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Stick to your budget. make a budget thing online and dont go over it. first things you need are a rough guest list and then contact venues to see what their cost is. also if you want to save a ton of money a friday or sunday wedding is always cheaper or off season weddings

Budgets are the worst! (Congrats on the engagement though - even if it was 5 years back)

The average cost is like $40,000+ so you don't worry, most of us on here are not having weddings that cost that much!

My wedding cost us just a little over budget of $20,000 for a wedding of just over 200 people (although I think we had so many people cancel last minute that it was closer to 180...).

First thing that we did was pick what our top priority was. For us it was the amount of people first, price second, and then the look. This means that we compromised with location though - it was about an hour outside the city. Pick your top items and then just know compromise will have to be made.

Then find a venue, then the food & alcohol (if it doesn't come with the venue), DJ, Photographer, etc.

Planning comes with savings that will help along the way.

Some of the ways I did my research was by looking up prices for purchasing vs. renting centerpieces, backdrop and décor. It made a huge difference in how much less it was plus the storing factor was not an issue afterwards.

Going to see items needed in person vs. shopping online also made a difference of price and returns if not satisfied or received. The cost itself was amazing for the small things that could have added up to $500 if I was to spend it retail wise and saved way under that amount online. The only thing that was bought in person was the favours as that had to be seen by my husband to get the final choice verified.

Family, friends and most importantly the wedding party are always there to help along the way with anything that is needed. You can ask to borrow whatever you need for your day from your loved ones and wedding party since they had it in their wedding time and use it for yours. It does help in the long run when others have to offer upon your request.

View quoted message I'm all about trying to save where I can! I also want what I want. Having everyone there with us is very important (lucky for us he is an only child and I have a small family as well). We knew we wanted an open bar and a nice dinner. We found that having a wedding in February made that way more affordable. Now I'm in love with the glitter and sparkle of a winter wedding. Also loving the idea of going away somewhere warm for anniversaries. You just need to decide how many people and your budget then make everything else fit into that. Maybe figure out some DYI's to make it more affordable.

View quoted message HEhe wow that’s crazy. But it’s amazing how fast time really does go when you think about it like that. I’m not sure what we are going to do for budget I wanna find something under $10,000 even 5,000 would be amazing too. I always had that dream wedding growing up but it’s been so long that I thought I’d never get married so just forgot about everything and have no idea what to do but I don’t want basic🤷🏻‍♀️ If that makes sense. Even though I have a basic white dress when I always wanted an off white pink(I hate pink) secretly lol.

View quoted message Aaahhh I see! Very exciting. I have been engaged for several years myself....however I have been planning since I got engaged. Lol I was just waiting on the budget 😆 I think I started at 785 days of actual planning but I knew what I wanted as soon as we got the go ahead.

View quoted message We’ve been engaged for 5years now. I’ve been bugging and bugging to get married for a year now. Purchased my dress about 4years ago because we were to get married then but we became pregnant and I didn’t want to be pregnant for my wedding I’d love to have our now daughter to be in it. Just now that’s its ectuallynhappening I’m overly thrilled and freaking out

Well the good thing is you do have the time to think about what you want. I think maybe give yourself a chance to really get use to being engaged and to talk about what choices there are and what makes the most sense to both of you.

View quoted message Yes we are slowly getting there so far trying to decide venues where we’d like to have it. DJ/band as that’s what we want is a band is covered as we have family and friends and that part. Photographer is covered. I know we (I’m )sure would like to have a dinner Everything is just so flustered now that it’s actualy happening after nearly 5years later of the question already being asked🤣

Hey Brittany!
You're not alone, I think I've seen at least 3 posts like this since Christmas!
My fiance and I focused on what was most important and what we wouldn't be upset about of we had to skip it. That helped us realize we wanted a smaller wedding, just cake, drinks, and dancing on a Friday night. And that we could cut out dinner and a DJ.I definitely recommend sitting down and imagining the day together to see what each of you wants as individuals and as a couple. From there I would set a budget. The budget and the dream you cook up together should help steer you in the right sort of direction!