What are some low budget ideas for a wedding?

Im planning to have a wedding next year but we are kind of on a low budget. We want it to be creative and unique. Does anyone have any ideas?

Shop around, be thrifty.
*Look for an officiant who will do it for little to no cost (generally you can find one if you look hard enough).
*Get married in your house or backyard (or a park, check with parks and rec or the city hall in your area for prices).
*Wear a nice white dress or pantsuit (doesnt need to be a wedding dress... tack "wedding" onto anything and it triples the price!)
*Have your fiance' dress in a nice suit (tux not necessary).
*Get flowers from your local grocer (or your own or a friend's yard if possible) and hand tie them with ribbon or go with silk flowers if you prefer.
*You can get rings in silver for about $25 for the pair (upgrade to gold later when you can afford it) or go with no rings at all.
*Depending on where you live the license will cost anywhere from $15 (in NE) to $65 (the highest I have personally seen)
*For the reception, use the same location and host a BBQ or have a potluck and have everyone bring a dish instead of a gift, or have a "sub" sandwich (cold-cuts reception) from a local deli sliced into smaller servings (very inexpensive)
*Bake and decorate your own cake (use boxed mix if you like) or make Cupcakes
*Play your own music from a CD or MP3 player (or skip music if you like)
*Print your own invites or ask someone artsy you know to do them for you
*Have a friend or family member take pictures for you
*For a honeymoon you will REALLY have to think creative... turn off your phone, lock your door, get some nice candles, and turn your home into a retreat. Or if you are "outdoorsy" go camping and forget to tell everyone where. Think of things you havent done or seen in your area and become a tourist in your own city! Its amazing what you can miss in your own "backyard".

If you need further help email me and I will try to help

I suggest visiting weddinglenox.com and post your request. Their matching system http://www.weddinglenox.com/f-membersign... will match you up with local vendors with pricing you specified. I tried it and have good result as I only recieved response from vendors according to my request.

One problem I had with my wedding is that it is hard to locate vendors in most website as most likely they group by states and there are too many of them that's too far from me and I have to look at each site to figure out.

The sites I provide above have a easy to use layout to show you pictures, pricing and location in one page plus, you can send out your inquiry for matching vendor to contact you. That save me lots of time to locate the best vendors with the right price.

First off, I want to suggest searching past Yahoo answers question, as this is a very popular question and i am sure you can find TONS of great hints.

Second, join one of the Yahoo groups- this is a good one-
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/yourweddin...
finally- here are a few cost cutting tips- you can email me for more!

Flowers- http://www.onlinewholesaleflowers.com They have a lot of flowers for very cheap and VERY good quality.

Invitations- either you can make your own or visit http://www.annsbridalbargains.com you can get 100 invites for under $100 depending on the type. I will suggest going with the seal and send types because those end up being MUCH cheaper. you can also try using faux flowers from a craft store. Most look real! Or you can skip flowers altogether and have the wedding/reception in an already lovely place such as a flower garden or arboretum.

Dress: Hit up Ebay, sample sales, bridal shows for coupons, seamstresses or a friend who can sew for the better deals.

Food- pick a food that is easy to prepare if you are having it catered. Things like chicken and ham are the cheaper meats, can be easily prepared and can be made in a variety of different ways. Buffets go really well, and can sometimes be cheaper than a sit down meal depending on the type food sered. I have also seen it done "family style" (some call it pot luck) which turend out great as well.

Alcohol- yeah while some may say have an open bar, alcohol is a very expensive part of a reception. You can open it for a short time (maybe only for cocktail hour while your pics are being taken), serve only beer and wine, serve none at all

Times- dinner time weddings are more expensive, so to ease up on costs, try doing it earlier in the day or have a different type of reception such as cocktails only, desserts only, brunch, lunch or BBQ outdoors mid day after lunch, hor dourves, etc.

Guests- trim the list as much as possible.

Location- VFW, American Legions, Historical places all offer wonderful pricing for renting areas.

I have plenty more, so hit me up if you want some!

Congrats!

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/yourweddin...

invite a small number of guests, order inexpensive yet good food like pastas, chicken. Order a wedding cake that's not super costly, and even consider a limited number of invitations. The average cost of a low budget wedding is 5-7g and consider a banquet hall instead of a hotel and contact a catering company and explain to them you're on a budget and they should be able to work with you on what you want.

I'm getting married in May. Go to Vegas and invite as few people as possible. Really.

Do an outdoor renaissance-themed wedding. It could be somewhat casual. Invite only the closest family and friends, this will cut down on the cost A LOT.

dont do your wedding in the spring (common wedding time. companys over charge cause they have plenty of business.) have a friend make the cake (if they are good at it!) if you dont know someone...order a very small cake and then serve sheet cake so everyone can have a piece and you won't have to pay as much for a decorated one. you MUST know someone who sings/play instruments. have your wedding around christmas because churches and hotels will already be decorated. have your bridesmaid buy their on dresses (they be more willing to do this if you pick a normal color. black. red or something they could wear again.) limit the number of people you invite. and dont serve a meal. just have plenty of appetizors out. or atleast dont do dinner do lunch or brunch.

go casual. have it at a pretty park and do barbeque.

or instead of regestering for girts...regester for parts of the wedding or honeymoon.

CONGRATS!!

the most simple thing that a lot of people dont do, because of laziness is search search search for deals and people. You can often find the same things that they sell at the top scale bridal shops for much cheaper online such as ebay.
Research prices before you buy anything to find the lowest price.
Also dont forget that you DONT have to hire someone for all the tasks at hand. You really dont need a wedding planner, you do not have to hire a dj, make your own cds or use your ipod and have an outgoing friend or family member do the talking!
Also anyone you guys know take pictures? we are having his aunt to our photographs saving us a pretty penny!
anyone in your family with special talents can be very useful and save a lot of money (ie. flower arranging, seamstress, crafty people) Use them to your advantage and have fun! It will come together =)
One last thing, try to have your ceremony and reception in the same place. Churches are actually very cheap if you want to go that route. Our ceremony and reception are at a church and for both areas, cleanup, minister and all it is 700 dollars.

Pick colors and a theme and shop year around for matching stuff when is on sale.

Buy your dress online or off the rack:

www.bridalonlinestore.com

is a good one.

Buy decor and favors in bulk, try:

www.orientaltrading.com

for affordable items.

Invite family and your closests friends only, not everyone in town. Having a small guest list will keep the costs down.

Try to do yourself as much as you can. You can print your own invitations (visit local draft store for a kit), make your own bouquet and boutoniers if you or someone that you know is crafty.

Good luck

I agree that you should look elsewhere besides yahoo answers. I love the knot and use it for everything. You should go there and get on the message board for your area and talk to the other ladies about all the deals they found. I have found this very helpful. You don't have to buy a new dress. Try ebay or this website:
www.preownedweddingdresses.com
they have some beautiful dresses and great deals.
Utilize all your friends a family. If you know someone with a big backyard, ask if you could have your wedding and reception there. A good tip is to use less flowers in your reception as centerpieces and use candles instead. We managed to take our guest list from 300 to 100 just to save $$$. Good luck.

Look up images online of centerpeices and then make them yourself with stuff from the dollar store. It's so easy to do if you just shop around little.

first things first you should sign up on theknot.com...and make friends with the other brides in your area...you guys can trade and exchange lots of stuff... and they can tell you how and where to get good deals in your area... and alot of times when they find good stuff on sale, they'll make a post and let everyone know

also something that works really well in our area are the 40% coupons that are in the michaels craft store ad's every week... you can really cut the cost on some stuff that way...

Great way to save money is to rent your wedding dress. Take a bit of mental adjustment but it can be well worth it.

we got married at the beach people sat on blankets no centerpieces had a barbque keg of beer and wedding cake wore flowers in my hair had a nice off white dress people said it was the best wedding they'd ever been to that was 30 years ago my first and only wedding you could also get married at the court house and have a reception afterwards but if it's a church you want then what larger church is there than outdoors?

I have been planning my wedding the last couple of months. You can find really awesome sales on the little things at your local walmart or any type of dollar store. I dont know if you have a garden ridge near your town, but I bought all the stuff to make my flower arrangements for the tables there. Afterwards I plan on returning what I can. The tulle fabic that is out there is an easy and cheap way to decorate up chairs, tables, candles, pretty much anything you want. If you want to do favors, buy candy and make the favors yourself. Shop around and look for the sales, you don't have to buy everything at once!