Two years ago my husband and I set out to plan an amazing wedding for less than $10,000. I was pregnant with out first child at the time and it was important for us to cut cost, but not spare having the wedding of our dreams.
Whether that means having a guest list of 500 people or an quiet intimate ceremony. However for most of us the realities of the wedding expenses can you hit you like a ton of bricks. When Miles and I first got engaged we started planning our wedding right way. We planned on being engaged for exactly 1 year, have a guest list of 100 people while sipping cocktails on the beach. Two years since that time we’ve cut our guest list in half, found a reasonably priced venue and decided to dable in the world of DIY. Making those slight adjustments has seriously helped us cut cost, while still having the wedding of our dreams.
Here are our 5 tips on how to plan a beautiful wedding for less than $10,000.
1. YO’ GUEST LIST WAY TO HIGH YOU NEED TO CUT IT!! No seriously, if you want to see a drastic decrease in your wedding expenses, cut you guest list in half. Miles and I cut our guest list down to the 50 most important people who needed to be in attendance. Which for us was extremely difficult since we both come from large West Indian families. Our rule of thumb was; if we haven’t spoken to you in over 2 years… you ain’t invited, if the person was sure to bring negative vibes… you ain’t getting invited either. In the long run a wedding is about you and your partner, no one else. Whoever doesn’t get an invitation will probably be mad at first, but over time they’ll understand, especially if your paying for the wedding yourself.
“Every girl dreams of what their wedding day will look like”
2. SKIP THE PLATTED DINNER! Unless having a platted dinner is something that is extremely important to you, then fine. If not, skip it and opt for a buffet style dinner. A buffet style fit perfectly into our budget and we where able to score an amazing deal on our price per person, ($20per person to be exact)! That beat having to pay $100 per person just to have someone come around and serve the families. Bump that!
3. SHOP AROUND! Don’t just jump at the first venue, dress or caterer that you see. Shop around some! Miles and I have gone to multiple venues and caterers looking for someone who could fit into our budget. By shopping around we ended up saving $3000 on our venue and another $1500 on catering!
4. DON’T BE AFRAID TO ROLL UP YOUR SLEEVES! Sometimes you just gotta do it yourself, whether its your invitations, center pieces or whatever it is you can probably #DIY – it. With the power of Pinterest, a bottle of wine and crafty friends you can practicially recreate any center piece or invitation that you want. We choose to do our own invitations and table cards. That being said, you have to know your strengths. If you can’t draw stick figures, my advice is to enlist the help of someone who is more crafty. Either way it’ll save you hundreds down the line.
“If you can’t draw stick figures,my advice is to enlist the help of someone who is more crafty”
5. BE REALISTIC! The best tip we could give on planning a budget friendly wedding is to be realistic, with yourself, your budget and your abilities. Your only going to set yourself up for disappointment down the line if you don’t.
Even if you goal isn’t to have a wedding for less than $10k,try to incoporate some of these tips into your wedding planning anyways. You will be sure to save a ton of money!
Happy Planning,
Lex
Lex Livin' 