How We Had a Great Wedding and Honeymoon for Under $5,000

My husband John and I didn't get engaged until we were both debt free, so we certainly weren't going to rack up debt for our wedding. We wanted something small and informal, and most importantly we wanted some extra money for a nice honeymoon! With a little research, some help from friends and family, and a willingness to relax and enjoy ourselves, we were able to pull together a fabulous wedding and honeymoon for under $5000.

Our biggest savings probably came from our choice of wedding rings. We purchased sustainably made wooden rings, each costing about $200. They're a little unusual, but they're a perfect match for us. We also decided early on to carefully limit our guest list to close friends and relatives. This made planning easier and cut down on our spending. The only thing we worried about were the photos, so we agreed to hire a photographer. Through friends, we met an amateur photographer who bartered with us for John's computer skills! She was the only person we "hired" to do any work on the wedding.

John created a website for the wedding, with directions, a copy of the invitation, and information about hotels. We sent out an e-mail instead of a "Save the Date" card. We wanted to do a paper invitation, but we didn't want to spend a ton of money on it. It took a few evenings to figure it out, but we finally decided on an origami invitation. We had the invite printed on recycled card stock, and then we folded the paper into an envelope. It turned out beautifully, and we only needed one sheet for each invitation. We saved trees and money! Instead of an response card, we directed guests to the website.

The evening before the wedding, we had a big dinner at our apartment for all of the guests. We ordered pizza from an upscale chain, and friends brought salads. We purchased beer and wine from a discount warehouse, and we pooled together plates and utensils from family. Everyone got the chance to get more comfortable with each other before the wedding, and we barely had to do any work! Mom helped load the dishwasher at the end of the night, and we moved the leftover beer and wine to her backyard for the reception.

Our wedding was held in a beautiful garden on the grounds of the University of Virginia. The University allows alumni to use the gardens for free, and we certainly didn't need any more decorations or flowers in such a gorgeous location. We did need some relief from the July heat, so we had ordered several huge paper and bamboo umbrellas and a bunch of paper fans. We spread large blankets on the ground, and family helped move in a few folding chairs for our more senior guests. One of my girlfriends made a huge batch of delicious citrus iced tea, and everyone managed to stay cool and comfortable.

The ceremony was short; we wrote it ourselves, and our best friends participated in the readings. Afterwards, we packed up and headed back to mom's house a few blocks away. The reception was in the house and the backyard. The yard didn't need any extra decorations, but the women from our CSA farm had dropped off beautiful gladiolas that were placed throughout the house. Mom had made some tablecloths for the outside tables, and she made some napkins to supplement the ones she already had. We decided to rent plates so that everyone could have a nice big dinner plate, and my father-in-law had picked those up the day before. I thought it was worth the small rental fee to avoid washing them! All of the other dishes were from our house and mom's house.

For food, we decided on a buffet arrangement. We had a huge spread of cheese and crackers in the house, and a gathering formed around it immediately. Mom made dozens of our famous black bean cakes with cilantro sauce, and she fried them up as fast as she could. We borrowed a friend's grill, and combined with ours it made a station for kabobs. One of our friends grilled up our huge salmon fillets, and we served them with butter lime sauce. Guests built their own kabobs with chopped vegetables and grilled shrimp, and we had another platter of veggies with dipping sauces on the table. A fresh fruit salad rounded it all out. We purchased most of the food in bulk, and we made everything from scratch. With help from mom, grandma, and my aunt, it didn't take long to get everything ready in the days before the wedding.

We had made a huge batch of sangria, and we replenished the pitchers as they got low. We also had beer and wine, and we had some fancy sodas for the non-drinkers and the kids. John hooked up our GameCube in the living room of the house, and we didn't hear a word of complaint from the kids all day!

For dessert, my grandma and my aunt baked up all sorts of goodies. There was peach pie, strawberry rhubarb pie, peanut butter blossoms, molasses cookies, and sesame cookies. Mom made a chocolate flan cake and tres leches cake bites. We had decided on a little buffet instead of a wedding cake, and it worked out beautifully. We didn't purchase any favors for our guests; instead, we bought Chinese take out boxes so they could load up on cookies for the road. It turned out to be a great idea, because we had way too much food left over at the end of the night. The boxes were perfect for leftover shrimp and bean cakes.

Mom graciously cleaned up most of the mess from the reception, and we caught a flight out to Mexico the next morning. We stayed in Playa del Carmen for a week, and we had an incredible time. Half of our budget went to the honeymoon, and we deserved it after throwing together such a frugal celebration! We scoured the cheap travel sites for a good deal, and we ended up at a small locally owned hotel just off of the tourist strip. It was clean, the staff was friendly, and we couldn't have been happier. We ended up just a couple of blocks from the beach, and we ate some great food with the money we saved on the hotel.

When we returned home, the only wedding chore we had to tackle was thank you cards. It was challenging to plan such a frugal celebration, but it was worth it. I didn't miss any of fancy wedding traditions, and our friends and family didn't seem to, either!