Budget

Yes figure out what your budget is and then play around with it in a chart and see where you want to spend more money and less money. then when you contact any vendor make sure theyre in your price range!

Congrats on the engagement and welcome to the WW community

Me and my DH planned our wedding on a budget of $20,000 for 200+ people and were able to only go over by like $1,000 or so - which means it is doable. Just have a couple of things that will decide if it is for your wedding and how much you are willing to cut/ compromise.

Location - outside the cities are usually cheaper

Time - Friday's and Sundays are cheaper

Season - Fall and Winter are *usually* cheaper

Guest Count - obviously the less the cheaper!

If any of those you are not willing to budge on then decide it now and know that it would potentially compromise the rest.

Definitely decide the important aspects for you and FH. Figure out rough guest list and budget, then work your way from there. Some people have a backyard BBQ, just apps and cake, use a local lions hall, to an all out week of wedding party. It all depends on what you want.

Start out a cost that works for you both and how you consider to set towards the major vendors. Smaller costs can be for later to know what want to get as decor. WW Budget is a great tool i have used allowing to calculate easily for you and inputting your actual cost. Keep in mind that the venue will be the higher cost of all.

We are also having a small budget for our wedding. Our goal is to stay under $6K or close to it. We sat down early in our engagement and decided what we both wanted most and what we felt was less important.
This way if you know you need a kick ass photographer you can accommodate that in the budget.
We are skipping a meal and having a late evening Friday wedding. Drinks (not an open bar), dessert, and dancing with about 75 guests. Our cake will be a sheet for guests and a small round for cutting (way cheaper than a traditional tiered cake!).I would recommend shopping around so you have a realistic idea of costs. It was a little hard to find a dress under $1000 but I got close ($1100 with alterations) and we negotiated how much coverage we needed with our photographer to get a great package (4 hours, engagement photos, and digital images for $1250 and I can add hours for $100 each of I want more) because we don't need her there for every minute that day.

I think the best place to start is determine how much you can spend, who you want there, and then determine what you can do with those 2 parameters. There are a lot of creative, cost saving options. Restaurants tend to have better deals than banquet halls and need less decorating, brunch or lunch receptions can be inexpensive and fun, venues that don't normally host weddings can be less expensive.


I agree with Kelsie that off-season, non-Saturday weddings are cheaper, as are venues outside of large cities.

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It really depends on where you're from. Venues in a city (Toronto, Hamilton, etc.) will be more expensive than towns outside the cities.

Summer dates will be more expensive than Winter. Fridays and Sundays usually get you a better deal as well.

Where are you looking to have your wedding? What kind of vibe are you going for?

View quoted message I’m looking for affordable venues and ideas on how to save money on catering and vendors... I don’t need even know where to start 😭😅

WeddingWire has a great budget app!! It’s helped me out a lot thus far in my planning.