Help!!!! This is suppose to be the wedding of my dreams!!!!!!!!!

[dales1stLady]

My fiance and I are planning our wedding. The biggest day of both our lives. This is his first marriage and mine. I want it to be a day we both remember. However there's a problem. We are on a major budget. And I mean major. How do I get the wedding I want and stay within the budget? The budget is $4,000. That is excluding the rings. We decided not to put the rings in our budget. We don't have to pay for a officiant because my grandmother is a minister and she is going to perform the ceremony, we don't have to pay for the church because I am a member of the church and thank God it will seat the 200 guest that we have or else we wouldn't have that. However we do have to pay for 200 guest and the wedding party to eat. So we are looking at feeding about 230 people. And I have the slightest idea on what kind of reception to have. Whether it be buffet, sit down, or just some appetizer. I just don't know. We have to pay for a D.J., photographer, videographer, gifts for our attendants, officiant gift, reception hall, food, decorations, etc. My dress is $600 by itself and thats's almost $1,000. That leaves us with about $3,000 because I still have to buy my slip, my shoes, my garter, my bra to my dress. We are really pushing it with limited funds. I'm 21 years old and I only plan on getting married once and that's to the man of my dreams and I want it to be perfect. What is a bride to be to do?

[kittycarial]

Well, one of the biggest ways that we are cutting costs is by choosing a restruant to have the reception. We chose one that is very classy and we also decided on having the actual ceremony there, too. The good thing about having it at a restruant is that a lot of places will charge you only for the food and not to rent the room. That is what our place is charging us. It is in a beautiful inn. Another way of cutting costs is by choosing not to have an open bar. If anyone questions you why you're not having an open bar, just tell them that you feel that it would be too much liability on you if anyone got in a car accident after the reception. :o I hope this helps!

[purpleaa]

Here are some more tips: Buy a book about how to plan a wedding on a budget (ex: the budget wedding source book)--it will pay for itself. Buy silk flowers from a wholesaler online and arrange them yourself--you'll save a TON there, and you can find some really classy looking ones these days. Keep attendant's gifts simple. Consider cutting the guest list down. If that's not an option, you could cut food costs by changing it from a dinner to: dessert reception, cocktail/appetizer reception, brunch, alcohol-free, or wine toast only followed by non-alcoholic drinks. See if you could save $$ on the reception/dj/photog/etc. by having your wedding on a day other than Saturday, and on a date when their services aren't in peak demand. If you have a friend who would video**** the wedding, you could cut costs there too.

Whew!! Congrats & good luck!

[if2agree]

There are a couple of things you can do. Ask around about the photographer and see who other friends or family members have used. Also, you may have a friend who can do the video or contact one of the local colleges and see if they have someone who can do this. Does your church have a dining hall that caters? You can use the firehall or community center and decorate it and save money. I've been on a tight budget. You can also pay for some things after the wedding with money that you receive as gifts. :)

My fiance and I are planning our wedding. The biggest day of both our lives. This is his first marriage and mine. I want it to be a day we both remember. However there's a problem. We are on a major budget. And I mean major. How do I get the wedding I want and stay within the budget? The budget is $4,000. That is excluding the rings. We decided not to put the rings in our budget. We don't have to pay for a officiant because my grandmother is a minister and she is going to perform the ceremony, we don't have to pay for the church because I am a member of the church and thank God it will seat the 200 guest that we have or else we wouldn't have that. However we do have to pay for 200 guest and the wedding party to eat. So we are looking at feeding about 230 people. And I have the slightest idea on what kind of reception to have. Whether it be buffet, sit down, or just some appetizer. I just don't know. We have to pay for a D.J., photographer, videographer, gifts for our attendants, officiant gift, reception hall, food, decorations, etc. My dress is $600 by itself and thats's almost $1,000. That leaves us with about $3,000 because I still have to buy my slip, my shoes, my garter, my bra to my dress. We are really pushing it with limited funds. I'm 21 years old and I only plan on getting married once and that's to the man of my dreams and I want it to be perfect. What is a bride to be to do?

[elizawilson]

There are many things you can do to keep within budget. We have planned ours and we have done it for less than $1000 and it will be very nice. My father-in-law will be marrying us, my mother-in-law is doing our reception(she has done catering before) which helped out a lot. I have done my own flowers (silk at Michaels Craft Store) which saves A LOT from going to a florist. I found a photographer for $100.00 an hour and she puts all the pics on a CD so that is why her cost is low - everything is digital and we can do our pics on our own. We only paid $100 for church. Trust me, you can do everything for under $4000 if you are willing to cut corners on some things and not be too elaborate. Keep it SIMPLE AND SWEET.

[RedStiletto]

I have about the same amount for my budget, I have found ways to skimp with a few things.

The Photographer - my mom's best friend, I was in her wedding (the flower girl) and my mom was one of her bride's maids. So it was just nice to know she will do all of our pictures for free (a gift for our wedding), granted she is not a professional but she does take really good pictures.

Try finding someone you trust to do things as wedding gifts for you.

The caterer- a friend of my mom's. She was a caterer a few years ago. So since our wedding is in our back yard, as a wedding gift, she is going to prepare all of our food, with the help if my mom and more friends. And then serve it at our wedding. She is also going to help me with my flowers, she used to be a florist also (she comes in handy for a lot of things), and she can get flowers at discount.

My parents are providing the alcohol, because it is custom in our family to have free alcohol at the wedding, but granted it is in my backyard, so it better be free. Another friend will be the bartender for the night.

I found my dress at a discount store, it is gorgeous and just what I was looking for, it should be about $1,000. but it is only $360.

I am also making alot of stuff, including Invitations, centerpieces and favors with the help of Michaels.com!

Red

[gambrellcr@yahoo.com]

I Fell Your Pain. I Just Recently Got Married In October Of 2004. My Budget Was 3,500.00 And I Stayed Under Budget. Everyone Who Has Seen My Wedding Pictures Will Say "my God You Must Have Spent Some Money On Your Wedding." There Is Nothing Wrong With Doing Some Thing Yourself. We Had A Fall Wedding And I Used Silk Flowers And After The Wedding I Was Able To Use The In My Home For Fall Decor. And Noone Ever Knew They Were Silk. My Mom And I Wiht Help From My Aunt Went To Sam's And Bought All The Food. We Had Shrimp And Cocktail Sauce,chees And Salsa Dip,cheese Balls,ham And Turkey Crossaints,barbeque Weinies,fruit And Dip With Nuts And Mints And Only Spent 200.00 On Food. My Pictures Were Made By A Close Friend Who I Trusted And Turned Out Wonderful. My Point Is Dont Be Afraid To Do Some Things Yourself.
There Is No Book On How To Have The Perfect Wedding.good Luck With Everything Just Dont Get Stressed Enjoy Planning Your Wedding After All You Only Do It Once. Best Wishes
Gambrellcr

[sldmpt]

My friend is doing a cocktail reception theme and she has saved seeing as she is not having a sit down dinner. She is also buying the alcohol and having a friend of the family be the bartender.
Another way to save money, one of the bride magazines suggested a Weekday morning wedding to save up to 75% on cost of all vendors.

[bjmy1975]

Since you are really trying to cut costs, and a lot of people won't agree with me, but do you have a trusted friend with a pretty nice ***era? I agree that your photos are important, but my future mother in law just paid a lot of money for some really bad pictures taken by a "professional" photographer. In all seriousness, our friend took better pictures than the photograher, but our friend has about a $400 35mm ***era.

Our photographer also told us that a lot of photographers say that then develope their own pictures, but the really don't and they take them to like Sharp or walmart and get them developed. :mad: The only exchange there is that when you get enlargements done they are on a better quailt paper than what you get a sharp or walmart. The paper is like gaurenteed for like a hundred years or something.

If you do get a professional, try to scale down their packages and make your own albums. You can get really nice ones at like Walmart to make into parents albums. We got a professional, for $1400, but we also got an engaement shoot, twice the number of reprints, 8 hours of coverage, and an engaement shoot. Ah.. one the real clincher was that we get to keep the negatives. With the amount of reprints we get that will cover us and the parents, and anything else we need printed can be done at sharp or walmart later.

I know how hard it is to stick to a low budget. I wanted that, but we got out of hand by the time we got to the photograher. We are spending more than we want, but with think what we are getting is good for the money we are paying. And we are paying for as much of it as we can ahead of time. :) Just do a lot of research before you book things. Ask around and you'll find some connections that will save you money.

[1125403]

To increase your budget check out CashForYourWedding.com

As far as average costs go, these stats are from Modern Bride

The average bride and groom forks up $10,560 on the reception; $3,657 on the honeymoon; $3,200 towards the engagement ring; $1,500 in photographic services; $1,150 on flowers; $840 on the wedding dress; $175 for a head piece; $95 will be
spent on the groom’s attire; $750 for a DJ or music and another $350 for music at the ceremony; $500 on transportation; $375 to invite family and friends (which is a conservative number); $350 for the clergy; $375 on cake and $430 to thank the attendant’s with gifts. On top of that, a bridal party of five will spend around $790 on apparel, groomsmen will spend $485 and a rehearsal dinner usually costs $695

[aschrader04]

Sales. Catch sales. Buy stuff online, or make it or have friends help you make stuff. Buy stuff on clearance, and book way ahead of time. Haggle with people, and try to put stuff on payment plans if it's possible. Do you have credit cards? if so put ALL OF YOUR DEPOSITS on this. that way if anything happens you can dispute it if anything goes wrong.

Check out martha stewart.com and go to www.theknot.com also go to www.magnificentbliss.com/knot go to the bios there. They have centerpieces, etc where you can make all sorts of things. if you need any ideas or help. email me at dallaseventsandweddings@yahoo.com

[carmela]

if you haven't set a date yet. you may want to have it around christmas time. the halls are usually decorated for the holiday and that will save you a ton of money on decorations. also think about renting things. i just went to my girlfriends wedding and she rented all the center pieces for the table. also look on e-bay for many things.

[Kelly1Mickey]

If you have a community college in your area that has a culinary program, check to see if they do events. You can save money there because you usually will only be paying for the food. Your wedding is just providing an "assignment" for the class. Some people might think that is risky, but the people in these classes are wanting to make a career out of this. They will appreciate the "real life" experience.

[la4kris]

Hello! I saw your post on your wedding budget. When is your wedding date? I am on a budget of $2000...so I understand! This is what Im going to do....the church we chose is going to be $200 donation....where everyone will be invited to attend, and sign our wedding book. We then found a Harbor cruise which costs $45-80 for each person...BUT! It INCLUDES photographer, personalized cake, light gourmet lunch, flowing champagne, and jazz music. www.hornblower.com Can you look into an all-inclusive package? We are only able to invite his parents, siblings and best man...and the same with me...keeping it down to: 11 people, including us. People understand we are on a budget...they will be invited to the wedding, but not the reception. Our family, who will be on the cruise will get a disposable ***era upon boarding, and they are each asked to take candid shots, and to give the ***eras to us for us to develope for our wedding album later. A family member will be asked to video**** the wedding and we will set it up on tripod on the boat. We asked that instead of registering at any store, people make donations in any denomination for our honeymoon. Also both sides of the family were told we dont have the money for a reception for the large families, SO we'd be happy if they want to work that out and how to pay for it, otherwise we just arent able to. BEST OF LUCK TO YOU! I kow youre feeling overwhelmed...but take a breathe...you'll get through it...just know your limitations.

Kristen

[reecey]

get your friends and family to pitch in - not with money, but with their work. have a buffet dinner -sandwiches and salads - everything that can be pre-prepared and just set out when its time. - its cheaper - have cousins or siblings or close friends watch the food for you - its only for the first part of the reception so its not like they won't be able to enjoy themselves - it can be their gift to you. Get a smaller cake - get the cake you want! just get it smaller and get sheet cakes in the same flavor from your local bakery to serve to guests from the kitchen. Its a common thing and works great. No one really cares what cake they eat as long as they get cake! :) Stick to just beer, wine, and pop for beverages - don't go with a full bar - that's way too expensive. See if a member of your family is a member of the Elks club, Knights of Columbus, VFW, or Conservation clubs - members usually get quite a discount on the hall if they rent it - see if they'll rent it for you. For example - my reception is going to be at the Conservation club - it rents for 600.00 - I'm getting it for 35! My brother in law is a member and is renting it for me :) I have a wedding budget of 5000.00 and that includes buying my bridesmaids dresses (I haven't decided if I'm going to buy them for them or not yet). Believe me, I know what you're talking about when you say "tight budget"
Make all your favors yourself - make your bouquets yourself. There's all kinds of things you can do without compromising your day. Check out your career tech center in your area or even high school - see if they have a photography club or class - if you don't feel comfortable with a student, ask the instructor to be the main photog and the student to be the backup - gives them both experience. Contact the ***eramen from your local tv news stations - see if they do sidework for the videographer. As for flowers, use silk, or once again, contact your local career tech/vocational education center - they usually have classes for things like this - and the event would be supervised by the instructor - my sister did this and her flowers were 10 times better than my aunt's, who paid over 1000.00 for hers. My sister paid under 300.00. Talk to your friends that have gotten married - see if they have any cost cutting tips for your area. Talk to your friends and see if they know people that will cut you a deal. Its very possible to do a wedding on 4000.00 - I'm doing mine on 5K for 325 people and buying my attendants dresses, the 2 ringbearer tuxes, and the flower girl dress. You need every penny to go where it NEEDS to go - not where someone else wants it to go :) Get every discount you can - ask people if they have membership discounts when you call them to get prices - AAA, AARP, Lions, Elks, any group you can think of that someone in your family is a member of - find out what the discount is, then have that person in your family reserve or buy that item or service for you and then you just pay them. Don't cut the good stuff, just the costs you don't need :)