Wedding under $10 grand - how are you doing it?

Folks, in some responses I see alot of folks spending less than $10-grand on their wedding. I want to know your secret!
How are you pulling it off? What costs are you saving on? What are you getting free or cheap as gifts so you aren't paying? Are you doing a destination with very few attendees? And where are you located?
In Central PA, I found a phenomenal reception place for ONLY $50 per person (including bar package). For 200 guests the venue/food/alcohol alone (after tax & gratuity) is over $12k. This is before DJ, photographer, cake, dress, tux rental, flowers, church etc.
For this area, $50 is VERY reasonable per plate cost.
We are trying to be very cost-conscious where we can to come in as close to $15k as possible although we do have a budget of $20k. We are also trying to trim the guest list to 150 as the food is the biggest cost. But we have large families and that may not be possible.
So, how are you pulling off an under $10k wedding?

Some details: due to living away from most of our families we decided early on that we are serving a full dinner on a Saturday (if they are flying in or driving 3 or more hours to get to my wedding I want to have a meal and having it on Sat. means working relatives will attend).
To give perspective on the good deal $50 per person is in my area: the cheapest comparison I found was $45 per plate for just the food (hors d'ourves, salad, 1 entree I select and my cake for dessert - *paid for separately*). Add $15 or more per person to serve alcohol for a 4-hour reception. Skip the alcohol and they still want at least another $5 per person to serve soda, coffee/tea, and water + bartender fees.
My $50 per person is hors d'ourves, salad, 3 entree choices in a buffet, full bar, serving of my cake (*pd separate), coffee/tea/soda, & snacks (chips, crackers/cheese, pastries) during the final hour. This is for a 5-hour reception. And bartender included. Believe me, for the area this is cheap

A whole lot depends on where you live. Big cities just cost more. We're getting married in Chicago, with about 90 guests. We'd hoped to be able to have a nice (but not over the top) wedding for $10,000. It's going to cost us closer to $12,000. We worked with the caterer to get the per-plate to $77 (includes cocktails/hors d'ouevres hour, dinner, dessert, open bar and late-night coffee service--when we add tax and gratuity, it's $96 per person--there's $8640 of our budget). We negotiated with the DJ, who gave us a discount because he works this venue often, and we worked with the photographer. I didn't want the photojournalistic style and didn't want to be followed around all day, having her take pictures of me putting on make-up and looking adoringly at my shoes. We found a corporate event photographer with a good reputation (and a number of weddings under her belt) to do posed photos and shots at the ceremony. Reception candids will be done by photo-hack friends and relatives. I'm making the invitations (spent about $50 on supplies for invitations, thank-you cards and envelopes), place cards, the favors, my veil (about $15 for materials), and the centerpieces (less than $5 per table). I got my dress for $98 (look at formals in ivory, or quinceanera dresses). Shop for bargains, and buy what you can on sale. Plan carefully and don't buy what you don't need, and don't buy before you've shopped around. I think most people remember the food, dancing and bar at a wedding, but quickly forget the other details, so don't sweat the small stuff. Consider buying a small fancy-decorated cake for show, with a sheet cake to be cut in the back. The guests will never know the difference (nor will they care), and you'll save some money. It's hard, but you can have a lovely wedding with a bit of planning and willingness to forego some of the fancified stuff.

What venue did you pick? I have the same budget and live in the loop. Everything is super expensive around here. I am very open to any suggestions.

Thanks!

Lena Report It

Well I was married in Utah in July I had a backyard reception I would say we spent 7,000 my dress was a huge chunk and airfare because we live in MO so I would minus 2000 for dress and 600 for airfare. We invited 200 people. We did it in an open house fashion and just made food that people could pick up as they wanted, mostly desserts and a few light salads. We also had dancing I borrowed the dance floor from family that used it at another wedding and they also had a friend with some speakers so we just plugged in our ipod and it played all night. I used a family member for our photo's she is a professional but did not charge us as a gift otherwise she is about 1000 for all 3 photo sessions and she is amazing she is less expensive because she is the up and coming generation...She will be he "IT" photographer very soon. You could also see about flying a photographer in the 200- 300 dollars on a plane ticket might save you 3000 in the end. www.davidandpattifilms.com Also we paid only about 280 dollars for about 300 invitations we got them through jaffa printing they will ship anywhere also to save money we got one with our photos on it so we didn't have that extra cost....it waws much cheaper then making them ourselves too.http://www.jaffaprinting.com/invitations... angled the three photos it was so so cute! We did basic flowers and if you need to do them yourselves I would say buy roses fom costco and rent the martha sterwert wedding dvd aboput flower arranging it is really easy...also have a family member marry you for free they can get ordained on the net for free. Bridal showers are free for you they are thown by friends and family you just show up and get the gifts, we went on a cruise too we spent about 1400 for both of us for a 7 night cruise. we found a rental agency that matched other prices so i spent a few hours on the internet looking at other companies in the area and found better prices for everything and they met that price, I saved 50% on everything. For favors we did a candy table with everything we loved and had little bags with our name and date onthem to be filled and taken home. Ask you family and friends to spread the word that money would be the way to go gift wise. OUr wedding looked like a million bucks...I loved it! Also the knot.com has a million great ideas.Well if you need anything else please ask!

I went with my guy to Cuba and wed on the beach and honeymooned and all by ourselves for $2K. It was so worth it b/c our family we had restrains from so it worked for us. I believe one can do it for roughly 10K if you keep it small, less than 150 people.

Personally I got married at the court house cost $25.00
But for those you needing that church thing with frilly reception, try having your reception at the church.....
Send invites to half see how many no responses you get and then send the others. Sounds bad but hey they aren't paying for it.... Buy flowers in season or buy silk they are cheap and last forever.... Lastly inlist the help of family and buy in bulk with stuff you'll save a bundle.

I have to wonder how they are pulling it off for less than $10k as well. I'm eloping, and it's still going to cost me over $5k. I can't imagine what the cost would be if I weren't!!!!!

Consider a Friday wedding instead of Saturday. Most vendors are cheaper on weekdays. That should help save a few bucks.

even though I'm spending more, check out efavormart.com
They have tons of low cost, very nice, items for weddings. $50 a person is pricy.. I'm paying $25 a head. We're having 150+ and looking at about 25K all together, but that includes honeymoon, and a lot of extras that I wanted.
Our original plan kept us at about 10K... my photog is 1500, DJ 700, quartet 1000 (I had to have them)
I'm not sure how you're getting 12K for your guests... you should either cut back on the food, or something. We're spending just over 5K for 150 aprox.

Search around for sites. You can probably find one that'll run you only around 2K, and include chairs and tables. If you shop different caterers, you can usually get a better bulk rate.
Consider toning down the food and alcohol....this is a party to celebrate your union....not break your pocketbook. You might consider doing an afternoon ceremony, and cater from a large grocer chain...sandwiches and fingerfood platters can be more cost effective. But DO NOT skimp on the photographer...

First of all, I am in the Denver area, so the cost of living may be slightly less than Central PA, I'm not sure...

Secondly, I have never wanted the big-deal wedding with the white gown and veil and 400 of my closest friends, so my fiance and I have decided to go the informal, non-traditional route, so that probably saves a lot right there. Instead of getting married in a church or country club or what have you, I have found a darling little spot by a lake in a city park that looks like it was just made for weddings. It will set me back 75 dollars to rent for the ceremony, which is actually less than I just spent to register my car, LOL.

For the reception, I inquired at a local restaurant that I have been going to since I was 6 months old (I'm almost 28 now), and the manager said I could reserve the whole enclosed patio area for our reception absolutely FREE! No deposit, no set-up fees, etc. All he asks is that we cover the cost of food for everyone, which will come out to about $20 a head, including a tip. We are also foregoing an open bar, instead electing to go with only soft drinks, a champagne toast and possibly a margarita bar. If anyone else wants something different, they'll need to pay for that themselves.

For the cake, instead of the tiered, hard-to-cut wedding cake which, incidentally, is so hard to cut that most caterers charge a separate "Cake-cutting fee" to handle it for you, we're just going to do a lovely sheet cake with a cute wedding cake topper on it. A cake like that will only cost us probably $50, instead of the $250 or more that most bakeries charge for a traditional tiered cake.

In lieu of a wedding gown, I choose to be married in a gorgeous, off-white, floor-length sundress that sort of makes me look like a 60's "flower child" bride. I found that dress on the clearance rack at Ross last summer for a whopping $7.49, and I am not exaggerating when I say it looks PERFECT for the ceremony I'm planning. My fiance and his groomsmen will just be wearing button-down white shirts and khakis, and my bridesmaids have been asked to wear floral sundresses with fuschia (it's a hot pink color) in there somewhere. I am adamantly opposed to all of them wearing matching dresses, as they all have their own beautiful personalities and I want them to stand out as individuals. For bouquets, each bridesmaid will carry a single Gerber daisy in assorted colors, tied with a ribbon, and my bouquet will be regular white-and-yellow daisies with some multicolored Gerber daisies mixed in. The flowers should cost me about $50 at Costco.

I have a friend who is a professional videographer, who has offered to do the wedding video for very cheap (maybe $100?) and my brother is a club DJ who will donate his services and equipment for the reception. My fiance's co-worker is a professional photographer, and he offered to take some formal wedding pictures, but I also just want to set up a few disposable cameras at the reception so all our friends can take some fun candids. I HATE posed pictures!!!

Last of all, there is a woman who is one of our clients at my investment firm who makes very cute notecards out of 100%recycled paper as a hobby, and I have asked her to make some nice blank note-cards that I can use as invitations and thank-you cards. They're very unique, and I love that they are recycled, as I try to be as "green" as possible!

I would also like to mention that in the state of CO, it is not necessary for the ceremony officiant to be ordained, so we have asked my mom's boyfriend to be our officiant, since he has a very lovely, fatherly look to him, and a really cool Brooklyn accent that sounds nice when he makes a speech. So not only do we have an officiant who means a lot to us, but he isn't charging us to perform the wedding, LOL. The actual marriage license will cost about $40, however...

All in all, the whole wedding should cost no more than $1500, and I think it will still be as beautiful and meaningful as some of the $100,000 weddings out there! The most important thing, of course, is being married to my love at the end of the day. Congrats on YOUR engagement as well!

A wedding reception is ALWAYS fifty (50) percent of your wedding budget. And it does not make a difference if you are having a wedding breakfast in a first class hotel or a dinner at a banquet hall or a barbeque at your grandfather's farm.

Here's someways to reduce your wedding and/or reception costs . .

Purchase a gown from one of the auction sites. Many of the gowns are BRAND NEW due to broken engagements or they are bridal shop samples or closeouts. Try preownedweddingdresses.com or sellyourweddingdress.com and, of course, Ebay. You will save lots of $$$$$. Hire a local seamstress to make the alterations (look in the newspaper under services).

Eliminate all those people on your guest list that you have not seen or talked to in the last two years AND all small children. Everytime you add a name to your guest list the cash register rings.

Only invite those co-workers that you socialize with "after working hours." Do not feel obligated to invite "everyone from the office."

Control the flow of liquor. Wedding guests love FREE liquor and they will drink and drink and drink. You must either limit the time the bar is open (one hour before dinner and one hour after dinner) or control the beverages served (beer and wine only).

Serve sparkling cider or sparkling grape juice in lieu of champagne or sparkling wine.

Only have a Maid of Honor and a Best Man. For every bridesmaid you add, you add another bouquet and a gift to buy. Five bridesmaids times $100 per bouquet equals an additional $500 . . plus their "thank you" gift.

Only use "in season" flowers. For example: tulips in the spring, mums in the fall, and poinsettias in December.

Have pots of flowers in place of floral centerpieces on the dinner tables. A pot of tulips is going to cost a lot less than a bouquet of mixed flowers.

Only order "one flower" bouquets. All roses, all tulips, all carnations. When you order a mixed bouquet the florist has to order several bunches of flowers, and you have to pay for all of those flowers.

There is no need to buy flowers or decorations for a church ceremony. Your time in the church is going to be limited so put the flowers where they will be seen the longest time, your reception site.

Eliminate wedding or table favors. The world is full of dumpsters that are filled with "cute" and "clever" wedding favors. The guests will either leave them on the table or throw them away when they get home. Save your money, time and effort.

Don't buy "wedding day accessories" like a guest book and feather pen or fancy ringbearer pillows or unity candle sets or engraved napkins.

Only order a two-tiered wedding cake for cutting and photographs . . and then order cupcakes for the rest of your guests.

Try to find a student photographer through a visual arts school or a technical school or someone that has just started their business. Just remember: you get what you pay for.

Try to locate a DJ that is an apprectice or has just started working and needs the experience. Once again: you get what you pay for.

Answered by: A Certified wedding specialist / A Professional bridal consultant / A Wedding ceremony officiant

I live in a small rural area but for my wedding I choose to get married at my in-laws river place. We each had 2 people per side in addition to our 4 kids. I found the 3 girls dresses on clearance at a local bridal shop....they were all different colors but they absolutely loved them...We had a ring bearer and flower girl who wore whatever they had for an outfit.

My dress was $300 because it had been worn for a few hours for a bridal show the day before. Check bridal shops to see if they have anything in the back that may have been used for a show...The bridesmaids did purchase a dress and the groomsmen wore the suit they had at home. My husband had to buy a suit because he didn't have one. I spent $230 on flowers and even had 2 in memory of bouquets...they were reasonable becuase I choose daisies which come in a HUGE amount of colors...my colors were blue, yellow, and white...husband's uncle is a minister and performed the ceremony free of charge...

we bought our own food and my mother cooked it all...you could find someone for reasonable to cook everything and check into a VFW or club of sometype that may work for really cheap...we had my reception at a community center that had the kitchen and everything all there...DJ was $450..I don't think that we spent much over $2000...

There are many ways to save money if you are creative...my sister in laws both took pictures so I only had developing into that for $125...ask around you may find one very reasonable..

Location is the biggest thing. I live in North Dakota, so our $7,000 budget is pretty average. We found a very inexpensive reception site ($150 flat fee), and a photographer who is only charging $350. I found a GORGEOUS dress on sale at David's bridal and we're saving money on flowers by using wooden ones (650 flowers for $120) and making our own bouquets/centerpieces. We also found invitation kits online for $15.00/50, which includes envelopes and response cards, and we're printing them out at home. The biggest expenses will be catering (about $10.50 per plate including tax/gratuity) and music ($650 for a DJ).

I'm getting married on a Saturday in April in Missouri for less than $3000 (honeymoon cost not included). My cousin's gift to us is our cake, so that's free. The church is free, but we are donating $100 to the church as a thank you. Our reception site is $275 for 50 guests for a whole day/evening. This is how we cut costs. Our venues are beautiful, but small and in a small town. I bought my dress from David's Bridal. We did the invitations, save the date cards, and favors ourselves. I am having fake flower arrangements and bouquets, boutonnieres, etc. made. The bridesmaids are paying for their own dresses. We are not serving a meal or alcohol (our families don't drink), just appetizers. I'm doing my own hair and make-up. It is VERY possible to have an inexpensive but still beautiful wedding.