Tell me all about your inexpensive, informal and incredible wedding ;)

Understatement of the year, bit weddings are a tad exxy. DF and I are getting married early May. We gave ourselves such a small amount of time to plan because we don't want to get carried away with everything, we just want something simple and beautiful for US :D We are paying for it all ourselves as my mum can't afford to contribute (and we wouldn't ask her anyway, she has done so much for us already). MIL is very well off but a complete control freak and snob and I would accept anything off her, which is fine because DF and I are happy and excited to be doing this all under our own steam. We are classing 'inexpensive' as probably 2k or under, so not a big do at all. We want a registry wedding, the room we want is lovely, and it's about $340 for a service for 55 guests. My dress will be anywhere from $200 to $500 from what I've seen so far, and add some shoes, hair and makeup, another $250. We are still undecided on whether we will even have a reception or not, we don't really know what the etiquette of all that is yet :dunno:

Anywho, I would love to hear about your 'on a budget wedding', how much it cost you, what you did etc etc :D

Congrats on your upcoming wedding!

We got married at my parents' place - they have a lifestyle block outside perth. It was lovely and free!
We had caterers come in with a buffet type setup - they almost didn't make it because they got lost, but it was alright. The biggest catering cost was the alcohol.
The celebrant was a family friend who gave us a discount.
A good friend is a hairdresser and did my hair (well, she cut it, it wasn't really 'done') and I bought a $50 dress that was on sale (just a dress, not a wedding dress as such).

So, yeah, all up for teh wedding and reception I guess we would have spent $2,500.

We never wanted a big wedding and like you couldn't have afforded it anyway! I think it's important to have the people you love around you with a good atmosphere so you can celebrate your union. That's it.

Congratulations.

We too didn't want to spend too much on the wedding as we were financing ourselves as well. Wanted a good Honeymoon which we got :lol:

We got married in the Conservitory in the Fitzroy Gardens..that took care of flowers and we only had 50 or so guests too and a few people who came to the ceremony and not the reception and they fitted in fine. We used a Celebrant.
Reception was finger food only, it was enough to fill everyone up.
You could see if you can hire a marquee and have spit roasts and extra's. They usally come up ok in price.
I have seen quite a few people do this in the gardens opposite the old Mercy Hospital. They have a rotunda and the caterers serve the the food and you can get a license and book a spot I think through Melb City Council. That way if you are getting married at the registry you can just wander over to the gardens to celebrate.
We also used a friend who had a hobby as a photographer and was great.
We had another friend do the video for us.
Pretty sure we came in around 2k for the it.
Another friend booked a local Indian restauraunt for her reception and it was beautiful and worked out ok in price too.

I had a friend who had all thier family and friends over for a BBQ and surprised everyone by maing it thier wedding day... So the celebrant came to thier place and they said thier vows and had the party thier too. I am not sure how much they paid but I am sure it would not have been very much.

Congragulations on your upcoming nuptials and good luck with your planning

sorry i cant help our wedding cost upwards of 15K lol but good luck anyway xoxoxoxox

Ooooh great advice! Heather, love the idea of the marquee in the gardens! We too have a friend who is a photographer, we have seen his wedding stuff and it is gorgeous, so he has offered to take care of that :D

I have another question; I was speaking to someone IRL about having a gift registry, nothing huge, just omens things we need around the house as we have just moved into a new home etc. Anyway, she seemed to think this was a bad idea, as ''it's not like a 'real' wedding when you're 35'' with a nice reception, big venue etc, and therefore it would be rude to have a registry. I have no idea about wedding etiquette, is that true?

Bull****! If you want to have a registry then have a registry - you don't need a fancy-schmantzy huge expensive wedding to have one. I think they are awesome ideas because how many times have you been invited to a wedding and had no idea what to get someone? I know we've been to heaps! People will thank you for it because it makes their job easier.

One thing I would suggest is maybe even hiring a dress or buying a really nice formal dress that you can wear again because seriously, buying your wedding dress is overrated. I paid $1200 for mine and it has not seen the light of day since I had it drycleaned and boxed up. It is in our wardrobe taking up space. I wouldn't say it was a waste of money, but dead money kwim? I probably can't even sell it now because it's been 10yrs since I got married so it's probably dated too much.

Another thing is do you really need a place to get married in? I know May weather can be iffy, but you can get crappy weather any time of year and some of the most beautiful weddings we have been to have been with a celebrant in a park or at the couples house.

In regards to the registry I think you can do whatever you want and don't listen to anyone.

Our wedding cost $2000 (inc food, alcohol, clothes the works) and it was beautiful. We got married in a park and had the reception at my parents property. We also had a friend photograph our wedding too, they did it as our wedding present.

I like gift registry's. I don't think it matters what sort of wedding you have, people always turn up with a gift. When you send out the invites you can pick and choose who you want to put the gift registry thing in, as only you and your DP know who would not like it.
It certainly doesn't hurt to have one, and if people don't want to use it then that's fine. It helps people who unsure of what to get, they usally appreciate it.

We got married for around $1800 (although that was in 1997 so I guess you've got to allow for inflation, lol).
We also paid for it mostly ourselves (my Dad chucked in $500 and DH's parents helped with food etc) and did it all in 8 weeks - like you we didn't want a long engagement, we just wanted to do it :)

My dress cost $300, we hired DH's suits. One best man & one maid of honour, she wore her graduation dress (we were only 2 1/2 years out of high school).

I bought flowers from a florist but didn't tell them what it was for (ups the bucks straightaway!) I had a stem of orchids, it was gorgeous & cost around $20.

DD1 & my sister were flowergirls, mum made their dresses.

Mum's DP was a professional wedding photographer, so that was a big saving.

We bought our rings for $50 from Cash Converters :lol:

Wedding was held in PILs backyard, they had a rainforest kind of area which was very pretty. Reception was a buffet / barbecue type thing afterwards. Everybody ate drank & had a great time :)

and, if I had to do it all again, I'd do it all the same, bar a few small details. I have been to some big weddings over the years, and they are lovely (my sister's wedding was am-aaaazing!) but for me I couldn't justify the cost.

As for a registry... I don't understand why not? It's your wedding ... if you want a registry but not all the other trimmings why on earth shouldn't you have it? :dunno: maybe I'm missing something, lol.
Another idea though is to have a wishing well, you could send out envelopes with your invitations and get people to make a donation. I know there are some lovely poems for the wording of this kind of thing...just an idea.

Anyway Congratulations! wishing you much fun & excitement in your planning, & a long & happy marriage :dance:

Congrats & good luck with the wedding planning :)

We had a smallish wedding, ceremony in a park & reception in my parents backyard for about 65 people. It was over $2k all up but our biggest expense was food & booze - we had a caterer come in and do the buffet type thing as well, the photographer was our other big expene but if you have a friend that will do it for you that's a bonus.

My dress cost me $350 and I did up/printed my own invites, decorations were from Ikea and ebay.

And about the gift registery if you want to do one go for it - it does help people to get you stuff you want & need if they choose to use it - just because you want a small wedding doesn't mean you can't have one.............weddings / babies / funerals etc bring out everyone's opinion on what should & shouldn't be done - do what makes you happy, it's YOUR day after all :D

Ooooh thanks girls! Jasp, love the idea of a wishing well. I've heard of these, some people have honeymoon donations etc? DF and I would love this (we're taking a week off studies to honeymoon as that's all we can take). Is it rude to ask for donations instead? (so many questions, I know, thankyou for indulging me ;))

Your gift registry could be at a holiday booking place. Lot's of people do that these days.
I know a friend of a friend who had one for their Honeymoon to Africa!!

People will want to give gifts anyway, so it's helpful to point them in the right direction - registry and/or suggesting donations.

definitely lots to consider. You girls are fantastic, thanks so much for all the advice :grouphug:

Our wedding cost us $4000. That was every last thing.

We got married by a celebrant in a park that was free to book. We hired a hall for the night for $120 and got $100 bond back so it actually only cost us $20 LOL. Our meal was provided by Aussie Spit Roast Caterers for $12 a head, and they were so professional. My MIL did all the flower arrangements and bonbomiers (sp) we had to give her money so she could buy the stuff to do it.

A close family friend had his own hire company and the time, so we got all the linen ware and tables and chairs from him and that cost us next to nothing. We had a few friends that loved photography, so we made 1 the official photographer for the day, and another the video camera guy. We also had disposable camera's on each table.

We kept our wedding party down to just 1 bridesmaide and groomsman, but had my 2 nephews as paige boys.

I made all of our own invitations, name cards for the tables etc etc. My flowers and my bridesmaid flowers were professionally done, and the most expensive thing was my wedding dress for $750 on a clearance rack. So yeah out of $4000, $750 of that was dress alone.

Andrews aunt still to this day claims it was one of the best weddings she has ever been to, and that is even saying that after her own children got married. She said it was not over the top and really down to earth and lovely.

Congrats on the wedding....good day too....my birthday :)

DH and I got married at the registry office. It was a nice room, where we invited family and very close friends, I still blubbered like a baby, so the emotion was all still there. I was 36 weeks UTD so wore a nice maternity dress which didn't cost much. Got my hair done at the hairdresser...just washed and blowdried...nothing fancy. I bought a bunch of my favourite flowers too!

We had our 'engagement' party the day after we got married. So a huge party was organised with all our friends and family....most of which didn't know we'd got married the day before....our speech was where we told everyone.

We had it catered, but basically just beef and gravy rolls and salads.....we'd bought the alcohol over time when it was on special, and had 'baby cakes' as our wedding cake so all up I think we spent around $2k (and we got a bit back from the contributions from our wishing well)

We also had a wishing well....people like buying gifts or contributing in some way....so maybe just give people an option I say. It's not like you have to choose megga expensive things to go on your gift registry.....OR you can find smooshy poems on the internet about wedding wishing wells, or tell people that you have your hearts set on something (like a new dining suite) and would love a contribution to that particular thing as you've just moved into a new home.

Have your wedding the way you want it....enjoy it, and put a candle on your wedding cake and remember me!!!! Ha Ha!

I don't think it's rude to ask for donations. As some of the previous posts have mentioned a registry saves all the hassle of what to get. I agree with this, and I think a wishing well is much the same, even better in a way, because you give as much as you can afford, you know?

We had a small wedding in my aunt and uncles garden, it turn out to be a little more expensive then we planned but still not to bad.

It was just DH, DD and I in the ceremony, we did not want bridesmaids etc.
We got our flowers and cake made by friends of MIL, they were lovely and half the price (MIL did buy these for us though).
My wedding dress was an ex sample (never worn) and I just loved it, it was raw silk and lace and had a RRP of over $3000 but I only paid $600.
I wore silver thongs with jewels that cost $10 :redface:.
My hair cost $90 at the local hairdressers and it was amazing, I loved it!
My aunties SIL did my make up for free.
DH hired his suit as he couldn't find one he want to buy.
DD's dress cost $60 on special and her headband was under $10.
Then there was the celebrant that cost way to much and so not worth it (but thats another story).
Mum and Dad gave us a nice little white table and chair set to sign the certificates on.

Then for the reception (this is where the money went)...
We bought 2 white marquees from 'Sams Warehouse', these were meant to be a back up in case it rained but we ended up using them as they looked quiet good.
We supplied beer ans wine, purely because I wanted to.
We also provided a spit roast dinner and cheesecake shop dessert.
My uncle is an electrician so he did the lights and music :D

My brother made me a wishing well for the gifts (we asked for money as we already had everything)

I planned it all in 2 months... started Start of Jan, married Feb 28th... only 19 days to our 1st anniversary :loveshower:.

Umm, I think that is all... there are some photos is the gallery, here...
Message - BellyBelly Member Photo Gallery
(I have more pics on FB but my name is hidden from searching, if you want to see I am happy to add you)

If you google there are sites that have suggestions for wording if you have a wishing well / gift registry that you can include with invites.......they are worded really nicely without sounding like you are just asking for money/gifts etc.

oh will you want/need wedding cars? Do you have a friend with a nice car you can use, we used my parents, just got some ribbon from spotlight and my bro was the chauffer

I think the wishing well thing is fairly standard these days... I went to 5 weddings in 2 years a couple of years ago and they all had wishing wells.

I don't know how much our wedding was off the top of my head, but we definitely had a 'party' rather than a reception.

- We did finger food at $15 a person rather than a proper sit down meal (my gf is getting married in Sept and is paying $90 a head :o)

- I did my own hair and make up. I can understand why people want the whole pamper package, but to be honest, in my mind I had better things to spend the money on

- I got family and friends to do the photos. My aunty loves photography so I asked her to do the 'professional' pictures... bought her a bottle of wine, a box of chocolates and I paid for the developing... all up it was about $150

- I bought my wedding dress off the rack from a little no name formal dress shop - $350 SOLD!!

- DH didn't wear a suit, just a nice pair of pants and a button up shirt he'd bought about 3 years but never worn

- I wore thongs to my wedding which were about $30 from Mathers or Williams I think

- I made my own invitations

- We didn't do the wedding party thing either... just had DH's daughters up there with us.

As the other girls have said hun, do it YOUR way... it's all about you and him.

Can't wait to see the photos!!! :dance:

our wedding was semi formal and as cheap as we could make it (totalled $7000) the reception alone (starter and main meal for 65 and 2 hour drinks package) cost us $4500!! The car was our other big expense which was $900 it was an awesome chrysler limo with hydrolics and lambourgini doors! We saved money by getting shoes at payless shoes ($70 for 4 pairs), MIL made our cake, I made our invites and place cards, a friends did the photography hes a photographer but honestly guests had just as good shots for 70% of the photos. Dresses were bought from ebay saved a heap there!
Thats all i have for now!

We did our wedding for well under $6000. We looked around to find a venue that was within our budget (they are out there, you just need to look!). We ended up spending $55 per head, and had a bar tab set at $100 (our wedding was a sunday afternoon). We also DIY'ed as much as possible, invites, wedding cake, flowers, etc. My uncle was our MC, and we had an ipod instead of a DJ. Suits we hired for $160 from David Marcs (iin Mooney Ponds), and I got my dresses from myself (shellabellabridal.com.au).

There are definately ways to have a wedding cheaply, you just need to think of ways of doing things cheaper. Think of who in your family may be able to help out with things (such as flowers, makerup hair, cars, etc)

Anyone who wants any more tips, feel free to pm me
Michelle :lol:

Our wedding was small... only had 45ish people at the reception. We never did a proper calc as to how much it all was but I think it was leaning towards the cheapie wedding side lol. We pretty much so paid for everything, IL's supplied the alcohol for the reception (otherwise we weren't going to have any) and my Aunt and Uncle put money towards our honeymoon as their present to us. Our celebrant was free but we gave him $100 to cover travel costs. We had our reception at the Norman Lindsay Gallery Cafe :) where DH proposed to me :loveshower:

One of my GF's did my make up, My grandfather did my hair (he's not that old lol, only 65... he's been a hairdresser since he left school!), another friend took our photos. My dress was bought on sale, so was about $450... alterations were about $150... veil was $80, shoes were about $60 I think. I borrowed my Nan's pearls for jewellery. We took our photo's at a local lookout, because the gallery wanted another $500-600 just to take photo's on the grounds!!! The reception was about $45 a head... we had antipasto as entree, choice of two different mains, and the wedding cake as dessert. & as much coffee/tea as we wanted. The cake was $200 - we went to a small-ish bakery after a proper cake place was going to charge us $300 for the same style cake!!!!!! I made invites & also did the table settings... ummmm.... friend of ours did the flower arrangements, my bouquet (sp?) was from a local florist.

If I could do it again - I would have put my foot down and had a Friday morning wedding and had everyone go to high tea after like I wanted. (or just elope!!!!) But it was still the best day :)

Here's my photo's :)

(sorry for rambling)

Sophie Abbott's Photos - Wedding | Facebook

I originally wanted to have my reception in our fav restaurant, book out the place, ppl just order and pay for what they want, put a cap of $50 on the wishing well, few hundred on the bar tab. We ended up hiring a boat and getting it catered (parents got involved). But I still liked the idea of taking everyone to a place that was special for us, and having it more of a night out than a reception.

Or, a breakfast wedding instead of a dinner, that way if you get it catered the food is much simpler, and breakfast is the most important meal of the day, lol.

Congratulations on your upcoming wedding! I got married when I was 20, how insulting that someone should suggest you need a large wedding in your 30's for it to be "proper".

Anyway some of the cost cutting exercises I used:

found a fab designer gown then got a local dressmaker to copy it for a fraction of the cost.
My mum made the bridesmaid dress.
Asked a friend to make my cake, which she did for only the cost of the ingredients
Kept the guest list small (only 17) and they all stayed for the reception which was dinner and drinks. My dad paid for the meal (thanks daddy), we paid for a glass of sparkling wine for all the guests, and there was no free bar. Nobody seemed to mind paying for their own drinks though.
Did not have a band at my reception
Kept flowers to a minimum (my bouquet, my bridesmaid's and buttonholes for the men).

I am sure you will have a wonderful day

T
xx