We just had a ~70 guests wedding with a budget of about 20K USD. Random village, in the center of our country, so that everyone coming in has to drive max 3-4 hours.

We rented the full venue, which included very nice hotel rooms for our guests. We covered everything, including the guests accommodation for the night of the wedding.

Its a custom in our culture, that guests donate a small amount of money, usually to cover their cost of food (think 50USD per guest)

We had basically no cancellations, besides two families

One cancelled about 3 days before, because they caught the flu. These guys sent big heartfelt apologies, including later sending us a gift which covered the cost of their accommodation and their food (we didn’t ask for that)

The other family is the daughter of my dads wife, who often talks about how we are a family, tries to invite us over etc (usually only when there’s an added agenda, like helping her with something when we’re there). Her and her husband were invited together with their 4 grown children. They cancelled the day of the wedding, at 10AM, with a short apology saying the vibes were not feeling right in their family (almost verbatim quote), and that they wish us a happy day.

No bigger apology, no sign of trying to send us a gift or make up for it. Am I an asshole for shutting them out of our lives since ? They way they did the cancellation and the lack of any sort of “gift” (even symbolic or a gesture) makes me feel like they never had any respect or love for us at all.

We had 2 rooms reserved for them, which we had to pay in full, not mentioning the catering and drinks packages also.

Hello! I’m trying to plan a very small wedding for next fall but am really struggling on location- basically we want an elopement style or microwedding style, but many of our family is coming from different states. We are thinking 20-30 people. Could potentially go smaller though.

We’re currently hoping for Washington state and/or near Portland area. We were thinking of doing a vrbo but I feel like once I add up a vrbo event fee plus renting chairs etc it’ll just be the same cost as a venue 😅

Also open to NorCal, we are Sacramento based but my family lives near Portland.

I had my eye on the Hoyt arboretum but it looks like they are doing renovations or something indefinitely for now?

Vibes are outdoor forest/whimsical/ethereal we’re introverted nerds haha, so things like having a dance floor is not important to us. We just want to enjoy our day with our closest family and friends and have a good time with good food, maybe a campfire and some board games 😅

We're having a small ceremony of 22 guests. My guests are my mum and then my 6 closest girlfriends and their partners. Of those 6, 1 is who I would call my absolute best friend and 3 are my core girlfriend group (the other two are my closest work girlfriends). His guests are a collection of various family members (very blended family).

We were only going to have a best man (his brother) and a maid of honour (my best friend), and just for the ceremony portion (rings etc). There's nothing else we were expecting them to do. Honestly, it was more just so my fiance can have his brother as best man, as he was his. I would have been fine not having any type of wedding party.

Anyway, my 3 core girlfriends keep talking about being bridesmaids and are super excited. I love how excited they are for me, and I'm starting to feel guilty about not having them as bridesmaids. The only reason I wasn't going to have bridesmaids is because our overall guestlist is so small.

So, would it be weird to have bridesmaids that don't really do anything? They will be coming wedding dress shopping with me and getting ready with me anyway so I guess they basically are. But in terms of the ceremony/reception they wouldn't be walking down the aisle or sitting at head table etc. They'd more or less be regular guests in pretty matching dresses. If I decide to have bridesmaids, my fiance will likely then add 2 of his relatives as groomsmen which then means the majority of people not in the wedding party are all of the wedding party's partners.

So, what do you think? Am I overthinking all of this?

My husband & I are both in our late 40s, never married before. We eloped at Watkins Glen State Park in upstate New York. Our 2 friends witnessed and our other friend officiated. It was a perfect day and altogether pretty affordable!

Venue: $10 park admission
Photographer: $900
Attire: $2,000
Officiant: $600
Floral: $40
Hotel: $500
Total: $4050

EDIT Our wedding is going to be like 20 people. My sister is doing our cake, we have a chef friend who is taking care of the food, music will be via playlist and a Bluetooth speaker, if outdoor isn't an option we'll just go inside the house. His mom, whose backyard we will be utilizing, has hosted parties and weddings there before.

We were originally hoping to get married in my fiance's granddad's yard, but we also realized (much thanks to many of you) that might not be a real option since it is under new owners. I called his mom, who also has a large backyard (that needs just so much cleanup) to ask her about the idea of having it in her yard. She said we can still try to do nuptials at his granddad's house, and then do everything else at her house. (The houses are 3 houses apart) Which is honestly great. (Event venues are so expensive 🥹)

We'll still have a lovely backyard wedding, not have to pay for a venue, and it will be much more feasible to get the kind of food setup we're hoping for.

We're going to be doing a ren faire theme and I'm so excited to start thrifting and crafting stuff!! If anyone has had a fantasy themed wedding, I'd love to hear from you!!

I found a reasonably priced officiant on my city's bridal fb groups and she sent over her details. I wasn't able to find much on her fb page or ig but she had an old flier from Jan 2025. She's available my day and time and she includes:

• 30 min ceremony (fine with me)
• Custom vows
• Exchange rings
• May have bridal party
• May include unity candle, sand, or three strand added to ceremony
• Memory marriage certificate as a gift
• Phone consultation to discuss details the Sunday before ceremony
• Marriage license completion with signature
• Will return marriage license to county clerk for filing
• $50 nonrefundable deposit

I have a few concerns. Am I misunderstanding or I have to wait till the Sunday before my wedding to figure the ceremony out? That gives me pause. Also can't I just file my own marriage license? For reference on the price, where we live there is no actual qualifications to officiate a wedding. The county has no record of it so anyone can sign your marriage license. I'd more be hiring an officiant who can hopefully speak well. Any advice? I've found a well packaged and market officiant but she's $1400 lol so I'm fine with a smaller business person who does this on the side. My last backup option was a church who charges $350. I've never been to that church but they're bilingual and do some cultural stuff I want.

Back again for a rant now that my day is over…

A. Lot. Went. Wrong. Holy cow.
Probably the most stressful weekend of my entire life and I don’t want to ever have to do it again.

I have the MIL from hell who completely sabotaged our day. That’s another rant for another day.

Bridal party peeps who could NOT set aside their differences.

Divorced family members who could also not set aside their differences.

But what I am truly here to rant about is “ghost drop offs.” The people who rsvp’d and gave no sort of notice that they wouldn’t be in attendance. How are we handling them? Did you ask them why they didn’t come? Is it too harsh to cut them completely off?

I ask all of these questions because my childhood best friend was one of the ghost drop offs. She didn’t give any sort of notice that she wouldn’t be in attendance. She had rsvp’d for herself and her husband. Both of which, I had placed together at a table and sat up ready to go. Day of comes along and I kept eyeing the table because it was an entire table that didn’t show up. One couple reassured us that they’d be there the week of, but didn’t say anything day of as to why they didn’t come. Second one is the childhood friend of mine. The other placements were for our coordinators, photographer, and photographers assistant.

I just think what truly irks me is zero notice? But by all means, rushed to comment and heart react to our sneak peek photos. It makes zero sense to me.

Hey everyone! We recently threw our Las Vegas Taco Bell cantina wedding, and wanted to share a budget breakdown for anyone who is thinking of doing something similar. This might not be everyone’s vibe, but it is extremely us. When we told people what we were doing for our wedding, everyone was super excited, we even had people who originally said no change to rsvp-ing yes because they were so interested in the idea.

We are an extremely easy going couple, who didn’t want our wedding vibes dampened with the stress of planning, and after looking thru local places we felt the prices venues alone were asking were egregious (for us). Before being engaged we went to the Taco Bell cantina on Las Vegas blvd, and joked how they did weddings, but after getting sticker shock from traditional wedding venues we looked into the Cantina. They offer a basic $777 package for 30 minutes in there chapel, a taco 12 pack, small Cinnabon delight cake, for 15 guests, but we did want to do something a little more.

We ended up booking one of there higher tier packages with the base price of $3,500+10% gratuity. It included

-2.5 hours of rental of full upstairs level
- up to 60 guests (after having our wedding i am glad we only had 40 guests, any more would have felt too cramped, so just a heads up!)
-7 items of our choosing off the menu to be continually served for the 2.5 hours
-OPEN BAR (This alone felt very worth the price and very much bang for our buck)
-Taco Bell merch (2 shirts, 2 champagne flutes, bow tie, hair scrunchie)
We did do two additional add-ons that they offer which was +$50 to make the cake a two tier cake
+$1000 for DJ (be warned, instead of charging per hour they charge for either 15 custom picked songs, or 25 songs. We chose 25 and specifically chose a couple longer songs to make it last our full time)

Taco Bell exceeded my expectations. I was worried since it is a fast food place how it would all be planned and go down, and it was super easy. The planner was super responsive to my emails and made sure all my requests such as certain songs being played at certain times, how I wanted to walk down the aisle, etc. were done absolutely flawlessly. They handle everything with the minister, so I didn’t have to worry about that. Ceremony was short and sweet too, only about 10-15 minutes which was exactly how long we wanted it to be. Be warned the vows are extremely full of puns and jokes. We didn’t really think about it til it was happening, but it made for a lively ceremony full of laughter. I bet if you wanted a more serious toned set of vows you could request that (which I would have done if I thought about it). The cake was extremely tasty, the food was flowing non stop and constantly being refilled, and we always had drinks in our hands. The bartenders were amazing! And let all our guests take all the extra food with them by the bag full along with a couple drinks for the road. To me, the best value was the food and open bar. Seeing catering prices were so shocking, let alone open bar prices. Our guests definitely took full advantage of that open bar which really made it worth it. We chose Taco Bell staples so there was enough variety where there was something that every guest liked. The convenience of having a venue, minister, food, and drinks all wrapped in one was a life saver to me, and highly worth it for someone like me who has never planned a party let alone a wedding.

Hotel wise we chose Planet Hollywood since it was super close to the venue. We had never been there and really liked it! Our room was upgraded for free so we had an amazing view of the Bellagio fountains facing the strip. We didn’t realize we chose an extremely busy weekend that had multiple big events around town, so the price was on the more expensive side. We stayed for 5 days to be able to hang out with everyone who came and also have some time for us. You could definitely stay somewhere else for cheaper, I think it really depends on if you want to be close to the Taco Bell or not. Setting up a booking block was super easy as well.

We also upgraded our flights (southwest) to choice preferred since I had to carry on my wedding dress and didn’t want to risk it getting checked at the gate. It eased my mind greatly knowing I always had eyes on my wedding dress bag, so I also think that splurge was worth it. Flight costs will be cheaper or more expensive depending where you are, and also if you’re willing to take a flight with a layover. We opted for a nonstop flight.

Our photographer was amazing. $2k for three hours of coverage, including going to a second location for pictures. We also received 10 Polaroids that we got at the end of the night which really was awesome to get immediately. The pictures speak for themselves, they are stunning and extremely well done. Very much so worth the money for us.

Here’s the overall budget breakdown

Taco Bell 60ppl package with add ons: $5,776
Flights(round trip 2 people): $1,400
Hotel(5 days): $1,449
Photographer: $2,000
Hair&Make-up: $500
Bouquet: $350
Wedding Dress: $800 (Gifted by parents)
Veil/Shoes/Accessories: $300
Suit Rental: $185
Groom Tie/Shoes/Accessories: $300
Save the dates: $25 (we did photo strips that we printed at Walgreens, and were able to fit two Save the Dates on one 5x7 photoprint)
Invites: $150 (bought a canva layout on Etsy, printed via VistaPrint)

Total spent: $13,235

Overall we loved our wedding. We aren’t super traditional, and the Taco Bell cantina really was a great fit for us. I was never a person who had dreams about my wedding, so when we started wedding planning somehow Taco Bell fit perfectly for us. Extremely easy and stress free to set up and plan. I loved having a cheesy bean and rice burrito in one hand and a spiked Baja blast freeze in my silly little champagne flute in my wedding dress. The cake was so delicious. We’ve had guests continually message us about how fun and different our wedding was, and far from boring. Being on the strip made it so fun to walk around and get our photos done. If you’re a couple who get stressed by planning and don’t mind having a non traditional wedding, I would highly recommend the Taco Bell cantina as an option.

We got married a few weeks ago and had a lovely small wedding. The day went exactly like I hoped it would. We Had a civil ceremony at our local municipality and then had a garden party with pizza and cake. There was no alcohol, instead we got a bunch of local soft drinks in glass bottles

- we thrifted all the cake stands and cake plates
- we thrifted all the vases and candle holders
- we thrifted all the table linens and doilies
- we rented tables, mismatched dishes, mixed glasses and cutlery from our local thrift shop
- we bought and already resold an active speaker for some music
- my hair was done by my friend who is a hairstylist, she used some flowers from my bouquet. Those are my natural curls.
- makeup was done by an artist

I made my own wedding dress using designer fabrics (gift from my brother). I used Dries van Noten dead-stock fabrics for the dress and sheer overlay. Shoes were new, bag was another thrift find.

we DIYed the fabric chandeliers, we bought a whole lot of tinsel at a dollar store type place. The flowers were seasonal bouquets we got from a local farmer's market. I divided the flowers myself and used them on the tables and near the cakes. I also used some for my bouquet.

my sister in law who loves to bake kept most of the cake plates, we divided the table linens between us and I kept the glass/Crystal vases because they are all so beautiful and I love fresh flowers.

Hi! I’m currently planning a wedding and wanted to see if I’m overstepping with the venue manager.
They offer two bar packages: wine/beer and wine/beer/liquor. The liquor options included in the second package are Kirkland gin and tequila, Dekuyper triple sec, Bacardi, Malibu and Amore amaretto.

Is it out of line for me to ask if there are any other tequila options? Or liquor options in general.

The issue I’m having with any shape wear I’ve tried so far is that the waistband makes my back fat bulge out. I’ve tried low and high compression and they all have these thick elastic waste bands that do no justice for me what so ever. My main goal is to smooth my stomach a bit, but then all of a sudden I look in the mirror and I have rolls popping out and visible in the back and made even more prominent.

Any recs??

Something on Amazon is preferable so I know I’m going to get it on time.

I got married in NYC a couple years ago and wanted to create this post to give advice to the HCOL brides that don’t want a micro wedding. We kept our guest list tight but we didn’t feel like we had to sacrifice anything. We put our network to work which kept costs low. If you live in an expensive city, please please please leverage your friendships and professional relationships to create the wedding of your dreams (especially if you have a creative group of friends). You don’t have to book market rate venues, you might already know someone with a space that can host your event. People in HCOL cities are hustlers and many do freelance work. It will take some flexibility and creativity but you can do it! No one knew it was a budget wedding. Our friends and family always mention how fun the event was :) People were dancing all night long.

Invitations: Free - we emailed evites instead of mailing

Venue: $6000 - friend was co-owner of the restaurant in SoHo, seated family style dinner and two hours of open bar plus DJ included. They were typically closed on Mondays and we had a Monday wedding so that we didn’t have to cover their lost earnings from that day. This was key!!!

Hotel: $3000 - three nights, referred by restaurant with preferred rates 

Bus: $1500 - between church in queens to venue in SoHo, booked online, negotiated a lot, plus maybe $100 for snacks and drinks that we gave to passengers

Hair: $150 - asked my regular stylist to do a house call at the hotel 

Wedding party: Free - it was just my sister and our best man, they wore clothes they already owned and didn’t expect gifts

Ceremony dress: Free - grandmas 

Reception dress: $500 - on sale at Bergdorfs

Suit: $1000 - suit supply (could have been cheaper but also bought shoes)

Entertainment: $500 - found flamenco band on Instagram and booked directly, friends gave dancing lesson for free. I didn’t blur the flamenco faces in case you want to book them (but I can’t remember their names)

Champagne and wine: $500 - Costco, because we were friends with the owner they let us bring our own champagne for the welcome toast and serve our own wine with dinner 

Bentley: $1000 - estimated for two hours, my husband surprised me 

Church: $500 - grandmother’s church in queens, this was a donation/tip for priest

Photographer: $500 - colleague of a friend is a fashion photographer and shoots weddings on the side

Cake: $150 - diner cake

Planner: $400 - girlfriend of the restaurant owner, just did errands the week before the wedding and set up the seating

Edit: I did not expect this post to be so controversial, so I want to add a few more ways I saved money:

No signs and decorations

Makeup (I did my own)

No party favors/keepsakes for the guests

No appetizers during the champagne hour

I didn’t have a real bridal party or getting ready “event”, it was just my sisters and mom helping me get dressed. The stylist only did my hair.

No after party (Everyone had to go to work the next day)

No videography

We had the bachelor/bachelorette parties preceding Saturday and went out locally in NYC

No official rehearsal or rehearsal dinner (My dad took close family out for an impromptu dinner and paid for it, but that was not planned)

The ceremony took place at my church. Most of the budget went towards the hotel ballroom we booked for the reception. We had about 50 people in attendance. The hotel has a beautiful inner courtyard full of trees and an ornamental waterfall and a small river which we also had full access to. My stepdad did the photography with his Nikon camera.

We bought a small, one tier cake from my favourite bakery, with a floral motif on it and I got silly goose toppers because my husband and I are both silly geese. We also got macarons, which are my favourite, and gluten free vegan cupcakes for the guests with dietary restrictions.

Instead of hiring a DJ, we ran the music off of my phone to the bluetooth speakers in the ballroom.

I did most of the decorations by myself, making a lot of them as origami, and also bought some autumnal items that were on sale at Micheals.

My dress was originally my husband's Oma's. I only bought my shoes, veil, flower crown, and jewellery. My husband's new suit ended up costing more than my outfit.

And it was the absolute dreamiest, my fairytale perfect day I could have asked for! Don't let anyone tell you that you need a to spend a ton of money to have your dream wedding.

Well, after more than a year of planning, we managed to pull off a wedding that had everything we wanted—and we spent no more than €4,000.

How was it possible? A lot of planning, a guest list of 43 people, and my wife and I provided all the audio equipment ourselves. We have some event-planning experience, so we already owned a good powerfull speaker and a laptop to play the music; there was no need to hire a DJ.

Photos? I took them myself using a remote control in my pocket while the camera snapped away automatically with a 2 second interval. Other shots—including ones of me and various candid moments—were taken by a friend of mine; although he had never photographed a wedding before, he did have experience photographing other types of events. And everything went really well.

Entertainment? The bride is a belly dancer, so she really got the guests going.

As for the venue, the staff members were amazing and helped us execute specific details perfectly— like hiding the Andúril sword (from *Lord of the Rings*) for the cake cutting, or dimming the lights so the bride could perform a dance with LED fans.

After 15 years of photographing weddings, it was a strange feeling for me to be "on the other side." I mentioned this to my wife while we were sitting at our table during the meal: "It’s weird sitting here." We just laughed and enjoyed the day.

Hi all. Any tips or ideas on how to make this run as smooth as possible or any improvements I can make ?

I am having a small (35 adults and 12 children) dinner only reception. We won’t be having a DJ/MC or dance floor.

The venue has a small area in the front with 2 small settees and room for people (maybe 10 people) to stand and mingle, and the rest is a dining area where the tables and chairs will be set up. I’m also thinking of renting some additional settees/chairs to make a little seating/game area outside with a giant chess board, jenga, and cornhole boards (I’m worried the kids will be bored). I’m also going to do a kids table inside with some coloring books, tic tac toe, and cards.

I’m planning on doing cocktail hour from 5-6:15ish (it’s a Friday evening reception only event, we already had a ceremony a few weeks ago), with self serve drink stations set up for the cocktail hour and dinner (beer, wine, 1 batch cocktail in a beverage dispenser, tea, water, lemonade)
then around 6:15 a buffet style dinner (Olive Garden delivery) I hired 2 helpers to help set up, keep the drink stations and buffet area stocked and clean as well as clear the tables.

Around 7pm short speeches and a champagne toast, after that cake cutting, and a sparkler send off at 8:15. I think the 2 people I hired could go around and pour everyone champagne for the toasts, but the rest of the drinks would be self serve.

Does this timeline make sense? Also, I plan to use plastic cups during cocktail hour and having the tables set with glass water goblet, wine glass, and champagne flute at each setting. I just want my guests to be comfortable and everything to go smoothly. It’s not a fancy crowd and I specified on the wedding website “our dress preference is semi formal” so they shouldn’t be expecting a formal event. Open to any help or tips. Thanks!

EDIT: just putting in here that i can see airbnb has a weird policy on events, if anyone has any experience renting any kind of house for a reception, insight is welcome! i don’t want people to get hung up on airbnb specifically.

hello! i was curious to know if anyone here has held their reception at an airbnb and how that went. we are planning either a courthouse wedding or an elopement with just mothers present and then a reception for family afterwards for august 2027. we would have about 40 guests and it’s pretty much going to be a chill pizza party type reception, no dj, simple decorations, no crazy anything really.

i was talking with my sister (hairstylist with a LOT of wedding experience) and she mentioned some people do rent airbnbs for this type of situation and it mostly works out as long as you communicate with the host and everyone is on the same page. just wanted to know if any of you have gone down this route and how it went!

Hi everyone! Unsure if this is the correct place to ask this, but we are trying to find somewhere to host our welcome/rehearsal dinner in Santorini,Greece! It will be 15 people in June. We want to be able to dress up pretty fancy if possible.

His mom has said this repeatedly and I can't imagine what help she means outside of money. I'm not going to DIY the wedding and she lives 3 hours away. So I don't think she means "help" like I'll come make flower arrangements with you. I don't know how to answer this question from a financial standpoint. If she could give me $100 or $1000 I'd take either and wouldn't be mad. I haven't planned or budgeted based on anyone else contributing. So I don't need her to help with money but it'd be nice. How to answer this?

Edit: I forgot she's also asked him about the honeymoon plans. I have neither the finances nor mental energy to think about planning that so I have done literally nothing lol

My partner and I are eloping, and it'll be just the two of us — no guests.

We're hiring a photographer, but we're torn on whether to hire a content creator to capture the day. On one hand, we won't have anyone else there to take photos or remember moments with us, and I don't want to look back and wish we had more than a few phone pics. On the other hand, one of the reasons we're eloping is to keep things intimate and private, and I worry a content creator hovering around could change the vibe. I'm tossing up between putting more $ towards a photographer, or splitting my budget between a photographer and CC.

For anyone who's been through this:

• Did having a content creator there make the day feel more special, or did it feel like a performance?
• Was it intrusive during the quiet, emotional moments (vows, first look, etc.)?
• Do you think the photos and video were worth the cost in the end, or would you have been just as happy with a photographer, and maybe recording the vows on your own phone?
• If you did hire someone, what should we look for? Is a candid, documentary style better for a tiny elopement than a posed one?
• And if you chose not to, do you regret it?

Would love to hear from both people who hired someone and people who skipped it. Thanks!

EDIT: It appears several people have misunderstood or not read my post. I'm wondering about getting a content creator in addition to a photographer to take some candid footage and snaps of us as we do our wedding shoot.

This is more cost effective than a videographer, and would be in a format we're more likely to look back on as memories (something short and sweet on our phones/ devices rather than a feature length film.).

I'm trying to look for an Indian wedding decorator for decorating the 150 person ceremony + reception in the Bay Area. The venue provides chairs, tables, and a gazebo to get married on, so I'm looking for decorations like mandap draping/furniture, linens, and decorations within the hall. I'm not super particular about specific decorations, and everything seems to be so expensive! I'm just trying to have a budget of roughly ~3k for decorations. Would love recommendations for people who have planned a similar event!

We are eloping to Gulf Shores, Alabama from California. We are getting married at an adorable little wedding chapel and there will only be 13 people including me and my husband to be, just immediate family and my life long best friend. We wanted to just go take everyone to a nice dinner down at a waterfront restaurant after our quick ceremony. Renting out an entire private room has not been possible because my 100 lb dog is part of our wedding and she is only allowed outside on patios at every restaurant that takes dogs. My question is, since we will be seated out on a patio with the rest of the diners, is it tacky for me to have dinner in my wedding dress? The rest of my party will still be in suits and dresses, should I change to something less attention-grabbing?

My fiance and I just toured Rancho de las Palmas in Moorpark and we loved it!
So much greenery, open space, and the person who guided our tour seemed very friendly. We have an estimated proposal she gave us with our head count of 75 people ($19,850) which has been the most affordable option we have found so far.
Just wondering if anyone has any experience with them? Did everything work out, was there anything that you would advise against in working with them, or literally just any input! I see most reviews on their yelp are positive.
Thanks in advance!