Need advice on planning a small wedding...?

Hi and congratulations on your upcoming wedding!

I can understand how excited you are, but I would hold off just a little on the dress.

The FIRST thing I would do would be to determine WHERE the wedding and the reception are taking place. With a small guest list, you have lots of options! Do you have a home and yard big enough to have this in? If not, what about a family member or friend? You can also, of course, get married at your church (if you have one) and have the reception in the hall of the church. If you don't have any of those options open to you, then look at outdoor sites likes parks, nature areas, etc. Many state and local parks allow weddings, however, you should call the parks department of the city to inquire about any fees or permits. Do you live by a lake or beach? If so....that is also an option.

So, I would first decide where you want the wedding and reception. If it is going to be a more casual, outdoor area, then you will be able to decide on what type of dress would look good for that particular location. That's why I would hold off on getting the dress. You can always look, though!

After the venue for the ceremony and the reception are chosen, then you need to book an officiant. If you are having a church ceremony, simply speak with your minister. If it is going to be an outdoor non-religious ceremony, then call the local courthouse to secure a judge or justice of the peace to come to YOUR location to perform the ceremony.

After that....then go down the list of all the other essential things:

~ dress

~ tux or suit for the groom

~ bridesmaids? dresses

~ photographer

~ music?

~ invitations

~ cake

~ food or caterer for reception

~ attendant's gifts

~ rehearsal and rehearsal dinner

~ transportation

~ honeymoon

Good luck with your planning!

Start with the budget. How much money do you have to spend without getting into debt trouble? From there, you can figure out what you want to spend money on. Figure out where you want your money to go. We wanted good food more than big fancy flower arrangements. Another friend of ours wanted fancy deserts with very fancy decor. Other people are all about the dancing until midnight.

Our money saving tips (spent 6,000 including dress, photos, invites, etc):

~Don't do alcohol at the reception. Not only does this mean that dear old uncle joe won't get into a drunk driving accident on the way home, it means you don't have to pay for a huge bar tab. Also, many sites charge you more for site rental if you have alcohol on site, because of the insurance costs.

~Keep decorations in reason. We floated regular daisies in water coloured blue. The big wide shallow bowls were loaned to us by the florist. I bought the little glass blop beads from the dollar store to line the bottom.

~Be careful with your flowers. We did a flower package for 350$ that included all the decoration flowers, all the bridal party, and parents' flowers. The flowers were all coordinated flowers that were readily available (albeit from greenhouses, as it was feb in Canada). I think a lot of the 'cheaper' flowers are still very pretty, especially with just a few feature flowers (eg gerber daisies, or lillies) mixed in.

~Borrow, borrow, borrow, and buy the rest on sale or at a dollar store. Borrow what you can from friends, relatives, etc. Someone may have a nice tiara, and someone else might have some really nice cake servers.

~Cakes. Rent a fake cake, and buy a nice flat cake. It can be cut up off to one side (family members can do that nicely) and passed around. It cost us 60$ to rent and 40$ for a lovely carrot cake slab.

I would get you dress first. From there you will have a better idea of a budget. Go to a discount card store for small favors, invitations, guest book, thank you cards, things like that. Start looking for pictures of flowers you like then go to a local flower shop and plan which ones you will need for the big day. The day before, buy the flowers and arrange them yourself. Green floral tape is inexpensive and a very good way to hold a bouquet together. I joined roses and carnations together for a very pretty yet cheap arrangement. You can use ribbon to tie a bow around them if you prefer color. For the tuxes, RENT! It's the cheapest way to go and the groom should rent for free if there are 3 others renting as well. Payless has shoes that you can dye to match your dress if you need to. Walmart has everything you need to bake and decorate your own cake, very cost efficient. Nearly everyone on the planet has a decent digital camera so ask someone you trust to take pictures and you can get prints after the big day at walmart or walgreens cheap. Hopefully something here helps. Good Luck and Congrats!

The first thing I did was buy my dress. This cost me $140 but I bought it very early, before we even started planning so really it wasn't included in the wedding price if you look at it how I do. Then I made my guest list. It started out with 55 people and ended up with 85 so be careful! I decided to get married in the church I grew up in because my wedding is on the 12th and the weather can be unpredictable. My finace and I each have 2 people in our lines. The groomsmen are wearing black slacks and a white button down shirt that they both already owned. I am buying the ties for them because I want them to be the same color and design! My two sisters are my bridesmaids and we went shopping for their dresses today. I asked them to pay for them instead of bringing a wedding gift and they had no problem with it. My sister who is my MOH is buying her two childrens outfits (my flowergirl and ring bearer). I made my centerpieces completely from Dollar Tree. I am using what looks like tall Coke and Rum glasses and putting clear stones in the bottom and filling them with water and placing two floating tea lights on top. Then I just tied a ribbon in my wedding color around them. I am sitting a 2x3 picture frame next to each one with one of our engagement pictures in them. I have eight centerpieces and they cost me under $20. For my flowers I am going to Wal-Mart the day of my wedding and buying about 3 dozen roses for $9 a dozen along with some extra greenery $5?? I am making my own bouquets and boutineres. All you have to do is go to a store like Micheals or something and buy floral tape and wire. My bridesmaids will carry 3 roses, and the groom, groomsmen and fathers will have a boutineere. The mothers will carry a single rose. At my reception I am only serving drinks and cake. And i am making my own wedding cake. Theres alot more details but i'm sure you are tired of reading. All in all including my dress our total spent is about $400 right now. Any questions just email or IM. :-) congrats and good luck

All you really need to pay for is the marriage license, wedding bands, your dress, his tux rental, and your flowers, in that order. You could do your hair and makeup yourself. Wedding dresses can be expensive, but prom dresses now days are so similar to wedding dresses, just buy a prom dress(or even a bridesmaid dress) in white. Look for last years, or 2 years ago dresses at the shops, those are always cheaper and just as nice. Just have it in one of your parents yards (it would be free!), have a flower arch just to make the yard a little more fancy. I would just have one person stand up for you and your husband, so you could have a maid of honor and a best man, and the best man could rent his own tux, and the maid of honor could just buy her own dress. You could just have your friends and family and you and your husband go to a restaurant after the little ceremony, and request the special event room and everyone just order a meal that they pay for themselves. Or if you were wanting a dance and supper, you could have a potluck supper, where your family members could each bring a plate of food, and look into renting like a school gym, or a church basement, they can be cheaper then a whole hall, but you probably could not get a liquor license for those places.

Good luck!

My wedding costs were minimal. I bought a dress (off the rack), ordered a cake from the grocery store. I made arrangements with a local church and only had to provide some flowers and pay for the organist. The most expensive thing was invitations. The reception might be what to worry about.

I started off like you, wanting a small wedding of about 50 people. Then I started planning and guess what? I ended up with 100 people and still not done adding to the list. I'm unemployed and my only income as of right now is disability checks and my fiance's paychecks.

Here's what you do:

Find a location that's free but nice.

[ Ex: a park]

Yes, buy your dress.

[What size are you? I bought two dresses and am selling one because I need money for the wedding. If you're interested in seeing my dress email me at kwhitakur@yahoo.com]

Have your reception at a banquet hall that's cheap and cater your own wedding. Bring in your own fruit and meat trays or whatever you choose to do.

Then for invitations go to walmart and they have packs of 50, 75, 100 etc invitations and you can just personalize them. They are fairly cheap, like $5.00 for a pack of 50.

Hope this helped. Best of luck to you!

Good budget tips here:

http://community.theknot.com/cs/ks/user/page.aspx?...

First you get a wedding site, an officiant, and a reception venue.

http://theknot.com/

Go to the Knot. Follow their checklist. You may not want or need everything mentioned at the Knot, but it is a good place to start.