PW Guide Article: The 10K Wedding

I'm huge on budgeting and are even buying the cylinders from the dollar stores and doing a lot of DIY and as much as I would've loved to have a $10K wedding it just wasn't realistic. All the photographers in our area starting prices were at $1200 if you wanted pictures, cd etc. $950 here would just get you the photographer and nothing else! And that plan forgot the most important thing.....the CEREMONY! Who ever wrote this article did a very sucky job. But, thanks for the link for invites I'm looking at every site to see if I can find something cheaper w/o having to go DIY and yet have something that fits our personality and our wedding theme. I have so many DIY projects for my wedding I'm running out of man power.

I rented a local antebellum mansion for our October ceremony and reception; we took a group photo on the front steps while the room was switched around. Our 7:00 pm ceremony was followed by a reception with heavy hors deouvres, wedding cake for dessert, a coffee bar and fruit punch.  I made the centerpieces using a three-wheel bicycle planter with white pumpkins in the basket, trimmed with decorative ribbon.  I hired a photographer who took the pictures and saved them to DVD.  I made our wedding album, and other albums for family members, using www.mypublisher.com and they turned out great.  My sister made the bridesmaid bouquets out of silk flowers.  Our entire wedding cost $8,000 and that includes buying two dresses, plus I had my hair and makeup professionally done.

Excellent article! I'm having a budget wedding and have found so many resources online, it can be done. I have a $10,000 budget but I'm aiming to keep under that my guest list is 150 and I have 4 couples in my wedding party. The biggest expense will be the reception. I believe I've found a restaurant and after contacting them it seems if we go with chicken as the entree and have an open bar for 1 hour we'd be looking at $3,500 plus gratuity. Cake there's a local bakery that I love and I can get a lovely cake for about $450 and I may be able to reduce that by going with a smaller cake and creating a base for it to sit on that will give it the height and look of a larger cake. Lucky for me I know how to sew and I'm making my dress and the bridesmaid dresses. I purchased the fabric online for all dress for $190 and spent about another $35 in notions at Joann. I'll be starting my sewing in January. I purchased my Tiara from ebay for $75 and I found a veil on etsy for $30. I've budgeted an extra $200 for shoes,stockings and undergarments for the big day. Hubby to be is wearing a 3-piece wedding suit that I found online for $160, it's worth it he'll get plenty of use out of it. Decor, none for the church I think it's beautiful just the way it is for the reception we're doing Calla Lily's (there's a locals flower grower wher I can get flowers at a good price) in a cylinder vase w/smaller vases filled with Gerbera Daisy's (vase are being purchased online from Dollar Tree) and votive candles. For the wediding party table we're going to go w/the same but the bridesmaid bouquets will be used in the vases. Photographer, I'm working on that still but I think I'm going to hire someone per hour that can give me the photo's on a disk or flash drive and then we can process them ourselves. We have a friend who's a DJ so he's volunteering but we'll tip him. Hubby to be's family believes they have his parent's rings from their 50th anniversary and have offered them to us, if they can't be located we're just going to go with simple bands. There is a way to do a wedding on a budget and still have your dream day. It's about networking and resourcing, the more I talk about the wedding the more info comes in that's how I found out about the photographer, the local flower grower, online purchasing at dollar tree and now einvites.com. As for DIY, I love it but definitely network and resource, take a step back decide what you can't live without and go from there don't over do it!! I know brides that were stressing out the night before putting together favors and I don't want to be that bride any of my DIY I'm getting done ASAP. It's like homework if you get the hardest work done first the rest will be a breeze.

Becasue of our budget we had to cut our guest list as well. Instead of a dj playing music that no one likes we saved money by hiring an orchasetra from Berklee school of music in Boston. It didn't cost us much, and I think the college level orchasetra's love the event practice. That's my music advice anyway. For themes and party favors I used hospitalityframes.com and they helped us create custom items for all our guests. You don't also have to spend a ton of money to have great wedding. 

Cash bars, or only opening the bar up for an hour sucks. For starters most reception halls charge most of the price for the first hour (about 30 per person) and then less than 10 per head after that. So you're not saving much. Find a place that is BYOB. We are having an under 10k wedding because we chose a venue that allows us to bring our own. It disgusted me that I would have to pay for drinks that would never be poured (half our guests would never have a single cocktail) and those that did drink would be served sub-par junk that I'd never serve at home.  

The key to a lower budget wedding isn't just limiting the money you spend. Its being REALISTIC. You are planning a party, one day. It is a happy day but should not be the biggest and happiest day of your life... you're setting your life up for failure with this fairy tale dream. A 3000 dollar dress or 400 dollar nosegay aren't going to improve your life or make you happy forever. 

Ya, I would love to have massive flower arrangements, and not have to troll thrift shops and craigslist for used glassware for my wedding. But, I also don't want to be a princess who bankrupts herself over a party. I've seen women do it before. I've been to expensive weddings that weren't worth the bother. Just this summer I went to one that easily cost 40-50k. The flowers and dress were amazing. The band cost over 10k and they were great. But, the party was OVER by 9:45, the bar blew, and the food was good but overly heavy. The service was nice, but what made it nice did not involve money it was the sentiment and feeling. In the end the even was also totally disorganized and showed that it was more about the vanity of the mother and bride rather than the enjoyment of the guests. My wedding will cost what the band costs but I'm reasonably sure no one will be leaving early or sober :-) (yes, we'll have cabs waiting)

One great tip is to see if you can find a wedding chapel where you can have the wedding ceremony and reception in the same place. We were able to find a beautiful chapel that came decorated, a decorated reception hall, and serves water, tea, coffee for about $3500. DIY as much as possible if you can. Go to the large bridal shops to find styles of dresses you like, but shop online to actually purchase it. Don't forget to keep a cushion for " unexpected expenses". We were able to find a discount on our food through a contact our chapel had. We're only spending a little over half the amount shown here. My fiancé an I think it's important to spend most of our budget on what matters most.... The honeymoon!!

I am doing my wedding for about $12,000.  My matron of honor (my baby sister) found a hall that is giving me everything I need - cocktail hour, buffet food, top of the line alcohol, drinks and the wedding cake and valet parking. A friend (hopefully) will be doing the photography and I just lucked up and happen to find the dress of my dreams on sale at Davids Bridal for much of nothing. It was the last one in stock and my size so no alterations. I can't be around to many flowers so we are doing silk flowers and I have done all 9 bridesmaids and mine for less than $50.00 and they look wonderful. It can be done if you have the time to do everything in advance.

Great ideas teetee423!  Can't wait to see your wedding details unfold!

This is a great article for any budget bride! I hope everyone gets to read this!

I agree this list is missing many key items. Our budget is $15,000 and that isn't including our honeymoon. After looking over things there are some items I am planning to cut out and others I can reduce not because I have to but because I want to. We have made our date far enough away that we will have plenty saved for our wedding and our honeymoon. My FI says whatever I want.