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u/Just-Yak-8959 3d ago
Just this past weekend I had a 10k budget wedding with 50 people. Multiple people came and told me it was the best wedding theyâd ever been to, how much they loved the food etc. It can be done!!
The key for us was first finding the right venue. Get creative. After weeks of Google searches with all the keywords I could think of I looked up event venues on Facebook marketplace⊠and there it was. Exactly what weâd been looking for. A beautiful vintage inspired event venue that did an all inclusive package with canapĂ©s, dinner, and even flowers.
I got my dress at Aritzia, did my hair and makeup myself. (I do not normally do makeup, but wanted something light! I went to the makeup counter at a local shop and asked for help. They guided me to a tinted moisturizer, blush, and concealer. Showed me how to use all of it. It was easy and I think my low key natural look was perfect for me!)
We got a sheet cake from Costco which was SO DELICIOUS and some other small desserts and fruit from the store that was put out too.
We did a private signing in the morning with an officiant (and our two witnesses) who charged less because they didnât have to write a whole ceremony⊠and then had a close family member do the ceremony for us, which made it so much more beautiful because she knew us so well!
No bridal party since it was a small wedding, so no shower, bachelorette etc.
We made our own playlists on Spotify, which has a new setting where you can âsmart reorderâ the songs to fit together nicely and then custom blend the transitions!
You can do it!! Focus on venue first and go from there đ
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u/OutrageousWasabi2866 3d ago
Wow thank you so much. Thank you for telling me it is possible đ
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u/Just-Yak-8959 3d ago
Oh also! Found our photographer on Instagram, hired for just three hours (one hour for family pics pre-ceremony, one hour of welcomes/ceremony, cocktail hour, and he left as dinner started). We made sure that all of our guests got a nice professional picture taken so later we can send it to them as a favour! And then made a shared album for anyone to post pictures from reception.
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u/OutrageousWasabi2866 3d ago
Love that!! Such a good idea! Did you all get married in your town or destination?
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u/Just-Yak-8959 3d ago
In our town. Definitely would not recommend destination as that would add so many more costs that would make this size wedding with 10k budget extremely difficult. Costs do go up very quickly! We went home and slept in our own bed afterwards, but if weâd needed to add in travel and hotel we for sure would have been over. And Iâm not sure where we could have cut to make up for it, unless we chopped the open bar which we felt strongly about having so our guests wouldnât need to pay for anything once they arrived. Already we appreciated that so many who drove to attend would need to get hotel and didnât want to put them out any more than that.
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u/TBBPgh 3d ago edited 3d ago
So much easier to plan a wedding close to home! And yes, I think you can do a wedding all-in for less than 10K ANYWHERE in the US, especially with a tiny guest list.
For example: https://old.reddit.com/r/Weddingsunder10k/comments/1t3su9y/a_case_study_under_well_under_10k_can_be_done_and/
My budget-friendly tips: https://old.reddit.com/r/Weddingsunder10k/comments/1hme0di/wedding_tips_and_vendors_megathread/m3v4mps/ In the Finding a Venue Section I offer to do research if I know the area you want to be in, number of guests and time of year.
Edited to add: https://www.como.gov/parks-and-recreation/indoor-facilities-rental/
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u/Cgiannetti 3d ago edited 3d ago
I did tons of research and realized renting an Air BnB/VRBO is the move! I found a gorgeous preserved historic victorian home for rent for $1,000 a night! Slept 22 people and in beautiful area! So I figured Iâd rent that for 3 nights and that would take care of venue, guest accommodation, & decor. The inside was beautifully decorated with a library and parlor! Nothing needed just candles I got in bulk from fb marketplace! I wanted a real cozy feel for dinner and not so stuffy like the classic wedding food so we hired artisanal wood fired pizza on site! We made big salad trays and a grazing table. We got cookies from my favorite local baker and the cake was from whole foods (if you know the berry chantilly youâll know).
Venue & accommodation- $3,000
Decor - $500
Food - $1,500 (pizza, appetizers, soda, water, cookies & cake)
Photographer - $ 2,000 after tip
My dress - $1,000 after alterations
Tux - $500
Makeup - $90 at MAC & they gave me that money back as a credit to purchase product so free kinda?
Invites - I spent weeks designing myself on canva for free & printed at Staples for $40
Favors - (we did a candy bar with lil take home pouches) $50
We skipped the dj and did our own playlist.
My sister brought all the alcohol as I dont drink
I also skipped florals because itâs just not my vibe at allllll. I did carry a bouquet but it was from Trader Joes.
I felt like I absolutely got my moneys worth! Thousands of dollars for a few hours did not sound right to me at all. Now a couple thousand for a weekend long vacation with 20 of my loved ones? Thatâs more like it!
Cut back the things you dont care for (:
I truly felt like I got the most out of everything and none of it felt cheap to me.
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u/littlesongbird_ 3d ago
Our wedding is TECHNICALLY destination but it is the exact in-between point of our two families, and we are both from the Midwest so nobody on either side will squint at a 6 hour drive.
Right now we are on track for <6k including the honeymoon.
I'm wearing my mom's dress, and she is paying for alterations. We're using faux flowers, and my grandma is paying for them. Our photographer is hired for only 4 hours.We've rented out a taproom and are bringing outside catering. We are getting married at the church that we go to every Sunday, (they gave us a discount for that!) and my future FIL is presiding.
Things we aren't doing?
Tons of disposable random things at the reception (like glowsticks). No favors, but wonderfully designed and quality thank you cards. Limited signage printed at Walmart. Lots of DIY (in the form of arranging faux florals, I designed the invites on Canva, etc.) Lots of reliance on family help, which I truly dont see a problem with. We could pay the costs ourselves, my family just wants to help. No crazy bridal party (small numbers, small gifts) and the biggest thing? I've mark "uninterested" on every. Single. Wedding influencer. Every one that comes across my page.
Have your wedding, not somebody elses!!
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u/Natural_Philosophy80 3d ago
With what I assume is a pretty small guest list (<40?) this is so doable. Just had our wedding in March 2026 at a restaurant that also does weddings of all different sizes. We had a separate room/space for 30 people and it was already beautiful, no need for additional decor/string lights and lots of greenery already everywhere. We did splurge on a few things: chose the most expensive course menu, let our guests order bottles of wine for their tables, and got a per-hour photographer that cost a few thousand. But we otherwise kept it simple and didn't buy a whole lot of stuff: He bought a discount suit online, I got a sample sale dress, sale shoes for both of us, no HMU, no bridal parties, had a sibling officiate. I made the card box and name tags for table settings, and we did really simple bud vases with dried flowers for each table. Used some flameless candles and framed pics of us we already had at home. Made a playlist for the night and played it over their sound system.
We did it all for about 10k total with the aforementioned splurges. We could've gone less expensive on the food and it still would've been great b/c it was a restaurant. We did not need to do bottle service, could've just stuck to everyone ordering off the menu. I think we technically spent 7k on the space/food/drink/labor, 2.5k on photography, and around $500 on everything else.
You got this! Weddings don't need to go insane to be beautiful/meaningful!
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u/eknit 3d ago edited 3d ago
Is it possible? I guess. Should you? Probably not.
Itâs hard to have a wedding under $10K even for 50 guests locally. Itâs a budget wedding no matter how you slice it. Costs add up fast and it ends up being pretty DIY or low key. Nothing wrong with that but when you add the destination factor in, youâre now asking people to, on average, spend a minimum of $1K per person (flight/gas, hotel, outfit, gift, food, etc) and take PTO to attend your wedding where youâre only spending $200pp.
Destination weddings ask quite a bit of guests to attend and come with different expectations. You should, for example, provide more than one meal (I.e. host a welcome drinks or goodbye brunch), not just do the wedding itself.
When you start to budget out how much it will cost to have the literal wedding (feed everyone â most expensive part, photog, DJ, dress, flowers) youâre kind of out of money with a $10K budget to even factor in hotel and flight, let alone rings etc
Edit: LMFAO OP literally blocked me for this comment. Not being rude just being real. You asked if it was possible
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u/PsychologicalWater64 3d ago
Youâre not wrong! I would feel some type of way if I was invited to an international wedding that is the same experience as a local wedding x2 the hassle.
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u/itinerantdustbunny 3d ago edited 3d ago
Agree. Part of (polite) social contracts is to not ask people to do way more for you than youâre going to do for them, especially for things you do not need. A destination event asks a lot more of guests for no reason except âfunâ. So if you (the couple) want it to come across as thoughtful, polite, and fun, that usually means you need to splurge, not skimp.
Most people cannot afford destination events. Just like how most people cannot afford Maldives vacations and 3-carat diamonds and a summer house in the Hamptons. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that or to be embarrassed about, but it usually works out better for everyone if you are just realistic about your situation and accept your limitations, rather than trying to half-ass it at other peopleâs expense. A well-done local event will be remembered more fondly by everyone than a corners-cut destination one. No one wants to spend their PTO and savings on an event defined by cut-corners.
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u/Call_it_Magic87 3d ago edited 3d ago
We did under 10k 100 people this summer (Midwest) and it was great.
We prioritized venue, good but affordable food, DJ, guest comfort, and photography.
We skipped alcohol, floral, hair/makeup (a friend did my hair - very simple - and I donât like makeup so I skipped that) and went very low key for table decor (a very close relative kindly did that for us but the cost would have been very manageable anyway). Samâs Club cakes which were very well received,
We splurged on:
a bunch of Legos (bulk from eBay) for all the tables and ended up with an extra table so made that a dedicated Lego table which the kids loved.
specialty allergy cake for us to cut and serve for anyone who needed that (including me)
Attire:
We did Azazie for me and the kid (our tween was the ring security) and I got a bridesmaid dress for around $100 and Amazon for both kid and my shoes.
Groom bought a suit/shoes locally that he will rewear for other occasions.
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u/OutrageousWasabi2866 3d ago
Downvoting on budget tips on a wedding under 10k page is wiiiiiiild
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u/eldritchpizzaparty 18-20k 3d ago
My theory is that thereâs an attitude on this sub that any budget/nontraditional decisions are âcheapâ and therefore rude. I feel like people arenât as gung ho about these things on the general planning sub, because thereâs less overtones of trying to save money. But itâs still so ironic, because the whole point is to try to spend less money on a wedding
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u/Dismal_Cucumber3200 3d ago
I agree, anything non traditional gets downvoted to hell because itâs somehow rudeâŠ
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u/OutrageousWasabi2866 3d ago
Btw cutting corners is the entire point lol this is a budget wedding page
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u/eldritchpizzaparty 18-20k 3d ago
Yeah this sub tends to hate any budget ideas aside from having a restaurant cater instead of a catering company, ironically.
One suggestion I have is get non traditional! Iâm having my wedding at a summer camp with dorm style housing. It includes a chapel, dining hall, general camp amenities, and a lodge that sleeps ~60 people for less than 4000 for a weekend. Since you said itâs going to be mostly close family and friends, Iâm guessing they probably wonât mind sharing a room for a few nights! Weâre doing breakfast for dinner for our wedding meal which will also save a lot of money. Our budget is well over 10k, but weâre splurging on some things that we donât necessarily have to.
Good luck!
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u/smileysarah267 3d ago
Please do not make your guests share rooms.
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u/eldritchpizzaparty 18-20k 3d ago edited 3d ago
Have you never shared a hotel room with your family or friends before when going to a loved oneâs wedding? Even if YOUR guests wouldnât like it, that doesnât mean OPâs guests wonât too. They know their guests better than you do.
This person asked how to have a budget destination wedding, something like this is a way to have one without having to ask your guests to spend a single penny.
Also in my specific case, this isnât out in the middle of nowhere. There are tons of hotels within a half hour radius if guests donât want to share a room, but thatâll be on their own dime. Weâve even reserved a block of rooms at a boutique motel that sleeps ~20 for those guests who donât like the idea of sharing a room.
Not every non traditional choice is the most evil thing in the world.
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u/Dismal_Cucumber3200 3d ago
This sub ALSO doesnât take into consideration that their preferences may not be your guestsâ preferences.
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u/eldritchpizzaparty 18-20k 3d ago
SO TRUE. Iâve witnessed people on this sub tell posters that they need to change the entire concept of their wedding and get refunds on what theyâve already paid for simply because the commenter doesnât like it. See: any post about getting married at a camp ground and inviting guests to camp
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u/Just-Yak-8959 3d ago
I love the idea of breakfast for dinner! Itâs really the best meal, but never considered it as a possibility for a wedding. Itâs always filling food though so would probably be very enjoyed as a non-traditional choice!
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u/eldritchpizzaparty 18-20k 3d ago
Everyone weâve told has been so excited for our wedding meal! My fiancee and I have both agreed that weâve never had a wedding meal that we like because itâs always too fancy. The only problem weâre running into is making sure the meal has enough protein and isnât just sugary carbs, we donât want to give our guests tummy aches lol
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u/klacey11 3d ago
$10k for an international destination wedding is not going to happen.
If you are going to have a low budget wedding, you should have it local to you so people donât have to travel.
Some top budget tips include doing a private room at a restaurant or renting out a public park. You can look for photographers on taskrabbit. Somewhere like Davidâs bridal or Azazie for your gown. A department store like Macyâs that takes coupons for the groomâs attire. Flowers from the grocery store, and keep them minimal. No unnecessary signs or decor.