PW Guide Article: 5 Ways to Have A Fairytale Wedding On A Limitied Budget

creativeevents submitted an article for the Project Wedding Guide. This is a community article that you can edit too!



Feel free to comment on it here!

We chose the wedding day on Thursday evening not to overlap with other parties.  We didn't get any discount for that. It all depends what kind of package you chose. $100 dinner isn't going to be $90 because it's on the weekday.

but, people think that we pay less because it's a weekday.

So far we didn't get any discount for anything.

Look to your friends and family for talent.

We saved a lot of money and got a few things for free by having some of our friends and family give their services as wedding gifts. One of my brothers baked our wedding cake. My other brother was the videographer. A friend was our DJ. A family friend was our officiant. I'm a graphic designer and am designing the invitations and paper products for my brother's wedding. His FI has asked her college music class band to be the band and ceremony musicians at their wedding.

Sometimes you have to be cautious though. Make sure this is a friend or family member that you wholeheartedly trust will follow through with their plans to help you out.

 

 

It is totally true what they say about being honest with vendors... especially right now because they all seem to know that money is tight for everyone. I eliminated things from my photography that we didn't need and saved $850, I was honest with our vendor and he saved us $5000... so I have decided it doesn't hurt to ask!

our wedding is a thursday, and it was a little over half the price of a saturday.. we paid $2950 for thurs, and sat in May are $4400.  We also have a lot more leaniancy as far as rehearsal times go, etc.. since it's in the middle of the week.

We didnt' negociate with any vendors except our photog (no album, she added a dvd for free).. and the jeweler making my ring.

Our DOC is a friend from church.. so that was free

We're hardly having any flowers, b/c our venue is so pretty natrually..

And... my dress is DB for $550... and it's my dream dress :)

I choose to have a Sunday evening wedding instead of your typical Saturday because of the cost. Just to rent the venue we saved $2000.00.

I saved the most money by buying things second hand off of this site and using some of the PW ladies who have gone into business!  Marinag saved me about $1600 on my manzanita alone!

This is why I've been so willing to pass things along that I've purchased that I may not be using...I've gotten such great ideas, prices and things just given to me!

Never would of thought to switch to a Friday or Sunday. Ill keep that in mind!

I would question the advice to hire a wedding coordinator when you have a limited budget.  From everything I've heard around here, wedding coordinators tend to have relationships with the kind of vendors you use if you have a larger budget.  For example, it is of no use to have a wedding coordinator who has special relationships with limousine companies if you can't afford a limousine anyway.

A wedding coordinator may help to save your sanity, but if you are on a limited budget, you may be better off with a lot of DIY and use of nontraditional vendors, and skipping the coordinator.

I completely agree with the wedding coordinator part........ there are many paths you can take with a coordinator for example I happen to have a few friends who throw and plan large events and have natural talent all of which have offered to coordinate my wedding as a gift/ for next to nothing.... I even recently became friends with a lady at work who I have become close with who does a different wedding just about every weekend and has already been extremely helpful in narrowing down a venue on my extremely low budget and negotiated a huge discount for me and has introduced me to a dj vendor she works with that has offered to do my wedding for next to nothing because of there and now out friendship.... oh and as a plus she also does professional wedding cakes and i have seen 3 of her cakes first hand so far and they are amazing .... needless to say friends, craigslist and friends of friends goes along way