ALT-23 Best Ways to get Married on a Budget
I may not be an expert, but as a 13 year veteran of wedding with a very tight budget (less than $500), I can certainly shed some light on ways to keep expenses to a minimum and still make your day a very special one.
Whatever the reason for wanting to have a wedding on a budget, the most important thing is that both parties agree. If one wants a budget but the other wants to spare no expense, then there will be stress in the relationship from the beginning and probably regrets later. Make sure this is what both of you want.
Once all of the particulars like the date and time and who you are inviting are decided upon, it is time to start finding deals that will help you fit into your budget. The following are a few of the areas that we were lucky enough to get services at low or reduced prices and some were even FREE!
Number of guests - This alone could be devastating to your budget. We had less than twenty people at our wedding, which included immediate and extended family and friends.
Invitations - This is one area where we "splurged". Even though we could have just called all of our guests, we went to a printer and had some very nice, inexpensive invitations printed. Today with e-mail and websites available to help you, this expense can be entirely wiped out.
Location of wedding - Our original place that we wanted to get married was at the courthouse, but they only allowed the witnesses to attend, so we had to find an alternate place where our family and friends could attend also. The answer was closer than we thought. In the yard of our apartment building, there were two trees about eight feet apart. This ended up being the spot that me and my wife exchanged our vows. Me and my friends decorated the area the morning of the wedding with crepe paper and paper wedding bells, it looked great.
Officiating minister - Who ever you have marry you, they will charge you a fee for their services, just like in the game of Monopoly. The challenge is to find the cheapest at their trade. We found an ordained minister who advertised in the local free paper for only $25, a bargain compared to $150 - $200 for a regular minister or paster. Till this day I wonder why I gave the Rev. Randy Redhawk (his real name) an extra $25 even though he was an hour late. I guess it was because even though he was late, he did show up.
Decorations - Like I said earlier, me an my friends decorated around the wedding site with crepe paper and paper wedding bells. You can do more or even less if you want depending on your budget. If you know a crafty person, borrow their services to stretch your dollar even more.
Reception - As you probably guessed by now, after the wedding, all were invited into our apartment for fried chicken that my new wife put in the oven before the ceremony. We bought 70 pieces that were pre-cooked and frozen from the local fried chicken joint for $15. The rest of the salad and trimmings were supplied from the freezer of my wife's employer, Pizza Hut. The manager of the store gave us a lot of goodies for a great price. For a couple of dollars we made our own cake and frosted it ourselves. Nowadays you can buy fondant icing at your local Wal-Mart to make your cake look like a million bucks.
As you can see, we probably saved hundreds if not thousands of dollars off of our wedding. Now you do not have to skimp as much as we did, just what you feel comfortable with, to save a bunch of money on your big day. There are other avenues to help you dave money and meet your budget, but this should get you started on a great wedding.
In the end, I think it actually saved us a lot of stress and worries too. Besides the minister being late, we didn't have to worry about the caterer or the DJ or anything like that. It was a real carefree day and one that I will remember forever. I still take my three daughters by that apartment and show them where Mommy and Daddy were married, in hopes that they take the same route as we did!
