My Wedding on a Budget

This is not a wedding planning guide. I just want to share with you how my husband and I planned our wedding and how much we spent. This is to give you an idea so you don't get trapped with a mind that you need to have an expensive wedding for a happily-ever-after marriage. Bear in mind that what matters is the relationship between you and your partner. I know someone that spent over $ 50,000 for her daughter's wedding. After two years, the couple ended up divorced and she was still paying the debts.

I wasn't working when my husband and I planned our wedding. In this case, I had 24 hours a day and 7 days a week to plan for the wedding. I saved money by not hiring a wedding consultant or wedding planner. Although I had to spend around $160 for the church's wedding coordinator. But that's very nominal. I searched on the Internet possible local wedding vendors, got quotations from them and compared their prices.

These are the basic items that I considered in estimating the budget: Ceremony and Reception Location,Bridal Wear includes Bride's Dress, Headpiece, Shoes, Hair/Makeup, Groom's attire, Cake and Catering, Floral includes Brides Bouquets, Bridesmaids' Bouquets and Boutonnieres, Decoration for Reception, Jewelry/Wedding Rings, Live Music for Ceremony and Reception, Photographers and Videographers, Invitations, Programs, Thank You and Announcements, Transportation, Gift/Souvenirs for attendants and Others which may include Centerpiece, Candles, etc.

My husband and I realized that we couldn't afford to have the wedding in a Hotel so I contacted some churches and talked to the staff about the possibility of renting a function room in the church. Some churches accept non-attendants to do the ceremony in the church. They collected a very nominal fee of $50 for the ceremony room and $100 for the reception room to cover the cleaning cost. You can do this possibility to reduce the venue cost. You can get as cheap as $500 for your bridal gown, plus $100 of makeup and hairdo. What I did was to ask one of my friends, a professional makeup artist and hairstylist to do my makeup and hairdo. And the result was great. My husband rented his and his best man's attires for less than $100/day per attire.

I discussed with my husband the number of guests that would be invited to the wedding. After knowing the number, I started to design and order the invitation. Do not order too many extra invitations. Ours ended up in trash can. We were planning to invite about 100 people so we ordered 100 invitations. But due to the limited budget we reduced the number to 75 people. We bought our wedding invitation from eBay. For nice Invitation, Programs and Thank You Notes you can get as low as $25/100 pieces and you can choose your own design. They will show some designs for you to choose.

Reception Food and Service is where most of the budget spent. Our goal was to serve our guests with the best meal but affordable. I found a local catering with a great service yet affordable. I chose the $20 meal package/person. It sounds like a good deal. With 75 guests, we paid $1500 before tax. The food was great, I was not complaining at all.

We also wanted to keep photos or video of our wedding, so I looked in local papers on affordable Wedding Photographers and Videographers. Most of them offered competitive package price. You will always find someone professional yet do not charge you much. I was so lucky I found one good local photographer and videographer. The videographer had a wedding package of $400. That was to cover the entire wedding ceremony and reception for 4-5 hours plus 5 DVDs. The photographer had a $300 package to take all wedding moments plus some prints. However, you have to be careful with the contract in terms of the duration of service. You always have to have everything in written and signed. Same is true with other vendors for Live Music and Transportation. You have to make sure about the fee and duration of service. If there are any changes in terms of duration ask how much extra fee you should pay.

There are still a lot of expenses that you practically can reduce or eliminate. It is all based on what you need and what you want. Like I said, what important is both of you will live a long lasting marriage, even though you start with a cheap wedding.