For the first time in my life, I’m planning a wedding. And it goes without saying that I’m pretty excited.
But, with two kids to care for and a house purchase coming up this summer, I’m also realistic.
I want to celebrate marrying my soulmate with a fun-filled gathering of friends and family. But I don’t want to spend a fortune to do it.
That’s why my fiance and I set a budget on our wedding before he even proposed. Our goal? To spend only around $5000 on a wedding and reception that still has all the elements we want.
And over the next seven months, I’ll be sharing the progress we make on our goal, along with plenty of tips and ideas for keeping a wedding budget under control.
Whether you’re planning a wedding yourself or just looking for some fun and inexpensive ideas for party favours, decor and more, make sure to keep an eye out for new posts in The $5000 Wedding series.
From finding the perfect location to choosing the perfect clothes, I’ll be sharing every idea I have for saving money and still having the wedding of your dreams!
I do have two quick disclaimers. I won’t be including the cost of our wedding rings, because I don’t consider the rings we’ll be wearing for the rest of our lives a wedding expense as much as a life expense. (For the record, they were $750 for both and I think they were worth every penny.)
And, I won’t be including alcohol as we’ll be running a $2 per drink bar that will essentially cover the cost of drinks without overcharging our guests as a paid bar generally would.
And so the planning begins!
Can we host a wedding and reception complete with catered dinner, rental costs for both venues, flowers, centrepieces, wedding favours, entertainment and all the other little details that go into making a wedding perfect?
Only time will tell, so make sure to follow along with the progress every step of the way!
Congratulations on both the upcoming wedding and house purchase! Such an exciting time for you and your family!
i WAS lucky as we did most of the stuff ourselves and had access to a small town hall which basically took donations …I think the cake cost the most but was done by a local lady as well …. the dress was a jacket dress from sears LOL
25 years married in Jan, but together for about 31? been so long i’ve either blocked it out or forgot lol
Ooh, that sounds ideal, Sabina! We’re doing ours in my fiance’s home town, which means I have to plan everything from afar. Definitely adds to the challenge but we’ve been doing pretty well so far! I’m going to make the cake; I love baking and I feel like it will add such a nice personal touch. I can’t wait!
can’t wait to see what you come up with! it can be done, with lots of careful planning and strategic spending
Thanks for the support, Angela! I think I’m most worried about the little things; I can see them adding up quickly. Lol I’ll have to make sure I keep an eye on them!
for sure they can add up … all the extras is what gets you!! lol