Affordable Wedding?

I had my wedding and reception in a dance studio. it was wonderful because all the mirrors made it feel more bright and beautiful just a few flowers and candles and table centerpieces reflected in those mirrors made it feel like there were more. i would suggest looking into a dance studio around where the church is. We paid 125 an hour for the studio with a 100 deposit we got back because we cleaned up.

I just got married about 4 weeks ago. My husband and I have both been married before and did not want anything elaborate or expensive. We wanted to enjoy the honeymoon instead. We found an online package to Las Vegas including airfare and 3 nights at the Stratosphere for $1000. Then, we spent approximately $800 or less while we were in Vegas on meals, shows, gambling, the actual wedding at the Stained Glass Chapel, transportation, etc. We had a ball and were proud of ourselves for paying cash for our wedding and honeymoon. We have vowed to not to use credit cards, as we have both had very bad experiences in getting in over our heads with debt. We want this marriage to work and approach everything as a team. Good luck to your daughter.

Does a "fellowship hall" come with the church? In other words, do you get use of another room, since you are using the church already? We got married in Burleson, 5 years ago, and used our "coffee house" for our reception area. We bought sandwiches from the deli at Albertson's, and they were on nice party platters. Probably much cheaper than Subway, but with the same "look." We probably had around 50-75 people at our wedding/reception. Hope that helps! We were very conservative as well, and it was a beautiful wedding.

When I married my ex husband (and the wedding was NOT the issue) we found his "suit" from a second hand store (or rent one). My grandmother made my dress and it cost maybe $30 (off white number that could be worn again) and as gifts, my cousin bought the cake (a friend of her's is a decorator), my grandmother and my mom did all the flowers. I didn't go to a salon to get my hair done or my make-up. Food consisted of a nice family pot luck dinner...with everyone including my grandmother's pastor who married us in my grandmother's living room, brought some hors dourve to share...and THAT was our gift from them (and yeah, some of them got us some things we needed but for the most part, jsut having friends and family share the day was what was most important).

We did our own invitations. You can get some AWESOME stationary from hobby lobby or Michael's now. I added ribbin and velum to mine and voila...looked like I ordered them.

You actually CAN have a wedding that isn't horribly expensive if you're willing to do the work.

And I'm a firm believer in spending more on the honeymoon than on the affair itself.

For the record, my second wedding cost me $5000. $1800 was for the wedding chapel and reception room. $100 for security that was refundable. $100 for the preacher to do the service (that's what we paid him, not what he asked for) and music was provided by us on mixed CD's we made before the ceremony.

The food was ordered from Jason's deli and wal-mart and we bought champagne wholesale by buying in bulk.

We had our wedding on a Friday night, and it was almost $2000 cheaper to do it at night than for say a saturday or sunday.

The rest was decor and dress (off the rack at David's for $199) and misc.

OH...and if you have time...go to a bridal show. I think there's one coming up in Dallas. (if it's not already come and gone). I got My chapel and reception for a steal because we got a discount for coming to the show...also...my hair was free with 3 bridesmaids at Daireds in Arlington with the dicount for coming to the show as well...you also get to sample ALLOT of cakes, and you get to sample food for receptions...

This is long winded...sorry bout that...it's early...

Smiles and good luck. And CONGRATULATIONS!!

My parents spent an arm and a leg on my first wedding - literally! The problem is that it's not just the reception place and food! It's the flowers, the cakes, the dress, the shoes, the invitations, the jewelry, the DJ, the wedding favors and the hundreds of other things that come up. I firmly believe that there is no such thing as an affordable wedding! I remarried in 2002 and being much older and wiser, I convinced (and I truly mean convinced) my husband to invite just our CLOSE friends and family and have a destination wedding. The hotel took care of everything! It was wonderful and our ENTIRE wedding, honeymoon, etc. cost us less than $5000. We were in Jamaica for a week...it included airfare, hotel, food, drinks, gratuity, a wedding planner, flowers, a reception with hordourves, cake, champagne, a photographer, a videographer, music selections, massage, manicure, pedicure, hair and makeup. It was a wonderful and relaxing experience for everyone who attended! My in-laws were very unhappy - they wanted a church wedding - but we decided that a stress-free wedding on the beach at sunset was just the best way for us to enjoy our special day! The only things not included were my dress, shoes and jewlery and we had a fabulous vacation too! I HIGHLY recommend a destination wedding! Good luck!

We had an inexpensive wedding, it wasn't local since I am from out of state but maybe you can use some tips we did.

We got married in a small church amount 100 people,
the cost of the church and hall was less than 100 and
if you clean it we got part of it back.

Catering is one of the most expensive so we just went to
SAMS Club and got large Meat Cheese trays ready to go,
cups plates we went with clear, some small buns, crackers,gallon of mints and nuts. We did get a few things from the local grocery like fruit we couldn't find at SAMS.
We all pitched in and helped my Step Mom and MIL and a few ladies from the church even offered to serve for the wedding.

I saved on my wedding dress and went to David's Bridal $99 wedding dress sale and found one I loved.

Wedding Invitations - we got a box of Invitations from Party city on sale if you look around you can get them on sale about
25.00 or less and print them yoursleves and save alot of money there. I even saaw some at Big Lots.

We got our cake from Walmart grocery it was less expensive
and was really pretty.

We even got the Bridesmaids and candle lighters dresses on sale since it was Prom time.

We made our flowers for the wedding party and saved a bunch.

I made our Wedding Programs on the computer and printed them my self.

Our Photograper was a Intern for a local photo studio and she took wonderful pictures and it only cost about 200.00.

There are ways to save you just have to be creative.
Go to all the wedding depts in all stores. Big Lots has a section of stuff with there scrapbook stuff, party stores, $1.00 stores sometimes has the little wedding assessories or naplkins even. JUne is the most popular month for wedding so some places have the wedding stuff marked down. Just look everywhere. I even saw stuff marked down at Walmart.

Sorry so long just was thinking everywhere we tried to cut costs.

The most expensive was the Mens Tuxes and catering for the night of the rehearsal. We got a room from a local BBQ place they had a private room and had a catered buffet and it was real nice.

We had everything we wanted maybe there are some tips you could use.

I planned my Moms wedding at a rose garden outside,
it was real nice. It was just 100 to do it there.

My husband and I got married and had our reception at the Lightcatcher Winery in NW Fort Worth near Lake Worth (http://www.lightcatcher.com/lightcatcher_winery_home.htm). It was one of the most inexpensive places I found. They do all the catering there (won't actually let you bring in outside food, except the cake), but the food was excellent. And the atmosphere was wonderful -- they have a really pretty outdoor stone terrace and strings of lights. I made CDs for music to save on a DJ and instead of a cake, we made cupcakes... I got several people in the family who wanted to help to bring a dozen or 2. I also made my own invitations and had my dad get ordained online and perform the ceremony so that was free! We also skipped the favors since that stuff is kinda pointless (and expensive) anyway and usually gets thrown away. We didn't do any flowers either -- also a huge expense -- the winery was pretty enough without them. I did have a bouquet myself, but didn't get one for my bridesmaids (had them standing up front to start with instead of walking in ahead of me), and didn't bother with corsages or boutonnieres (hubby didn't want one anyway).

AND, my sister had her reception at The Parson's Table in Aledo (http://www.parsonstable.net/). It was really reasonable (much moreso than the winery I think), and you can take whatever food you want -- we went the Sam's/Coscto route that other people have mentioned and got food trays. It's also very pretty.

Good luck!!

Of course there is such a thing! My husband and I got married for under $250 dollars...in Hawaii (granted we lived there at the time). My dress cost $29 at Sears...white, spaghetti strap, simple, perfect for me.
Like someone else suggested do the invitations yourself and hand deliver if it is more feasible than mailing (i.e. if inviting people from work then take them, take to people at church, etc...).
Instead of doing the elaborate cake we just had a full sheet cake with the same design that was on our invitations.
If the wedding is during a cooler time then why not have the reception at a park? Maybe rent a pavilion at one of the larger parks.
Is a tux necessary for the groom? Maybe a nice suit would suffice.
Can they have just one person stand with them rather than a full wedding party?
Also, the idea about doing to trays from Sam's or Costco is a great idea.
Rather than have a DJ or a band they can put an awesome playlist on their Ipod and hook it into speakers.
These are just suggestions that they may find helpful.
It is my honest opinion that one of the worst ways to start a married life is in debt because of the wedding. It is supposed to be special and fun event for the couple...not a "keeping up with the Jones'" moment and they shouldn't have to worry about what other people think of their wedding. OK...that's my 2 cents. Hope they have a wonderful day and a blessed marriage!