Wedding receptions are a beautiful way to celebrate a major milestone in your relationship alongside your closest friends and family. But, it’s no secret that weddings can be insanely expensive. In 2023, the average wedding budget was around $35,000!
Some soon-to-be-weds may see that number and decide it’s better to elope, or forgo a wedding after all. But I’m here to tell you that successful, beautiful, and FUN weddings can be pulled off with almost any budget. Actually, frugal weddings can even be more fun sometimes, with DIY elements making it even more charming and memorable!
1. First, make a budget
If you want to throw a wedding on a budget, you first need to figure out what that budget actually is! Sit down with your partner and determine how much wedding you can afford without hurting your other financial goals or going into debt.
It’s crucial to avoid spending more than you can afford on your wedding. Starting your marriage out on the wrong financial footing will have real ramifications as you try to build wealth as a couple.
Not to mention, financial stress is one of the biggest divorce factors. So think long-term. You want your wedding to be a night you’ll remember forever, not one you’ll be paying off forever!
Whatever wedding budget you come up with, make sure it’s one you can comfortably afford. It might also make sense to come up with a range, with a higher number and low end number. Being that most weddings run over budget, if you shoot for the low end number you might end up at the high-end. Planning with extra cushion to cover those unexpected expenses is a smart move.
2. Figure out what’s important to you
The key to throwing a successful wedding without going overboard is prioritizing what’s important to you and what isn’t. Just because something is traditionally a part of most weddings doesn’t mean you have to include it in yours.
Scrutinize every spending category in your wedding budget and determine what you can cut without compromising your happiness. For example, you may not care about having the fanciest, most expensive dress. But maybe you’re a total foodie and want to serve up some high class eats. Or maybe you’re dying to have a live band at your wedding, but don’t mind having a smaller size guest list, like 30-50 of your closest friends and family.
Figure out what wedding elements matter most to you. Those are the things that you’ve really got to prioritize including in your special day. Everything else can be acquired for cheaper, or eliminated altogether.
Don’t forget to include your fiancé in all this! Be sure to include what’s important to them too!
3. Get some friends involved (frugal ones!)
One thing I’ve noticed lately is that people seem more reluctant to ask for favors from their friends. But here’s the thing – asking for favors can actually strengthen your friendship and community, not harm things. Getting your friends involved with your wedding could make them feel more comfortable to ask you for help when they need it.
Plus, if you let your true values and ideal wedding budget be known (and your friends support that), you can tap into the frugal hive mind and save a bunch of money!
Your friends can help you DIY some elements of your wedding. Things like floral arrangements, place cards, wedding invitations, hair and makeup, decor and more! They probably have a ton of ideas to share, and will feel really rewarded in helping make your magical day come together.
4. Consider a smaller guest list
One of the quickest ways to save money on a wedding is to make some cuts on your guest list. Food is a huge expense at a wedding, but larger guest lists also require bigger reception spaces, rental gear, etc. Each guest (and their plus one) can add up to hundreds of dollars in additional expenses.
Cutting down your wedding guest list is the simplest way to drastically reduce the cost. And there’s something very special about only having the most important people in your life at your wedding.
Recently, I was hanging out with my friend and her parents, and we got around to watching some of their old wedding footage. Honestly, I was surprised by the number of people in the footage that her parents could not remember at all!
So a fun little question to ask yourself when making your guest list… “Will I remember this person in 40 years?” If the answer isn’t an enthusiastic yes, they may not need to be invited to your wedding.
Remember that your reception doesn’t have to be the only party you throw. You can always have a smaller get together after the wedding for people like coworkers, extended family and your less close friends!
5. Get married during the off season
Just like with travel, weddings have a peak and off-peak season. Opting to get married during less popular months can mean paying lower rates across the board. And in some cases it can give you room to ask for a discount.
Peak wedding season takes place between April and November, with September and October being the most popular months to get married. Higher demand during these months drive up the price of everything you need to book for your wedding. It also makes it way more difficult to lock in a location, vendors, etc.
According to the Knot, the most affordable months to get married are December, January and February. I know, it’s cold during the winter months. But you’ll save a boatload of money!
Every couple needs to decide whether the trade-off is worth it. A winter wedding might not make sense if you’re going to spend the entire month stressing about a big blizzard potentially ruining your day.
Instead of the absolute cheapest winter months, another option is getting married in July or August. While a heat wave could be unpleasant, it won’t prevent people from being able to make it to your wedding altogether.
6. Skip the Saturday wedding
Another major way to save on your wedding is to avoid booking on a Saturday. Saturdays are the most popular days to host a wedding, and because of that, they are also the most expensive! Guests are more likely to be off from work or school, and have the entire next day free to travel home (and recover from a killer late night of dancing!)
But choosing to get married on a day between Sunday – Thursday can save you some serious cash. Not only will you have more available dates to choose from, but you’ll typically be able to secure lower prices for your vendors and venue.
Oh, and if you’re worried about it being an inconvenience to your friends and family having to take a day off work to attend your wedding, don’t be. You’ll be surprised at what lengths friends go to in order to support your special day. In fact, most travelers need to take time off anyway for wedding travel. So what do they care if your reception is on a Sunday or Monday night?
7. Rent, borrow, and buy secondhand
Planning a wedding is overwhelming because every little item comes at a cost. Between the dress, the tux, flowers, wedding bands, shoes, party favors, invitations, chairs, and plates and silverware, it’s easy to assume you’ll be forced to spend thousands on some of the bare essentials for your wedding!
If you think about it, it’s kind of silly to buy everything brand new. I mean, you’re only going to use it for one day! Renting, borrowing, and buying some items secondhand is a great way to lower your wedding budget. You can still incorporate the most important essentials, but at a huge discount.
Here are some great online resources to find second-hand wedding reception gear…
- Wedzee: This platform specializes in new, used, and custom wedding items.
- eBay: A classic option for finding used wedding decor.
- BravoBride: Great site for used wedding decor and clothing!
- Wedding-Recycle: Preloved wedding items, still in great condition
Searching Pinterest, Instagram and other local marketplace options might be a good idea too. You can stumble across newlyweds that are offloading all the gear they just bought, saving yourself thousands. For social media, try searching for hashtags like #weddingdecor, #usedweddingdecor, and #weddingrentals.
Lastly, local thrift stores can be a great place to look for cheap decor. Thrift stores are often packed with things like vases, table cloths, runners, candle holders and more!
Budget Wedding: Cheap, Cheaper and Cheapest Ideas
Weddings aren’t all about how much money you spend. They’re about coming together with the people you love to celebrate a life-long commitment. Budget weddings accomplish the same thing as expensive weddings, which is why you can throw a beautiful wedding on any budget!
Here are some cheap, cheaper, and cheapest ways to acquire everything you need for a lower cost wedding.
Side Note- When we say “cheap” here, we really mean “frugal”. Using any of these options for your wedding doesn’t mean you’re a cheap person!
Finding a budget venue
The wedding venue is usually the biggest cost for most couples. But it doesn’t need to be yours! While banquet halls and hotels are popular choices for wedding receptions, these can massively balloon your entire wedding budget. It pays to look around for more affordable venue options, even if it takes time.
Cheap Venues
Local cultural clubs, like women’s clubs, heritage clubs, or the local VFW, can be a great option for hosting an affordable wedding reception. These community cornerstones likely already host events, and are perfect for a small to average sized wedding. Historic sites, like historic cottages, museums and even castles can be a great way to get married in a unique setting with tons of character. For example, you can host your wedding reception at this historic castle in the off season starting at $3,500, or at this women’s club for $1,750-2,750.
Cheaper Venues
If you want to get married with beautiful scenery in a nontraditional place, consider renting an Airbnb. Airbnb has a ton of filters on their website that can allow you to explore many different types of unique properties. For example, you can rent this entire private island on Airbnb for just $749 per night, or this entire castle for $996 per night. Just remember that you’ll need to get the owner’s OK before hosting your wedding here. Chairs and decor will need to be rented seperately too for your big day.
You can also consider renting out a restaurant or brewery to host your wedding reception for an affordable price. Many restaurants don’t even charge you to rent their space. Instead, they will ask you to pay a set price for the food for a minimum number of people.
Plus, you’ll have knocked out two birds with one stone by securing your food vendor and venue at the same time. When it comes to breweries, the cost can vary greatly depending on the place itself, but it is possible to find one with a venue fee of around $1,000-2,000.
Cheapest Venues
If you’re looking to spend very little on your wedding venue, you’ve still got plenty of options!
The absolute cheapest wedding venue idea would be to host your wedding in your backyard, or in a friend or family member’s backyard. If they’ve got a decent amount of space, you’ll be able to host your entire reception in a lovely outdoor space for free!
Beach weddings can also be a great option for a cheap wedding, as you’ll just need to pay to section off a portion of the beach for your ceremony and reception. Or, you could host your wedding in a local park or library for cheap!
Saving on food and drinks
Feeding your wedding guests is another huge wedding expense that can leave you with a major spending hangover if you aren’t careful. Typically, food is the second biggest wedding expense you’ll encounter when planning your big day. But with careful planning you don’t need to spend a fortune to make sure your guests are happy and well fed!
Cheap Food
One of the best ways to save on food during your wedding is to pare down some of the options. If you’d like to serve a sit down meal, choose more affordable options like chicken, pork, and veggie meals as opposed to choices like lobster and steak. You can also scale back the appetizers, which can ensure that your guests will have enough room to actually finish their dinner!
Cheaper Food
Another great way to slash your food costs is to serve dinner buffet style. This can save you some serious cash, as it takes less manpower to set up and to clean up. Some guests may even prefer this, as they’ll be able to try everything on the menu instead of just one dish.
Another fun option can be to get a food truck to come and park outside your wedding. Your guests will be able to pick out exactly what they want to eat, and you’ll pay an affordable flat rate! Even better, you’ll be turning the dining experience into an activity that your guests will remember for months to come.
Cheapest Food
Lastly, if you’re hosting a more scaled back wedding at a backyard or at a park, you may not need to hire a caterer at all. Consider asking your friends to all bring a dish and host a potluck! This can be a great way to enjoy a ton of different dishes without breaking the bank.
Scale Down Your Transportation
Getting people to and from your wedding reception can also add up. With friends and family traveling in for your wedding, you want to make sure everyone has an easy time getting to where they need to be. Here are some options to consider…
Cheap Transportation
One of the easiest ways to save on transportation is to host your wedding ceremony and reception in the same place, so that you don’t need to shuttle folks from one to the other. Then, you can simply provide a shuttle service to and from the hotels where people are staying to the venue if necessary.
Or, if you’re hosting your wedding at a hotel where the ceremony and reception are within walking distance from the accommodations, you may not need to provide transportation at all!
Cheaper Transportation
If you need to provide transportation to and from your wedding, why not do it in style? 🤩
School bus rentals can be a much more affordable option to get your wedding guests to where they want to be. Plus, they’ll be able to relive the good old days of sweating it out on those pleather seats. Maybe they’ll even start shooting spitballs at each other, and then their bus ride can become a free entertainment option! Hey, it might not be glamorous, but it serves its purpose and is much better than having your guests need to sort out their own transport.
Cheapest Transportation
If you aren’t able to provide mass transportation for all of your guests, consider offering Uber vouchers. You can send these vouchers to your guests via email, redemption card or link, and can set location restrictions, time frames and expiration dates for these vouchers, and you’ll only pay for what people use. That way, if half of your guests bring their cars to your wedding, you’ll only pay for a ride for those who actually need it.
Budget wedding dress ideas
If you grew up watching the TV show “Say Yes to the Dress,” you’ll know that some wedding dress costs have eaten up a huge chunk of people’s wedding budgets. Lucky for you, there are a TON of cheap wedding dress options out there these days.
Cheap wedding dresses
If you want a designer wedding dress but don’t want to pay designer prices, sample sales and trunk shows could be your best bet for securing the perfect wedding look.
A trunk sale is when a designer or sales representative comes to a bridal shop to show off their entire collection. And sales are often offered to those who make a purchase at these events. Sample sales can save you 20-90% on a wedding gown, because during these events, bridal shops sell the sample dresses that brides-to-be try on at the store!
Cheaper dresses
Buy secondhand! There are so many wedding dresses available in near perfect condition that you can purchase online, and have tailored to fit you perfectly.
Stillwhite is a great website to look for used wedding dresses, and it has tons of beautiful options for under $500. You can also look on resale clothing websites like Depop and Poshmark for used wedding dresses as well.
The cheapest dress
Lastly, if you want to save even more money on a wedding dress, don’t buy a wedding dress. Instead, look to regular retailers for beautiful white dresses to snag a beautiful wedding dress at a budget price. For example, websites like Zara and Bloomingdales have tons of elegant white dresses at modest prices.
Saving on hair and makeup
Another wedding expense that can surprise you is hair and makeup costs for the bride. However, for many brides, this is a worthwhile expense because it leaves them feeling beautiful on their big day, and your hair and makeup look are immortalized in your wedding photos. Still, there are other ways to feel like a million bucks on your wedding day!
Cheap hair and makeup
If you have enough time on your busy wedding day to make it to the salon in the morning, you can save a ton of cash as opposed to having your hair and makeup artist come to you. And, if you’re loyal to a particular salon, consider asking them to do your wedding hair and makeup. They may even offer you a lower rate for being a longtime customer!
Cheaper hair and makeup
We all have that one friend who always has flawless hair and makeup. Why not put them to work at your wedding?
Consider asking a friend who’s exceptionally gifted in the hair and makeup department to do your hair and makeup as their wedding gift, or offer them a small amount of money to do it for you. Just be sure to trial it out a few weeks before the wedding to make sure you’re both on the same page for the look.
Cheapest hair and makeup
Lastly, I am a firm believer that anyone can learn to do their own hair and makeup well, even if it’s not necessarily up to the standard of a professional makeup artist. The truth is, doing your own hair and makeup is a skill that you can develop with practice. And if your wedding is still months away, you have plenty of time to experiment.
There are so many YouTube tutorials out there showcasing hair and makeup ideas specifically for weddings. Make it a goal to follow along to one of them once a week until you feel like you’re confident enough to do your own makeup for your big day.
Wedding Decor
With some venues, you may be entirely on the hook for decorating for your wedding. But, that doesn’t mean you need to completely bust your wedding budget to create a beautiful backdrop for your celebration. Here are a few cheap decor ideas that can help you to save money without compromising aesthetics.
Cheap decor
If you’re looking to spend less on wedding decor, focus on incorporating just a few nice statement pieces. You don’t need to fill every inch of available space with decorations! Instead, let your floral arrangements do a lot of the heavy lifting, and go for a more minimalist approach.
For any bigger, statement decor pieces, like arches or backdrops, consider renting to save a few bucks. You can also likely find some of these pieces for cheap on Amazon- just be sure to read the reviews!
Cheaper decor
If you want to save even more money on decor, focus on buying your decorations secondhand from local thrift stores, or from websites like eBay and Craigslist. Many thrift stores are packed with things like vases, plates, runners and tablecloths. Plus, you’ll be able to find some unique pieces you won’t be able to get anywhere else!
Cheapest decor
If you don’t have a huge wedding budget, consider using what you have. Try borrowing from friends and family, or making it yourself! There are so many cute decor ideas you can DIY for far cheaper than it would cost to buy. You may even be able to repurpose things you already have around your home.
When it comes to floral arrangements, no one beats the flower prices at Trader Joe’s! Buy a few different bouquets and create your own floral centerpieces.
Wedding favors
While wedding favors are not essential at a wedding, some folks like to include them to say thank you to their guests for celebrating with them. Here are a few ideas for how to do wedding favors without breaking the budget!
Cheap wedding favors
Instead of personalizing wedding favors, buying something generic can save you a ton of money. Try to focus on getting a wedding favor that people will actually use instead of something that will just sit in a drawer somewhere in their home. For example, getting plantable seeds, scratch offs, a deck of cards, soaps, or bottle openers can make for practical and cheap wedding favors.
Cheaper wedding favors
If you want to save money on wedding favors and make sure that they don’t go to waste, you can’t go wrong with consumable treats! Consider baking some cookies or brownies a few days before the wedding, and your guests can enjoy these treats on their way out.
Cheapest wedding favors
If you don’t have the budget for wedding favors, just skip them altogether! The truth is that most folks just don’t want to hold onto tchotchkes from weddings. And sadly, tons of people completely forget to grab them on the way out.
Entertainment
Music and entertainment is probably the most exciting part of a wedding. Having fun activities that you can participate in with your closest friends and family can truly kick the energy of your wedding reception up a notch, and make it even more memorable.
Cheap entertainment ideas:
Music is a must. While live bands can be a great option, they are typically much more expensive than hiring a single DJ. On average, wedding bands cost around $4,500, while a DJ will only set you back around $1,000 for the night.
Instead of renting the classic photo booth, which will set you back a few hundred bucks, you could also set up a small backdrop and buy a polaroid camera and some film!
Cheaper entertainment ideas:
A few cheap social activities can help to keep guests occupied beyond dinner. One of my favorite ideas is to purchase a bunch of temporary tattoos and to have a tattoo bar. You could also set up a board game table and purchase a few fun less-strategic games, like Jenga or Connect Four. Or, pick up a few canvases and paint markers in bulk and set up and art table!
Cheapest entertainment ideas:
If you don’t have a huge budget for entertainment at your wedding, fear not! With a little creativity, you can keep your guests entertained without spending a dime. Instead of hiring someone to play music all night, craft a killer playlist and connect it to a speaker. Then, pull out some favorite lawn games (which you, or at least one of your friends is bound to have), like cornhole, can jam, or even beer pong!
Invitations
Invitations may sound like they wouldn’t cost a ton of money, but you’d be surprised at how much these suckers can cost! In fact, 100-150 wedding invitations can set you back around $256-312, according to Brides.com. However, you don’t need to shell out this kind of cash to make sure your guests get the memo. Here are a few more affordable ways to invite guests to your wedding!
Cheap invitations
Don’t feel like you need to go crazy with your wedding invitations. A simple wedding invitation without an envelope liner is more than sufficient to give your guests all the information they need for your wedding. Skip out on mailing the “save the date,” and do this by email instead!
Cheaper invitations
Wedding invitations can be easy to DIY, and doing so can save you some serious cash! Either invest in some cute stationary and pens and hand write your invitations. Or consider designing them in Canva and printing them for cheap.
Cheapest invitations
Hey, we’re living in a digital age, so there’s no harm in sending your wedding invitations out via email. Design them in Canva and attach them to your emails, or use one of these free templates from Evite. Just make sure to call Grandma and make sure she’s able to find it! 😜
Don’t forget about the honeymoon!
For some folks, planning what comes after the wedding is even more exciting! You’ll be happy to find out that you don’t need to empty your bank account to enjoy an amazing honeymoon. Instead, why not consider using credit card travel rewards to vacation for cheap, or even free!
Many credit card companies will offer you significant sign-up bonuses for meeting a minimum spend on the new card. These rewards can be redeemed for real travel perks, like free nights at hotels and free flights!
However, it’s important to remember that you should only try these strategies if you can follow the golden rules of credit cards. That means paying them off in full and on time every month, and resisting the urge to overspend.
Check out our top picks for the best credit cards for wedding and honeymoon expenses as you start planning your big day!
The Bottom Line:
Weddings can be beautiful and meaningful celebrations without spending much money at all. It takes hard work, good negotiation skills, and perhaps some honest conversations with family and friends. But all that effort will pay off in the end, and you’ll have put together something amazing on a wedding budget that you can afford.
Don’t fall into the trap of being lazy or spending more than you can comfortably afford. Remember, you want to start your marriage on the right financial footing, without adding money stress into the mix.
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