How much does a small wedding cost?

2,000 - 3,000 with the help of the family.

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.

Start shopping around and reading magazines (especially local ones). Talk to people in your area. I would estimate about $5000 to $10000. But you can spend a lot more. You might be able to get away with a little less. You need to set a budget and stick with it.

For our wedding, we had the ceremony and reception at a nice hotel (Doubletree), we had an open bar during cocktail hour ($900), dinner, a dj, a photographer, cash bar during reception, water, and coffee/tea served with dessert (wedding cake). We had just over 100 guests. It cost about $15,000. It may have been closer to $18,000 now that I really think about it. We had flowers too. I made the centerpieces and put candy on everyone's table. Dinner was about $30 a plate. (3 course meal, appetizer, salad, and entree) During cocktail hour, we had cheese/crackers, and hot/cold hors d'oeuvres passed around. I would have loved done an open bar throughout the entire affair but I couldn't afford it. I think drinks were anywhere from $5 to $12 each.

edit: Eloping is always cheaper but you won't have the memories of having your family there. Decide what is really important. The day flies by fast. Hire a great photographer if you do it. That's not the place to skimp in because those will be what you look at years from that day.

Shop around. It costs nothing to get out there and talk to people. Look for a trade show (bridal expo) because then you can speak with people all at one place and bargain. You can get all kinds of information and even talk to other couples, share experiences, information, etc. It's completely worth going. There are lots of them all over the U.S.

My wedding was very small. The booze will cost you. My total was around 3000. I had a small wedding with 45 guests, a reception with full dinner, then about a month later, we had another reception for anyone who could not attend the first one due to the fact we got married 2 hours away from home. I would be prepared for a budget of atleast 4000 or so. good luck-- the stress is terrible, but it will be worth it in the end.

I think that if you were to cut corners and find a cheap hall & caterer you could have this wedding for $5000-7000. Go to theknot.com and use their budgeting tool to figure out how much you can spend on each aspect with a budget that size. This will give you a good idea of where to start.

***EDIT***

Remember, that this money is paid over a few months. If you have a 12 month engagement, then paying $5000 just means you'd pay an average of just over $400/ month. You should figure out how much you can spare in a month, and set that aside. Then determine your wedding plans and engagement length accordingly.

I spend $3500 total.. and that is including the dress.. I didn't waste money on a photographer.. I had plenty of camera happy family members at the wedding that caught more than a photographer would have.. I see my wedding pics compared to my sister's and friends who were proffessionally done and I love mine so much more! I bought my dress from David's bridal.. but there are lots of dresses you can buy used to save a little. Our church was $500 and I put the most into our reception.. that was $1500 and that was open bar for 4 hours, a buffet style dinner for 125 people, our cake, set up and clean up and tip. I make my own flowers, centerpieces and "thank you" gifts. I also bought disposable cameras and put them on all the tables in the hall which I got some of the greatest pictures from !

You really need to set your budget before you start planning.. and just take your time and shop around.. I started planning my wedding about a year in advance to give me time. Our hall also let us go in and put a deposit down and make montlhy payments to them which was a huge help that way we didn't have to come up with it all at once.

You can have a beautiful wedding that isn't going to break the bank.. ours was a traditional catholic wedding so the church itself was decoration and an awesome reception. . our DJ was a gift.. he was a friend of ours that gifted his services to us. .. shop around and have fun with it.

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RE:

How much does a small wedding cost?

if anyone could please share their stories of finance i would greatly appreciate it. Im looking for a small wedding probly about 50 guests. and to rent a hall. booze, and a small dinner. I have a photographer and ill have to buy a dress too. any tips, suggestions, stories or even numbers would be...

Depends on the dinner to be honest w/ you I'm having a small wedding w/ 100 gusts and it will be about 10,000.00. But you do have your photographer so that helps alot. The web site that I used that helped alot was Toronto wedding guide. Depends what area you are in I guess. the Heinzman house is reasonable. If you do it on a Friday it is alot cheaper.

A lot of it is going to depend on where you live. If you want to get an average on what people spend in your city on a wedding, then you can check out this website. It will give you some interesting information.

http://www.costofwedding.com/

But, with 50 guests, I think that you can definitely do it on a small budget. Go to your cities webpage and check out the park and recreations section. Look for the facilities that they rent in your city. They usually are rented out fairly cheap. After that, see where your budget is at, then find a caterer to work with that budget.

Best of luck!

Food & booze will be your largest expenses. Shop around. A buffet dinner may cost less than sit-down. Friday and Sunday dinners may also be less than a Saturday.

It also depends upon your area. Where I am, a cheap dinner is $50 per plate for a buffet and open bar (before tax/gratuity).

Hi, I got married 5 months ago, we spend 6,000. We had 300 people, and the wedding was fun. My sister in law planned my wedding, we had a small budget but thanks to her creativity we saved a lot of money. All the details of my wedding were just fantastic. She used this site that already has a lot of tips to help you save a lot of money. Check the link:

http://www.keepandshare.com/htm/wedding_planning/f...

Good luck!!