Budget Wedding Ideas: The $10K Wedding Budget Challenge

Mekallena
Everything will be under $10,000, even the honeymoon. My dress is going to be custom made, but it's only going to cost $160 because I chose a blue dress instead of a white one. I probably saved myself at least $700 because of the style and fabric being used and not choosing white! We chose to make our own programs for the ceremony and menus. Plus our invites were bought at Office Max and printed by them. That saved over $150. So we got to splurge a little on the food and hall rental. $40 pp, but I still don't think that is bad because that includes our cake, the ceremony room rental, all the food and drinks, as well as a deal with a local florist for centerpieces at $5 a pop. And the room is so beautiful and has an attached hotel, which is great for us and the guests. It's also in the town where I live so it is so perfect for planning everything! We also decided to use a florist out of the local grocery store. She has been so helpful and because her budget comes from the store, and not her personally, she's been willing to order samples to show us different designs for bouquets. It's been much nicer than working with other florists we met. A lot of our ceremony and reception pieces have come from here while they were having a sale, forever wed, and oriental trading. They have all been so helpful. Also ACMoore and Michael's are great for DIY materials and ideas. My bridesmaid dresses all cost under $60 and they didn't need to buy shoes! A wedding under $10,000 can be done and still look amazing!

Jameyngina
Call around to find the best deals don't give up. I called over 20 places for reception halls til I found the perfect one. Instead of having a 5 hour reception mine is only 4 and i'm only paying 29.50 per person this includes an open bar, food,set up,linens, and my wedding cake. I'm doing my own invitations and party favors.Seek out friends talents, and connections they could have a family member who is a dj or photographer. Also research on the computer I knew what dress I wanted and found it online for 200.00 over 800 dollars cheaper that what I seen in the stores.

tattooed_girl78@yahoo.com
I'm getting married in 9 days. We have spent approx $5500. I bought my (custom) dress off Ebay, for less then $150. It fits me perfect, I'm plus sized and it's gorgeous! We have 4 total in the bridal party. I told my bridesmaid to wear a dress any style as long as it was black. The groomsmen will be wearing simple black suits. My biggest expense was the food/venue. In total including tips etc we are spending $1650. We are having a small wedding, 30 guests including us. We could have gone to another venue for less, but the hotel was beautiful and we were able to have the ceremony and reception all in the same place. The venue rental included, votive candles on all the tables, linens, cake cutting, wedding coordinator for the day of, and votive candles for the ceremony room. When checking out a place, find out what type of things they offer (for free). When I went to the florist, I had a budget in mind and knew what I wanted. I made the two meet. When I got everything I wanted and had a little left over I could either use that money on more flowers or put it towards something else. I added flowers. We hired a photographer that is trying to build her portfolio, so we got our photos at a HUGE discount in comparison to someone who's been a photographer for 20 years. We also bought disposable cameras off Ebay and will have a couple on each table. My fiance made custom name card holders that matched our theme. And I had craft day with my bridesmaids to do the little things. Bottom line, the more you do yourself, the less you pay. Think about whats the most important to you, for me it was venue, cake, flowers, pictures. All the other things were areas I was willing to spend less.

pammery@aol.com
We are doing a cocktail reception from 1-4 in the afternoon. This saves money, as the hotel can do an evening event if they choose. The tables are 30" cocktail tables, no formal seating arrangement. There will be 2 votive candles at different heights on the tables.

lissypooh628
I would REALLY love to know how you are all able to plan what sounds like really fun weddings with such a small budget! My fiance and I are paying for it ourselves and don't have alot of money to invest. We really want a brunch wedding but everything I seem to find is ridiculously overpriced. The place I found that I thought was cheapest... ended up being over $7000 for reception/food and thats only for 70 people!! I dont know how I'm going to afford this. How did you do it????