How you allocated a $10,000 max wedding budget.

My budget is 10k, with 65 ppl, getting a beautiful chapel on the mountains and reception with a bunch of lights 🤗
There are a lot of sheets on pinterest that tell you how much (percentage wise) should go for each thing

We’re doing ours for close to $10k and it’s going to be small like yours. We found a venue that takes care of ceremony, reception venue, food, bar and of course tables and linens for $7500. We both got our dresses on sale, we got a photographer for $2k and a florist for $500. Our parents also helped with deposits. Ours is a late evening ceremony and nighttime dinner so it works out for it budget.

View quoted message Hi, which restaurant did you guys went to? Thank you

If you are only having 34 guests max this should be fairly easy. Ours will be about $15,000 and we have 140 guests.

$2500 dress

$4300 catering & bar

$800 Venue

$2300 photographer

$800 DJ

$800 Limo

$1500 table cloths, chair covers and decor

I have roughly $2000 left for flowers and any other small things that come up.

Our budget was $20,000 and went over by only about $1,000 or so.

I would say that the big things to bring the price down is the # of guests and then saying no to a videographer. Plus my parents bought my dress and veil... so that REALLY helped.

As for where to put what amount of money - here's a link to one of the articles here on WW that might help How to divvy up your wedding budget

We did a Sunday wedding with a luncheon reception for about 40 family members. We had an open bar, but being a daytime wedding and no dancing afterwards really helped cut back on the bar bill! It also meant we didn't have a DJ (we hired a friend to play guitar for the ceremony and cocktail hour, then used a Spotify playlist for music during the meal). Being a Sunday daytime, the venue was willing to lower their minimum spend as well. We did have a cocktail/canape hour while we did photographs (our ceremony and reception was on the same site), and we splurged on a prime rib carving station with the buffet, but if this is too much for you it can be skipped. DIY flowers and centerpieces helped, as did having a cupcake tower with just a small cake on the top tier to cut for photos helped as well. We did have favours, but many people skip those as well. We did away with Save the Dates and just spread the word around the family, and got a 40% off deal with Vista Print for our invites. I limited my drinking so I was fine to drive to and from the venue rather than splash out on a limo. Being a luncheon and no dancing afterwards, our photographer was only needed for two hours. We did splurge on a really good bottle of scotch to be available for our fathers, and a special ordered sushi tray in honor of my family. Total bill, including the unnecessary splurges, for 40 people, was around 12k.

Edit to add, I found my dress on Amazon of all places! it was definitely bridal, but not as grand as some dresses out there. My shoes came from Ross in the state. An organza wrap from Amazon and a jeweled hair comb from Ali Express instead of a costly veil.

A cabin or cottage or or condo party rooms or community centres is a great start. check for something close to your area

Our venue itself was the max price of your budget that included a lot in the package. We did the minimum of 75 guests intimitly and low key. A backyard wedding with potluck style dinner can be a solution or elopement with reception followed after returning as another option.

We’re doing $10k with 32 people. Our venue does both ceremony and reception and includes a lot in its price so we were able to allot the rest to other important must-haves!

We had a wedding with just parents and siblings (plus our kids). Ours was way under 10k.


$750 for reception dinner at a restaurant $300 for my dress including alterations$1500 for husband's suit$300 for the kids clothing (bridesmaid dress and dress pants and sport jacket)$500 for flowers (bridal bouquet, bridesmaid bouquet, 2 boutonnieres, 1 corsage)$500 for limo (6 hours)$175 for officiant$250 for musician at ceremony $200 for photographer$75 for permit for ceremony location$250 hair and makeup for me and my daughter$60 for hair accessories
You can see our wedding if you click on my profile. It was very laid back, intimate, and outdoors which sounds similar to what you are wanting.

I have budgeted for an $8,500 wedding. I've broken it down into four big categories and then assigned a budget to each item within each category.

- I have $875 budgeted for ceremony items including an arch, chairs, officiant, homemade paper flowers, mic and speaker rental and marriage license and certificate.

- I have $5,650 budgeted for reception items including site rental, catering, wine with dinner, DJ, games and/or photo booth, wedding cake and decorations.

- I have $675 budgeted for attire including a wedding dress, tux rental and hair appointment.

- And finally I have $1,300 budgeted in my other/misc category including photography, stationary, day of coordinator, dog sitting, hotel and tips.

So far I've booked my reception venue, DJ and photographer, all of whom have come in under their allotted amounts.

Ours will be under $6k.
My dress and our photographer are the biggest chunk. ($1100 and $1250)
We're skipping a meal and having appetizers and cake at a small evening wedding. We saved on our venue by picking a Friday. I had an idea of some costs and ballpark guessed a few others with a little wiggle room in case I was way off. So far I've been close or under budget. I've also got a $500 slush fund included in case I'm way off or we have an expense we didn't expect.