Wedding on a Budget

So after almost 11 years together my man finally proposed on Christmas morning :cheesygrin: Now begins the daunting task of planning a wedding :shock: We bought a house last year and don't want to spend a small fortune on a wedding and are setting a realistic budget for ourselves so that we don't go into debt for just one day. We are thinking between $3000-$4000. Most of our friends easily spent 3 to 4 times that much but that's just not us. We do have a few friends that got married with a similar budget but outside of Ottawa. I'm wondering if anyone in the Ottawa area has planned a wedding with that sort of a budget and could give me some tips and ideas. We are thinking of getting married in December, just after Christmas so that his parents who live in Newfoundland could come for Christmas and the wedding, which would save them money. I have a few friends that do catering and cakes that I have to talk to about pricing and I've been looking on line at venues but there are just so many and it is all so overwhelming. Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated :-):-)

With such a limited budget, the first thing you need to do is decide on what's very important for you and go from there, as everyone has different tastes and there isn't one perfect formula.

For example, for my wedding, providing a very nice dinner to my guests was super-important, while I didn't mind skimping on the rest. In the end, we invited 14 of our friends and family members to a wedding ceremony in our backyard, followed by a very nice dinner in a French restaurant. I bought a simple, long, summer dress on sale, and ordered a bouquet of flowers.

One of my friends, for her it was the opposite. She wanted the white dress, the bridemaids and the ride in a limo, so she had her wedding ceremony at the swankiest hotel in town, and everyone gathered at her house afterwards for drinks and wedding cake. Someone else I know had a similar idea, i.e. very nice ceremony, and rented a chip truck for a flat fee to provide the food to her guests. Another wedding I went to was in a church hall with guests bringing the food a la potluck.

So, like I said, what's important? Being surrounded by all your friends and family? Does it need to fit with tradition?

What does your $4,000 need to cover? Just the wedding itself, or does it need to include the clothes, rings, flowers, marriage officiant and license?

Congrats on your engagement! I must say, my jaw dropped when I saw your budget. Most people I know spend 20k+ on weddings, so I am not sure I can offer useful advice.
However, I have friends that went to the justice of the peace for a quickie legal ceremony. They will then have separate intimate dinners with different groups of friends/family. They disliked the pomp and ceremony of the big day, so this is how they are planning on approaching it...food for thought.

Congratulations Perogie!!
I agree with the above post. First, you have to decide what is important for you - then find the venue etc. (How many people, fancy/casual, sit down dinner/finger food, afternoon or evening….)
Keep your priorities in mind, and do what feels right for the two of you. Family and friends won't care what it is as long as you're happy.

My wedding came to about $5000. We had our wedding ceremony at Rockliffe Park and then the reception was held at a restaurant. The restaurant we had our reception at had a private room for parties. Depending on the number of guests you are inviting, a restaurant might be a better option for you.

You can download various songs on a iPod and have that as your DJ.
Decor you can make it yourself or get friends to help.

tissue balls
balloon pillars or arches
center pieces

check Kijiji you can find all kinds of decorations for a wedding.

http://forum.smartcanucks.ca/image/j...k5/wCprGP/2Q==
http://forum.smartcanucks.ca/image/j...PSvK6uqklNUv/Z
do you have theme?

Check Pinterest they have great party favours ideas for cheap. Also the dollarama has some nice decorations.

Perogie I got married back in the early 90's and did it under 5K. Thank god as I got a divorced 8 years latter which cost me more than the wedding!!! :sign10: I wanted to elope but since we were both only children it was important for our parents to be part of this event, so we did one.

The biggest thing I saved on was my wedding dress!!! I got it from a consignment store. Retailed originally from Sinders http://www.sinders.com/ for $5,700.00 which I got for $200.00!!! Completely beautifully beaded with a long 8 foot train that I could pin up. I will try and load a picture of this if I can find it ... but hitting the second hand stores for a gown will definitely save on the budget. I had it dry cleaned and my mother added some beads that were missing but it was a spectacular dress for the price. It came from a consignment store off of Montreal road. I don't know if it's still there but you could call around and ask consignment stores if they carry wedding dresses and then go check them out.

Keep the church, venue and amount of people down to a minimum. I had 13 in my wedding. We booked a private room in a restaurant we loved (no longer open) and everyone had a 5 course meal. Small rural churches are often cheaper than big ones located n the core. We got married in in the small stone Anglican church in Navan (cute as a button) as I was Catholic and we couldn't be married in a catholic church since my husband was not. Churches will charge you for everything including the minister, the carpets and decorations. So ask up front what the cost will be and see how you can cut back on some of those costs. We made our own decorations which were simple for the church. We also restricted the flowers to the main party only and not the restaurant because they did such a nice job with table decorations there was no need for them. We also hand made all of our invitations cards which saved us a lot of money.

In the end I was happy as the rest of the money we had in savings went into buying a house, which we did. Congrats Good luck and keep us posted!!! :)

Congrats!! Join all the free sites on FB! Buy nothing (enter your area) or free cmmunity giving...freecycle etc.. You can get LOADS of free decorations and past wedding items that people don't want anymore!! Good luck and Congrats!!