Low budget wedding planning help?

Hello!! I used to live in Parker, Az forever, and I just got married and moved to Blythe. Anyway, I go to havasu all the time. I LOVE IT. I LOVE the mall. lol.

Im sure you know where Parker is right? well anyway like 15 miles away from parker, going to havasu, there is a place called "La Paz County Park". I got married here. It's very nice, and big. Capacity for like 300 people. Its like 200 feet away from the river, it overlooks the river.

I got married October 2008. I payed 100 dollar deposit, and an additional 200 dollars. That lets you use the kitchen. It's 50 dollars less without the kitchen.

Heres the phone number, if you want it.

(My wedding was a low budget too, and It came out great), if you want email me at valencia9289@live.com , ill send you pics of my wedding, i approximately payed about 2000-3000 dollars, that includes everything!!.

(928) 667-2069 La paz county park

Ohhh yeah, and the venue is called "The Pavilion".

--Call Party Express, in Havasu, ask for Nini, I rented round tables there (the venue has square, and I wanted round). Party Express is great, they do catering, video, photo, etc, they'll help you out. I just inquired about the catering, and tables.

I asked about catering (just for the servers). Because, we had this lady make the meat, etc, and the servers just served it.

Email me and I will help you out! I want to help you out, because I know how it is being on a low budget wedding. I had to find all this stuff out myself, I basically planned my entire wedding (im only 19).

Just keep Simple in Mind!!! Don't have a wedding party!! Just you & your husband (try to find a state or city park @ at the lake, you maybe able to have it there for free or low cost) Just rent some chairs! Keep the wedding small with just you guys parents & siblings! You can even have a BBQ at the Lake! Check with local restaurants you will be amazed at how many do offer catering! If yo want to rent tables too to eat on then for center pieces use a vase with sand and a candle (flowers cost a lot). You could also just have the wedding at the lake then go to a restaurant with outside sitting and have a late lunch (wedding must be early) Dinners cost more!! Just remember that What cost is the Food per person @ the reception!!!

First off- let it truly sink in that $3000 isn't alot of money. Wedding stuff is so ridiculously expensive...so don't get down when you start feeling like it's impossible. And you will feel that way.

Next pick the top 3 things you want to spend your money on. I would honestly focus on what makes you happiest. For me it would be seeing me and my guy happy and my family enjoying themselves. Spend it on food and honeymoon.

Here's what I would do:

Ceremony: go to a nice park. Don't provide chairs- just make sure the ceremony is quick. Provide cold water and paper fans. Get a close friend or relative to get ordained. Priests and ministers are pricey!

Flowers- use wild flowers.

Reception: go to a restaurant. Do a brunch. And have the restaurant provide your guests two options that are within your budget. You won't need decorations.

Cake: have your mom or someone or you bake a yummy cake.

If you simply MUST have decorations...keep it simple. eBay.

Dress and accesories: eBay, nordstorms.com (wedding section) or davidsbridal.com. I've seen dresses for $99.

Honeymoon:

Rent a nice bed & breakfast place or nice hotel for the night.

If you decide on a wedding party only do a maid of honor. Wild flowers again for bouquet.

Have disposable cameras for pictures. Or if you have a friend good with camera, ask for a favor.

Do your own hair makeup and nails.

Setup a free wedding website.

And, please, send thank you cards!! $3 at target!

Good luck & congratulations!

If you can get the land for a decent price for a decent amount of time (like for the ceremony AND reception), go for it. If you decide you want to be married in a church, check a church that you or your FH are a member of. Typically, churches charge less for members than they do nonmembers.

Food- Check out catering, but be ready for some pretty "up there" prices. Caterers are pretty pricey, even if it is through a local restaurant. Consider doing the food yourselves. (You can recruit some "friends of friends" or some teenagers to set stuff up.)

Decorations- Check out orientaltrading.com and efavormart.com. These sites are both inexpensive, and efavormart has a flat $4.95 shipping rate.

Any other questions, feel free to email me. I'm planning a wedding for next summer with just a $5000 budget (250 some guests though).

Our family has never been in favor of large weddings. We come from humble means and look down on temporary extravagances. We have weddings in parks, backyards, halls for rent, churches, and there was once a reception held in an apartment that was vacant because my cousin hadn't moved in yet. They rented chairs and tables and hired a DJ. That was one of the best weddings ever. We had so much fun and we still talk about it. It helped that his brother was a chef and did the cooking, but if you don't have a pro in the family, good down home cooking will do just as well.

Even if you had more $30,000.00 saved by then, wouldn't that money do you better invested in your first home? Business? College for your kids? Expensive weddings are a huge waste for people from humble beginnings. Good Luck and Congrats!

For a tight budget and a large guest list, I recommend having an informal wedding. That means skip the bridesmaids, but you and hubby can still dress up. Yes, ask the local restaurants about catering. I would also suggest seeing if you could get some of your family members to help (get some nice aprons to keep their clothing clean).

What about a wedding in a park-they do that around here. What about the grocery stores-do they cater?

Decorations--if it's outdoors, you got the bulk of them. I would look on wedding sites for cute, cheap ideas if you're having it indoors.

Have fun planning the wedding. I got married on a shoe string and it was still lovely. I got a dress of the rack, my MIL bought the photos, my mom bought the wedding headress, my FIL had put aside a diamond for his son to give me, and we bought a simple gold band. We got smaller flowers, had a smaller wedding party and just cake, nuts and mints for the reception, no food. I think lots of folks could bypass the meals, anyway-just have it during the afternoon.

Everyone knew we were broke and didn't have any expectations of super table favors, etc. They just came to wish us well!

ok look at out door locations that you can go like camp grounds state parks they might charge a fee to enter for a dollar or two a person so worth it

food hmm can you have your wedding at noon and do a lunch it will be cheeper then dinner and also get married on a week day not week end.

a location for the weekend might charge 24.00 per person for lunch and 29.00 for dinner for a sat to sunday menu

same menu done on thurs or friday 14 for lunch and 19.00 for dinner for the same thing and they can throw in extras like table cloths ec.

Hey!!!

E-mail me at BrideMrsMoran@yahoo.com

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