any tips on how to spend a wedding without going broke?
I didnât spend a lot of money on my wedding. I had my dress made for just under $300 (it was only suppose to be $250, but I ended up picking a slightly more expensive fabric than originally intended). I only had a maid of honor and one other bridesmaid, which I told them what color dress I wanted them to have and they were allowed to picked the rest. They each spent $40 on dresses in JC pennyâs clearance section, which were very nice. We had a very small wedding (less than 60 people, we actually invited less than 50, but some family decided they should have been invited and came anyway). Out motto was, if we havenât seen or heard from you in a over a year, we not inviting. We had our reception in an older adult community centerâs activity hall for $250, which was returned after the date as long as we picked up after the party. We hired a small, local cater to do a small, but good buffet (no servers needed). We had no band, just a good size stereo. No DJ, my brother announced us and gave a little speech and introduce us for our dance and my dance with my father. We had no bar, as we didnât want any alcohol served (although, some family members brought their own). I had a friend of the family do a beautiful cake and all I had to do was pay for the ingredients. Mostly I relied on my wonderful family, who set up the hall with a few, but elegant decorations. The place really looked nice, and everyone said they had a nice time and how much fun it was, because it had a more casual feel to it. The only place where I did spend a lot of money (just over $500) was on flowers (because I love flowers!!). We had no photographer, but everyone was taking pictures (I have 2 full albums filled with very nice photos), and we didnât have to waste any time to stop and take them, we just took them outside of the church and the hall, which was next to a lake with flowers).
I also went to my best friendâs sisterâs wedding where it was a pot luck dinner, everyone brought a dish. The reception was held in the churchâs hall and her family (including me) helped put all the food out as a buffet and and decorate. Everyone (even me, despite having to do some âworkâ) had a good time.
My sister spent quiet a bit more on her wedding than I did, having a formal reception in a hotel with servers. However, she did a lot of planning and did a lot of little things that made it very special without having to spend a lot of money. She had wedding pictures of parents, grandparents, and brothers/sisters in antique-like frames on the table with the wedding cake. She named each table after a location that meant something to her and her husband and wrote what it meant (places they had been, met, proposed, etc). She made up cards of people sitting at each table and who they were, so that when you sat down you know who everyone was at your table and how they were related to her or her husband. She also made up her own wedding programs, describing everyone in the wedding party. And the biggest hit of the wedding, was a penny candy table. She bought inexpensive old fashion candy holders and put all kinds of candy (several dozen kinds) and people were allowed to take what they wanted. The wedding favors were glass jars to fill up with the candy. There was more, but the point is, there are dozens of wedding magazines and books out there. You can leaf through them and if you are handy (or have family or friends who are) you can do some of those projects, or modify them into something you can do, or do cheaper.
I think, especially in the USA, we get so caught up with having to find the right dress, right hall, perfect flowers, best cake, the best dj/band, etc etc, we forget what the actually wedding is all about. For my husband and I, it was all about the church. We didnât want to have any reception, yet we did want to give a celebratory meal to thank everyone for sharing this wonderful sacrament with us. My family kept saying, at least get a dj, at least do this, at least do that, but in the end, everyone agreed that it was very nice and perfect for us.
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Everything else was quite simple.