What are some ways to have a budget wedding?

11 comments

1. Small guest list

2. Have it out of the wedding season. Limit the amount of guests. Make your own decorations. If you know someone who bakes, see if they’ll make your cake. When booking venues or getting quotes for them, tell them it’s a ‘family party’ as many places drive up the price when they hear the word wedding. Get dresses or suits from non wedding shops. Do buffet style catering instead of a sit down meal, or hire a pizza/street food van. Use a church hall for your reception or a room in a pub, can often be cheaper than hotels, or consider using your garden if you have one. Use the registry office for the ceremony. Do your own hair and makeup.
   At the end of the day, spend money on the things that are important to you and save in places where you don’t care as much.

3. Skip the planner and do everything by yourself. I found out while planning my brothers wedding

4. Go to Vegas. I was in the middle of planning a big wedding when my husband suggested Vegas and I said F it. It was just the two of us, cost ~5K total, zero stress and we made so many memories. I’m so happy we went the route we did.

5. Small guest list, for sure. Like, really small, no extended relatives and friends of friends we don’t talk to or haven’t spoken in years. My wedding included 12-3 people, us too (we’ve invited 2 more, but they dropped). And it was really simple celebration overall, I didn’t even get a wedding dress, just a simple dress for a bit more official occasions. We went to our favorite sushi bar, brought a simple, but delicious cake, had some fun and talks with the parents and some friends. It was really cozy and chill. No stress, no pressure and we didn’t start our family life in unnecessary debt.

6. Only invite people who you genuinely want there – not who you’re expected to invite. That distant aunt who you’ve spoken to a handful of times? She doesn’t need to come. Me and my fiancé are getting married next year and we only have about 40 guests in total.

   Do the decorations yourself. Buy what you can through cheap websites, such as vases and fake flowers for the table centerpieces. Balloons also look really lovely.

   Create the wedding invites yourself if you’re good at digital design. I used Canva to design my save the dates, invites, RSVP’s, menus, etc. Then I bought some cheap but pretty vellum jackets and ribbon to keep all the cards nice and neat.

   Have your wedding out of season and on a weekday, if possible. I’m getting married on my 10th anniversary, which happens to be in March and falls on a Tuesday. Perfect for getting a budget-friendly ceremony and reception venue.

   Hire dresses and suits if you’re up for it. My fiancé already has a suit that he used for a previous wedding, so he’s just going to re-use that since it’s navy and our theme happens to be dusky blue – so it’s perfect. I’ll be buying my dress new, but it’ll be off the rack and won’t cost very much. I refuse to spend hundreds on a dress I’ll wear once.

   Have a hot or cold buffet for the wedding breakfast or hire a food truck instead of a sit-down meal.

   For entertainment, you can do some of it yourself! Create party games that everyone can participate in. Get some bubbles and sparklers as well, since they’re always fun – especially for the younger ones if you allow kids at your wedding.

   Get a family member or friend to make your cake if you know one who bakes well! Failing that, it might be a good idea to have a small cake (1 or 2 tiers) and then loads of cupcakes for the guests. Cupcakes tend to be a lot cheaper, and they also look very cute.

   Do your own hair and makeup/get help from a friend or family member if you want to save a little money there. I’m doing my own makeup because I simply don’t trust anyone else not to make me look like a clown. 🤣 And I’m either going to do my own hair or get some help from my bridesmaid since there is very little I can do with it. I HATE wearing it up, and it refuses to hold curls, so I’m just gonna wing it on the day.

   Lastly, I wouldn’t recommend getting married at a hotel. The ceremony, maybe. But not the reception. The rooms are usually not that great unless it’s a very expensive hotel. Their package deals are often lackluster, the food kinda meh and often with hotels that cater to weddings, they’re just generally old fashioned. I have some lovely friends who got married last year at a hotel, and while it was lovely, me and my fiancé instantly knew we would absolutely not be getting married at a hotel. It was super expensive for what they got (in our opinion). So I’d suggest to look elsewhere. Manor houses and barns are usually on the cheaper side. We’re actually getting married at an old pumping house that has been renovated (but still looks very industrial, which we LOVE), and is now specifically catering for weddings and business affairs. It’s cheap, cheerful and looks gorgeous.

   So yeah, there are loads of things you can do to make weddings cheaper! I’m sure there is more that I have missed, but so much goes into planning a wedding that I just forget. 🤣

7. Courthouse wedding, backyard potluck reception

8. You don’t really need an expensive gown, nor a ton of flowers. You don’t need printed invitations. A lot of people I know simply get married at the city hall and then go to a restaurant /bar with their inner circle.

   You can get a nice cake that is not necesarilly a wedding cake.

   Backyard weddings are also nice but you will need to get the food and chairs and clean afterwards.

9. Small guest list, borrowed or cheap clothes (try thrift stores), cook yourself the day before and make something easy and cheap.

10. Small guest list – just invite the people you are close to – not someone’s aunty’s cousin’s grandma just because ‘it’s tradition…’

    eBay and second hand sites are your friend – my dress was £50 and was almost identical to the £500 one I tried on in a shop

    DIY – I made my own bouquets with fake flowers from eBay – cost about £30 for 5 bouquets.

    Don’t bother with ‘extras’ that no one actually cares about – fancy invites, elaborate table decorations, massive cake (no one in my guest list really liked cake anyway) – no one ever remembers them and they cost a lot!

    DJ – Spotify playlist works wonders!

    Off season to save money – we were married on a weekday

    Spend money on the things that matter – we spend most of our budget on a meal for everyone because we love food

11. We had a pretty chill and inexpensive wedding.

    – not too many guests (we were 12 people and that was totally enough)

    – no need for a fancy wedding dress. A regular dress on a cheaper budget is totally enough

    – no need to rent a venue. Just go to a restaurant and do the rest of the celebration at home. We had our guests in our small apartment after lunch and then tossed them out after dinner to have some time for ourselves.

    – instead of a wedding cake I made some lovely cupcakes