Budget Friendly Wedding

Make a budget and stick to it!! vendor shop around. that REALLY helped me. i also told vendors that i am working within x budget is there a discount you can offer me and SOO many of them gave me discounts when i asked. i skipped flowers (other than bouquet and BM bouqets) so that helped as well. we skipped limo and are doing uber black. do a friday or sunday wedding is half price or do wedding off season

Like the others said - guest list is the biggest thing. Otherwise I would say you could;

Buy a secondhand dress or get one off the sale rack

Off-season wedding (I see you have October so I will say that half of the vendors I went to considered it off-season but the other half either didn't have an "off-season" or theirs started in November since October weddings are becoming more popular)

Friday/Sunday Weddings

Artificial flowers that you can either buy secondhand and/or sell afterwards

Skip the favours

Online invitations (or like me I sent out papers invites but had details on our wedding website and RSVP's were through email/text/calling me)

For bigger weddings it tends to be less expensive if you can find a place that you can bring in your own food and drinks - otherwise all-in-one packages are fine for smaller weddings

Marketplace/ Wedding Groups on FB for decor and party supplies for the shower and bachelorette

View quoted message Good thinking! I will definitely check that out! Thanks ☺

View quoted message All great suggestions!! Thank you. I will definitely look into these ideas. Great thinking!☺

View quoted message Good idea. Never thought of this.
We aren't very far along at all for plans. But we have a rough guest list so far. We are at about 50 people, give or take a few.

View quoted message Thats actually a great idea...never thought of that. Our wedding guest list is pretty small right now...only about 50 people. Give or take a few. Soemthing like this might be worth looking into. Thank you!☺

We're trying to stay under $6K so:
We are getting married on a Friday evening (no meal, cheaper venue)
We're keeping the guest list small (70-80ish)We are doing artificial flowers and lots of candles for decor so we can resell afterwardsI bought a sample dress (brand new it would have been $2200, I got it for $699 and alterations we're about $280)We shopped for photographers and requested a more custom package (engagement plus 4 hours coverage for $1150). This was doable because our wedding is in the evening so we will be there from 630-1030 so we get photos alone, during the ceremony, and at our reception.

I think the guest list is the variable that most determines how expensive your wedding will be, so keeping it as small as possible is key.
I also think doing things a bit out of the box helps. For example, brunch instead of dinner, Sunday instead of Saturday, a restaurant instead of a banquet hall, etc.

Where are you in terms of planning so far?

Biggest money saver I think is keeping the guest list down as much as possible. Make sure you have a clear idea what you want before you buy anything. I see a lot of buyer remorse. DIY projects can save you money if that is something that you feel you have time for. Marketplace wedding stuff on sale will save you a lot of money. If you want to have a small cake to cut and a costco cake in the back to serve for guests. Costco has some nice bouquets and centerpiece flowers for a good price. Anything you buy try to resell. Second hand bridal shops. If you can't afford an open bar maybe a twonie bar or cash bar (just make sure that guests are aware before they show up!) Having your wedding on a Friday or Sunday or off season. Look for decor outside of wedding sites.

You can save a ton by looking on Facebook marketplace and local wedding buy and sell pages. I have found the majority of my decor through there. I even found my dress, a stunning Sophia Tolli