How can I plan a wedding for under $2000?

Question

My fiance and I are about to lose hope of ever getting married. Everything costs SO much money! We don't have a lot of resources considering most of all of our family and friends live out of state, across the country. We'd really like to plan a fall wedding and live in the Altanta, GA area. Money is tight and right now it's looking as though it could take years to save up enough to get married or the alternative of having to start our marriage in debt with a loan. We're paying for this all alone, our families cannot afford to help us any. Please, if you have any suggestions or tips, we'd really appreciate it! We're each going to have six attendants, which due to the number of siblings and extremely close friends we have is non-negotiable.

Answer 1

can you say bbq?

Answer 2

It's very easy to get legally married by submitting a marriage application to a justice of the peace and signing the papers. It doesn't cost much at all, and you will be married.



If you want a big lavish ceremony, it is going to be expensive. Weddings are a lucrative business and nobody is about to lower their prices on traditional cakes, gowns, etc.



If you want a religious wedding without spending a lot of money, you'll have to break from tradition. It is possible to have an outdoor wedding. Talk to a priest, rabbi, minister, or whoever performs marriages in your religion. You can buy a dress that is not a traditional "wedding dress" but is still suitable, and do the same for your attendants. You can hold the wedding on a friend or family member's property for free, and it can be very beautiful to be outside on the grass in the sunlight. I've seen people do this and been much more impressed than I ever would have been with a traditional wedding in a stuffy church.

Answer 3

You have several alternatives.



Since most of your family is out of state, then you can elope instead. You can get a fancy wedding for $2000 Las Vegas and under.. You can rent your dress, his tux, have a fresh flower bouquet, have professional wedding pictures and a professional video of your wedding on a beautifully decorated chapel. There are packages that include all of this plus champage, flute glasses and cake cutters. You can double it up as a honey moon too. Since you are not expecing a lot of people, you can just invite a few that can affor going to Las Vegas with you. You only need one witness to be with you.



If you really want to get married in Atlanta, then you can skip the church and ger married at the Justice of the Peace. You can rent his tux and you can buy your dress of the rack or online for about $300 or less. I've hear many women saying that ebay have beautiful and unexpensive dresses. Try catching off-season wedding sales to get a great deal on your dress.



Youc an try for a community hall, church reception hall, VWF hall for your reception. Or you can have it at some friend farm or house. You can also have it outdoors in a community park or garden. All you have to do is to ask permision in the county hall and there are no fees associated with this.



Skip the limo and let some friend drive you. Skip the fresh flowers and use sild flowers intead, Print your own invitations. Have a brunch or cocktail hour wedding instead of a dinner reception. This will save you a lot of money since you will be seving hors d'ouvres instead of a full meal.



Skip the alcohol. Serve light refreshments only. Toast with sprakling grape juice instead. Youc an also have a cash bar, and break even or even make a profit.



Skip the party favours or make them your self. Tulle bags with candy will suffice if you must give them, but no one even remembers the favours. You can save money by skiping them.



Go to the oriental tradding website to get some unexpensive decorations.



Skip the DJ and let one of your wanna be DJ cousins/friend take care of the music. Burn a CD with your favorite songs and let it play in the background.



Enroll the help of your family and friends. Know anybody that is crafty? Do you know a photography student or amateur photographer?



Buy your caker ate a supermarket or local bakery. Walmart have decent looking cakes for a fraction of what you would pay for a professional wedding cake.



Be creative. You don;t have to do a fromal wedding. They are boring and too comecialized. Find alternatives: a bbq themed wedding, a pot luck wedding, a themed wedding that can accomodate your particular hobbies. Use your resources and imagination.



Good luck

Answer 4

Have you arranged for a church already? What is that expense? I thought you had to get the license within 30 days of the ceremony, so why did you get that so early (or maybe our states have different policies)?



I have hundreds of ways to cut costs. I'm planning a wedding for 200 people on $4500. you can email me at rswedding2007@yahoo if you want.



You can eliminate the engagement and wedding rings, eliminate the big-deal dresses and let attendants wear whatever they want (or just tell them all what color you want and they go shopping with the color in mind), just have the men wear business suits. You do not need flowers, or each woman can carry one blossom each with a piece of lacey ribbon on it.



The reception can be very simple, like just cookies and lemonade in a friend's backyard or the church's hall. It does not have to be a meal if you have it at a non-meal time of day. (What you DON'T want to do is have a cash bar or have the guests have to pay for anything at your wedding, because that is RUDE. Other than that, whatever you can afford to provide is fine-- there is no shame in having a simple wedding reception.)



You can hand-write the invitations, that is actually more personal than having them printed. you can get thank you notes from teh goodwill, usually-- many stationery stores donate the things that they can't sell or that are out of season.



Just make sure you get someone reliable and talented to take photos, though. My parents had to have a very low budget wedding but their photos turned out so crappy-- that is the only thing they regret. They've been married 35 years.



I will be happy to help more if you contact me.



you are talking about it being "traditional"-- it is actually MORE traditional to do a wedding the way I've described above than it it is have an expensive celebrity-style Dinner Dance of the Century-- that would NOT be traditional!

Answer 5

First, you can have something simple right now, and then have a larger wedding five or even 10 years from now. My friends were married at the courthouse, and on thier 15th anniversary, they had their huge wedding. It was beautiful.



However, here's my thoughts on how to have your wedding for that amount of money:



1-Dress - david's bridal usually has sales for gowns @ $99 or you can even look into bridesmaids gowns that you can use for a wedding gown - sort of a fancy look or different. Try places like JC Penny or Sears, and Macy's who all have bridal departments.



2- In lieu of bridesmaids holding bouquets, they can hold one rose or hold nothing - totally up to you. Just make sure you have a bouquet.



3- See about renting a hall for around $300, and try a local caterer. If not, how about asking family to chip in and cook and have an outdoor reception. Or, do something simple like finger foods and a cake.



4- ceremony locations - you can get married at city hall, and ANYONE can perform a ceremony after that. You can have a family member or trusted friend conduct the ceremony at a park,

or any other place you don't have to pay for.



5- when I got married, we asked the groomsmen just to wear a black suit with a red tie to match the dresses. It was that easy.



6- If worse comes to worse - get married in Las Vegas! My ceremony package was extremely reasonable and included so much. Some of the chapels on the strip can put the wedding online! If you have to push back your wedding six months to save up some more money, try that? Or wait until after income tax time, and use some of that money!

Answer 6

The only way I can answer your question is by telling you how I got married.



I couldn't skip on my dress 'cause I always wanted a pretty wedding dress for the most special day in my life and trust me, it is, it's not just a saying.



I went into the local bridal shop when they had a sale on and it didn't take me long to find my dream gown. It just fit and cost me (I'm going to rougly estimate) £200.



We booked a registry office wedding which cost £30 each = £60 (the registry office looked very much like a church inside and wasn't tacky at all).



I didn't have a vale, it's rather out-dated but had a flower tiarra instead (which I picked up in a charity shop - you'd have to look around for something you like though). This cost about £9.



I asked for make-up advice and did my own (quite well considering the photos - the key is to use quite a bit 'cause you will look very pale on video).



I had my hair done - It cost me £10 to have my hair curled.



My dad walked me down the short but still there "passage" to the front.



We had a friend record it all and my mom played a song from cd on a portable player.



As regards the photos - I asked all my guests to lend me their negatives (which I had both developed and put onto cd) or put their photos on cd and hand it over. That cost me about £5.



Oh, shoes didn't matter that much 'cause if your dress is long enough, you can't see shoes but I'm sure a pair 'just for the day' would be fine (like mine cost something stupid like £3).



My mom and I went to the market, she bought about 4 roses, blue lint (that was the main colour for my wedding: blue and white) and some type of grassy stuff and just tied it together in the most beautiful bunch! That cost what, £1.50?



I bought a tiny little handbag from the thrift store for £3.



For the 'after party' we booked a section of the pub, had their buffet and wine for 17 people and that cost £250. Any other drinks they wanted, they had to pay for themselves.



This was just over 2 years ago and I can assure you, it was absolutely perfect. It WAS the most special day in my life as it should've been and just because I didn't spend £10,000 doesn't mean it wasn't beautiful, special and generally wonderful.



The £ to $ is just over two so roughly, my amazing wedding cost about $1084. Obviously you know where to shop in the USA or where to look and would have to do your own investigating but the one thing I can tell you: don't give up hope, it can be done and, there's no need to spend a fortune on having a wonderful wedding and certainly, don't start married life with debt, it can wreck it.



Good luck and when you get married, have a wonderful day!

Answer 7

List the things you need to spend money on and set a dollar limit on each category (dress, flowers, etc.). That will help you set priorities. Keep it small - more guests equals higher costs.



Some cost-cutting tips:



Forego the wedding dress for a nice dress that can be worn on other occasions.



Have a friend play DJ for the reception.



Have a friend act as photographer. Perhaps go to a pro's studio and have a nice portrait done. Buy the negatives so you can have more or bigger prints made when you have more money.



Use a PC to make your own invitations.



Serve appetizers and soft drinks at reception.



Keep in mind that the marriage is the thing, not the wedding.



Get plates, napkins, etc. from Sam's Club or similar.

Answer 8

1) Wedding Ceremony Where will it be held, how much will it cost, who will take care of what, yes assign someone to take care of this part. Your task is to make sure everything is organized. Home weddings tend to be more expensive becaue of the decorations, the seating arragements and all so I would recommend a church or chappel. Browse the net for some lovely chappels around your area, a high price tag doesn't always guarantee a good wedding. Some of the most beautiful wedding venues are the most overlooked ones.



2) Guests List Something so simple, but yet so overlooked, will you be using a guest book, assign someone to make sure everyone signs the book, and that there is a pen available. You second list is the one you create together with both sides of the family, that is the list of who you will be inviting. Plan this together, you don't want Granny getting mad, because you forget to invite some long time friend of the family. People cost money= more people more money. Thus, always make sure you know how many are going to come or your planning on inviting. Make sure to post out RSVP's



3) Wedding Reception You have to consider if your having a band, a singer or maybe a DJ. How many people are you catering for, you want everything to be just right. Do this one correct, it is the one most overlooked. My mom had her church choir do a small special of elton johns song since she couldn't afford a band and everybody thought i was just splendid.



4) Organize The Venue Yes, make sure you know who will be adding the flowers and decorations. Make it a point that it will be done a day ahead of the ceremony, that way you can make any changes if needed. flowers are really expensive, i learned tht the first time i bought my date some. So browse the net for some great deals. optionally you can buy flowers in bulk and decorate them yourself. its time consuming but it saves a lot.



5) Date Of The Wedding You won't believe how many people fail to plan a date that will fit within the planned schedule for getting organizing their wedding. Plan way ahead, and get invitations and stationary order in advance, that should be the first thing you organize. The wedding date is important as things tend to cost more during certain seasons.



6) Your Dream Wedding Cake Make sure to do this part yourself, go out and find your dream wedding cake maker and go over every detail that you wish this cake to have. Please state the time and date that you would like this cake to be delivered. The cake should be the last thing going to the venue. Or you can make the cake yourself. My mom had her her mom, my granny, bake her wedding cake as she wasn't able to buy one.



7) Please do enjoy your wedding day Try to keep out of each others way, should you not agree with something, please have considerations for each other, your planning the dream wedding of your life. No need, to get mad on your wedding day, money is important but whats more important is to stick together.And if you feel this is just too much for you to organize, the get yourself a wedding planner or a close friend to help you out.I wish you both, a long lasting life together, may you enjoy a wonderfull wedding and an equally amazing and happy life together. :)

Answer 9

A friend of mine got married awhile back and asked me the exact same question.



Make a mixtape or mix CD of your favorite music. You don't need a band or a dj to play...and heck it's just background reception music and/or music you're going to dance to.



Do you really have to rent a tux and/or dress? Wear a nice suit that you already own and a nice Summer/Fall colored dress. Dress casual and comfortably and warm...it is Fall.



Talk to the city resources and see if you can have a small and intimate wedding in one of the local parks for two or three hours for little or no money.



Your food/appetizers can come from your local grocery store or deli. And, since you are not having a lot of attendants, it shouldn't burn a hole in your pocket.



Flowers and other arrangements can be any price - from the low end to high upscale. Choose a nice arrangement, but don't go overboard.



I bet you don't even crack $1000 on this.



By the way, I didn't even go to my friend's wedding, so he could save some money. And, he and his fiance spent less than $2000 on their wedding - he rented a tux, made three mix CDs, had beautiful flowers, good food, and even two wedding rings.



Good luck and congratulations!

Answer 10

Keep your guest list small. Get family and friends to help you with everything. You can make a lot of things that will save you money. Don't go overboard on flowers, find them cheap at a flea market or do something different for centerpieces (like floating candles). And you could even put together your own bouquets for cheaper. For pictures, a good idea that I've seen on here is to take the bridal party to Glamour Shots before the ceremony, it's a lot cheaper. And then just have someone take pics of the ceremony and the reception with a good digital camera. You could also get a friend to videotape it and make that their gift to you. For food, go with a buffet. This will be your most costly thing. Get some quotes from caterers, tell them your budget and they'll tell you what foods they can serve for that price. If it's still out of your price change, get party platters from restaurants. You could do stuff like wings, eggrolls, chicken fingers, ribs, mashed potatoes, salad, Italian, just about anything. They'll supply you with huge servings of whatever food you want. You would still want to hire some servers to clean up and set up the food. You don't want to worry about that on the big day. And if you're serving alcohol, get a bartender. Letting guests serve themselves can cause a big mess. Buy your alcohol and sodas when they're on sale. You could even serve only beer and wine to save more money. Get your cake from Publix, they're reasonable and it's good. For wedding favors, shop around on the internet, then check out Ebay for the same items and compare prices. I found the same exact stuff on there for cheaper than other websites. They also sell wedding invitations which is how I found mine. You could also have the ceremony and reception at someone's house or a park. We did ours at a park overlooking the water, and they had a hall that we rented for the reception. Also, David's bridal has cheap wedding dresses. I got mine at Dillard's, though, but we were having an informal wedding. They have really great prom dresses there that would make great bridesmaid dresses, too. Good luck!

Answer 11

Keep it very small and only small foods. Find someone who belongs to costco. Get your flowers, cake and food there. Then find a good church that you both can join if you don't have one now. Have the reception at the church. They might let you do it for free if they know that you are having a hard time or for a small fee. Lots of times churches will do this because they want you to raise your children to belong to that church. Be honest about your intentions towards them though. If I could have done my wedding over I would have saved the 1,000 dollars on the flowers and bought them at costco and did it myself. A few roses in a small vase at each table will be classy. Votive candles do not cost that much either, put them on a mirror. Find a cheap white dress, you can if you look around Davids bridal has cheap tacky ones! But if you really try you can find a really nice one in a small bridal store. Just ask for the discounted ones.

Start spreading the word out that you want a cheap wedding you will not believe what will happen. I didn't know until after the fact that my neighbor makes wedding cakes only for people that she knows. That could have saved us 400 dollars! My sisters friend was a DJ for 100 dollars! Find a friend that takes good photos and put them in charge!

Anyone you know that lives in a fancy house with a nice back yard? I am sure they would be honored to hold a wedding there. Don't be afraid to ask for discounts either. When I planed my wedding (granted it cost almost 20,000) I did it in 3 months. I had four or five different reception halls competing to get me. All kinds of discounts, free cakes, invitations, percents off etc... Just because they wanted to fill in the date.

Attendents are negotiable! It is your wedding not theirs. Only have one very close person standing. You do not have to have all your friends, cousins etc standing. Just sisters and brothers. Honor your friends in a different way in the program or something.

Answer 12

OH I just love the chance to answer this question. When my daughter got married, we had very little money. We had no flowers. Nobody missed them either. The ceremony was at a church. I cleaned my basement and painted the walls and floors and used sparkles on the paint. I covered the ceilings with plastic table clothes different people got together and cooked their favorite recipes. We rented tables and chairs from U-Haul. We hired a novice photographer and had our own camcorders. We had balloons tied to the backs of chairs in the bridal colors. The brides gown cost $300 at JC Penney outlet (it was beautiful)



I could go on and on everything was absolutely perfect. We did it for the couple that is in love'; not to empress everyone else. Everyone complimented everything. The photographer said that was the best food he ever tasted at a wedding reception. We spent less than $2000. You could even have enough left to buy flowers. If you have a computer you can use your imagination on making small rememberances for all the guest.

Answer 13

If you don't have to have your wedding in a church, check out your local parks. It sounds crazy, but if there is a park that is already gorgeous, book it! Lots of them run at like $35! Go simple on flowers...they can be pricey. Single stem flowers with a ribbon or bow around them for bridesmaids can look great. Once the bridesmaids are done in the ceremony portion, take their flowers and use them wherever they are needed as decorations for the reception (if the bridesmaids aren't in the line). Decent quality flowers can be ordered at Costco. Find paper on sale at a scrapbooking store and print your own invitations. If you can't afford to include a picture in your invites, I've seen a couple draw little stick figures as part of their invite and it actually turned out pretty cute. Even cheaper, you can send out postcards as announcements. That eliminates the cost of enevelopes and cuts back on postage. Just include the address for a wedding website for guests to go on to get all the details of the wedding. (sites are free from weddingchannel, the knot, etc.) Use friends as photographers. Cut back on food--it's expensive!! One idea: do an ice cream bar! Get plastic martini glasses and have someone scoop ice cream, then have dishes set out with various toppings and sauces. The martini glasses make it look fun and stylish without much cost. Wedding cakes are hard for a DIY project if you don't have experience. Something that you could tackle on your own is cupcakes stacked as a cake. Brides are also using cream puffs, donuts, or other pastries they love, in place of a traditional cake. There are so many ways to save...just get creative, think outside the box, and consider almost ANYthing a possibility. You'll do a great job!!

Answer 14

Do an Early morning wedding this way there are no food costs. Have a friend photograph you would be surprised @ who would enjoy doing this. Use a local church,friend or family's home for the ceremony. Let the surrounding be the beauty and skip the flowers. Just ask any groomsmen and brides maids to dress in suits and dresses in a specified color. Small is better just close friends and family. You also should just have a party @ a later date or that night for a reception. Chips beer wine .

Answer 15

do you have to have a lavish wedding? I'm sure your fiancee and you are in love with each other enough so you don't have to focus on material possessions. legally, all you have to do is get married thru court and have a reception at your house, or if your house is small, a park....i know it's going to be a bit casual but with only $2000, you have to be willing to cut corners. I'm sure you can find a decent dress for under $400, and with only 14 people attending(including yourself and fiancee) you should be able to get someone to cater for a lot less than that, then you can rent out a few chairs and tables for your reception...i don't know if this would help, but if i were in this situation, i would be more than happy do do this just so i can finally call him my husband

Answer 16

Honey, you need to think out-of-the-box! I went to a wedding in a tiny desert town, they had the local diner do country chicken and pie, the attendents wore pink (brides) and blue (grooms) monogrammed bowling shirts, and then they went to a local bowling alley and had a beer and shot party with bride/groom teams competing for the booze by frame. It was so cheesy it was great. Here is the kicker: the grooms brother (a huge movie star) was there and having as much fun as everyone else. We took over a local motel and the party went all night.



Here is what you need to remember. Invite everyone who loves and cares about you. I'd rather have hot dogs with a couple who I like than Filet Mignon with someone I don't. Be honest with you attendents, tell them that just can't afford huge glamour and that the most important thing is the celebration. Here are some ideas off the top of my head:



Take over a dive bar! get a bar band (not a wedding band) they will play for drinks and a few hundred buck. Pay for tap beer and trays of deli food or wings or what ever.



Rent a local city park or garden have friends bring food and flowers.



Check out local museums and galleries, they are cheaper than you think and most are closed at night.



A historic place, boxing gym, School gymnasium, warehouse, bank, stately home, art and photo studios are great too.



Go to Craigs list and look for venues



Get food at Costco, including your cake! bring cases of beer and box wine.



Forget about trying to be lavish, have some fun. Make it yours!



Lastly- Your dress- Look at vintage ones, or have a relatives re-cut for you. Be creative!



Good luck!

Answer 17

If you're serious about that budget, you're only real choices are to elope or push the costs back to your family and friends.



To do the latter, you would still have to do things very cheaply as even a dress for you and suit for your fiance are going to be pricey. You could get all your attendants to pay for their own things (clothers, jewellery, flowers, cars etc) and get the other guests to pay for their own dinners but the reality is that you risk pissing off a lot of people in doing this.



You would also pretty much have to ditch all the niceties like flowers and bomboniere as, even if you make these on your own, the materials all cost money.



I don't think you're being realistic about having 6 attendants each on that budget. If you want to have a wedding on $2,000, you're going to have to think a lot more simply.

Answer 18

Simply get married. No frills. No attendants.



You need to be a little more realistic. If you can't afford to do it the way your heart is set on, then come up with something new. For that money, I'd much rather have 10 guests and go out to a nice dinner in the back room of a restaurant than try to force 100 guests to eat McDonalds and pay for their own drinks while sitting in crappy chairs at the YMCA.



6 attendants each??? Those kind of numbers should really be reserved for formal weddings. Don't forget that you are going to have to pay for the rehearsal dinner, flowers for each one of them, gifts for each one of them, and pick up the tab on anything they can't afford.



If you can't afford to treat your guests right, then you need to reconsider what you are planning. Guests deserve to be treated like guests, not cattle, so seriously consider this when planning. I agree that you don't want to start your marriage in debt, but if you can't afford to do it right, then you should find another way to do it. Remember, it's the marriage that's important, not the wedding. Save up and have a massive anniversary party in 10 years and go all out. That will be much more meaningful than a mediocre wedding. Trust me!



Good luck to you in this! : )

Answer 19

I know this is very unromantic, but my best advice is to go to the court-house and elope. Spend the $2K on a great reception following it.

You can't even hire a church and buy any flowers for under $2K.

And YOU are supposed to put those out-of-town guest up at a hotel on your nickel. Why should they come if it is going to cost them $1000 to stay at a hotel/buy plane tickets and buy you presents?

Instead, you could hire a little band($300-700), and eat sheet cake you made ($200, including plates and forks and napkins) have your party outside at a park, under a pavilion (free or very cheap for electricity.-call City parks dept.) If you have all your friends and family bring you a plant, like rose bushes or redbud trees or tulip bulbs, you could landscape your new home with wedding presents. Keep them forever and together watch them grow = very romantic.

You could read poems to each other, and dance with all your friends and family.

They (and you) will remember a great party instead of a cheap wedding.

If you have to have 12 attendants, and a fancy dress and loads of flowers and a guest book and all the bells and whistles, you are going to need about $12-25,000!

You want to start off your married life in debt for a big show and non-negotiable expectations? (Good luck staying married!)

Or start off your married life, facing reality together, compromising, being romantic, together with family and friends-who are able to get there under their own steam-and with landscaping for your new home? (You will have less of a wedding and more of a marriage.)

Or are you trying out for "Bridezilla?"

Answer 20

Contact shows on TLC to see if they have any contests. Send in a really good tape and maybe you'll win. Other ideas are to keep things simple. The biggest costs will be Photog/video, flowers and reception. Cut out the photog, carry loose flowers from a wholesaler and then just have a cake and punch reception. It's going to have to be small and then maybe you can have a bigger party on one of your anniversaries. If people want to give you wedding gifts, you can ask for a wedding cake or photographer as a gift. Also, cupcakes with white frosting and silver sprinkles on a tier makes a really good wedding cake!

Answer 21

Get your priorities straight. The wedding is NOT important. The marriage IS.



To keep things in line financially, you can do the following:

1) Get married at home by a Justice of the Peace.

2) Have the men wear their best suit (including the groom)

3) Have the woman wear their best dress (including the bride)

4) Have a light snack at the after party.

5) Supply soft drinks only

6) Skip flowers except for the bouquet

7) Skip the photographer and supply disposable cameras

Answer 22

I had a couple friends who had to do theirs cheaply cuz they didnt have alot of money either...and one of them had to plan it in a month because she was preg & had to do it before she started showing. These are the type of things they did, try any of these tips:



1. If you are wanting to get married in a church it's usually free if you are a member...or see if you know anyone who is licensed to perform & get a small permit from the city for an area at a local park. (My friend's sister is a licensed minister so she was the officiant.)



2. If you have any musically inclined friends then see if one of them would like to do your music by singing or playing an instrument (whichever they can do).



3. Make your own decorations. You can find cheap party supplies & flowers at dollar stores, party places & Walmart.



4. Shop around & see if you can find a wedding dress for cheap. David's Bridal has $99 sales every once in a while. My friend found her dress for $300 or was just going to go find a really pretty white prom dress if she couldn't find anything cheap enough.



5. For the bridesmaids & groomsmen. If they know your situation I'm sure they would have no problem paying for their own attire. The men can all wear black suits they own or just simply rent. The ladies can actually get away w/ simple prom dresses as long as they are the same color. I was a bridesmaid in one of these weddings I mentioned above & that's what we did. (I have pictures of us in our dresses. If you'd like to see for an example then feel free to message me on here & i can give you the link to an online album I have...dont want to post it here for everyone to see. haha.)



6. For a small reception: If you get married in a church, see if they have a large room you can rent out for a little while. If not, if you have a friend who has a big backyard, see if they are willing to hold it there. OR even use the park idea like I suggested for the ceremony. Get meat, cheese/cracker, fruit & veggie trays for the food. Make your own punch or get a bunch of cheap bottles of soda/juice. If you know someone talented enough, see if they can make a cake for the two of you for your wedding cake.



7. For music for the reception (for dances & such): See if you know anyone in a band or get that musically inclined friend. If anything, get a stereo & set it up & play CDs on there. It actually still works really well & you can pick whatever music you want to hear without having to request it! :-)



There are numerous ways to pull off a beautiful wedding without spending eye-popping amounts of money....just spend alot of time looking around & you will be surprised ;-) Hope some of this helped! Congrats & Good Luck!

Answer 23

I think you're asking for something that is next to impossible, especially with the amount of people you want to be there. Do what my husband and I did! Plan a trip to Las Vegas, take your two best friends with you to stand for you, get married there, and head back to Georgia. After you get back, plan on throwing a party for your family and closest friends. We had a dinner and a band in a restaurant here in town. It works....and everyone was just as happpy as if they would have been there. We had the wedding taped in Vegas, and showed it all at the party! After watching that, everyone said that they felt like they were right there with us!

Answer 24

Have it in your back year with a picnic to folllow. Wear a dress from off the rack that is pretty. Make a cake, don't invite everyone you know and play recorded music. You can go to a justice of the peace and save the 2 K instead. Good luck, I'm working on my daughter's wedding and we are FAR, FAR past 2 thousand.

Answer 25

You don't have to have all those attendants, first of all.

You need one maid of honor and one best man.

Dress $500. Cake $200. Tux rental $100. Minister's fee, $100. Organist $100. Flowers, $200. Bowl of punch, $100. Gifts for maid of honor and best man, $100 total. Two-night honeymoon in the Smokies, $300. Get three good friends with digital cameras and ask them to take pictures, and pass out disposable cameras to all your relatives under 18 ($100) and let them have at it.

What am I missing here?

Answer 26

For under $2000?



Simply do not have a reception - you can't afford it. If you

all want to go to a restaurant, that's great - but everybody

pays for his own.



The only thing you can afford is whatever the clergy fees

are, maybe a simple, nice dress and simple tux and everybody

else is responsible for their own clothes.



Times are tight - the point is not the size or splendor of the

wedding - the point is what you end up with afterwards (him).

Answer 27

Check with your County Courthouse regarding a civil ceremony.



Call local VFW halls for your reception. An alternative would be if you know anyone that has a large enough house/yard to hold all of your guests. You could also make the food yourself or ask friends and family members to help (ie: potluck). http://allrecipes.com/



Check out Dreams by Renee. They have some absolutely gorgeous dresses PLUS they can do custom work based on a drawing/picture at extremely reasonable prices. http://dreamsbyreneebridal.com



Are you (or do you know someone willing to help that is) crafty? Check out Michaels for decorations, floral, favors, etc. It will help with your budget if you can do as much as possible yourself. I used to be an Instructor/Event Coordinator for them and we had alot of classes for wedding related items. Plus at this time of year, they are discounting the spring and summer florals to get ready for the fall and winter florals! http://www.michaels.com



As for invitations, I'm a rep for Regency Thermographics. Let me know if there's anything I can do to help. http://AphroditesCreations.regency.ac



Good luck!

Answer 28

Hello,

Look for a nice park to get married in and then have a BBQ. YOu can just do hamburger nad hotdogs. Or she how much maybe a flower garden cost to get married in. Look for a dress ina 2nd hand store or consignment shop. E-mail me for more suggestions. Donot try to do a traditional wedding do somehting fun or different. Do you have a friend that leaves in an apartment. see about using that for the reception. e-mail [e-mail]

Answer 29

My husband and I were in kind of the same position of paying for it ourselves, and yes, it can be overwhelming at how much stuff can cost. I never did figure out exactly how much we spent, but I know we did it pretty cheaply and it was still beautiful. As far as the location try to do it in a park, or someone's yard...that saves a lot right there. We did ours on my best friend's deck. For flowers I used silk and got them when they were on sale at Michael's and other craft stores, and it was great because I was able to have them all arranged ahead of time. I got bunches of other decorative wedding stuff (like ribbons, tulle, etc.) when it was on sale too. That's something really important if you are trying to save money...WATCH FOR SALES! It takes a little more work, but it is SO worth it. For my dress I was blessed to find one for $15 at a resale shop, and my matron of honor found one at Ross for $14...and it even matched the style of mine, just in a different color. You said you had 6 attendents...one thing I've heard of people doing is picking the colors for the wedding and then the attendents pick their dresses in the color...they don't have to be the same style dress as long as they are the same color...just a thought. Anyway, for cake we just got a couple of cakes from Costco which was about $30, and they are some of the tastiest cakes! Plus, Costco will decorate them with just about any color you could think of. We had an afternoon wedding and reception, so for food we just did meat and cheese trays, and rolls, and veggie and fruit trays...all from Costco. For punch we just did Sprite and raspberry sherbert which is really cheap. For the invitations I printed them up on cardstock and just decorated them with a little bit of fancy paper. That saved so much right there! And for favors we bought a big box of green tea from Costco (the tea bags were individually wrapped), and we printed up stickers with "Love is brewing" and then our names and the date of our wedding and stuck them on the tea bags. We also tied little tulle circles around a handful of hershey's kisses.

So all in all I guess I would say you just need to get creative, and watch for sales, and HAVE FUN!!! God bless!

Answer 30

I got married about 3 years ago and we did my wedding for about $3000. First, I didn't have bridesmaids, that saved lots, nor did my husband have groomsmen. Our friends and relatives understood this, and really it's not a necessary part of a modern wedding.



For our invitations we went to a place that specifically did wedding invites. We looked thru tons of books, which had very pretty but very expensive choices. In the end we chose a bulk card stock and had them run it. They turned out to be about a $1 and invitation. One afternoon, I invited a bunch of friends over and we had a stuffing party. You can also get invites done a Kinkos or any copy store for alot less than you think.



We had our reception at the social hall in our church building, which was free because we are members. My aunties had nice chairs (which we borrowed) for the tables (which we borrowed from our church). I used fresh flowers in vases from the dollar store for the center peices and we did not have a sit down dinner or bar. We sereved light refresments (which my family helped put together -- chicken salad, fruit salad, veggis, and sheet cakes which one of my aunties made as a wedding present, and punch and water) and bought all the food at Costco. The display "cake": was really styrofoam frosted to look like a cake with fresh flowers, and the top layer was a real cake that we cut into. People still don't know that this was a fake cake and I have to really convince them that it was fake after all this time.



I met with a florist before and we discussed what I wanted for a bouquet and boutiner for my husband. We bought corsages for our mothers and all the other people in our wedding party. The florist had nice suggestions on how to look nice with out spending a ton of money. We also got the flowers for the tables at Costco and did that part ourselves.



I purcahsed a very lovely wedding dress for about $600 and my husband wore a new suit instead of a tux--it looked great, and we got to keep it. We had our parents in new clothes, but nothing fancy (my mom bought her dress at Dillards). The most money we spent was on the photographer who also doubled as our DJ at the reception. We also didn't have a video made or a vidographer. Instead, I made a scrabook of our baby and childhood pictures and our dating pictures which we used as the guestbook for our reception. Now we have a great scrapbook with notes from all of our friends in it as a nice memory. We also did not have the photographer print out the pictures of our wedding. He took the photos on a digital camera, gave us a set of prints and a CD with the pictures and we've made the copies we wanted, when we wanted them.



You can have nice wedding if you do alot of the work your self and get your friends to help. Don't go into debt, I know it's the most important day of your life, but you don't want to dig yourself into a hole that you'll be climbing out of for years. It can be done I promise! Good luck.

Answer 31

Check out Budget Bride's Bio on TheKnot.com. There's plenty of knotties who've done their wedding for that. Search around on profiles.

Answer 32

Take a vacation get married somewhere tropical or in vegas invite everyone you want to and have them pay for thier way there anyone who really wants to be there will come and then you can get married and have a honeymoon at the same time and it will be cheap

A lot of people are getting married that way

Answer 33

here's what a friend of mine did,

they got married with the jp,

and one year later they renewed the vowes at a church and had the big wedding then,with family and all their friends,it was so nice to see them and it was sweet and cheeeeeeeeeeeeeep and thats something you and your could do to

just get married like that and later on do the bigger wedding thing.

it still works.

Answer 34

go to a resort in the carribean, in the fall you can get really cheap prices..even for a 5 star resort...you can get something for like 500.00 per person for a week and weddings are usually 100-200$ extra...plus you get your honeymoon as well...as it would be less then 2000.00

Answer 35

try to get sponsor for your wedding. Local business will sponsor you if you advertise their logo.. in napkins.. whatever.. Another way is to ask for monetary gifts instead of some weird butter dish you may never use. Shop around!

Answer 36

Sure can. You just need to know what you want, how you want to spend the money, recruit talented & willing family & friends.



There are all kinds of sites that can help you out. Write me if you need help or go to my site.



www.weddingvowsandpromises.com

Answer 37

Not a problem! Don't let anbody tell you it can't be done!

I am also planning my wedding for this fall and it WILL be under $2,000. VERY CASUAL, but a a nice group of family and friends will be there, we are planning for a total of 50. I have no attendants so that's a lot easier. I purchased a dress off the rack from Newport News, I got a gorgeous lace and beaded dress $69, To-die-for silver sandals $29. I understand there is an incredible consignment shop in Marietta that has a great selection of formal ware. A good friend of mine purchased the most perfect wedding gown there for $200. I would highly suggest you check that out. I would allow $200 for your dress. Get comfy, strappy sandals from a discount shoe store, $25. You can choose something for your bridesmaids from a similar discount type of shop. Bridesmaids normally pay for their own dress, but you don’t want to cause any hardships on them either. My fiance’ will wear a gorgeous Irish handknit sweater. He has it already. You will have to pay about $150 for a tux if that's the way you want to go. The groomsmen will take care of their own. Our wedding will be in our church. $100 for rental of the chapel and the reception room. A lady from church is making the cake, est $100. Another lady from church is doing the hors'douvers, finger sandwiches, fresh chocolate dipped fruit, cheeses, punch, hot apple cider, (light lunch), approximately $8pp, or $400, which will include tablecloths, service plates, etc. Publix also has gorgeous food trays and cakes but there is no Publix near Ellijay, GA where we will be married. There will be no alcohol served (BIG SAVINGS!) The minister will be paid whatever we want to pay her, probably $150, same for the piano player, $150. A local florist will do the flowers, a simple hand tied bouquet for me of 6 fall colored calla lilies and other inexpensive fall things that will look nice with that, about $45. For your attendants I would suggest a single stem of calla lily or rose, whichever you have chosen for your bouquet, each tied with a a bit of green fluff of some sort that the florist has on hand and a pretty ribbon, simple; add in the groomsmen’s boutonnières, the Moms corsages, probably $15 each for all 14 of those folks. Flowers could ruin you if you let them. GO SIMPLE! I would allow $250 for flowers. Silk may be less if you are willing to go that way. Look on ebay and around on the internet for flowers if you want silk. Regarding photography, you have a lot of friends!! Have one of them take digital pics of the wedding, zillions of 'um. You can sort through those and have prints made later. It's all free until you have prints made. As for favors - I found some adorable pear shaped and scented candles "the perfect pair!", 24 sets of two in organza bags for $35 plus shipping of about $10. I am having a personalized cake topper representing my fiancé, me and each of our two dogs and four cats, $60. We will use baskets of live mums in fall colors for flowers on the tables at the reception, 2 baskets per table (6 tables not including the cake table), equals 12 baskets at $6 each, approx $72 (These can be planted in your yard after the ceremony). Other decorations will be large baskets overflowing with fresh apples, oranges, pears, grapes, pumpkins, basically seasonal fruits, displayed in baskets that you or your mom or friends already have around the house, $75.00 for the fruit. (The pear candle favors go perfectly with this!) Add ribbons from Wal-Mart, $1.95 per roll for 9 foot rolls, around all the baskets, wherever you want them. I bought a dozen rolls of French wired ribbon in gorgeous fall colors. $24.00. You can pick up bags of silk leaves or fall decor at the dollar store or Wal-Mart for about $3.00 and spread them around the tables. Fall is EASY. My invitations are ordered from Vistaprint, adorable fold over with envelopes, custom printed, 30 sets including delivery to me costs $23. Have I forgotten anything? I use "Yahoo Images" for ideas. The images also lead you to websites where you can purchase the stuff.



Tally:

Consignment shop, or off-the-rack dress - $200

Shoes- $25

Tux Rental - $150 (includes shoes for the groom)

Location rental - $100 (check you local churches, or state parks if you want it outdoors!)

Cake - $100

Hors’douvres - $400

Minister - $150

Piano - $150 (you could ask a friend to be “DJ” and bring CD’s and it would cost nothing!)

Flowers - $250

Favors (figured on one pair per couple plus one each for singles) - $45

Cake Topper - $60 (your guests will LOVE the cake with little images of you on top!)

Reception flowers - $75.00

Fresh fruit for decor - $75.00

Ribbons - $24.00

Leaf decorations - $3.00

Invitations - $23 (again, one per couple)



Total: $1830.00 You still have $170 to spend!



Best of luck, remember this is YOUR day. Do it exactly as YOU want!

Answer 38

buy a dress for i dnt know wat and get da reciet and after ur done return it so u wnt have 2 spend a penny at all. and srry all weddings are way way way higher den 200 dollars grl babe its a lifetime day soe dnt make it cheap dnt be greey dnt b sad b gald grl choose dis as da best answer plz babe

Answer 39

ELOPE. Then have a reception and invite everyone to attend.

Answer 40

You cant if you want a VERy fancy wedding

Answer 41

ELOPE.