Sarah Metlova
Planning A Wedding On A Tight Budget – Weddings are not always affordable. Weddings and receptions averaged $28,000 in 2022
I’m not sure about you, but most of us don’t have that much money. So what should you do if you’re planning a wedding on a budget?
Planning A Wedding On A Tight Budget
Don’t worry – you don’t have to delay. It is entirely possible to plan a wedding without spending five figures. You can even make it happen for as little as $1,000. With this guide to planning a wedding on a budget of $1,000 or less, you’ll have a budget-friendly wedding day—right down to the flowers.
This Couple Planned Their Entire Intimate Wedding In Less Than 5 Lakhs!
Time to talk numbers. Where did all the money for the wedding and reception go? Common wedding expenses include:
You can see a full cost breakdown in our blog post: “How to Plan a Wedding on a Budget”.
Don’t despair. While these numbers are actually a lot, you can definitely have most of the elements of a traditional wedding on a $1,000 budget. You just have to be creative – and a bit flexible.
As a general rule, the bigger your wedding, the more expensive it will be. After all, for each invited guest you will need:
Ways To Have A Fabulous Wedding On A Budget { Rustic Wedding Ideas } 1
If you follow your calculator, that’s an average of $87.75 per guest. You could easily spend your entire $1,000 budget on feeding your guests. But before you take up intermittent fasting, there is another solution – a micro wedding.
A true small wedding consists of 50 guests or less, but you can make it smaller. Calculating the cost of an average wedding, you can save up to $877.50 just by removing 10 people from the guest list.
And while this is a budget-saving tip, hosting a small wedding can really make your day more special and intimate. You wouldn’t invite people you met in college or a list of relatives in third grade whose names you can’t remember. Your wedding will be filled with only family, friends and loved ones. Sounds like a special wedding day recipe to us.
Of all the expenses for a wedding, the venue is the biggest. The average couple spends almost $10,000 on their site alone!
Plan A Wedding On A Tight Budget: Tips And Advice
That’s… a little hard to change when your entire wedding budget is only a tenth of that. They didn’t rent exactly 1/10 of the barn.
The easiest option is to find a wedding venue that is cheap or stay for free. For example, the city hall. The site itself is free and our operators are here! Additionally, city halls can have amazing designs, depending on your location.
One of the options on this page doesn’t catch your eye? Try looking for friendly wedding sites on sites like Peerspace.
This can be a bit difficult to pull off on a tight budget as Peerspace wedding venues average $130 – $220 per hour. But if you need the space for an hour or two, it can help you enhance your party or reception without breaking your budget.
How To Plan A Wedding In 6 Months (yes, It’s Totally Possible)
It depends on where you want to host and what kind of offer you can get. But let’s start with backyard parties and receptions to keep the budget cool — AKA, free.
To get married, technically all you need is a marriage license, which costs between $40 and $100, depending on the state. There’s really no way around these costs, so you’ll need to budget for what your situation charges. The head of your marriage on the other side? Now, there is the option to save.
Fees for professional wedding officiants vary depending on their experience level, what they bring to your event, and whether they are religious or civil officiants. However, the average operator fee is around $300.
It’s not good to hear when your wedding budget is in the shoes and rubber. But here’s the thing – you don’t need a lot of experience to pull off a wedding. In fact, you may not need it at all.
How To Plan Affordable Beach Weddings
Some states do not require a wedding officiant to be appointed to perform the ceremony. Then you can invite a close friend or family member to host your party. If your situation calls for a designated officer, don’t fret. It can also be obtained online for free or for a small fee – usually between $29-$60.
Imagine how great it would be to have your best friend help you say “I do”, or have your brother sign the wedding certificate. Not only can it be a sweet and touching ceremony, but it’s also perfect for a budget-friendly wedding day.
While you usually don’t have to pay family members or friends to host your party, it’s a good idea to give them a chance to be rewarded for all their hard work. Let’s use a $50 gift or tip to say thank you.
Are you ready for some serious sticker shock? A professionally designed wedding invitation costs $530. If you don’t want to spend half of your budget on invitations alone, we have another solution: e-vites.
How To Plan Your Dream Wedding When You’re Tight On Money
With digital apps like Canva, it’s easy to design and customize templates for quality invitations without the price tag. You can send by email – so no postage here. You can even track answers online using services such as:
Free No, seriously. While many of these services offer great updates, there’s no need to send fancy e-invites. If you play your cards right, you can escape and pay for this wedding!
A cake from a bakery can cost upwards of $500, but a cake mix box? That works out to about $2 a box (and it’s 2022!) seems like a good reason to roll up your sleeves and make your own cake.
Let’s add up the numbers. To make a 9×13 round three-layer cake, we need three box mixes. Three mixed boxes x $2 each = $6 for your cake, plus different ingredients like eggs or oil. But what about frost?
Awesome Budget Weddings Under $8,000
You will need about 3½ to 4 cups of cheese for a three-layer cake. A package of Wilton ice cream today costs $6.89 and makes 2 cups of ice cream. Let’s choose three because there is not too much frost. 3-pack of Wilton Frosting Boxes for $6.89 x 3 = $20.67.
So now we’re hovering around $27 for our cake. Let’s top it off and add some bottles of food coloring (currently $2.69 per 1 ounce Wilton) and a set of starter tubes to make some pretty cool flowers. (Wilton 12-Piece Piping Tip and Decorating Bag Set, now $10.99.)
About $43.04 for cake ingredients and supplies. Now all you have to do is brush up on your frosting skills with a little help from Youtube or TikTok baking.
Alternatively, if cake scares you, you can try the dessert bar at the wedding venue. They are good in different varieties if you are not a fan of cakes. It can also be super inexpensive with or in place of your wedding cake.
The Wedding Budget & Free Budgeting Spreadsheet
Don’t be afraid to ask for help here as well. If you have a brother or sister who knows their way around the kitchen, be sure to send them. If they are going to work, then what is the family going to do?
It depends on whether you want to bake yourself or have your family bake. But let’s imagine 3 boxes of brownie mix – because you can never have enough treats. That’s about $5.22 if you’re keeping track.
Alas, humans cannot survive alone (I tried). But feeding a crowd can add up quickly—even if you’re cooking for yourself. So how do you balance this budget? Make sure your wedding is full!
Your guests can bring their own dishes and prepare a buffet with options for everyone. In addition, you do not have to worry about choosing a menu that will be approved by the guests. They did it themselves, so it’s all good.
How To Plan A Budget Wedding?
Well, it varies – it depends on how much food you want and what you want to eat. However, you can simply serve dessert and call it quits, making this part of your wedding free.
A new wedding dress costs an average of $1,800 for a bride. But no one says you have to buy a wedding dress. Do we offer skirts for rent?
Dress rentals can start as low as $50, depending on the style. Try looking around like:
The same goes for wedding dresses – where you can find lots of suits to rent from local shops or places like:
Free Notion Wedding Planning Template
It depends on the style you choose. But according to Brides.com, the average wedding dress rental costs between $50 and $600. Let’s allocate $180 for the dress.
How about renting a tuxedo? According to YeahWeddings, the average tuxedo rental is $135 in 2022. So, your total outfit will be around $315.
Beauty is not only painful – it can also be expensive. A professional hair and makeup artist can cost $250 or more. For a $1,000 wedding budget, doing your own hair and makeup is probably best.
Fortunately for you, there is no shortage of weddings
How To Plan A Wedding On A Tight Budget?
Wedding planning budget template, planning a wedding on a small budget, meal planning on a tight budget, on tight budget, low budget wedding planning, wedding planning budget calculator, planning a wedding on a tight budget, planning a beach wedding on a budget, wedding planning ideas on a tight budget, wedding planning on a budget, wedding planning on a budget book, menu planning on a tight budget