How to Have a Beautiful Wedding for Less Than 10k

I recently got married, and I managed to hold a beautiful summer wedding with 90+ guests for less than 10,000 dollars! This also included helping some of my bridesmaids pay for their dresses, a reception at the local Marriott hotel, and an experienced, professional photographer. If you're willing to do a bit of crafty things yourself and embrace the idea that you don't have to buy everything at the bridal boutique, then you can have a picture-book ceremony without the giant check. Keep in mind as well that prices vary from state to state and city to city, so you might spend a little more or a little less than I did.

The biggest thing to keep in mind over the entire process of trying to cut costs during your wedding is to figure out what is important to you. This is your wedding day, after all, so you don't want to skimp on something that means a lot to you and then be upset by it for the rest of your life. Is a designer dress what you desperately want? Real flowers? A picturesque location? Pick what means the most, and spend what you want on that, and save money elsewhere. There are plenty of places you can trim away costs without sacrificing what you really want.

Doing a little research is the easiest way to find good prices, so price out the different vendors in your city. A small family business might do just as well as a more refined, bigger professional company. As many magazines say, get references for your married friends to find good places to start. Another good idea is to find start up companies, such as a florist, photographer or videographer. Many of them will do your wedding for a discounted price (or even for free!) just to get the experience and a reference to use later. And even though they're new to the scene, if they're trying to start up a business they'll do their best to do a great job for you.

Decide how many flowers and what kind you want. Real flowers can be a big part of a wedding's costs, behind photographers, food, dresses and venues. Silk flowers can be just as beautiful, but if you want real flowers, there are several things you can do to reduce costs. Do a little research to find out what flowers are in season, and try to use them for your arrangements. Full flowers like hydrangeas can make an arrangement look like they have far more flowers in them than they actually do. Ivy can also make beautiful pew bouquets. Another tip for the flowers is to only put flowers on every other row or every third row, instead of paying for every pew to have its own arrangement. If you're really industrious and have good eye (or a relative that does) you can make your own arrangements and bouquets, using silk flowers from your local craft store or real flowers from a friends garden.

Think about the various wedding accessories. There are more objects in this category than one would expect; candles, vases, tiaras, jewelry, shoes. What of these things are really necessary, and how many of them can you (or a friend) make on your own time? How much you'll save on this also depends on how much you were expecting your wedding party to pay for out of pocket. I did all that I could to keep from asking my friends and family to shell out a lot of money for things like shoes, tiaras, and jewelry. I used silk flowers to make cute headbands for the flower girls. All in all it took some time and about ten dollars of silk flowers and silver headbands. Then we used the leftover silk flowers to wind them into the bridesmaids' hair. This might seem a little unimportant, but when you consider that you can pay over thirty dollars for one flower girl head piece, much less the seventy or eighty for a bridesmaid's. We also made our own bubble baskets and flower baskets. This might not be for everyone, because it does take time and a little bit of craftiness.

How important is a videographer to you, and how technically inclined are you? You can spend thousands of dollars on a professional videographer, but you could easily set up your own video camera for the event and use some of the basic video editing programs (iMovie, Windows Movie Maker, etc.) to pick your own music and put your own video together. It takes a little bit of your own time, but it could be a special project for you and your new spouse to work on together. If you decide to do this, just make sure you test out the recording at the rehearsal, buy extra tapes, make sure the batteries are charged, and perhaps even ask a friend not in the wedding party to keep any eye on it for you. There are a lot of benefits to using a videographer, but they should probably be high up the list of services that you cut when you're trying to trim away costs.

On the other hand, I will say this: do not skimp on your photographer! Other than your memories and your rings, the photos will be what you have left after the day is over. You want to have professional, beautiful pictures that you'll have access to for many years. Cut the professional photographer for the reception if you need to, or chose a less expensive one, just make sure that they are skilled. Asking a family member to do this can end up in blurry photos, or even certain parts of the ceremony not being covered because they've become too interested in watching and forgotten to keep taking photos.

Now we come to one of the most expensive parts of the wedding: the reception. The best way to save money on the reception is to find packages. A venue that can provide food, dance floors, and everything you need for your reception might seem more expensive at first, but when you start adding up the costs to rent all these things separately, its probably much easier to go with the more expensive place. Plus, these places will often give you discounts on the room based on how much food you pay for, etc. Another thing to remember if you're using a hotel that has rewards, sign up for it before you pay for everything, because many of them will let you put the money you spend on your rewards card. My husband and I ended up with several thousand Marriott reward points by the end of it, as well as a free room there for our wedding night.

Depending on the size of your guest list, food is probably going to be what you spend the most on. This is fairly well known, but a buffet is much less expensive than a sit down meal. (This also cuts down your list of things to do, because you don't have to come up with a seating chart for the buffet). Finger foods are also much less expensive than buffets or sit down meals, so talk to a local caterer to see how much they want for simple meat, fruit, and sweets plates. If you have a late afternoon wedding, you could save money by having tabless with fruit, uncooked vegetables, and biscuts to put meat and cheese on to make minisandwiches rather than paying for a full meal. As long as the reception doesn't run into the dinner timeframe, this should be enough for your guests. If you're having the reception in a park or at a family home, ordering a party platter from a place like Publix or Chick-Fil-A (depending on how formal you want to be) is a good option. Making your own food or enlisting family members to is another good money saving tip. Order the cake from a bakery at a place like Publix or Kroger. You can buy or find your own topper if you don't like any of the ones offered. A cake for ~150 people or more will only run you about 250 dollars, rather than the several hundred special wedding cakes can. They taste just as good, and still look very nice. Better yet, this is a great way to include grandmothers or aunts who are good at baking.

Music is also another hurdle. Bands and DJs are often paid hourly, and some even require set up fees. Think about the people on your guest list-- are they the type to dance for hours on end, or will they just sit at their tables and try to talk all evening, never setting foot on the dance floor? Thinking about what your guests like and would be inclined to do can help you come to a decision about how much you need to spend on music. But I'll tell you how I did it. I picked out a couple hours of music, generally music that meant something to my husband-to-be and me, and then I ripped it onto a computer in a playlist. Then with the help of a friend, my groom hooked up the laptop to the speaker system at our venue, and then put the music on random. Then we just let the music play. If you go this route, you also might ask another friend to keep an eye on it-pause it when the toasts are going on, etc. Now you have music that you'll know you like, for the cost of a little of your time and maybe a fee to rent some speakers, rather than paying a couple hundred dollars for a DJ or a band. Then, when it comes time to leave your celebration, borrow a car. Everyone likes to have a flashy car to leave in, but that's extra money on what might be an already towering bill. Have your husband-to-be, his father, your father, or any other relatives or friends ask around at work to see if anyone has a classic or expensive car that could be borrowed for the afternoon. If you aren't too set on your exit being grand, you can easily just use your own car, washed and probably graffitied by your friends.

In summary, there are little ways that add up that can help you save money on your wedding day without skimping on your dress, your location, or your photographer. It just takes a little creativity and a little extra time, and the support of family members.