How much does a small wedding cost?

Hi David:

Here is what I know based on where I work (as a secretary at a church) and where I live (which is in a rural area).

Wedding bands - done

Invitations - done

Minister's fee: $100

Church rental - no charge for members

Organist (if you want one) - $100

Any vocalists? - $75 to $100

Marriage license - $20 (cheap!) - I live in Michigan.

Dress: This can be cheap! Have your bride look at David's Bridal (if there is one by you...or online)....right now they are having their $99 gown sale. Shoes can be bought at Payless. Accessories (necklace & earrings) can be bought very cheaply......Total price around $200

Your tux - $100

Flowers: If your bride or someone in the family is good at arranging flowers, and if you have a Walmart, Costco or Sam's Club by you....have your bride (or someone else) make the bouquets and boutonnieres! Have your bride look up online how to do it. There are many sites. A dozen roses at Walmart are only $10! Very cheap!

Reception: Does your fiance's church have a fellowship hall? If they do, take advantage of it and use it for your reception! This can be a HUGE savings! Again, where I work we do not charge to use the fellowship hall if the person is a member.

Food: Depending on your numbers, you can do a couple of things.

(1) If the numbers are big....100-200....then I would suggest a simple cake, punch and coffee reception (if you are trying to save money.) Do this by having an early afternoon wedding....say at 2 p.m. and then having cake, punch and coffee immediately following the ceremony. You can make it a little more fancy by having a "dessert reception" and offer more than just cake...also some brownies and bars of various flavors, pies? maybe even different flavored coffees.

(2) If your numbers are lower and you do want to provide a meal....it can still be cheap!

~ Baked chicken, baby red potatoes, a vegetable, salad and rolls is one idea.

~ You can do "italian" with pans of lasagne, baked ziti, a salad and garlic bread.

~ Baked ham, cheesy potatoes, a vegetable, rolls is another low cost meal.

If you did have the reception at the church, hopefully they will have plates, silverware, cups, and table linens that you can use. Otherwise, if you need to buy some tablecloths and if you have a Family Dollar store by you, they sell for only $5 each, which is cheaper than renting them!

Download some music on an ipod and have some music playing. = Free

Decorations: This can be really cheap! Is there a Dollar Tree store by you? You can buy clear glass vases that look like this:

http://www.save-on-crafts.com/ivybowlvase.html

They also sell "vase gems" like this:

http://www.save-on-crafts.com/vasgemmarsto.html

And then buy some floating candles at Michael's or Walmart (I don't think they have them at the dollar store, but I may be wrong.)

Anyway, for everything it would only be about $3/per table!

Sorry, I can't give you a total as it would totally depend on if you serve dinner or not and what kind of decorations you and your fiance decide on.

The only thing I would advise against is the table cameras. Even if you can only afford a photographer for a few hours....PLEASE hire a professional. OR...if you live in a college or university town, there are sometimes photography students who do this as a side job. Don't leave your wedding photos to amateurs with disposable cameras. You won't get what you want!

However, I DO THINK that you can pull this off for $2,000 (or less!)

Remember that you can still have a very nice wedding on a "budget." A budget wedding is not a cheap wedding...there is a difference! Also....you are no less married than someone who spends thousands more dollars!

Good luck!

The best way to save money is to not serve a meal and to not have alcohol. 200 guests is actually a very large wedding. I've seen 2 things: 1) Have a sunrise wedding. This way, you don't have to worry about food or alcohol, and its truly a gorgeous time of day. It is also unique and I've seen photo albums of sunrise weddings by a few places and they're really lovely. 2) Have an afternoon wedding, but have it at 3pm or so and don't let it run over the dinner hour. If it runs over the dinner hour, you should feed your guests a meal or at least heavy appetizers....gets pricey. If you have the afternoon wedding, you can still have a reception afterwards, and even dancing if you want to spend the $ on a DJ (you can get ones for cheap, just call around). Just serve cake and punch. If you want to have a longer reception, you might want to look into how much it would be to do just a few light appetizers. If you really want alcohol, buy your own kegs. I suggest a professional bartender, though, because if your guests drink, the bartender is liable for any accidents that may occur on the way home, not you. You can get creative with the cake if you want. You can buy a tiered wedding cake and decorate it yourself with flowers from Sam's Club (we did this), or you can have a dessert table where you have an assortment of cheesecakes, chocolates, etc. Nobody says you have to be traditional about it, unless you want to.

Also, if you have the wedding and reception in the same location, it saves you money having to decorate 2 places with flowers, etc. If you have a wedding party, they pay for their own tuxes, dresses, etc.

There are some great suggestions here for you from other people. I have yet to be married, so I can't tell you from my own experience. However, I have been looking into the same thing for awhile now. I have polled lots of friends, family and people online. I have found the following.

1- Obviously, the less people the cheaper it will be (reception wise at least).

2- The reception (if doing a tradition meal-type one) on average costs 1/2 of the total price- including wedding ceremony, reception, honeymoon, so on.

3- The last 3 weddings I have attended were all nice, simple weddings, with about 100 people in attendance. I figured out the average of those 3 weddings (after my friends told me how much they spent) and it came to be approximately $4,000. (I am budgeting for $3,000 for everything, but also plan on having less than 50 people.)

4- DJ, food and alcohol are the most expensive (going along with number 2 and receptions) . If you can get away with no alcohol or having a cash bar, hooking up a i-pod or karaoke machine and getting family and/or close friends to make food will save bundles. To go off this: a friend of mine had everyone close to her make the food and cake, bring drinks, and her father provided all the alcohol. In total she said she saved over $2,000 just on that alone. Also, a different friend of mine decided that instead of doing a dollar dance, or a money tree, they bought a karaoke machine ($80) and made their own CD's to use for it. They then bought raffle tickets and raffled off the karaoke machine. It was a huge hit. They made over $1,500 off the raffle, paying for it and giving them spending money for their honeymoon.

5- Decorations are nice, but there is no need to over do it. Simple and elegant is best (IMO) and cheaper than overdoing it.

6- If you can have the reception in someone's backyard or home, it will save a lot too. Halls and churches, while nice, add onto the financial burden.

If I come up with anything else, I will get back to you. I hope this helps at least a little.

Good luck and blessings to you!

Honestly, it will cost more than you think. What I did though was I set a budget for each part of the wedding and then just searched and searched until I got what i wanted that was within my budget. We did everything ourselves!!!! The reception and honeymoon is where you are going to spend the most of your money. But, if you're not planning on having either of those, you can definitely get away with what you are wanting to spend. Think of friends and family who have resources that would help. For instance, if a member of your family is creative, they may be able to help with a number of things. Something else that can get expensive is flowers. When I got married only my bouquet and my husband's boutonniere was real, the rest of the flowers were fake and I purchased them at Hobby Lobby for very reasonable prices. Hobby Lobby also has a good selection of other wedding decor, etc. as do most craft stores. Hope this helps! Good luck and congratulations!! Oh, I noticed you were not going to hire a photographer. I urge you, if you are going to "splurge" on something, this should be it. The photos will be the only tangible things you have to remember your special day. Trust me, I regret every time I see my photos that I didn't go all out on them.

To tell you the truth, a wedding with 100-200 guests isn't exactly small. And there are a lot of factors you haven't given so that we can help out. Are you catering the event? If so, tack on a couple thousand dollars. The preacher will cost $250, tops. Decorations depend on how elaborate you want, but they can be done for about $500 if you stick to a tight budget.

You should decide how much you can afford to spend on the wedding, and adjust the decorations, catering, venue, dress, etc. accordingly. Check out theknot.com for a budget calculator. You can give it the amount you want to spend total and it will tell you how much to spend on each aspect.

***EDIT***

If you're looking to stick to a tight budget, you should hold the event during early afternoon, so that you don't have to serve a meal. This will save you a lot of money. Buy the gown at David's Bridal during their $99 sale. Purchase the flowers online in bulk and arrange them yourself. Ask a friend or family member to act as DJ, and see how cheap your preacher is willing to perform the wedding for.

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RE:

How much does a small wedding cost?

How much does a small wedding cost? I'm looking for a dollar figure. I know that it'll vary, but I just want an idea. We already have the wedding bands and invitations taken care of... Just need an idea on the day itself. Preacher, decorations, etc. We're going to find out tonight if...

You've had some good suggestions, the mid-afternoon or mid-morning ceremony with cake and punch and no alcohol. Arrange flowers yourself using Sam's Club or the grocery store for blooms. Borrow whatever you can, people have all sorts of nice things just sitting in a drawer that you could use. Dress off the rack or from a sale at David's or even a thrift shop or resell store, eBay or the classified ads. If you're members of a church, you can probably use their facilities at little or no charge. Limit your guest list, 200 people is actually quite a lot.

About the photographer, please PLEASE do not rely solely on guests using disposable cameras. I am a photo lab manager, and I see these all the time, although thankfully they are somewhat not as popular as they were a few years ago. The images from these are never very good, poorly lit, taken by kids and people with their finger over the lens or flash, seldom do I see 3 good pics on a roll. Do not rely on them as your only photos. If you can't afford a professional (I strongly suggest that you find the funds for pro, though), at least ask a family member or friend who has a decent camera and can make tolerable snapshots to take over the photography. Or go to the local high school or college arts department and inquire about talented students who might like to make a few bucks shooting their first wedding. Also ask your guests to please snap away with their digicams and send you a CD with all their images.

Last summer I coordinated the wedding of my friend's daughter. We were on a strict budget as well as time constraints. We had a wedding and reception for 75 people for under $800 (not including their rings) Wedding ceremony was in my back yard. (No charge) She got her dress from eBay. We did supermarket flowers supplemented with wild and garden flowers and arranged them and made the bouquets ourselves. Three attendants each, they wore their own clothes in the bride's colors. Preacher did ceremony for $75 donation to his church. Afternoon reception with heavy hors d'oeuvres, punch, and only enough sparkley for the toast We bought a lot from Sam's Club, they have amazing frozen fingerfoods A few family members also made a food contribution, one did a melon basket, another wedding cookies, another bbq sausages. . We borrowed linens and serving pieces. Reception was in community clubhouse, rented for $30. Cake made by friend at cost. I did her photography as a wedding gift and included an album. Friend donated an antique limo for the cost of a tank of gas. Her uncle was in a band, and they donated their service for free. We shopped the dollar stores and thrift shops. A cousin did her hair and makeup, the others did their own. Took some careful shopping and a lot of DIY, but everyone thought she had a lovely wedding and a fun reception.

Try www.indiebrides for lots of cost cutting ideas. Best wishes to your future!

I recently did a small wedding (45 guests) for around £2000 which is about $4000. I'd save money by serving the food as a buffet style rather than plated meals, also don't waste money of flowers for the church, most churches are already decorated anyway, keep any reception decorations simple (bowls of floating candles are cheaper than floral arrangements) Have a "cutting cake" and then have trays of cake already cut for the guests (cheaper than a huge wedding cake).

There are a lot of factors that affect cost. Are you going to only have cake and punch reception or are you planning a sit down dinner or somewhere in between? How much is she planning to spend for her dress? Are the men going to wear tux's?

Weddings are expensive. We spent about $3000 for ours but we did everything ourselves. My mom made all the food for the reception (just finger foods), a friend from church made the cake, and we had a friend who is a photographer do the pictures.

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