People Who Had Low-Cost Weddings Are Sharing Their Tips, Tricks, And Secrets, And I'm Laughing All The Way Down The Discount Aisle (Pun Intended)
Recently, we asked people of the BuzzFeed Community who've had weddings to tell us their tips and tricks on how to keep things low cost yet still utterly FABULOUS! Here's what they said:
1."We did a brunch wedding that was literally half the cost of a sit-down dinner wedding. Everything was included in the package: open bar, champagne fountain, omelet station, centerpieces, etc. Also, several guests said it was the best wedding food they've had, and loved that a day wedding wasn't as stuffy as an evening one."
2."Tiered wedding cakes are expensive! Look for a baker who will make a real top layer so that you and your spouse can have a 'cake cutting,' and have the rest of the layers be Styrofoam or whatever other material. Order sheet cakes from the grocery store and have the caterer cut and serve the sheet cake. It's cheaper and easier to serve."
—Anonymous
3."Rent out a room in a restaurant for dinner instead of a reception hall and just tell the restaurant it’s a dinner party/private event. Once you say the word 'wedding,' the price triples. If you say it’s a private party, you’ll save hundreds or even thousands on food and setup costs."
4."Skip party favors for the guests. Nobody will miss them, and you save yourself from being stuck with all the leftover ones guests don’t even take."
5."We had a midafternoon wedding — this way, the reception wouldn't fall during an actual mealtime. Rather than having to spend a ton of money on food, we were able to get away with appetizers, fruit, drinks, cake, etc., which was way cheaper than a catered meal."
6."I had a short engagement, and my friends wanted to throw us a shower. I felt awful asking for bridal shower gifts AND wedding gifts within months of each other, so my fiancé and I decided to have a 'stock the bar' shower instead. Our venue allowed us to bring our own alcohol, so for shower gifts, we invited everyone to bring anything they might want to drink at our wedding. Not only did we stock our bar, but it added a variety of options that we would never have supplied by ourselves. We purchased mixers and waters, and that was that. It saved us hundreds of dollars not having to purchase alcohol for 70 people."
7."Use Staples (or your local copy store) for announcements, invitations, and RSVPs. We were on a short timeline and used their same-day/next-day printing services. (They also have the full bridal store, which takes longer.) We used one of their templates online for the invitation and personalized it and made the RSVP card in Canva. Both were printed and ready the next day, and we picked up the envelopes two aisles over. They were beautiful, and all in all, it was less than $100. We were able to find matching thank-you cards at the local craft store too!"
"I used Canva to design all of my wedding signs and cards, then sent them to Office Depot/Max to print. I was able to design our save-the-date cards, invitations, stickers, and signs all for free. All I paid for was printing them, which cost under $100."
—Anonymous
8."Donuts instead of wedding cake!"
9."I purchased my flowers in bulk from Costco, and my venue put the arrangements together. What could have been thousands of dollars on flowers was like $600! Also, I went with a venue that had contracted photographers, a DJ, caterers, etc. It made things a lot easier than having to research and find all those things on my own."
10."Having a Zoom option for RSVPs saved us a lot of money. We did this mainly because of our friends who lived far away or were worried about traveling due to COVID, but with the option available, and many long-distance folks preferring to be online instead of making the trip, our overall headcount was a lot less — so anything per person was cheaper."
11."Choose an 'event venue' instead of a 'wedding venue.' It was thousands of dollars cheaper to rent out a multipurpose space. Any place that was listed as being used primarily for weddings was triple the price."
12."If you're using a venue that doesn't supply napkins and you're looking for a natural, boho, country, or just overall ethereal feel, do this: Find linen providers on Etsy who are selling their leftover linen scraps in bulk. Most of the time, they are large enough to be napkins, are made out of gorgeous fabric, are in similar colors or color schemes, and are all slightly different, leaning into that boho vibe."
—Anonymous
13."We rented an Airbnb for the weekend and invited only our immediate families and our officiant’s family. We didn’t use anything that was billed as 'wedding' or 'bridal,' which kept costs down. We ordered pizza from a shop we love for the reception. It was incredibly relaxed and easy, and we had so much fun. The only splurge was on our photographer, and I don’t regret it one bit. The whole thing came to ~$6,000."
14."We got married in winter and saved thousands because it was the offseason. We got discounts with the photographer and half off on the DJ service, and we could pick pretty much any weekend we wanted because not many people get married in February. There was no trouble with coordinating venue and reception hall dates, caterers, photographers, etc., and it took a lot of stress out, with no compromise. I would have loved gorgeous fall foliage wedding photos, but we got our engagement photos done in the fall instead — 100% worth it, no regrets!"
—Anonymous
15."This will sound counterintuitive, but hear me out. We held our wedding at a luxury(ish) hotel and saved big. As it turns out, hotels are able to offer big savings because they are counting on additional revenue from your guests who may stay and dine at the hotel. We looked at many venues, including far humbler options, but when we added up the costs, the luxury hotel was consistently less expensive than all other options. Believe me, we were shocked!"
—Anonymous
16."Our main savings were on the food. If you tell catering companies that you're hiring them for a wedding, they'll charge you several thousand dollars. We ordered empanadas from our favorite local empanada place, and it cost a few hundred bucks. We took orders from all our guests by email beforehand, then called in the order ahead of time to be delivered just before the reception started. Not only was the food delicious, but cleanup was easy, we saved WILD amounts of money, and we gave the delivery driver such a good tip that he cried. We had multiple guests ask where we got the food because they liked it so much, so we also generated some business for a local restaurant that needed it. It was the hit of the wedding. A win-win-win!"
—Anonymous
17."The biggest money saver? A second, FREE photographer. We put an ad on Craigslist stating that we were looking for a second photographer and encouraged students or recent students to apply. New photographers need a portfolio to get clients, but how do you get clients without having the portfolio already? And since we got married on a boat, we were able to offer them a unique location, and they could use the photos for their own marketing. So we got a second photographer for free, and they ended up taking some of my favorite photos of the day!"
—Anonymous
18."We got married in a stunning public garden for the cost of a $300 permitting fee."
19."My husband and I got married in my childhood church sanctuary, which we only had to pay $50 to reserve. Various church ladies volunteered to help set everything up, clean up afterward, play the music, etc., all for free. My mom paid for my dress, the cake, and invitations, so we barely paid anything."
—Anonymous
20."We found a newer wedding venue that was trying to establish itself, so it was priced way below other venues. It was still so beautiful!"
—Anonymous
21."I got married on the Sunday before Labor Day, so we got the cheaper Sunday rate, and everyone had off from work or school the next day!"
—Anonymous
22."We got married on my husband’s grandmother’s farm on a point that overlooks a river, so we saved so much on a $0 venue! We also used old driftwood on-site to fashion our own rustic wedding pergola, then lined our aisle with some old logs and set flowers and ferns on them."
—Anonymous
23."I just planned my wedding like a regular family get-together. It helped me see what people would actually like (just being together as a family) instead of thinking, I need to add this! just because it's a wedding. For example: I knew both my mother-in-law and my dad would want to make desserts using recipes passed down for generations, so I planned that for desserts instead of ordering a wedding cake. It was a lot of fun, and it was just about perfect!"
And last:
24."My best friend ordered supermarket cupcakes for her wedding guests to enjoy. If you put them on a pretty platter, no one will ever know."
Note: Some submissions have been edited for length and/or clarity.
