Wedding Blog
Ah the budget. What can I say, but ARH! We’re working with a very small budget — $15,000 for the wedding AND the honeymoon. An intimate wedding for $10,000? Doable right? What about an intimate wedding with 130 guests for under $10,000? A little crazy? That’s what I thought.
We saved a lot of money on my dress since it’s pretty simple and handmade. In total, it only cost me $265! We’re committing wedding blasphemy and not doing engagement pictures and not really having a professional photographer for the ceremony or the reception. I have a couple friends and friends of friends who are amateur photographers and looking for work to beef up their portfolio. I’m meeting with a few of them next week and hoping that someone will work within our measly budget of $400. We’re really just not picture people.
Like many of the other bees, I’m DIYing the invitations myself. The invitations require a separate post, so I won’t go into the details. I made the Save the Date postcards with Photobooth on our Mac and InDesign on my work computer. They came out pretty good and only cost $26 to produce. We’ve gotten a lot of compliments about them. We’re trying to do our part to save money where we can.
We got hit hard in a few places. Mr. Joey works for a Catholic high school in the area and we were told we could use the chapel for free since the wedding is in the summer. When we met with the priest to discuss details, he let us know that he wasn’t charging us for his services but we’d have to pay the teacher discount for the chapel - $500. We’re trying to see if we can get around that. We also didn’t plan on paying for the mandatory premarital counseling. I heard it was between $200-500.
We also planned on using my frequent flyer miles for part of our honeymoon airfare and my Aunt’s timeshare for one of our weeks away. We couldn’t get reservation for any of the 10 properties in Greece we wanted to stay at so we change our honeymoon plans to Australia (the Joeys — get it?). That seemed OK until I realized I didn’t have enough miles to get even half of one of our tickets to Sydney covered. We could pick somewhere else, but we both have our hearts set on Australia and you only live once right? So instead of saving money on the moneymoon, I mean honeymoon, we’re using everything we budgeted. It may be time to come up with a budget cutback plan.
Some of the first things to go would be the favors and the music. We plan on making limoncello and bottling it for our guests. While we can get the lemons for free and the Vodka at a reasonable price, it’s the bottles that won’t come cheap. Actually, they aren’t too expensive, but getting them shipped will be.
I have a little money budgeted for a band, but in the end we may have to go with the trusty iPod. Not as exciting, but it’s better than nothing. We’re still hoping one of Mr. Joey’s many musician friends will “gift” us their services.
I’m trying to come up with other places to save money. In the end, I think it will come down to turnout. We’ve invited 150 people. If 25 of those people don’t show up, it will be a huge help. We’ve got a lot of family members we were asked to invite.
What elements are you will to change or scrap to stay within budget and which ones are considered no fly zones?
|
Share this post: Money, Money, Money
We never did Engagement Pics either. They are nice, but we have so many pics. It seemed like an unnecessary extra for us. I think it just depends on the couple.
Churches don’t come cheap! Ours is costing $1,000 for the ceremony, and $200 for the organist — ouch. But, we saved using a “friendor” cantor. Hope you can (kinda sorta) do the same!
We had to cut things too. No favors. Nobody likes getting that stuff anyways…
Limoncello sounds yummy but seriously, scrap the favors if you need to save $$. No one will notice, I promise.
I am trying to figure this out about now. I’ve been pretty good with budgeting for our wedding so far, but it looks like I’m starting to go over a bit.
So, what will I cut back on? I have no idea yet.
We’re not doing favors, either. I’m trying to stick with local businesses for the most part (including a local printer for invites and programs), and I’m trying to find info on getting a dress custom made locally, too. Wedding day transportation may also be cut in favor of good food and a decent photographer. I’ve never ridden in a limo before, so I’m not missing anything, right? Right? ^_^
I want to just say thanks for being so honest and open about your budget and what you are doing to keep it. It’s hard to see all these amazing things on wedding websites with no reference to the cost. Thank you Miss Joey!
If you decide to do the limoncello, check out your local homebrew store for bottles to save on shipping.
I think your budget is admirable. I didn’t spend a ton on my dress either.
Incidentally, a few months after our wedding, my husband and I photographed a friend’s wedding. Their budget was also $400 - which covered equipment rental and put some extra cash in our pockets. It was a blast, and I think the pictures turned out very well. While both of us love photography, neither of us had done a wedding before, so we were honored that the friends trusted us with their wedding!
We are also hoping for a few regretfully declining guests. If only 10 people don’t show it will be a big help. We did engagement photos ourselves with a trusty tripod and Photoshop. We also are using several friendors, our DJ and our photog. We helped to install her flooring so we got a discount on the pics package. Also we told our baker that the guest list was a little smaller than it actually was. Not everyone eats cake, and I hate to see things go to waste.
Also you never know what you might be able to get from a vendor, all you have to do is ask. We are cutting out the soup course of the dinner and subing in more apps.
Go with the ipod, and put the saved money toward your plane tickets! We are using an ipod, having a relative play the ceremony music, and Mr. Taffy’s brother is doing our invites as our gift.
Joey, you seem to be going about this very smartly (and tastefully)! I’m with you, we’re not into splashing tons of pictures of ourselves either! We did not get engagement pictures (only some impromptu ones someone randomly snapped of us during the proposals) and are getting young (papparazzi) photographers for our wedding (not too expensive)!! We knew we wanted very nice food and wine, so we decided on a target of 80 people! It sounds like you’re getting the things that are meaningful to you (Australian honeymoon!) and forgoing things that are not! And it I just love all your ideas so far (limoncello, cool-awesome dress, etc.). There will be nothing cliche or over-done about your wedding! Looking forward to seeing how it turns out!
@SpinningJenny:
no you are definitely not missing anything! its kind of cheesy IMOH…
but maybe you could have the best man serve as your driver and maybe borrow a nice car from a family member just to make the transportation feel more special!
I second the Ipod, I’m sure you can find a friend who would be willing to make announcements and pause music when needed. If I were you, I would ask for help from as many friends as you can. Most are just dying to be asked, I’ve had so many friends yell at me for not asking them to help!! Their your friends and they love you and want your day to be special, and most are willing to help in any way they can. I ‘ve had about 6 different people offer to do our STDs and invites, as well as various other things. Just make sure you return the favor when its their turn to get married 
Having your ceremony and reception in the same place can save you some dough. We’re having it on my Aunt’s riverfront property (for free). We’re also in a rural area so everything is CHEAP when compared to metro areas. We aren’t having flowers, except my bouquet, and a few small arrangements on the food and guestbook tables. I’ll be doing the flowers myself, ipod reception, dessert buffet instead of cake, and catered BBQ fare for food. It fits our personalities really well and we should come in at $5,500 for about 75 guests. Not too shabby. We’re trying to decide if we want to shell out the $$ for a honeymoon or just plan a short getaway.
We’re doing quite a few cost-saving things. My dad is going to drive the bridal party to the ceremony location, my mom is making the cake (she used to have a small cake decorating company, so I know the cake will be awesome), we’re only having flowers for bouquets, we’re using an iPod for all of our music, and we’re getting married at a theatre (where we met) so we can bring in our own alcohol. We’re also having another reception in the city where we live and the venue is being donated to us since I work there and we’ll get food through my fiancé’s catering company. In total we’re spending $10,000 on our wedding/reception, another reception in the city we live in, our honeymoon and our rings.
I really wanted a good DJ, so I skimped on the linens and transportation. We went to one of the many bridal shows and talked with the limo companies and they said to wait because the cost may go down closer to our date. My date is actually the same as yours ( 8/1/09)! My mother is also making my cake, so we really lucked up with that one. I love your save the dates!
Sigh. Budgets. I am having a Polish wedding, which means a minimum of 200 people. We are just in the early stages of planning, but when I mentioned to my fiance that the budget would be around $20,000 he nearly fell of his chair! And I thought that I was being frugal! Men are kind of funny….he has no desire to cut the guest list, he has to have an open bar, and keeps veto-ing my diy invitation suggestions, but is surprised at the price tag! I am making it a point to educate him about the fact that you cannot book a photographer for $10.00/h :P. Miss Joey, did you have any problems convincing Mr. Joey that a $10,000 budget is actually thrifty?
Oh, also we’re using a student photographer from the Arts college in the city where we’re getting married and paying only $300 for the day.
LOL to your cartoon! My mom and dad had an accordian player at their wedding playing polkas and the like!!
I second markyk - it’s so nice when bloggers share their budget!
I am very inspired by your posts. The SO and I have been talking about weddings/marriage, and we just don’t think we can afford it. We are both professionals, with good jobs, but we also have a home already. It needs some work, so our money is limited. Reading about some of the crazy amounts people spend on weddings has really made us question if we could ever afford to get married. We don’t have much help from family in terms of finances.
I am so excited to read about your journey and all of the things you have decided to do!! it is very inspirational. Thank you!!
xo
kudos for finding areas to sacrifice to fit in your budget!
Can’t wait to hear more about your decisions!
@MagPie518: Some of Mr. Joey’s fellow teachers are trying to get the school to drop the fee. They do so much that they don’t get paid for, it seems like something like this should be free.
@Habibi: I think we’re going with cheap, handmade favors. We had a great idea I can’t let go of!
@markyk: I’m hoping to do a post with the budget breakdown even though I know that can cause some feathers to ruffle!
@Maude: We have some friends helping out. I’ve got some posts coming up about their services.
@Miss Taffy: I think we’re going with the ipod
@cautious_joy: Mr. Joey was fine with the budget. it was me who couldn’t believe how much I’d be spending! On another note, I’ve been several weddings in Poland and they were SO much fun!
Wow! So amazing on the budgeting… I’m not so great.. or smart about it.. I splurged on the first vendors we got that now with the remaining ones we have very little to spend - oops!
Miss Joey, you and your mister are one nice looking couple.
I love your limoncello idea…how about serving it as a signature drink at your reception? Skip the favours or, maybe incorporate lemons into your decoration by pinning guests names onto lemons to use as placecard/escort card/wedding favour?
i went to a wedding where there were no favors but instead, a centerpiece for a lucky person/couple to take home from each table.
the ipod is a great idea.
i also saved money on flowers. since i had a banquet and no church i was the only one with a bouquet (for picture reasons). City hall is the best way to save money!
I say cut the favors and try to to keep it simple with the reception centerpieces. Flowers are expensive so go with candles in vases floating in water. You can even just put the tops of the flowers in the vase below the candle to make the centerpieces pop.
Where do you live? I am inviting 150 people and am doing my wedding for $11,000. I have a $1000 dress, a $2000 photog, a $500 dj, $700 florist, $3500 caterer, $1000 alcohol, $1500 reception site, $250 church, $125 premarital retreat, $70 marriage license, and whatever is left over on DIY invites, favors, and alterations. I think it is definitely possible!
You shouldn’t have to cut back as much as you are. I think you should definitely be able to get a photog and dj. Look into photogs that are just starting out. They are way cheaper. That’s how we got ours.
Budgets are so tough. But it sounds like you’re really thinking things through. Good for you!
Looking forward to seeing how you will stay in budget and your cost saving ideas!
I think your estimate is a little high–the premarital classes I looked at typically run $100-$200. Still it can’t hurt to ask for options. Within our archdiocese there were two different courses to choose from, but a neighboring archdiocese’s program had better dates, so we asked, and the priest had no problem with our going there. Also, even though the priest will celebrate your marriage for free, you really should give him/the church a donation.
@Ms. D.C.: I think that if school’s church had a parish, then we’d be happy to make a donation but it doesn’t. We don’t get a wedding coordinator of any kind and they have no services they offer apart from the the Father who voluteered to mary us. I think it’s more that the administration said the church was free and then changed their minds. We’ll see. Like I said before, the teachers get paid for about 1/10th of the work they do and something like this that doesn’t cost the school anything should be free.
It sounds like you are doing a great job on cutting back for your low budget wedding. I would cut the wedding favors too, it would save you so much money!
A small budget of $15k? Wow. Our budget is $2k with 130 guests and our wedding will be gorgeous.
@Chris: That’s awesome. My parents had a few requirements there weren’t cheap. We would have loved to spent the $10k on the house but we’ve made out peace and are happy with how things are going.
Miss Joey,
First congrats and have fun at your wedding! The ceremony and being married is really in the end and in 5 years what you’ll remember!
I have decided on homemade favors, I asked all the women on his and my sides to make cookies which I will buy jars for and give to them after as a thank you. Those cookies will all be different kinds and then you just have to buy brown paper bags for them? Look here to see what I am talking about(http://www.marthastewartweddings.com/photogallery/best-cookie-favors?lnc=cf8c139b22b1d110VgnVCM1000003d370a0aRCRD&rsc=lpg_favors-and-gifts&lpgStart=1¤tslide=3¤tChapter=1).
Also we went decided to have our wedding in a park to save on venue space. Kid friendly but it closes early so we have to leave before it gets dark.
I found a family friend who is willing to do flowers too! She said she would figure out something with grocery bought flowers! If you live near a Costco or Whole Foods they always have some fun flowers that you could buy. And only bouquet flowers and not decoration flowers.
Have fun in Australia!
Miss Joey, you and I have roughly the same budget…I am trying to keep mine under 9,000 and have 150-200 guests. I have scrimped where I can, and if you look…I have found that you can scrimp on just about everything without compromising quality. I made, our flower girl baskets (we have to FGs) and ring bearer pillow, Which saved me probably $60 and only costed me $15 for all three. We are also DIYing our save the dates, and Invites because I figured that it would be silly to pay something that I could do better and cheaper. Also, we are going to arrange our own flowers the day before. With 9 BMs and 9 GM, 2 FGs 1 RB, 1 JrBM and 1 JrGM plus moms, step moms, dads stepdads grandparents etc ….our flowers from a florist would be OUTRAGEOUS. We are also arranging our own centerpieces, and I am painting our aisle runner. My local Michael’s sends out a 40% off one item coupon weekly. So, for instance my favor boxes are $30 for a box of 25. Every other week when I get my paycheck I take a trip down to Michaels and get a box of my favor boxes. For me, this is much easier than coughing up $200 all at once since we basically live paycheck to paycheck. That has been my biggest budget saver…you don’t have to buy ALL of your favor boxes (for example) at once.
If you wanna do a wedding on the cheap, do a destination wedding. We’re getting married in Puerto Vallarta and it’s going to be dirt cheap not to mention that it’s our honeymoon location too!
Favors are out, music is from my iPhone, food/location/reception/ceremony etc. are all in the same place, the resort. And we’ve already paid to be there!
Honestly tho, you should consider making your guest list smaller. Who cares who other people have asked you to invite. It’s your wedding and you should be able to invite who you want. We’re inviting 40 people. 40! And we’re expecting 30 in Mexico. The perfect 30 that we want. Our mantra when putting the guest list together was “Do I REALLY want that person there?” And the answer was mostly “no.” b/c they were just on the list b/c they’re friends of the fam or we hung out with years ago, but don’t anymore.
For us the photography was hugely important and I would gladly leave Uncle Frank on my mom’s side 3 times removed OFF the list for a really good photographer.
And speaking of photography… you’re beautiful and should be in as many pictures as you can be!
@blankhead: Thanks for the compliment. I wasn’t always this way :). I’d love to cute the guest list but my family is HUGE! My mom is 1 of 7 kids and my dad is 1 of 12. We’re a really close family too. I see my cousin, aunts and uncles all the time. We tried for a wedding of 40 and didn’t know how to limit people. I really wanted to get married in Italy since my sister lives there and could arrange everything but her army life unpredictable.
Ah, a huge fam does not help for sure. We both have very small extended families so it’s probably a lot easier.
Italy would have been great, it’s a beautiful country.
I can’t imagine that the Lake Union Cafe is terribly inexpensive. Have you looked at the venue at Golden Gardens park? Just a big brick building down on the beach looking west across the sound. And b/c it’s a parks dept building the rent is cheap. Of course, you have to get food…
@blankhead: You’d think Golden Gardens would be cheap but once you add in the hourly rate, the cost of the kitchen and the $1,000,000 insurance policy you have to take our for the space, it’s not so cheap. We did the math and Lake Union Cafe wasn’t too much more plus we don’t have to set up or take down the space.
Italy would have been awesome….sigh….
Thank you for this post Miss Joey! I’m always eager to learn new ways to save & cut the budget!
Our biggest saving so far has been to cut our 4-course meal to 3 and use our wedding cupcakes as dessert. Our credit from the ‘unused’ 2 courses is paying for our late night snack, and we’ve even got $40 leftover! With our expected 100-guests we’re saving about $500 by doing this - and no one in our families will miss that second starter, but they will definitely apreciate that late night snack!
Another significant cost cutter is that we’ll be picking up our ‘cutting cake’ at the grocery store and getting a delish & fancy cake for 1/3 the cost.
We make wine and get the majority of our bottles from friends and family. It’s cheap and it’s all about the reduce, reuse, recycle. It takes a bit of time to wash and de-label the bottles, though. If you do labels, the slightly mismatched bottles could be a cute effect, especially if green or white were in your colour scheme.
I just realized you might be looking for smaller bottles, though, like soda-sized ones. This would be a good time to figure out who the Dr. Browns and Jones addicts in your life are.
Here’s some ideas i ran thru for my $10k budget:
- skip the favors
- use an ipod / tap your husband’s musical connections
- cut costs on the cake (i’m not having one)
- control your booze budget
- cut out frills like toasting flutes / cake cutting thingys / ring pillow
- DIY your bouquet,
- cut down on flowers or buy in bulk and DIY them
- use non-flora decor (i’m using ‘vintage’ paper stuff i got off ebay for real cheap- old maps, crepe paper, postcards)
- you don’t have to buy new everything for a wedding - i’m reusing my shoes, possibly a clutch, earrings
- get a friend to do yr hair/make-up
i think you probably already know what matters to you more, so all the best! sometimes being on a tight budget also means that you are able to be even more creative! good luck!!
@mrspaetz: Thanks for the suggestions. Here’s what we’re doing so far:
-We’re doing favors but they only cost $85 for 150.
-using the ipod and Mr.Joey’s bandmates
-no cake but something just as yummy and cheaper
-no flute or cake cutting but we do have a ring thing that will double as something else later
-we’re DIY-ing all our flowers
-the shoes are new and I might return the earrings I bought in place of some I was given
-the hair and make-up came in pretty cheap. I have super oily skin, so a professional is needed.
Ahh! You have the same favor idea as me — and I thought I was so original We got mini bottles (like the kinds you see behind the counter in a liquor store as a stocking stuffer) from some random kitchenware supply website for pretty cheap, but once you add in the bottle tops (sold separately) and materials for labeling, etc., it does add up pretty quickly.
Also, in my area regular pre-Cana isn’t that expensive ($100-200) but the optional weekend retreat version is more expensive.
wow!
check these forums for some good advice on low-budget weddings:
http://tenthousandonly.blogspot.com
repository of small budget weddings:
http://kvetch.indiebride.com/index.php?t=msg&th=20498&start=0&rid=0&S=e343d09dfce5d2934aec50c55afedcff
I hear ya on the big family…..maybe not everyone will be able to make it because of the economy. on the plus side, tap that family for wedding work! when my cuz got married, she had like 30 of us making decorations, filling favor bags, serving food, cleaning up…..everthing! 200 ppl and she got married in her parent’s backyard.
oooooh this is good for me. im going to be on a budget and it’ll be great to see how this works out!
| Visit our sister sites | Project Wedding Wedding Songs |
eHarmony Advice Dating Advice |
JustMommies Pregnancy Calendar |
Fertile Thoughts Infertility Support |
Mrs. Joey, Seattle
Age and Occupation: 28, Project Administrator for Public Health NGO
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 30, High School History Teacher
Engagement Date: June 24, 2008
Wedding Date: August 2009
Venue: Eastside Catholic Chapel and Lake Union Cafe
About Me: I'm a Seattle girl through and through except for the fact that I don't drink coffee. I love my job most of the time because I get to travel and work with brilliant people who are trying to prevent Malaria. I love DIY projects of all sorts, cooking, and watching sports. I'd wear anything at Anthropologie and could spend all day on Etsy. I love to travel but shouldn't because I always get myself into unbelievable situations!
| Sun | Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | Sat |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 |
| 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 |
| 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 |
| 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 |
| 29 | 30 |
Latest Gallery Pics