Trying to Plan A wedding : Frugally

First, I know how hard it is to get everything done for your wedding, as mine was quite stressful. My first suggestion is to sit down with your future spouse to figure out what is important. Somethings to discuss where to have the wedding, number of guests and what you can afford for the wedding. We paid for everything, so it was important for us to stay within our budget. Best wishes and hope my post is helpful. Good luck with the wedding.

You know I think people lose the whole idea of a wedding, I know girls usually have big dreams of a faiytale wedding but the wedding thing is to bring two people together in love, I feel wedding have gotten out of hand these days, costing thousands and how many times have I heard people say that wedding must have cost a fortune, and when you hear what people do pay, OMG it could be a deposit for a car...I honestly think a smart couple will just have a simple wedding without all the hoopla...close family and friends only

I was never one of thoes girls who wanted a huge wedding. I wanted my friends and family there to celebrate with me as I joined my life with my husbands. I never saw a need for huge expenses. We got a cake and a few snacks, I got a cheap dress, Lets face it you only use it once. I looked great and it all turned out great. Congrats on your comming wedding. Let us know if we can help.

I know how hard it is and how challenging it would be. I guess start with all the things that you need, like gown,cake,venue,invitations,give away and number of guests, then,allocate an approximate amount on it. Start reducing if it goes beyond. Since you still have one year, make it a point that each month, you will accomplish something. Ask friend if they can sponsor anything, we do that and it works..I do know in your culture..LOL! It is nice to have a wonderful wedding since that is once in a lifetime but,we have also to be practical! The bottom line is for you both to have the blessings! All my prayers!

I agree baby,this is stressful on both of us,and I have a feeling it aint going to get much better,and we need to go through our wedding stuff so we can figure out what we need or dont need,but we also need to wait until we have some money,so we know how much to try and spend,but seriously anyone who has tips on how to have small nice but also cheap wedding please let us know.

I planned my wedding, you two have to decide where, outside is good but you have to have a backup due to weather (rain, high temperatures), a church is good if you belong to one or one that you can use, Wedding Chapels are high and you have to see how many hours they can allow you to use their building. T was going to have my ceremony at a church and the reception at a meeting center, I ended up renting two rooms($30.00 each), one for the ceremony and one for the reception, at a community center that was never busy, they also had a kitchen area($15.00-$20.00 rently) and two bathrooms, and lots of parking space. I Found a beautiful dress at a consignment shop (with a adjustable train). I had trouble finding the colors that I wanted so I went to hobby lobby, walmart, and yes dollar tree to get wedding items and crafts, I put ALL of my flowers together, hot glue works wonders. No one ever knew that I did it myself, just look until you see something you like that you think you can do and go for it you can even add something extra. The food make it a famliy project ask diffenet reliable* family members to make different dishes(of course what ever you are wanting for your meal). YOU WILL NEED A ORGANIZER/PLANNER

Here's a link to an article I wrote for AC about how to keep your wedding within a budget. If you have time to read it you will find some useful tips! http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/144464/beautiful_weddings_on_a_budget.html And don't make me come smack you!

i understand on what you feel and at the same time like your wedding to be the best ...but since you got a tight budget then have to planned very well on how to stretch it...i think you have to spend with in your budget only..dont exceed on those trimmings and high cost wedding gowns...any sale wedding gowns on your town?? i had seen on tv on sale wedding gowns...most of all invite only relatives and closest friend...and the venue? well compared which is more cheaper doing it in the church or in a garden wedding.

To save you some trouble and money you can buy alot of items for your wedding second hand or make them yourselves. Material for dresses can be bought at church sales, garage sales, flea markets..along with any sorts of decorations you might want. If you want flowers, there's usually local grower's associations, farms, which will usually hold sales early in the year (or you can order some plants individually from catalogs, and if you look thoroughly, you can usually find some things you can afford). Food's a bit tougher, and you said you have friends, neighbors and family helping, so I'm sure you're fioguring that out just fine. I say take a few days with your fiance just to talk and plan about different options which are open to whatever you have in mind. Good luck! I hope everything goes well on your wedding day and that it'll give you both wonderful memories for the years to come.

Just alittle advice; congrats to you and your fiance for thinking frugal, however don't go too cheap. When I got married I did not have a photogrpaher or DJ at the wedding because we wanted to save money. ALL the guests had cameras and we have plenty of pix but if I had to do it over again I would probably have both. Remeber it's hopefully once in a lifetime.

It sounds like you know exactly what you want and have the majority of your wedding planned out. I am not sure what suggestions you are wanting or if maybe you just need someone to tell you to calm down everything will be okay. Planning a wedding can overwhelm a person so don't let that happen to you. I got married at a bed and breakfast which included the wedding, reception and honey moon with diner and carriage ride one evening. I paid 850.00. My biggest stress... picking out the perfect B&B to get married at. I found my dress and the bridesmaid dress on ebay got them both for under 40.00 including shipping. Husband and best men went western so new boots, belts, jeans, and hats cost me a bundle but got them at a local western store probably spent 400.00 on all that total cost of my wedding was under 1500.00 the cost of a pretty much stress free wedding priceless. :0) Just relax and make a list of what you need to find and buy and a list of where to find it or who can help you make it. Look in thrift stores, ebay, craigs list, local paper, big discount places like big lots, flea markets might even have some things you could use, craft stores, Places like that you might find discounted items you could use or need. Best of luck to you and remember it isn't about the wedding but about love you both share. So relax, go with the flow and everything will be okay.

I love the idea of a cowboy wedding! Then you could use banndanas as center on the tables and have barbecue food too. As for the invitations you can design them and print them yourself, or have them photocopied on a nice, rugged paper. Having a thematic wedding like this will not look cheap although it's on a budget. Your family can help with the food too, and what about the music?