Budget wedding 😭

My BFF got married in a cute little community hall on a Sunday, I think the space was about $300. Some of my other friends got married in their parents huge yard, it was so beautiful! Keeping your guest list to your favorite people / must haves will definitely help. The BFF had about 60 people, and did a potluck for food. It was amazing. She had a friend offer to bake a cake, and we thrifted and DIYed a bunch of decor. I offered to pay for her hair and makeup on the day of so she didn't have to worry.

I've seen some absolutely beautiful white dresses online. Lulus has really good dress reviews, and I've seen a bunch under $100. For decor or favors (if you want them), check out amazon (prime sales!), or Etsy, you can find some really cute stuff!

For my wedding, my bridesmaids and I are going to go sage picking to make sage bundles for my wedding favors. It's something from my culture that is really personal to me, plus its super inexpensive. For food, we're going hunting for a moose and fishing for salmon. My uncle is a butcher and has offered to help with a bunch of the food pieces. Take help where you can, and express your day through your heart. This is YOUR day, you get to do it however you want. Your only constraint is money, so let your imagination fly with the rest.

Good luck! I'm sure your day will be beautiful!!

The smaller the guest list the smaller the cost!

DIY items will also help keep down the costs.

For your dress options I would definitely look at used options or cocktail/prom dresses.

For centerpieces you could spray paint old wine bottles and use them as vases. You won't need as many flowers to fit in the bottles.

For wedding favours we are making infused olive oils for our guests which has turned out to be reasonable in cost, you could also give out your favourite blend of tea or coffee, or seends fo your favourite flower/plant.

Venue - keep the guest list small and perhaps a restaurant or brewery would be perfect (if you are against the backyard wedding idea)

Dress - regular store white dress/ bridesmaid dress/ secondhand

The decor - Dollar stores and DIY is key

Favours - You could even say "a donation to ___ charity has been made in your honour" and don't specify the amount (still obviously make a donation).

All the best!

Keep an eye out for sample sales for dresses. Try to get as much as you can used, thrifting or through Facebook buy and sell groups. We are doing a candy buffet as a dessert and that is the favour. We didn't have the budget to buy everyone favours. Buying from Costco priced not to be the cheapest option sometimes. We ended up getting a bunch from the grocery store on sale

Dress get used. Got mine for $99 at a consignment store sale and its perfect. We went to thrift shops for decorations like vines and vases and got extras at Dollar Tree.

View quoted message I have to sadly, I mean I could wait technically but it's so much easier to just get it over with.

DIY saves a lot. There are different discount bridal places with affordable prices. Also look out for pop up sales. Only invite close family. If possible see if a relative has a backyard or farm location you can borrow. See what friends and relatives can help out with. City halls can have deals or packages. Otherwise let go of vanity and focus on the basics. If not you can always elope.

Doing a budget wedding with $5000. Keeping it small. We're going to city hall and just hosting a dinner at our place. My MIL and her sister are helping out with food. My younger sister has a friend who is a pastry chef and gave us wedding favours with s discount.

Keep the guest list small is key. But I am a firm believer that you can have a nice wedding and it doesn’t have to cost a lot of money. Keep it simple and don’t get swept up in the Pinterest overload most of that stuff is unnecessary.

Find a venue that lets you supply your own drinks and food. Or better yet find somewhere that is free (parks, talk to friends and family about a backyard, talk to your church if you have one). Stocking up a bar can be fairly inexpensive if you can do it yourself (with or without alcohol).

Skip favours. A lot will he left behind and the party is the “Thank you” for coming to help you celebrate your wedding already.

For the dress I would call around and ask when they’re having sample sales, look for the pop up ones that travel across the country, and look online and in second hand stores.

Decor is easy. Just keep it simple. You don’t need a lot and most people don’t even notice all the little details that you’ve obsessed over and the costs for them add up.

Food can be easy. BBQ some burgers, pulled beef or pork in a slow cooker, or just keep it small with cake, desserts, chips, and snacks.

I will go against the grain and say don’t go potluck (unless your family has already offered to do it for you). I always feel like it just shifts all the major costs and workload of putting on the reception onto your guests. It’s your wedding and party so it shouldn’t be expected for your guests to pay for it (food could be one of the biggest costs of the reception). Also most venues that do weddings require that the vendors you used (food included) have the right permits and licenses.

Second hand dress. They have TONS of them at places like value village and stuff, but they also have special second hand Wedding dress shops. I got mine at one of those second-hand wedding shops, and it looks like new and is super modern.

Skip favours. Or go really cheap. I had friends with a $7000 budget (and they are a same-sex couple with two wedding dresses!) And the gave out Kraft Dinner because their initials are K and D. There are silly ways to stay on budget and be creative.

For decor, don't use flowers. I collected all the jars me and my family have used for the past year (jam jars, salsa jars, pickle jars etc.) And just bought a bunch of 8 hour tealights and those will be our table decorations Goodluck!

What city are you based in?
Some cities have pop up weddings and quasi elopement packages, so I would do a google search for that.
For your venue you may want to try to reserve a free or low cost park....but if you could have the reception in a home/backyard that would save money too.

I'm an event planner and I know that the banquet halls are so expensive but you can make an amazing wedding with this budget, you can make your wedding outdoor which is one of my favorites, and it's so cheap compared with the venues or maybe its free, what you need to think about is your dress and I saw some comments they already give you some suggestions, you can invite just the close people to you in this situation, you can check some local places or small business on Instagram to do the cake and food. ADD some lights to your wedding for decor and some flowers and I promise you its gonna be an amazing, challengable and unforgettable wedding.

Not sure where you're located but you can check out the bride project for a dress. They have locations across Canada, get most of their dresses as donations, sell them for amazingly low prices and give the proceeds to cancer charity. The dresses are already altered to fit real women so you can usually find something ready to wear. My bestie got a designer gown, perfect fit for $100.

Courthouse marriage, potluck wedding/house party, twinkly lights and dollar store decorations, buy dress online or rent. Boom. You could probably do it for less than $1000 even.

You can skip the favors or bake cookies and put them in little boxes. I believe there’s a site where you can order a custom made cookie cutter that imprints yours and hubby’s name and wedding date.

You can also basically take anything and spray paint it in the colour you want your wedding theme too be. Wine bottles, old books, there’s no end. I went to the dollar store this week and there was tons of cute stuff there for weddings too.

I'd definitely suggest going to city hall and then having a bbq with a bunch of people at home. The license will cost $100 and then that will leave you $900 for some good food and maybe a dress or something for you to wear for the event

You can buy a lot of food for that much money, and you can do BYOB to save money and maybe make some favours with that money you've saved ! Either that, or you can hold off for now on getting married until you're in a better spot financially

I would head on down to the courthouse with your families and the have a backyard bbq/reception with family and friends,
or you can message a whole bunch of venues and officiants and see if they can give you a super good deal! Most places if you tell them your story will drop the price, especially if you do a mid week wedding, and getting a second hand dress is a good option, or renting one!! And honestly on your budget I wouldn’t worry about wedding favours, because only 1/4 if that many people tend to take favours home

Do you HAVE to get married right away?! Why not take your time and save up for the wedding you guys want?
if you are obligated to getting married right away, then I’d suggest eloping and/or keeping it very intimate:
backyard wedding/ceremony;
potluck-style;
BYOB;
rented wedding dress;
streamed playlist via Spotify (for example)

Maybe the two of you go to city hall, then invite people over for a backyard BBQ at someone’s house? I’m sure you could find a second hand dress, or just buy a white dress from a regular clothing store. Or if you had to rent a venue, then just have a potluck. I’m not sure if you could find a venue for under $1000. Depends where you live I guess. And ask a friend or family member to take photos. There is nothing wrong with a private wedding at the court house then asking some close people to join you guys for a bbq after!

Rent the wedding dress over purchasing one.

Decor simple as going Dollarama to get fake flowers and vases. Tealights and holders to keep it simple.

Wedding favours can be cards to give your guests.

The rest should be looked into catering if needed or potluck. Alcohol, wine, tent and other backyard items.

Honestly I don’t think you can invite many people for that. First of you will need to pay someone to marry you. That will be 200-400 most likely. Also you need to get your license and that’s a bit over $100.

If you can only spend $1000 I would do something at your home or the home of somebody else.

For a dress look for a white or ivory cocktail or bridesmaid dress.

Don’t have any favours.

Dont spend much much on decor. Keep things simple. You can get vases at the dollar store for $2-3 each, I would put candles in them and not worry about anything else.