So confused

Dont get discouraged!! start by making a rough guest list. see how many people you guys have. if you cant afford a venue. ive seen people rent condo party rooms, community centres, air bnbs on a lake (with an outdoor ceremony) that have spent less than 10k for their entire wedding!! do the ceremony on site as well. if you rent an air bnb like a huge cottage in off season its so cheap and just cater in some food and get some decor and your good to go. if you can afford a venue do a friday or sunday wedding or season those are super cheap. my gf did her wedding in jan and her venue was BRAND NEW she didnt even need much decor and she spent 8k!!

My fiance and I decided to elope and just have a small number of family included instead of a traditional wedding. While it's not my fairy-tale wedding that I envisioned as a kid, I'm actually really happy we decided to go this route, as we are saving ourselves a lot of stress and money. We are all renting out these cabins right on the beach and then our ceremony will be just the two of us on top of a mountain. Our biggest cost is probably the photographer. We are only having like 10-15 people max, but this can be harder if you both have large families. I still get to have many traditional aspects, like a dress and a cake, but no bridesmaids or "walk down the isle". The day is mostly about the two of us, but this way our close family won't feel left out either. It just depends what's important to you guys and what you can live without. You don't want to go broke from one day. I've also been to really nice weddings just hosted BBQ-style in someones backyard, and you can even do a potluck where guests can bring food.

Wedding budgets will be more on the venue aspect due to their costs, food selection and open bar option after the time frame given.

Its best to get quotes from venues you like and then sit down to see which one is viable to your best suiting. Compare the pricing to the backyard wedding or in a park given the costs of tent, catering, table & chairs, china/cutlery/glasses and table cloth rentals, wedding alter décor, décor, centerpieces, head table and all more you need.

It will be shocking to see that going backyard/park wedding is more than the venue itself. Let WW Budget and Checklist help along the way to put the amounts into prospect of the spending.

I agree with the previous responses. Sit down and decide what it is you both want; not what you think you need to have. I think a lot of weddings have things because they feel like they have to have them; there are definitely ways to minimize costs.

We originally wanted to have a small ceremony outside on our anniversary (which is a Thursday) with a reception at a later date but after looking at costs for venues/hall rentals and the more we thought about it, we just couldn't justify the extra cost because it just wasnt that important to us. We decided we'd rather put the money towards our honeymoon/an additional trip so we are keeping with having a small ceremony at the conservation area where my fiance proposed and having our first dance & dinner at a restaurant we really like with an adorable patio that's near the beach so after our first dance and dinner we will leave and walk down to the beach since we love the beach .

Check out the checklist on here. I found it was really helpful to start getting the ball rolling . Once you figure out what your budget is there are articles on the internet about the percentage you should be spending based on your budget then you can tweak things around based on what's important to you and what's not.

A smaller budget can be doable. I would sit down with your fiance and figure out what you must have and what you don't care if you need to cut out. For example if you want to have amazing food maybe you invite fewer people or skimp a little on decor to make room in the budget.
We are aiming to stay around 6k and it's looking possible. We're having a Friday evening wedding without a meal (light apps and cake) with about 80 guests. Our biggest splurge was photography with my dress as a close second.
Try to break planning into chunks with smaller deadlines and it might not seem so overwhelming. And you can always reach out to us!

Totally doable. The average cost of a wedding in Canada is like $40,000.... so completely understandable that you don't have that kind of money. As for me and my Husband we did a Wedding Social which raised over $10,000 to put towards our wedding but those aren't really done outside of Manitoba. The closest thing to that is a Jack & Jill or a Stag & Doe in Ontario. Every where else people don't like the idea of fundraising for a wedding...

Our budget was $20,000 and we got almost everything we wanted. So if you budget is closer to the $5,000 mark or something you may not get what you pictured growing up, but it's doable.

Cut the guest list. Have a backyard wedding with catering you do like? Otherwise winter weddings and weddings on Friday/Sunday save money. Skip a DJ and have a Spotify playlist? I would first start looking at what your budget is and from that look to see if there are any venues that can accommodate that or are cheaper but allow you to bring your own catering in.

Best bet is to do what I did which was make a generic email asking for pricing since most venues or catering places didn't have that listed. Then just send send send!

Typically, whoever the host of the wedding is pays for the attendees meals (bride and groom or parents of the bride and groom if they’re paying).


There are several options to cut down the cost of the wedding, some of which are don’t have it on a Saturday. Having a Friday or Sunday wedding will cut costs a lot on its own. Also consider a winter wedding as they can be cheaper than any other season.
Don’t have an open bar. You can have a cash bar or toonie bar where guests can pay for drinks.
Don’t host an evening wedding. You can have a shorter wedding and have light refreshments and apps somewhere after which will cut out the cost of a bar and full meal.
Cut the guest list! Having less guests will cut down on your cost per person obviously.
My advice is to sit down and think of realistically how much you want to spend on the wedding. From there, think of who you absolutely want to have at your wedding. This will give you a better idea of what venues you can afford. Then do some research and start connecting with vendors and let them know your price point and guest count!
Do what works for you! If you want a small ceremony without a reception after, that’s totally ok! It’s your day and do what feels best for you.