Any ideas for a reception with $5000 budget?

My husband and I are already married & we didn't have a big fancy wedding nor reception because I'm from another country & me getting over here legally was a bigger concern. We decided to have a reception but not as formal as it would normally be if it were after a wedding. I have a few ways to keep my budget:
- I'm not going to buy a wedding gown, just a nice dress
- I'm not going to have it catered, I'm going to have my husband's family cook and bring the food to the hall. I'm also going to ask the guests to make deserts to fill up the goodies table
- Instead of a DJ, I'm going to have my brother set up speakers and have different types of music that we like play one after another, my brother's also going to monitor that
- Instead of hiring a photographer, I'm going to have a friend carry around a digital camera to take pictures but I'm also going to have disposable cameras put on every table for the guests to take pictures.

Those are just some ideas. Anyone have some suggestions?

We had a friend do our photography with a digital camera and the photos turned out beautiful (as long as they know what they are doing)!

http://www.orientaltrading.com !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

you can find alot of nice things like mirrors and candles (perfect for a romance themed reception. I have a lot of ideas..... my email address is STYNA85@yahoo.com if you want I would love to help you come up with ideas!

Good luck!

please, please, re-think the photog. you will likely regret this.

also, a great resource is www.indiebride.com

myt reception is that budget too, if u want centerpuieces i reccomend hand made if u have the time, thats what im doing , along with my aunts an my mom, also u might wanna splurge a little on some things more than others, like the dress or the photography. congrats on the marrige!!!!

i think it's tacky to ask your friends to bring a dessert to fill up a tray
this is YOUR reception.. buy a small wedding cake
you have a small amount to spend
dont have ppl talking and making fun of you

a lot of people are against using fake flowers for some reason, but we are using them in ours and made all the centerpieces ourselves, and i think they look great. we found a glass and candle outlet in the area and ended up buying a box of 36 glass bowls (the kind that people put beta fish in sometimes) for less than $20. we bought flower rings to put around the bottom of the bowls and hot glued the flowers to them. we are going to fill the bowls with water and have floating candles, and i think it's going to look beautiful. the flowers cost us around $100, so in the end, our centerpieces were less than $120. my fiance, his mother, sister, and i sat down one night and had them all finished in about four hours.

That sounds really good. Just do as much yourself as you can and ask your family and friends to help as much as they can.

Firehalls are an inexpensive place to have it

I'm not crazy about your idea of making guests bring their own desserts---that's tacky.

This was our budget too. My sister is really crafty and she made out center pieces. We painted terracotta pots (which were mad cheap) and planted flowers in our colors. As far as the photographer, I wish I hadn't wasted the money, ours sucked and spent most of the time shooting the shi*t with my sister in law and her husband (they were collage buddies). I wish we had more candid shots. Talk to your friends and find out who is crafty if you want center pieces. Our DJ wasn't worth it either since he screwed up so many things and ended up embarassing us (he announced the toast when no one even had drink and we were like WTF and stood there like idiots until they were served). If I'd reccommend spending money on anything it'd be food- make your own veggie trays or make some of your favorite desserts. Guests might not like the idea of a pot luck, in addition to giving you gifts too. Other than that I really like your ideas. I wish I had kept it more simpler