looking for cheap wedding ideas.?
September 29th, 2009
cowgirl asked:
I plan on using a really simple wedding dress or a bridesmaids dress for my dress. Then i think all we do is have to pay the preacher and the marriage license.
I plan on using a really simple wedding dress or a bridesmaids dress for my dress. Then i think all we do is have to pay the preacher and the marriage license.
However I need other ideas for decoration, food, cakes, invitations,etc and the reception. Im so lost.
We are paying for the wedding ourselves.
What is some good cheap ideas for foods?
anything and everything you can think of would be greatly appreciated.
we are getting married late summer
Ultimate Guide To Baby Gender Selection
September 30th, 2009 at 6:01 pm
Depending on where you live and what time of year you intend to be married, have the ceremony at the beach or a nearby lake. That pretty much takes most decorating out of the equation.
October 2nd, 2009 at 6:49 pm
As far as food goes, u could have like finger foods, wings, veggies, meatballs, fruit. See if u can get family members to make these things for u. It will be a whole lot cheaper
October 5th, 2009 at 3:54 am
oh my friend the cheapest wedding ideas is “”ELOPE”"”
LOL.
October 6th, 2009 at 1:11 pm
Hi and congratulations!
I love small, simple weddings and receptions! How many people are you looking to feed? What time is your wedding and reception? Your time is important as to what you want to serve.
Food:
If you are looking at the traditional dinner….but with a twist….you can always do a BBQ with some chicken; cold salads; tossed salad/dressing; fruit and veggie platters.
You could also go the route of finger sandwiches; assorted cheeses and crackers; veggies and dip; fruit and dip; other “finger foods.” And, of course, CAKE!
Serve iced tea, lemonade, etc.
Cake: Go to a bakery in a grocery store. They will be cheaper than a regular bakery. If you have a Costco, Walmart, or Publix by you….they have good cakes!
Invitations: Go to Walmart, Target, Michael’s, Hobby Lobby, or Office Max and buy a “boxed set” of invitations. There are many styles to choose from. You get 50 in a box and then you bring them home and print them YOURSELF on the computer. They have a guide for wording in the kit or go on Google and research different wording. The boxed sets sell for about $25….maybe even cheaper if you find some on clearance.
Decorations: If you are on a budget, I would really limit it. Where is the reception? Is it at a hall? Your house? Someone’s backyard? A park? Where it is will determine how fancy you want to get with decorations. Usually, I recommend to brides to get a glass vase or bowl….get some colored “gem stones” (sold in craft stores or Walmart) and put some in the bowl….then fill it about 2/3 with water and float a candle or two in it! This is a very inexpensive centerpiece. You can get everything you need at a dollar store or Walmart. About $3/each for the whole centerpiece.
Good luck….hope this helps!
October 6th, 2009 at 3:11 pm
hi
First of all i will say for decoration use ur white Christmas lights if u don’t have enough then ask ur friends and family to help u after wedding u can just return them there white lights u can hang those lights from the walls and u can rap those lights around the bridal party table ,ur cake table gift table in different ways, u can make big Bows in the color ur bridesmaids r wearing to complement the white lights.
for center pieces Candles r really cheap. Buy candles of different sizes in whole sale then put same Rabin on them any color u want or again the color ur bridesmaid r going to wear the will look like expensive candles
and put some artificial petals or some small sparkly thingies for little more kick to it or i found this picture u can do some thing like this too
for cake go for good taste. You can have a dummy cake ,a dummy cake has only one story of real cake on which bride and groom will cut rest u can order sheets of the same cake that will save u allot of money. but don’t worry dummy cake look like 100% real, know one can say its not real
for invitations buy the ready to write invitations from marchaels or HallMark .
for Food u have to talk with catres i have no ideas for that
Best of luck
October 7th, 2009 at 11:08 am
Venue….
Try state and city parks and community centers. There is a gorgeous historic room in a community center here in downtown Nashville that rent’s for $70 for the night and that includes tables and chairs!
My reception room is at a state park inn and is $250 but that includes tables, chairs, white linens, set-up and clean up!
Decor…
If you are feeling brave (weather wise) you could go the picnic pavilion route at a pretty park or lake.
You could cover the rafters in twinkle lights and these really pretty faux lanterns. Wait until party city has a sale and buy disposable table cloths with coordinating plates, cups, napkins, etc. in your colors. Use luminaries or jars/candle holders wrapped in the same tissue paper as the “lanterns” as your centerpieces. You could probably do the whole pavilion for under $100!
These ideas would also translate inside if you can find an affordable venue.
Invitations….
DIY kits 50 invites for about $25 at Wal-mart.
This is a great tutorial on how to make your own beautiful invites for super cheap.
Cake….
Cupcakes are really cheap plus you don’t have to have someone to cut the cake!
Or
Barrow three or four cake stands from family or friends.
On a table place sturdy boxes or crates of varying heights.
Place a table cloth over the boxes and entire table.
Place a cake stand on each box.
Order 3 or 4 regular cakes from a grocery store bakery to place on the cake stands.
It will look beautiful! You can order different cake flavors with all white frosting and decorate your self with shaped chocolates of fresh flowers. And the “regular” cakes should cost under $20 a piece, you might even find a sale in the $10 range.
Food….
Buffet style.
BBQ even catered or picked up in large batches is far more affordable than any wedding caterer.
Depending on how formal you are wanting things and your families a fish fry could be really fun. You might want to get a non-fish option (maybe chicken fingers or chicken salad and rolls?) for those who don’t care for fish.
Deli trays from costco, wal-mart, sams etc. You can get meats, cheeses and different kinds of rolls. Add a couple gallons of pasta salad and potato salad and maybe a tossed salad and you are good to go.
Baked ziti or lasagna can be prepared ahead of time and reheated for the event. Add some garlic bread and a nice salad.
Another affordable option would be a taco/burrito bar.
Dishes of seasoned ground beef, refried beans, black and red beans, rice, shredded lettuce, salsa, sour cream, cheese, some shells and tortillas and viola!
I think desert only receptions are lovely and inexpensive. Just make sure it’s after dinner time and it’s clear on the invite.
Hope a few of these ideas helped!
Good luck!
October 8th, 2009 at 11:57 pm
Buy cardstock for invitations and get them printed at a printing place such as Kinkos.
October 9th, 2009 at 12:19 pm
you might find some in this forum post:
(just do not want to copy-paste them:-)
October 9th, 2009 at 6:25 pm
Ok here are some things that you can do to save money at your wedding.
1) For your cake, instead of getting it from a bakery get it from the grocery store. For the most part cake is cake and it will taste just as good and look just as nice. Some of the best cake I’ve had was from a grocery store it looks just as nice as what they do in the bakery and it costs way less. Also if you are having a lot of guests you can get a really nice looking cake that is not big enough to feed all your guest(the bigger the cake the more expensive because of the cost of decorating) and have that sitting out on display for the cutting and then keep a few sheet cakes which are really cheap in the kitchen for serving.
2) For a photographer and vidoegrapher you can get a photography student who will take a lot less than a professional photographer. The students usually do pretty good work too because they want to use you as a job reference after they graduate. Ask them to see their portfolio.
3) For your DJ find the cheapest DJ possible and then to make sure that he doesn’t play crappy music all night, make a very long list of songs and tell him to play them all. The DJs listed in the yellow pages of the phone book tend to be the most expensive. So go to and click on the city nearest to you and then look under “gigs.”
4) For your flowers don’t go to a florest. Go to a place like Sams Club or Costco they will make your flower arrangements for you for much less money than the florest. Or you can look at some arrangements that you like online, order the same flowers that are used in the arrangements that you like and put the arrangements together yourself, this is a very cheap way to go and I have found out that it doesn’t take a lot of skills to make flower arrangements is pretty easy. If you choose to do this make the arrangements the night before the wedding put them in water with 2 tbsp of 7up and refrigerate them over night.
5) For cernterpieces other than flowers think about flat mirrors with candles on top of them and rose pettles. Or you could go a glass bowl with water and floating candles. Also you could do a potted plant as a centerpiece, make sure that the flower pot is nice and then let the guests take it home as a wedding favors. All of these ideas will be much heaper than flowers. You can buy candles, bowls, and mirrors all whole sale online or at the dollar store.
6) For the place to have your wedding at try for a garden but if there are no gardens near you then try a park. You can rent a gazebo really cheap and decorate it with cheap draped white cloth and lights on a string(christmas lights). Just make sure that the gazebo is large enough for all of our guests. You can just collect some folding chairs from your family members and spray paint them white. Borrow folding tables from your family and cover them with a long table clothe that reaches the floor(so no one will know that they are folding tables). If you can’t come up with enough folding table then rent some tables that won’t be too expensive also plane white table clothes can be rented for a decent price. If you have your wedding at a hall or hotel tables, chairs. and covers for both will mostlikely be provided.
7) For food, ask whoever will provide your food to do a buffet that will save you from paying for waiters and they will also charge less because they don’t have to arrange the food on each plate. If you can find a venue that will allow you to bring a caterer that will be cheaper than having a hotel or wedding hall do the food for you. If you can’t afford a caterer then you can order food from the deli at your grocery store, they will do salads and soups and appitizers and rolls and they have some really good main courses too not just fried chicken and potato salad. You rent some nice dishes and silverware and glasses and set them up on the tables for the guests, take the food out of the ugly tin containers that you will get it in put it in some nice silver rented containers for buffets(maybe the kind that have a small burner under them to keep them hot) scatter some rose petals around them and it will be beautiful. I once had food from a grocery store deli at a bridal shower and it was better than the food at the wedding from the Marriot.
Some other ways to save money:
* Skip the alcohol. Alcohol is the single most expensive thing at weddings in the US. You could have a coffee bar or juice bar instead and save a lot of money.
* Skip the favors. Wedding favors costs hundreds of dollars and most people throw them away or pack them away in a closet. Its your wedding they are suppose to give you gifts not the other way around.
* Print your own invitations buy them from a store and print them at home on your printer. They come in a pack of 50 for about $25. Or skip the invitations since everyone throws them away anyway and just call people to invite them.
* Cut the guest list. Less people = less food, cake and drinks to pay for, a smaller venue which will be cheaper, less things like tables, table coverings and dishes to rent. Only invite the people that you really care about, I don’t think that there are very many people have more than 100 people that are actually close to them that they really care about.
Some things that you should not do to save money:
* Don’t try to have the wedding in a house, unless your house is a mansion or palaces. All those people in one house will make it really crowded and it will be hard to move around plus where will you park all the cars and if the music is too loud hte neighbors might call the cops and if someone gets hurt they can sue you personally. All the wedding htat I have seen that were in houses were disasters.
* Don’t skip the dinner and make it a “cake only” reception or a “cocktail hour.” Weddings take hours and people get hungry. Some people may have driven a distance to get there and want to eat and if they are giving you gifts and money they expect a dinner. Also its not nice to go home at the end of the night a still have to prepare a meal.
October 11th, 2009 at 6:20 am
have a cookout, be a DIY Bride,