Ladies, I need help with my wedding?

I have an even smaller budget and it is doable! If you stRt doing most of the stuff urself for exMple buy the fabric from wholesale (tulle is greAt for decorating!) I am purchasing over 300 yards of 54" tule for 87.60 from online at giftsintl-us.com they have other items for decorating as well. I chose fake flowers over reAl because I have allergies but u could check out www.1888flowermall.com. I always refer back to my online budgeting tool from weddingwire.com and that helps u see where u may be over spending. By the way sorry for any typos I am on iPod touch.

For feeding 200 people, you can keep it pretty simple. I'm not sure if you're thinking of a full blown dinner, or if your having more of a buffet, where people serve themselves. You can keep it pretty simple. If you're doing dinner, have it be buffet style, but have caterers there if they're needed to help serve food. I would suggest catering in some sort of american food. That will be the simplest, and will ensure that everyone likes it. If you're doing something more like an informal party, then a fruit plate, crackers, bread, lunch meats, and perhaps sandwiches would be fine.

For decorating the hall, and tables; Make sure you space the tables evenly, and have them all symmetrical. That will give a very organized affect, and will look very formal. For the tables, I would pick two or three colours that look nice together (for example: light blue, dark blue, and white. Or light pink, hot pink, and white), and arrange to have that be the theme for the wedding hall. Put flowers on the tables, and plates (paper plates are fine, depending on how fancy the reception is), and candles. Perhaps arrange something like this:

http://www.google.com/imgres?q=wedding+decorations...

This is a formal setting, but looks very put together, and yet is very simple to do. If you don't like the colour scheme of it, you're welcome to substitute different colours. But make sure everything on the tables are in the same colour family.

As of how to buy flowers, I would go to a local flower shop, and get their advice on what flowers would look best, and what kind of themes and looks you're going for.

I definitely think it should be possible to do this in under 3,500 dollars. I wish you and your bride the best of luck, and I hope you have an absolutely wonderful time! Hope this helped

I know Bayonne, NJ. My ex BF used to live there. WOW! Small world! :)

For the food, look for restaurants in the area that cater. Have it a buffet style dinner. It'll be less of a hassle and you won't have to pay for wait staff, just servers.

For flowers, I can recommend WedIdeas.com. Check out their REAL TOUCH brand artificial flowers. They're cheaper than buying the real thing and you'll have them for a life time. This is where we got ours. :)

As for the table/hall decor, do you have a theme?

I am doing the same thing. What we did was went with mexican food. We are both mixed with black & white but mexican food is the easiest way to go. we have 200 people as well, so we went on craigslist and found a caterer who will cook mexican food, all you can eat, 200 people for $900. You can find a lot off of craigslist. I also did the same with the flowers. I found a lady who does them from her home but they look amazing!! as for the hall, buy the fabric from walmart or something and have a tailor make them. its super cheap! and then look for a "lighting & decor" person who will decorate with tulle. we're doing floating tea light candles for our centerpieces and you can get the candles in a bulk of like 144 for $20 at walmart. good luck!!

Feeding 200 people is massive! And it's also one of the biggest ticket items in a wedding, even one not so large. 200 is a HUGE wedding.

Cut your guest list down to 100. Seriously. It's impossible to self cater a group this large and even if you spent $10/person just on food, that comes to $2000. And $10 for food will be impossible to pull off. Then you add in all the tableware, glasses, and of course beverages, alcoholic or otherwise, plus ice. Add in 2 sets of postage for this many people. Add in centerpieces for this many.

I hate to say it, but it doesn't sound like you thought this through.

Cut your wedding guest list down to close friends and immediate family only. 200 guests says you are clearly inviting people you're not close to. Why would you want to invite someone who you don't talk to on a regular basis or see on a regular basis...especially if you can't afford it? I could see inviting a million guests if you had tons of money, but you don't.

For food, do you have a culinary school near you? They might cater the reception for less than professionals would charge so their students get some experience.