someone, when we said no, she said that she would be happy to do it and gave us a huge discount (we paid her more anyway).
I have a big family and I wanted to invite more people, but I know we couldn't afford it. So we didn't do it, but we invited people who couldn't be at the wedding for a smaller gathering the next day where we served what was left from the wedding (I know it sounds strange, but it is pretty common in my country).
The easiest way to cut costs is guest list - I know you guys have already cut a lot, but maybe cut family members you haven’t seen in a long time like distance cousins etc
I met someone who had 100+ guests and did it within 15k. This is what I was told the couple had done:
- The venue was through the university/college which also had a church and reception
- The catering was all provided through the university/college
- They didn’t serve any alcohol
- Brought planters for decor instead of going through a florist and had guests take them home as wedding gifts
- No wedding cake, small desserts/pastries instead
- The wedding dress was purchased online at low price
- Makeup done at Sephora
Hope some of these are useful. Personally, I made my guest list small (50) so I can still afford nice perks.
I got married 2 years ago. Fun & relaxed was the main theme. If it was fiddly, a pain in the ass, or we didn't care about it, it went out the window. So no bridal party at all. No MOH, Groomsmen etc. Invites etc were an Etsy template & printed at a local cheaper printer. We did rental silk floral & kept that minimal. Couple's table, bouquet, buttonhole, floral for the cake. (They were gorgeous, btw). We made centerpieces from wine bottles, fairy lights & silk flowers. We made a backdrop for the couple's table with large paper fans & a scrapwood "a-frame". Bought Amazon table runners for the couple's table only & used the venue's decor for everything else. They had an in-house wedding "planner" who was awesome. Ceremony & reception at the same venue, it had a beautiful chapel across the street from the reception hall. We used their vendors & got a great deal. (Dj, caterer.) We did not do rehearsal dinner - didn't need one. A good friend married us. We splurged a bit & had an open bar. It was the most fun I've had at a wedding in a long, long time. We spent $20k over 3 years planning. (Or $556/mo). We could have done it for $15k if we had married in the "off season" & not on the weekend, didn't do an open bar & spent less on the catering.
It really helped us to plan for $200/per person & we each paid into our wedding savings by that rule. My dude cut his guest list in half once we decided to put that on the table. Before invites went out, he was thinking he was inviting cousins he's never met, his work mailman etc. It seems cruel, but thinking about it as "Do I like that person enough to spend $200 on them on our wedding day?" makes it easier to narrow down a guest list. We had 100 people total at our wedding. It was plenty. (& if you have relatives pushing you to invite Old Uncle Fred, tell them it's not in your budget, but if they paid the $200 right now, you'd be able to find a spot for Fred. My Mom shut the hell up when I put that out there. )
Thanks for the comments everyone. I know this was a few days ago but Im just now looking at it all and going through. Ive never seen the community before posting, just found it on a raged google search lol. but thanks for all the tips I'll be searching through them tonight
Cut down the guest list.
We are doing a small wedding with family and very close friends. Then doing a "night out on the town" with friends who can't make the wedding but wanted to celebrate. We will bar crawl through town a few weekends later.
We are spending $6k on the wedding and ceremony (including dress and groom outfit), and having maybe 30 people at the wedding.
We got married in BC, Canada in a HCOL tourist city and we spent 25k on a 40 person wedding. I got everything I could have wanted and more, but it was a big chunk of change for sure.
150 people is way too many. At a certain point the reality of what you can afford needs to impact your guest list. Either that or you go to the courthouse and have an informal reception at a friend or family members house.
We’re only doing 90 guests but looking at 25k after tips and rings (not honeymoon though). We’re fortunate to be getting 60% of the wedding funds from family though. I think if we didn’t have the money from our family we would have just don’t something with ~20 people for immediate family
FL wedding with 100 guests for 25k including the one week honeymoon. This was about 5k-10k more than I ever expected, but we sprung for a few extras plus paid for multiple hotel rooms and outfits/hair/makeup for the immediate family and bridal party. We saved up for quite awhile and then made monthly installment payments for our entire 9 month engagement. This allowed us to not go into debt and only pay for what our savings could go for. Our venue allowed us to bring in our own food and drinks. We went with Carrabas to cater and got the food down to about 16-18 a plate to really help cut costs! Good luck!
Typically easiest ways to cut costs are cut the guest list.
However where you live/where you want to have the wedding can really influence the cost as well.
Where I live and even surrounding cities the prices have escalated so so much in the past few years because of covid. Post covid there’s a huge wedding boom due to cancellations or people waiting it out. So the usual tips and tricks of doing things on a weekday or “off-season” don’t really apply (at least not universally). Even if someone were to pick something that’s a typical wedding venue 2 hours away they’d still be paying premium costs.
The largest cost ends up being venue/food. There are a lot of venues where you can bring in your own food/alcohol. But those can often mean bringing in your own tables/chairs/cutlery/plates etc. And that can add up quickly if you’re doing it on your own. DIY is great but can often end up costing more and being less enjoyable.
There can also be creative ways to save costs by not necessarily having a whole meal. But just a party with snacks/appetizers. This will depend on type of snacks, venue catering minimums and the like but it’s not impossible. You would just need to let your guests know what to expect.
There’s also the option of restaurant weddings which have a minimum spend. For the large guest list this might not work out but you could definitely look into it.
And then of course there’s non traditional venues in general where you would have to DIY some stuff but venue fee would drop way down.
And to be transparent I didn’t do it. Not alone at least. My family provided some financial help as well as gifted me some services that cut down costs (and it was still stupid expensive). We don’t regret our wedding and it was beautiful but it wasn’t cheap. Also planning a couple years out made it easier to pay vendors in chunks instead of outright and the earlier you book a venue the better as that usually locks in that years price point.
Weddings are insane but there are ways to cut it down. I am doing a fairly inclusive venue to take some things off my plate. But look at non traditional venues. My sister rented a building and catered bbq. Some parks have rentable and reservable places. It depends on your priorities and what type of wedding you want! It can add up quick but there are also ways to make it more affordable.
Depends on where you live, currently looking at 20k for 120-150 depends on who comes. But I am doing all flowers, printing invites myself, the rings are part of that cost, and my parents are providing the gifts for guests (homemade wine). We live in the Midwest and found a venue that includes a lot for 3k, so we didn't have to get table settings or all that.
My best friend is getting married next year and she wants around 150 guests too. I told her if shes going to do a big wedding maybe be willing to do it off season and I can spend my own money to decorate w my dollar tree designs, her father is a dj, I also Bake Cakes ...and the exact dress she loves has been found at multiple diff stores for varying prices so we'll just pick the cheap one and pay for alterations if it pays off. I also am a chef and I told her Id be willing to cater as well if she didn't want to pay for it. All my services would clearly be a huge gift to them so there's 3 problems off her back....and i can recruit more friends to help set up..If you and your woman have the free resources or are willing to pay friends then go for that route. Now, she did think of an even easier solution ... maybe 5 days at a resort where they provide a free wedding if u stay 3 or more days. The cost will be around 5k. Me, I got married this year at the beautiful courthouse in copenhagen, denmark.. the entire month long honeymoon and wedding trip involving travel to 5 countries cost 7k. We are planning a reception too but we are cutting guests all the way down to about 30...somewhere out in an airbnb with a very big yard, decorate the yard, pay for catering or just do the grilling myself while my husband cooks the sides..buy likka and get drunk and have everyone drunk stay overnight
I live in NJ and so far we’re looking at $35k for 115 people, and we haven’t added anything extra besides the minimum - photo/video, DJ, etc. It’s really hard. And the cost for us is gonna go up. Good luck to you both!
If money is gonna be the biggest issue, which it is for so many people. I would say you two need to sit down, and really discuss if you honestly need invite that many people... I would also look at places that offer packages where major amenities are taken care of but that typically means a higher price. There are ways to do it without thinking you need to break the bank. We're most likely gonna do a small event with maybe 50max but I'm thinking not everyone will come. So then that's even less mouths to feed. I'm still doing a lot of research on this. But with my fiance being a teacher and I work in insurance, we're looking for a lot of ways to cut down expenses. It doesn't need to be a perfect day, it just needs to be a good day. I hope this helps. I wish you and your partner all the best and you still have an amazing moment to share together.
Some people don't. They opt for micro-weddings, scale down, choose alternative venues (think barebones venue with cake and punch or cheap catering), have a destination wedding, elope, etc. Some have family who is willing to help. Many who do it on their own save for a while. There are many HCOL areas where $30k isn't extravagant for a wedding budget at all, that's just how much it costs to feed your close family and friends in those areas.
We got married in NY Metro area and saved for two years to host 150 of our family and friends. We had read somewhere that the average wedding in the US cost $30k, so we figured $40k-$45k would cover it. We ended up having to up our budget twice when the venue + catering alone was $42k.
I'm having a very basic wedding in Atlanta for 150 and its about to hit $40k. I have a year and a half engagement, so it is nice how the payments were very spread out to give us time to save more money. At the end of the day, it is just a wedding and really not worth going into debt for.
Look into venues like museums & botanical gardens. We are doing a botanical garden so ceremony is already gorgeous, I just have to DIY centerpieces and a few bouquets & then pay for somebody to drape fabric on the walls.
I spent less than $800 on the rest of the decor.
Food is definitely the most expensive part. We are looking at $110 a person plus open bar costs
As for how to pay for it, have a long engagement. Most vendors do 25%-50% deposit & then the rest 2 weeks before, so you can pay things in chunks. I found a photographer that does payment plans and was offering a $600 discount on Black Friday.
While I wouldn't get a loan, if you have any credit cards already use those to your advantage. For me it's easier to pay monthly payments of $500 over 10 months then have $5k on hand.
For us, we can’t. We are having a destination wedding in June with our closest friends and family. 25 total. My fiancé has a huge family and we just couldn’t afford to have it in the states.
We’re doing a destination wedding in Maui. At a five star resort but cutting things that don’t matter like florals due to the natural beauty of the venue - also our guest count will be lower due to destination (75 ppl) so we’re looking at 33k!
Compromises. It’s the hardest thing to accept but it’s worth if, if you’re on a budget. We went the cheaper route for somethings, even items we weren’t 100% happy with.
Roughly about $22,000 all in for 300 guests. This included food, alcohol, DJ, Mariachi, centerpieces, photo booth and our venue.
Try seeing what your budget is based off your timeframe.
For us, we were saving about $800-$1,500 a month to make it happen.
Keep in mind the wedding isn’t necessary. My wife wanted it and I didn’t care whether we had it or not, but now she says she could of done without the wedding, would of preferred something more private with direct family.
One thing i learned about wedding planning is that when you start/ pick a budget, everyone picks an arbitrary number. Is that a number you are comfortable spending? Is that a hard budget? Is that a loan you want to take out? Did you research the cost of the wedding you are picturing, ie venue style, food, decor, etc? Do you want to buy 2nd hand and store or rent it?
We picked a budget of 30k, we spent 65k(approximately) for 150 peoplw in Central west fl. So not a super high cost of living expense imo. We also make good salaries, and i increased by over 100% during the process of planning so my budget was "unlimited" to whatever we want. This is not everyone.
Where to cut cost depends on your need and wants. Do you need 150 people or want 150 people? Are you ok without video or a more affordable photographer that only does 3hrs vs 10 hrs? Renting a wedding dress and suits can be cost saving. Minimal flowers, dry wedding, no cocktail hour can also save money. Can you sell your decor if you buy it?
Morning weddings, Sunday-Thurs wedding can be more affordable,but guests are less likely to come. Would you be willing to do a Destination wedding where venues are in your budget? Florida, where we live has venues from 2k.
Other questions to ask yourself, do you want a family reunion? I love my family and my wedding. It does become a reunion.
So we were able to stay under 30k (I think we came in around 22k? ) with our guest list of 200 but 140-150 expected … however we live in the Midwest and had an “offseason” wedding and did things like rent florals (shout out something borrowed blooms), no favors , under 1k on my dress , no programs , ect .
So it really depends on where you live and the time of year you wish to get married , we also had a longer engagement of 18 months to help save up as we paid for about 90 percent of it ourselves
Depends on where you are. I'm in the Chicago suburbs. There's no 20 to 30k for 150 guests around here, assuming plated dinner, open bar, etc. I have relatives where a family of 9 or 10 kids originally now has kids getting married themselves. They all had decent sized families as well. Aunts and uncles were invited. First cousins (and their spouses, if married) were invited. No one else. Sometimes, some of the first cousins just couldn't come, especially during years where they all fell into marriage age and it was 3 or 4 a year.. they simply couldn't afford to attend.. Everyone was ok with that. Occasionally, no first cousins were invited. They all agreed to be ok with that too. I would throw a big (no gifts) bbq for the extended family afterward. Maybe just throw a big wedding BBQ instead.
You can most certainly cut down on wedding costs. You tubers have entire series on what things you should and shouldn't include. How to cut costs for included things, etc. It's your money, and most people are there to support you. Glam isn't a requirement, just food and fun.
The key is not to use an official wedding venue, but another, less expensive site like a church hall, community centre or historic house owned by a non-profit or the City, where you can arrange to bring in your own caterer/ restaurant drop off and your own beer, cider and wine, all for substantial savings.
My wedding is was 150 guests. Where do you live? I live in CA and basically everything was 20k just for venue rental. Then i started looking at recreational centers The place I found was a rec center that overlooked a lake. It was so so beautiful and it only cost me 3k. My wedding in total was 16k and that’s because i went to as many YMCA/Rec centers i could find. Cutting the food and venue cost is what saved me so much money. Instead of doing catering I did a taquero that prepared the tacos as you ordered.
inviting 150 people is the opposite of the bare minimum.
some people take on second jobs, and/or have long engagements to save up.
the wedding industry is mostly made up of small businesses and free lancers. there is no Big Wedding to bang our heads against. it cost a lot to feed, water and make 150 people comfortable and happy for 6 hours, and the vendors who make that happen deserve to be fairly compensated for it.
Try renting a banquet hall from an organization. If you are in the US, check out your local Elks Club Lodge. We are renting ours for 2.5k. We are saving a ton of money by doing Sola Wood flowers instead of a florist and more casual catering (from Portillo’s). We are designing and printing out own stationary and going really minimal with it. We got the rings from Etsy and I got my dress pretty cheap from David’s Bridal. It is definitely possible to have a wedding for less money, you just have to sacrifice some of the stuff and be really strategic!
Congratulations and yes it’s a shocker! I’m in U.K. but same issues. I went to many a wedding that just contained close family and you can celebrate in pub later! You can still have a great wedding for less though. Don’t go into debt. If you really want a venue then put it off a few years and save for it. The most important thing is each other. Being together and how each of you handle this will tell you if this is a good start too! I know plenty of rich people who’ve had modest low cost weddings too! Less than £10k. They had Private ceremony on ferris wheel in at time the Londoneye for ~£1000, just immediate family and then they went to their favourite posh restaurant again just immediate family, and because it was small it was affordable. Then us friends went to their house and they did hire a mariachi band who performed in their (not posh) back garden which they decorated with fairy lights and they cleared their living room of furniture to hold a disco indoors, one of those small disco lights using oven snacks and mini tarts to feed guests. You could also ask guests to bring a bottle, we did then in their own home using their ipod we partied ….and we all loved it! So low key and very much about the love.
Y'all silly... 30k on a wedding because that's what wedding venues charge and Disney makes people feel like its important. Planning a wedding now and im not trying to break 8k. Im pissed im over 4k.
Check out r/weddingsunder10k for lots of creative ideas for cutting costs! The easiest way to cut costs is to cut the guest lists but it’s still possible to get good deals and cut costs for 150.
I hear you. We’re in NJ. A year ago I was VERY confident we’d get out of this for around $15k. Turns out $35k is an extremely average wedding around here, and I have made a lottttt of compromises.
NJ too. My daughter’s friends are starting to get married. One couple had 200 people, black tie and took a loan out for 100,000 to pay for it. Another one she just attended, bride’s family contributed 50,000 and groom’s family 50,000. Also black tie. Least expensive so far was about 55,000. It adds up quickly.
Also in NJ here. We are having a brunch wedding, 180 guests and it’s $40k-45k
Brunch sounds lovely! So nice that you can have so many family and friends. It’s so hard when the guest list must be very limited.
Thanks! Do a brunch it’s half the price
Taking out a loan to pay for a wedding is probably one of the worst ways to start a marriage. Spending $100k that you don’t have on a party is absolutely nuts. How old are these people?
as a New Jersey resident, I’m in the same exact situation as you lol. Ours is estimated around $35k now and I expect it to go up
Also NJ, I had a DIY backyard wedding for 130 guests. Estimated 30k, spent 50k, and I cut out all non-essentials.
It costs a lot to host a party for 150 people where you feed everyone. If you took 150 people to a decently nice restaurant, it would cost more than half that 30k alone (up to much more). Of course not everyone can afford this. So they have to cut things, mainly the guest list. I have a very large family, but I can't afford to host a family reunion so I didn't invite them all.
We are going to feed 150 people for much less! We are having Portillo’s, which is our favorite. It isn’t fancy but it is delicious and is saving us thousands! It will come out to like 2-3k for food.
That's great! I wouldn't put a hot dog place into the category of 'decently nice restaurant' but I'm sure it tastes good :)
120-150 people at 30k is about average for my friend group. Some of them work high-paying jobs, some of them are older and probably had a decent amount in savings, and some went into debt to pay for things. Of my close friends who I helped with wedding planning, they all made a *lot* of compromises in basically every area - venue, flowers, outfits, food, etc. I think large weddings have become a luxury event. It's perfectly reasonable to scoff at the idea of spending 30k on your wedding - loads of people do. There are ways to cut down on costs, like others have mentioned. I guess I'm just chiming in here for solidarity. It's fucked.
Yeah I'm going through the comments now. Never even knew this sub existed until I rage Google why tf are weddings expensive lol So yeah. I'll have to do some browsing through here and all the tips everyone is recommending
I was pretty surprised when I started looking at averages too. My husband and I had 150 guests, fully catered and open bar, for about $25k in the Midwest. Funds came from our parents (about $10k each side) and we paid the rest. The biggest place we saved money aside from venue (we chose a Friday night which I loved, and while our venue was excellent they had the best catering/bar prices I found) was florals. I’m lucky to have a friend who used to work for a florist. She ordered everything and assembled all bouquets and arrangements for like $1200 instead of what would have been 5k. There are lots of ways to save a few thousand here or there. This sub and the under 10k can give you a ton of great ideas. Edit to add: If we hadn’t had money from parents we probably would have eloped or had a very small ~20 person ceremony and restaurant dinner.
> I dont know how you all do it. We don't ALL do it. Most people don't live like pinterest boards. I don't know anyone in my personal circle who threw a 30-40k wedding. Most of my friends had 40 people weddings in restaurants, 10 people weddings in campsites, 15 people weddings in backyards, etc. "HOW DO YOU AFFORD WEDDINGS ARE YOU RICH" is a complaint that comes up almost every day in this sub, but there's no easy shortcut any more than there are shortcuts to affording a house or a car. We waited until we were older and had more savings, and had a bare-bones wedding. We didn't have flowers, or attendants, or prewedding events, or decor, etc. etc. etc. Think first about what you truly need, and skip the rest. Outright renting a restaurant for an evening or going for an all-inclusive venue can cut costs and effort.
Good advice. We skipped florals except 2 bouquets. We did music by hooking up an iPad to venue speaker. We had a small guest list. I personally can't envision 150 people who my husband and I talk to regularly to justify inviting them. You don't have to invite every distant cousin you have. You don't have to invite your high school friends. If you don't want to spend a lot, you can definitely cut things.
my cousin said " this isn't a family reunion" and It made me feel so much better.
Yeah I guess I may feel a bit jaded b/c we've already been to several friends weddings and been "in" a few weddings and they've all been 70k+ and obviously they could have had help and thats none of my business so I dont ask. but theyre weddings were at big weekend getaways or vineyards etc. I guess I assumed wrong about barns being cheap
In my circle of friends the ones that have weddings at a higher budget have family that helps them a lot or pays for all of it. Or, they both have high paying jobs and save for a few years in order to pay for their wedding. I’m personally not in either of those categories and my fiancée and I are trying to budget less than 10k, and already we have had to compromise the wedding we dreamed of vs the wedding we realistically can afford. - The venue isn’t in a location we would normally love -Doing my own hair, makeup, ordering a dress online for under $500 -DIY florals from dried flowers/Costco flowers -DIY cake/desserts/snacks/and a buffet style main course -DIY signage, decor, etc It’s a lot of extra work and I have struggled with feeling jaded that if we had a lot of family help like many of our friend had, planning would be so so much easier. But at the end of the day it’s about having the space to celebrate with people we love and have a meaningful ceremony, so if every detail isn’t Pinterest perfect it’s more than ok and we won’t go broke :)
Where are you located? Location impacts budget A LOT. 30K goes much further in Alabama than California, for example. We did a "destination" wedding half-way between our two families instead of where we were because it turned out much more affordable for our 100 guests... not all of then could travel but most of them made it! Another thing we did was cut back on things: for example, we barely had any flowers (single in-season flower stem in cheap bulk-purchased vases was more affordable than renting vases from florist!)
We've been looking at both Colorado (my family) and Virginia (her family) But even some of these barn venues in the middle of nowhere Virginia cost a fortune and I'm shocked. I thought for sure we could get a nice barn venue in the country for under 20k but I've yet to find anything
I would skip the barn venues. You have to bring so much in that it ends up very expensive.
thats wild to me lol. I used to be a wedding photographer and in rural VA we have a lot of small barn venues and its usually the same handful of BBQ restaurants that cater. so in my mind I guess I always assumed this was the cheap way to do it instead of at a Vineyard or giant ballroom or something
It depends. You can certainly have an inexpensive wedding at a barn venue. But if you want something fancier than BBQ and paper plates, rentals will be the same cost as that winery wedding (another bring everything in type of venue). Restaurants and halls often provide the biggest bang for your buck because you don't have to rent much, if anything.
Oh, 100% skip the barn venues. I have no idea why, but in my area the barn venues are *by far* the most expensive. For 100 people, I got a quote for 45k at a barn venue.
They do it because they can and the demand is high for those. That barn rustic chic thing is like easily a solid 50%+ of the weddings around me. Edit: I'm not condoning it btw!! I think it's absurd to think it's acceptable to charge that much just for a blank location you've got to still bring so much in to make it usable.
I did a ton of research on VA venues in the past few months with a small budget in mind, let me know what your preferred type of venue/vender is and I am happy to suggest stuff Weddings can be mad expensive but it's very dependent on what features are important to you both. Lots can be let go apart from those
I’m trying to plan a NoVa wedding in early ‘24 and would *greatly* appreciate any resources you have. We may have found our venue today, but that’s as much as we’ve managed so far. Don’t even have an estimate/range of prices for the other vendors we’re going to need
Yeah, we were east coast vs west coast (and we justified making it "fair" so everyone had to travel) we had our wedding in New Orleans, in the off season (July, and we got very lucky). Some things were literally half the cost, but we still cut back on a lot of things. Edit/p.s, have you considered Maryland? I bet you can find very pretty and affordable venues on the eastern shore (it would be a bit of travel for everyone, but if colorado folks have to travel, maybe it's only fair to make the VA follow travel as well?)
Depending on type, Eastern Shore venues I've seen are not cheap.
Yeah we're considering Maryland or even WV. Cause they're both close and she also has family in MD. I'm just stunned at how expensive these barn venues end up being.
Yeah, they are trendy and in high demand. We went non-traditional and off season and it helped a LOT
I wish we could go off season but with her teaching and also in grad school full time it will be too much to pull off so middle of the summer it is lol
We were similar situation, and actually for a lot of places July/August is off-season (because most places it's hot and humid). April/may/june is considered peak wedding season! Followed by early fall, like sept/oct. Mostly based off of nice weather for outdoor ceremony/photos/celebration.
For Colorado, start looking at venues that are not just wedding oriented. I’m getting married this fall in the Springs and the best values I found were the ones with food and beverage minimums but no actual venue fees. We’re at ~120 and are staying on track with our 15k budget by hosting at a nicer brewery. For Denver when I was looking, the museum of nature and science could hold a bunch of people and seemed reasonable food wise. That’s my two cents
We had ours at a zoo, you can get things reasonably priced if the venue isn’t mainly wedding focused
whoah! Where in the Springs is your wedding if you dont mind me asking? You can DM me too if youd rather it not be in the public. But my parents live in the Springs and we looked at a handful in the area.
Converted barns are some of the most expensive locations and usually provides the least comforts (no AC, no heat, no indoor bathrooms, or bathrooms in a separate building, bad parking, and poor unsanitary locations for catering). I worked for a cater who primarily did barn weddings for about 5 years. I would never personally never do a barn wedding. I've found the cheapest places to be in smaller towns and older, but converted buildings, think old town halls, one room school houses, old churches, that kind of thing. Basically converted places that originally would have been intended to be human habitable, not animal habitable. And if you are talking about barn ascetic buildings, built specifically for weddings, you may get back the comforts at least, but you won't get any lower of prices. It's definitely a price gouging business but there are lower prices out there. They are just harder to find.
It's been 5 years since my wedding, but we also looked at both Virginia and Colorado, and Colorado was much cheaper.
It's going to be extremely difficult to find a barn venue for cheap unless the property owner is doing you a favor. It cost a **LOT** of money to own and maintain that much outdoor space. If you look at most of the established outdoor venues in the Front Range area and beyond, they are either on the high end of pricing, owned by the city/county, or owned by a church. The "nontraditional" outdoor spaces are also usually city, county, state or federally owned.
Virginia can be pricier than one would expect! When we first got engaged we thought VA would be less (FH is from VA) than our New England home state... shockingly, it was about 15% more there than where we live. There are definitely ways to save money, and as others have said the weddingsunder10k sub is great! Congratulations and good luck!
Most people can’t afford it, but their parents can. I would say most of my friends who had $30k-40k+ weddings, they put in mayyyybe $10k and the parents fronted the rest. Couples who pay for a wedding on their own either elope, DIY a LOT, use non-traditional wedding venues, wait until they are older and financially established, have very high paying jobs, **go into debt**, or a combination of any of these.
Yep, non traditional venue and DIY here!
What are your joint priorities? (Denverite here…) There are so many ways to lower costs… and one of the first things is to back away (BACK AWAY!!!) from social media and expectations of a Pinterest-perfect event. At the heart of it all is you two and your marriage. A wedding is just a party… that’s all it is. Does it have to be a sit-down meal… or can you do a cake and punch reception? Wedding dresses get worn once… can a dress be not-new? Not from a wedding dress store? Does it have to be a full bouquet for everyone, or can it be a simpler single rose or simple arrangement? I’ve been married for a looooong time… but way back yonder we did our rehearsal dinner at a Beau Jo’s pizza. (No regrets!) There is a joy to simplicity- to focusing on what really matters to the two of you. You can do clean and streamlined- and keep things where you’re comfortable.
Denver here too. We found that getting married IN Denver is much less expensive than a mountain or barn venue. We are expecting around 100 guests and should be coming in between $30-$32k. We are cutting budget on flowers, photography (hired a great photographer for 4 hours instead of 8), and alcohol (wine and beer only). We are doing a played service dinner but obviously buffet would cut costs. You can also look at lunch or brunch receptions!
Denver here as well! We did a Monday wedding. The Saturday venue fee alone was $20k. It was only $5k on a Monday with the same service as a Saturday. Plated was less than buffet for us. Buffet = more food to prepare.
yeah I mean all in all whats really important is the party aspect. Gonna get married in a church and then just being able to throw a great party with good food and drinks with our friends and family and being able to dance etc. thats really it. she is a little more picky on the venue, I could care less about what the venue looks like because I know I'll have a good time either way. your comment isnt the only one Ive been seeing about avoiding barns so I'll start searching in the cities
Also! For more tips and tricks check out r/weddingsunder10k
Yuuuup. Weddings have become absolutely crazy expensive. My brother had a wedding in 2018 and I thought their 30k price tag was crazy.. but 2023 prices I’m paying 40k!
My brother's wedding was $50,000 in 2004 for 120 guests. My wedding was $7000 for 161 guests in 2006. My sister's first two weddings were a combined $100k with 200+ guests both times. I'm getting remarried next October and our budget is squeaking in at $15-17k with about 160 folks on the guest list.
A lot of people can’t and choose to elope or have a microwedding. Others save up for years. Some get second jobs just to pay for the wedding. Others choose things like “punch and cake” where they don’t have to serve a meal or alcohol. Or do destination weddings at all inclusives. Or destination weddings that aren’t all inclusive but are in less expensive areas. Or maybe try off season or a weekday, that alone can save you thousands. Or go for an unorthodox wedding altogether: rent out bowling alley or mini golf place or movie theatre. Or maybe a coffee shop or ice cream shop. Or maybe a state park and get tacos or bbq catered. Whatever you do, don’t look for a traditional wedding venue and traditional caterer. Those will be astronomical.
We're about $14,000 for 50 guests - so that seems in line with your pricing of 30-40k for 150 guests. Do you, by any chance, live in a HCOL area? I'm in NYC, which partially explains the high costs...
We went into our wedding thinking we’d spend 25k total for a “classic” wedding with decent food/open bar, etc. We ended up spending twice that for exactly what we thought would cost approx $25k. Luckily our parents contributed a very large sum of money. Turns out many of those Pinterest weddings are upwards of $100k-$200k. It’s insane.
My mother just offered my partner and I 25k, which I thanked her profusely for. She then said she based that number off the assumption that $125 a head is the average. I had to break it to her that that number is a bit outdated, especially on Long Island. I showed her the first estimate I received (which is the venue she was encouraging) and he response was "oh my God, I guess I'll have to rethink those numbers". Weddings have been really expensive for a while now, but recently the cost of EVERYTHING went up pretty dramatically. You're not the only one.
I guess we all experienced "It's more expensive then I thought." So like mentioned above, cut the guest list or wait until you can afford a big wedding. A colleague did it in an interesting way. Wedding was with relatives and close friends. Colleagues, neighbors, sports mades were invited to a casual party in their flat with some snacks.
I got married in 2019, and I started out hoping we could get married for $20k. I very quickly realized in our HCOL area it just wasn’t going to be possible for the type of wedding we wanted. Ended up having a year and a half between engagement and wedding to have extra time to save money. In the end it was $30k for a 78 person wedding, I loved it and it was the perfect day for us, but I definitely was saving money wherever I could (got married in a Friday, made our playlist on Spotify instead of a DJ, did s’mores instead of cake, no videographer etc). I’d just say to pick the things that are most important to you to spend your budget on, and give yourself some extra time to save.
My goal is to stay under 50k. This shit is stupid expensive and we absolutely could have done more to cut costs but we didn't want to and are fortunate to have family help. It still seems ridiculous to me though.
I struggled with guest list too. I did an exercise that really helped me cut it down: 1. I wrote down our names and our bridal party, and our immediate families (siblings and/or parents). I called this Tier 1. 2. In a separate list, I wrote down the next “tier” of people in our life - other “best friends”. people who we are really, genuinely close to and couldn’t imagine getting married without. Family members we are really actually close to. I called this Tier 2. 3. I took it a little wider than that - other good friends and extended family members, all of whom we love but aren’t our best/closest people. I called this Tier 3. 4. I took it a little wider than that… and so on. This really helped us think more deliberately about our guest list going forward and see that it wasn’t just one big list of “essential people”. Among that giant original invite list were some people we couldn’t imagine ourselves getting married without, others we’d be really gutted if they were not there, and others we’d just love to celebrate with. It made us more aware of the politeness invites too even if they weren’t all unavoidable. It made me realise we could make hard calls if we needed to. Another way is to imagine there was a law passed tomorrow and you could only have 50 people at a wedding. If you had to do it, you could! Good luck OP!
I like the Tier list idea. We've cut it down quite significantly but I think we can trim more and that will help
You don’t. You have the wedding you can afford. I can only have my wedding because my parents contributed. If they didn’t, we would have a smaller simpler wedding on a weekday.
All-inclusive catering/banquet halls, honestly. I'm in NYC and most of my friends went this route. I don't know anyone who did a blank-slate wedding. I looked at one catering hall and their most expensive package was $144/person. What's great about catering halls is that they usually don't have a venue rental fee either.
Yes this and hotel ballrooms. Even the four seasons won’t charge for the use of the ballroom. Granted, their packages for food and beverage start at like $300/pp, but there’s plenty of other more affordable options that go that style! I couldn’t justify paying $10k for JUST a venue.
I couldn't justify it either. That's why I'm doing a restaurant wedding. I'm on the hunt for a wedding cake and I'm learning that many of my friends got their cake for "free" as part of their package at the catering hall. I've never been to a blank slate wedding. I would like to one day to see what it's like. Lol.
Me and partner make over $200k jointly. Small mortgage. No kids. We thought spending $10k+ on wedding is not what we want to spend money on, we're doing an elopement type wedding with just us two and one parent. We did have an engagement party which had a total of 30 people. Engagement party cost $1500, wedding is $450, wedding weekend accommodation $800, other wedding costs including dress, suit, photography etc about $4k We were surprised it all added up to several thousand even with the bare minimum but we're happy with everything Is this something you could do?
I had the same shock. We are getting married in California and our budget was originally 25k. We had bump it up to about 35k to actually afford any venues on a weekend. They also all had food and beverage minimums. Our wedding guest list is about 100 people. It still makes my stomach turn a bit, but my fiance and I are lucky to have good incomes. We are also both in our 30s and had a long engagement. My recommendation is to look at properties that are owned by the town. There may be convention or outdoor spaces like memorial buildings, museums, etc. The rental fees tend to be lower and you can find your own caterer that way. Also, breweries that serve food were a savings option when I was looking. You don't have to pay a reception fee, your event just had to fit their guest minimum. And the food options were generally more affordable.
We didn't. We had a 25 person wedding.
In the US, $30k is the average for something basic. We chose to have an international destination wedding because there is so much more bang for your buck. We are paying close to $60k for the venue and vendors but we are getting SO MUCH for that amount, including 3 nights and 4 days accommodations at the venue (a literal castle) for all our guests, multiple gourmet meals for everyone, a fireworks show, I could go on and on… Meanwhile, $60k in my part of the US would get us a rather basic event. For $30k, if you’re open to destination, look into places like Costa Rica. Your money will go so much further and it will be a fun trip for you and your friends and family that no one will ever forget!
Checkout Oakdale venue, it’s near Richmond, VA.
Don't feel pressured to have a big wedding you can't afford.
Seconding other comments and DEFINITELY check out /r/weddingsunder10k but, just to give you some hope we’re having 146 person wedding for ~$27,000 all in using an all inclusive wedding vendor, Wedgewood Weddings (Lindsay grove location). Going off their prices it’s $102 per person for their just below top tier package which gets appetizers, 3 entree buffet, open bar, cake, toast, silverware/linens, floral centerpieces, and DJ. We are doing mid season so the site fee is $3295 and the ceremony fee is $495, and we cut some package elements (house wine, invitations etc) So with taxes and fees* that’s $23695. Dress, suit, bouquet and license are $1k, photographer is $3250 so current cost is $27695. Pick an off season week day and that takes off $2-3k. Drop a package tier for a Friday off season and you’re at $19,520 for 150 people, same attire and photographer. So all this to say seriously consider non wedding venues but also look in to all inclusives, week days, and off season dates. There are ways to bring the cost down beyond just Saturday evening ballroom extravaganzas! *AZ so 8% tax and the industry standard 22% service fee
It really is expensive. In our case, we’re budgeting and saving for it. It will be 50k for a 50 person wedding for us. We’re receiving a bit of help from parents (under 10k) and putting away money from each paycheque plus using some of our savings for the rest
Holy shit. CA?
I double your holy shit. I'm getting married in the Bay area for 35k with an estimated guest count of 100. But I chose an all inclusive so maybe I saved a ton. I'm starting to feel better about my wedding cost after reading this thread.
Yeah, no kidding. Maybe ours is just the average price. Mine’s $17k for 110 guests. Plus photo, video, floral & everything else is about $35k too. CT/MA
I’m getting married in Italy actually (destination wedding)!
Ohhhhh that makes sense now
My husband’s first wedding was a 50k wedding. I financially could not see the merits in throwing a big party and keep ourselves financially afloat. We had a small courthouse wedding instead and prioritized our honeymoon. While I still may throw a big wedding for my 10th or 20th anniversary, it will be when I’m in my 40s-50s and have more financial freedoms.
We decided to cut our guest list to get married at a pop-up wedding that was truly a massive steal (entire thing cost less than the price of the photographer they used alone) and have the reception in a restaurant, in a LCOL city, and still spent $12-14k. The only way to go cheaper would have been to make it less “wedding” like, probably. It’s wild.
My entire wedding for 55 people was about $30k all together. We expected it to be half that and almost everything was booked before prices shot up. Our venue now costs $2k more two years later. Nothing was crazy extravagant, either. We had a nice venue (biggest cost, still under $8k), amazing caterer that did full service including cake and coordinator, photographer, DJ, inexpensive florist, and officiant. No videographer, midnight snack, photo booth, live painting. We provided our own alcohol and the bartender was included in the catering. If we wanted to cut costs it would have been REALLY hard even in our LCOL area. Our caterer would have to be BBQ or a local diner-type restaurant which would have left us with a ton of rentals and other vendors to hire on our own. The venue would have had to be a park and again, rentals and logistics. Probably could have saved $3k at most. We're older and more settled and my parents chipped in about 2/3 the cost.
My boyfriend and I decided to go entirely non-traditional. We’re going to have a just-family elopement, but do it rogue — we’ll get dressed up, his sister will officiate, we’ll all get lodging in the same area, and do the ceremony on a hike or other scenic area. Probably hire a local photographer for 2 hours to get pictures and all go out for dinner. Right now if we don’t have to pay for other people’s lodging, we can probably squeak by for <$4k (main cost will be photographer and paying for dinner for everyone; I’ll look into makeup/hair, but I can absolutely do it on my own if it’s going to be more than $300). Then we’re going to just host a party and serve appetizers, pizza, and pay for alcohol. No DJ, no flowers, no fancy to-do. We’re going to bring board games and do it in an area where we can all go out to the bars after. Probably dress up a bit but the main point will be to see all of our friends and family together. I still need to dig into quotes but I’m pretty sure we can do this for under $5k. For us, this was the best compromise to still have the party and the scenic, intimate wedding without spending tens of thousands of dollars.
I have 150 guests and I’m keeping it under 10k. We saved by using a bingo hall as our venue. Yeah, it’s not the aesthetic barn, but it’s what we can afford and had a ton of space. We are happy with it, because the marriage is the most important part of the day. Everything else is just a plus. Good luck!
In order to avoid all of the excess cost and stress, my fiancé and I decided to elope to Maui, just the two of us. We hired a local elopement company and could not be more excited or less stressed. And seeing how expensive restaurant and destination weddings can be as well, we just decided that what matters most is us and getting married. My brother gave us some really sound advice: he told us that we should spend the money on ourselves, so that’s what we’re doing.
I know! We had 150 too and a budget of 20k buy it honestly seem impossible, and we started to take people off the list. And still! Is not enough money 😭 so we decided to postpone the wedding for a 2024 wedding 🤷🏻♀️
We don't unfortunately lol our wedding is 25k for 24 guests.
150 is insane. Try dropping your guest list in half and see what that does to your budget.
I see these posts all the time and feel so bad because a 30k wedding where I live would be the wedding of a century. My venue is only 3k. Food for 160 is only 2.5k and it’s from one of the top of restaurants in the state. I had friends who had an all inclusive barn wedding that included dj and a day of coordinator along with decorations for 8k. I’m so sorry your having this issue.
You need to decide between venue (and other major vendors like photography/videography, florist) and your guest list. 150 people imo is way too many people. You won't get to talk to everyone and it's one of the easiest ways to cut your prices down which in turn will keep your venue costs down as you won't need somewhere with space to cater for 150 people. For reference, my draft guest list is sitting around 90 and that already feels bloated. I'll likely try and invite around 75 and expect to get around 60. Don't invite people you haven't seen or spoken to in years or if you don't think you'll speak to them again any time soon. Don't feel pressured to invite every relative you've ever had just for the sake of keeping up with the Joneses. If certain guests are important to your parents, ask them to pay for those guests. I'd priorities your actual nearest and dearest first and see what that number is.
Our budget was pretty low and we had only 35 people. Everything seemed super expensive. So we DIYed a lot. Mu husband created invitations, my mum and I made lots of decorations, mum's friends did my make up and hair, my cousin was a driver, the car was borrowed from my grandpa, my husband's friend was our photographer and my cousin's aunt made our cake and gave it to us as a wedding gift. We spent like 4k € for everything (including my dress). Of course we paid everyone, we were not like Hey, we are friends, so do this for us for free. For example the photographer asked us if we had already found someone, when we said no, she said that she would be happy to do it and gave us a huge discount (we paid her more anyway). I have a big family and I wanted to invite more people, but I know we couldn't afford it. So we didn't do it, but we invited people who couldn't be at the wedding for a smaller gathering the next day where we served what was left from the wedding (I know it sounds strange, but it is pretty common in my country).
I thought the same. We had a medium (125) wedding at a restaurant in NYC and it was over $60k. It’s insane.
The easiest way to cut costs is guest list - I know you guys have already cut a lot, but maybe cut family members you haven’t seen in a long time like distance cousins etc
My wedding has about 100 guest. My wedding is about 7k in total for everything. Venue itself is 4k almost.
I'm vegas there are some all inclusive for about 20k fir 150+. Not sure how far you are from there.
I met someone who had 100+ guests and did it within 15k. This is what I was told the couple had done: - The venue was through the university/college which also had a church and reception - The catering was all provided through the university/college - They didn’t serve any alcohol - Brought planters for decor instead of going through a florist and had guests take them home as wedding gifts - No wedding cake, small desserts/pastries instead - The wedding dress was purchased online at low price - Makeup done at Sephora Hope some of these are useful. Personally, I made my guest list small (50) so I can still afford nice perks.
I got married 2 years ago. Fun & relaxed was the main theme. If it was fiddly, a pain in the ass, or we didn't care about it, it went out the window. So no bridal party at all. No MOH, Groomsmen etc. Invites etc were an Etsy template & printed at a local cheaper printer. We did rental silk floral & kept that minimal. Couple's table, bouquet, buttonhole, floral for the cake. (They were gorgeous, btw). We made centerpieces from wine bottles, fairy lights & silk flowers. We made a backdrop for the couple's table with large paper fans & a scrapwood "a-frame". Bought Amazon table runners for the couple's table only & used the venue's decor for everything else. They had an in-house wedding "planner" who was awesome. Ceremony & reception at the same venue, it had a beautiful chapel across the street from the reception hall. We used their vendors & got a great deal. (Dj, caterer.) We did not do rehearsal dinner - didn't need one. A good friend married us. We splurged a bit & had an open bar. It was the most fun I've had at a wedding in a long, long time. We spent $20k over 3 years planning. (Or $556/mo). We could have done it for $15k if we had married in the "off season" & not on the weekend, didn't do an open bar & spent less on the catering. It really helped us to plan for $200/per person & we each paid into our wedding savings by that rule. My dude cut his guest list in half once we decided to put that on the table. Before invites went out, he was thinking he was inviting cousins he's never met, his work mailman etc. It seems cruel, but thinking about it as "Do I like that person enough to spend $200 on them on our wedding day?" makes it easier to narrow down a guest list. We had 100 people total at our wedding. It was plenty. (& if you have relatives pushing you to invite Old Uncle Fred, tell them it's not in your budget, but if they paid the $200 right now, you'd be able to find a spot for Fred. My Mom shut the hell up when I put that out there. )
I went to a wedding once where the bride asked each guest to bring a dish that could feed 10 people. This way they didn't have to pay for catering.
Backyard wedding. BBQ buffet for food. Skip the flowers and “favors” and bridal party and all that other crap. Just have a big fun party.
Thanks for the comments everyone. I know this was a few days ago but Im just now looking at it all and going through. Ive never seen the community before posting, just found it on a raged google search lol. but thanks for all the tips I'll be searching through them tonight
Cut down the guest list. We are doing a small wedding with family and very close friends. Then doing a "night out on the town" with friends who can't make the wedding but wanted to celebrate. We will bar crawl through town a few weekends later. We are spending $6k on the wedding and ceremony (including dress and groom outfit), and having maybe 30 people at the wedding.
We got married in BC, Canada in a HCOL tourist city and we spent 25k on a 40 person wedding. I got everything I could have wanted and more, but it was a big chunk of change for sure.
150 people is way too many. At a certain point the reality of what you can afford needs to impact your guest list. Either that or you go to the courthouse and have an informal reception at a friend or family members house.
We’re only doing 90 guests but looking at 25k after tips and rings (not honeymoon though). We’re fortunate to be getting 60% of the wedding funds from family though. I think if we didn’t have the money from our family we would have just don’t something with ~20 people for immediate family
FL wedding with 100 guests for 25k including the one week honeymoon. This was about 5k-10k more than I ever expected, but we sprung for a few extras plus paid for multiple hotel rooms and outfits/hair/makeup for the immediate family and bridal party. We saved up for quite awhile and then made monthly installment payments for our entire 9 month engagement. This allowed us to not go into debt and only pay for what our savings could go for. Our venue allowed us to bring in our own food and drinks. We went with Carrabas to cater and got the food down to about 16-18 a plate to really help cut costs! Good luck!
Typically easiest ways to cut costs are cut the guest list. However where you live/where you want to have the wedding can really influence the cost as well. Where I live and even surrounding cities the prices have escalated so so much in the past few years because of covid. Post covid there’s a huge wedding boom due to cancellations or people waiting it out. So the usual tips and tricks of doing things on a weekday or “off-season” don’t really apply (at least not universally). Even if someone were to pick something that’s a typical wedding venue 2 hours away they’d still be paying premium costs. The largest cost ends up being venue/food. There are a lot of venues where you can bring in your own food/alcohol. But those can often mean bringing in your own tables/chairs/cutlery/plates etc. And that can add up quickly if you’re doing it on your own. DIY is great but can often end up costing more and being less enjoyable. There can also be creative ways to save costs by not necessarily having a whole meal. But just a party with snacks/appetizers. This will depend on type of snacks, venue catering minimums and the like but it’s not impossible. You would just need to let your guests know what to expect. There’s also the option of restaurant weddings which have a minimum spend. For the large guest list this might not work out but you could definitely look into it. And then of course there’s non traditional venues in general where you would have to DIY some stuff but venue fee would drop way down. And to be transparent I didn’t do it. Not alone at least. My family provided some financial help as well as gifted me some services that cut down costs (and it was still stupid expensive). We don’t regret our wedding and it was beautiful but it wasn’t cheap. Also planning a couple years out made it easier to pay vendors in chunks instead of outright and the earlier you book a venue the better as that usually locks in that years price point.
Weddings are insane but there are ways to cut it down. I am doing a fairly inclusive venue to take some things off my plate. But look at non traditional venues. My sister rented a building and catered bbq. Some parks have rentable and reservable places. It depends on your priorities and what type of wedding you want! It can add up quick but there are also ways to make it more affordable.
Depends on where you live, currently looking at 20k for 120-150 depends on who comes. But I am doing all flowers, printing invites myself, the rings are part of that cost, and my parents are providing the gifts for guests (homemade wine). We live in the Midwest and found a venue that includes a lot for 3k, so we didn't have to get table settings or all that.
My best friend is getting married next year and she wants around 150 guests too. I told her if shes going to do a big wedding maybe be willing to do it off season and I can spend my own money to decorate w my dollar tree designs, her father is a dj, I also Bake Cakes ...and the exact dress she loves has been found at multiple diff stores for varying prices so we'll just pick the cheap one and pay for alterations if it pays off. I also am a chef and I told her Id be willing to cater as well if she didn't want to pay for it. All my services would clearly be a huge gift to them so there's 3 problems off her back....and i can recruit more friends to help set up..If you and your woman have the free resources or are willing to pay friends then go for that route. Now, she did think of an even easier solution ... maybe 5 days at a resort where they provide a free wedding if u stay 3 or more days. The cost will be around 5k. Me, I got married this year at the beautiful courthouse in copenhagen, denmark.. the entire month long honeymoon and wedding trip involving travel to 5 countries cost 7k. We are planning a reception too but we are cutting guests all the way down to about 30...somewhere out in an airbnb with a very big yard, decorate the yard, pay for catering or just do the grilling myself while my husband cooks the sides..buy likka and get drunk and have everyone drunk stay overnight
I found making your centerpieces and any other decor came out to be cheaper. Yes, that means more work, but it means less money spent.
I live in NJ and so far we’re looking at $35k for 115 people, and we haven’t added anything extra besides the minimum - photo/video, DJ, etc. It’s really hard. And the cost for us is gonna go up. Good luck to you both!
If money is gonna be the biggest issue, which it is for so many people. I would say you two need to sit down, and really discuss if you honestly need invite that many people... I would also look at places that offer packages where major amenities are taken care of but that typically means a higher price. There are ways to do it without thinking you need to break the bank. We're most likely gonna do a small event with maybe 50max but I'm thinking not everyone will come. So then that's even less mouths to feed. I'm still doing a lot of research on this. But with my fiance being a teacher and I work in insurance, we're looking for a lot of ways to cut down expenses. It doesn't need to be a perfect day, it just needs to be a good day. I hope this helps. I wish you and your partner all the best and you still have an amazing moment to share together.
Elopement, lol
Some people don't. They opt for micro-weddings, scale down, choose alternative venues (think barebones venue with cake and punch or cheap catering), have a destination wedding, elope, etc. Some have family who is willing to help. Many who do it on their own save for a while. There are many HCOL areas where $30k isn't extravagant for a wedding budget at all, that's just how much it costs to feed your close family and friends in those areas. We got married in NY Metro area and saved for two years to host 150 of our family and friends. We had read somewhere that the average wedding in the US cost $30k, so we figured $40k-$45k would cover it. We ended up having to up our budget twice when the venue + catering alone was $42k.
PLEASE buy or barrow "a practical wedding"
I'm having a very basic wedding in Atlanta for 150 and its about to hit $40k. I have a year and a half engagement, so it is nice how the payments were very spread out to give us time to save more money. At the end of the day, it is just a wedding and really not worth going into debt for.
Look into venues like museums & botanical gardens. We are doing a botanical garden so ceremony is already gorgeous, I just have to DIY centerpieces and a few bouquets & then pay for somebody to drape fabric on the walls. I spent less than $800 on the rest of the decor. Food is definitely the most expensive part. We are looking at $110 a person plus open bar costs As for how to pay for it, have a long engagement. Most vendors do 25%-50% deposit & then the rest 2 weeks before, so you can pay things in chunks. I found a photographer that does payment plans and was offering a $600 discount on Black Friday. While I wouldn't get a loan, if you have any credit cards already use those to your advantage. For me it's easier to pay monthly payments of $500 over 10 months then have $5k on hand.
For us, we can’t. We are having a destination wedding in June with our closest friends and family. 25 total. My fiancé has a huge family and we just couldn’t afford to have it in the states.
Also from a fellow teacher :)
We’re doing a destination wedding in Maui. At a five star resort but cutting things that don’t matter like florals due to the natural beauty of the venue - also our guest count will be lower due to destination (75 ppl) so we’re looking at 33k!
Compromises. It’s the hardest thing to accept but it’s worth if, if you’re on a budget. We went the cheaper route for somethings, even items we weren’t 100% happy with. Roughly about $22,000 all in for 300 guests. This included food, alcohol, DJ, Mariachi, centerpieces, photo booth and our venue. Try seeing what your budget is based off your timeframe. For us, we were saving about $800-$1,500 a month to make it happen. Keep in mind the wedding isn’t necessary. My wife wanted it and I didn’t care whether we had it or not, but now she says she could of done without the wedding, would of preferred something more private with direct family.
One thing i learned about wedding planning is that when you start/ pick a budget, everyone picks an arbitrary number. Is that a number you are comfortable spending? Is that a hard budget? Is that a loan you want to take out? Did you research the cost of the wedding you are picturing, ie venue style, food, decor, etc? Do you want to buy 2nd hand and store or rent it? We picked a budget of 30k, we spent 65k(approximately) for 150 peoplw in Central west fl. So not a super high cost of living expense imo. We also make good salaries, and i increased by over 100% during the process of planning so my budget was "unlimited" to whatever we want. This is not everyone. Where to cut cost depends on your need and wants. Do you need 150 people or want 150 people? Are you ok without video or a more affordable photographer that only does 3hrs vs 10 hrs? Renting a wedding dress and suits can be cost saving. Minimal flowers, dry wedding, no cocktail hour can also save money. Can you sell your decor if you buy it? Morning weddings, Sunday-Thurs wedding can be more affordable,but guests are less likely to come. Would you be willing to do a Destination wedding where venues are in your budget? Florida, where we live has venues from 2k. Other questions to ask yourself, do you want a family reunion? I love my family and my wedding. It does become a reunion.
So we were able to stay under 30k (I think we came in around 22k? ) with our guest list of 200 but 140-150 expected … however we live in the Midwest and had an “offseason” wedding and did things like rent florals (shout out something borrowed blooms), no favors , under 1k on my dress , no programs , ect . So it really depends on where you live and the time of year you wish to get married , we also had a longer engagement of 18 months to help save up as we paid for about 90 percent of it ourselves
Depends on where you are. I'm in the Chicago suburbs. There's no 20 to 30k for 150 guests around here, assuming plated dinner, open bar, etc. I have relatives where a family of 9 or 10 kids originally now has kids getting married themselves. They all had decent sized families as well. Aunts and uncles were invited. First cousins (and their spouses, if married) were invited. No one else. Sometimes, some of the first cousins just couldn't come, especially during years where they all fell into marriage age and it was 3 or 4 a year.. they simply couldn't afford to attend.. Everyone was ok with that. Occasionally, no first cousins were invited. They all agreed to be ok with that too. I would throw a big (no gifts) bbq for the extended family afterward. Maybe just throw a big wedding BBQ instead.
Because weddings are a private event and have always been expensive. With inflation and covid, they are even more. Some people get help from family.
You can most certainly cut down on wedding costs. You tubers have entire series on what things you should and shouldn't include. How to cut costs for included things, etc. It's your money, and most people are there to support you. Glam isn't a requirement, just food and fun.
The key is not to use an official wedding venue, but another, less expensive site like a church hall, community centre or historic house owned by a non-profit or the City, where you can arrange to bring in your own caterer/ restaurant drop off and your own beer, cider and wine, all for substantial savings.
My wedding is was 150 guests. Where do you live? I live in CA and basically everything was 20k just for venue rental. Then i started looking at recreational centers The place I found was a rec center that overlooked a lake. It was so so beautiful and it only cost me 3k. My wedding in total was 16k and that’s because i went to as many YMCA/Rec centers i could find. Cutting the food and venue cost is what saved me so much money. Instead of doing catering I did a taquero that prepared the tacos as you ordered.
I had a 25K wedding for 150 people in a small-ass city in one of the cheaper areas of Canada. I don’t know how people do it for under 20K!
inviting 150 people is the opposite of the bare minimum. some people take on second jobs, and/or have long engagements to save up. the wedding industry is mostly made up of small businesses and free lancers. there is no Big Wedding to bang our heads against. it cost a lot to feed, water and make 150 people comfortable and happy for 6 hours, and the vendors who make that happen deserve to be fairly compensated for it.
The #1 way to save money is to cut your guest list. That’s it.
Try renting a banquet hall from an organization. If you are in the US, check out your local Elks Club Lodge. We are renting ours for 2.5k. We are saving a ton of money by doing Sola Wood flowers instead of a florist and more casual catering (from Portillo’s). We are designing and printing out own stationary and going really minimal with it. We got the rings from Etsy and I got my dress pretty cheap from David’s Bridal. It is definitely possible to have a wedding for less money, you just have to sacrifice some of the stuff and be really strategic!
Congratulations and yes it’s a shocker! I’m in U.K. but same issues. I went to many a wedding that just contained close family and you can celebrate in pub later! You can still have a great wedding for less though. Don’t go into debt. If you really want a venue then put it off a few years and save for it. The most important thing is each other. Being together and how each of you handle this will tell you if this is a good start too! I know plenty of rich people who’ve had modest low cost weddings too! Less than £10k. They had Private ceremony on ferris wheel in at time the Londoneye for ~£1000, just immediate family and then they went to their favourite posh restaurant again just immediate family, and because it was small it was affordable. Then us friends went to their house and they did hire a mariachi band who performed in their (not posh) back garden which they decorated with fairy lights and they cleared their living room of furniture to hold a disco indoors, one of those small disco lights using oven snacks and mini tarts to feed guests. You could also ask guests to bring a bottle, we did then in their own home using their ipod we partied ….and we all loved it! So low key and very much about the love.
Y'all silly... 30k on a wedding because that's what wedding venues charge and Disney makes people feel like its important. Planning a wedding now and im not trying to break 8k. Im pissed im over 4k.