[lavatea]

I'm engaged and just beginning to think about planning our wedding. I have certain ideas about the wedding that I'm really attached to, but I have no idea how we can afford a wedding. I was just wondering how much you guys spent on your wedding and if it was worth it.

ETA - I'm thinking that $10k would be an appropriate amount for us to spend (if we can get it together), but I'm just not sure that that will be enough to get me the things I'd like.

[PapaBubba]

We saved as much as we could and cut as many corners as we could on the actual wedding. It is over so incredibly quickly and you will be so stressed that you really will not remember much about the details. Save your money for the honeymoon - that you will remember.

We had a morning wedding with a small reception at her parents house a couple hours later (so everyone could grab lunch on the way). There was another weddig later that day in the church and that couple had special flowers they 'had to have' - we didn't care so they put them up the night before and the flowers got double use. Since we didn't do a big reception we didn't need a music or food or a bartender... etc... cut costs. Some people brought potluck desserts to go with the cake. A friend of hers made her dress and other friends got together and made the flower girl dresses.

I think in total we spend less than $500 on the whole wedding - that includes the supplies to make our own announcements and thank you notes.

[twinzplus3]

I have to agree. . .save your $$ for the honey moon. I think too, think about the things that are really important to you and concentrate on those things. For example. . .my sil spent $250 on shoes that no one could see. I spent $10 on shoes that no one could see. . .AND I was comfortable and not complaining about blisters on my honeymoon. Decorations for the sanctuary were important to us, and the way the service was arranged was important to us. Other things we skimped on. We had to serve a sit down dinner--that is just the way things are done with the in-law's. . .but we saved on the rehearsal dinner by having a big back yard b-b-q. MUCH cheaper--and a whole lot more fun!

[PennySteed]

Wedding and honeymoon came to about $5000. We were married in an historical church and kept the wedding small. Both of us could have filled a cathedrial but chose to spend the money we saved on our future instead of a few hours. We both had our attendant, immediate family and friends. The reception was at a local restaurant. I feel as if I had it all. The flowers (silk), gown (my Mom's), cake, reception, with sit-down dinner, photos, honeymoon, and great company. The memories I have forever. The day goes so fast, be sure of what you want, and then look to see if there is a way to do it cheaper. Weddings do not need to be super expensive.

[DivasMomma]

i love telling my wedding story


i put our wedding together in 3 weeks....yes weeks! I was 5 months preg and we had been engaged a little over a year...i just wanted to be married before our 2nd DD was born....I called and found our pastor...he was $150. I wanted to get married in a state park here since i was a little girl, so i called the park and they said anything under 100 guests is fine and no permitt needed....that was FREE! We had the reception at my friends house in here (very large) backyard....we brought grills and did hot dogs, hamburgers, chicken, all kinds of salads, people brought meatballs, etc....just like a big BBQ. My dad paid for our DJ-$400, and my mom paid for our cake $90....she did the decortaing herself....

it turned out to be the least stressful, most amazing day, other then the fact it was the HOTTEST day of the summer!!

this was were the ceremony took place


heres another


and our cake

[QueenAngie]

Rhianna, beautiful wedding photos!

[QueenAngie]

The important thing is that you are happy, that you look pretty, and are able to stay within a workable budget.

My dress was on the cover of Bride's Magazine.
It was The One.
I fell in love with it.
It was the one that little girls always dream about.
Ok, that was an expense, but within our planned budget.
Aside from the honeymoon, it was the most expensive item on
our budget.

Like Val, I got the comfortable $20 shoes for the wedding, not the expensive ones.

Some of our flowers were silk. Others came from the florist and were fresh.

MIL had lovely silk arrangements for the rehearsal dinner that we used again for the wedding reception tables. This was another way we saved on the reception.

What are your thoughts?

[DivasMomma]

oooh i forgot about our flowers! My MOH worked for AC Moore in their floral dept...so we bought 3 bouquets of flowers from a vendor on the sidewalk for $5 a piece....my MOH cut and wrapped them in ribbon and they were GORGEOUS! $15 well spent

[oweirdo]

we spent less than $500 on ours. we planned ours in less than a month. We had been engaged for 2 months, got a BFP on Oct 31, and married on November 23. Most of what we spent was on the dress, and that was from a resale shop. My mom did her last wedding cake for me, made for a great memory, she also did my flowers, all silk I still have them too. I made my cake topper, garter belt, and throw away bouquet. We had it at his parents house, and my pastor did the ceremony. After the wedding, we did finger foods....

[LovingJesusinAZ]

We spent about 2k. We got married at our church and had reception there afterwards. I would've been happy with the "cake and punch" thing, but DH wanted real food, so we did finger foods. (I tried talking him into ordering stuff from Costco, but lost that battle!)

There are a bunch of things I would've changed (I wasn't in love with my dress--I settled because my mom was too busy to help me and I just bought whatever and things like that), but I'm glad we didn't spend a lot of money on the wedding.

The majority of the cost was the food. The decorations were ones we borrowed from the church. Like Valorie, I bought cheap shoes (Sears clearance). I wasn't in love with my flowers but, oh well. One of the ladies from our church is a florist and she did them for me. In the end, they were not what I ordered, but life goes on!

At the end of the day DH and I are married (just celebrated anniv #4 this past Wednesday) and that's all that matters!!!!

We invited about 400 people (family, close friends) so when people asked me if it was a big wedding I said "Not in production, but we had lots of guests!"

Instead of spending tons of money on the wedding we had an INCREDIBLE honeymoon!!!!!! It was definitely a once in a lifetime trip and one that I'd never even dared to dream about!!