Well, we survived, she is married and we are exhausted! Doing this on our own meant we needed family help, so much family help! Without it, we would not have accomplished what we did.
Before I cover the budget details, let me give you some thoughts on putting on a wedding on a budget:
First and foremost, doing all of this yourself is a lot of work, but yes, you can do it for whatever budget you want to set. It comes down to prioritizing your expenses. Someone always has a backyard to host it. Borrow a dress, rent a dress, buy a secondhand dress, there are many possibilities. Decor can be found on Facebook marketplace to rent or buy or borrowed from friends and family. We borrowed patio furniture for the outdoor spaces of the venue. We also rented wooden rounds to put on tables for $2 a piece! It takes a little bit of searching, but you can find plenty of good deals. Also, if you are serving refreshments during this COVID time, instead of flavored waters in the big glass dispensers that everyone is touching to get their water, get bottled water and take the labels off and make simple wedding labels to tape on. This way, everyone gets their own and it keeps things more sanitary.
The week of the wedding was crazy hectic. Thank heavens for my Sister-in-Law and Mother-in-Law. Also, the Hubs was there for all of it. Some things were finished the morning of and placed at the last minute! Some things were forgotten. You think you have more time than you do!
So what did our budget cover?
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Venue
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Dress, veil, and boots (yes, cowboy boots)
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Groom’s shirt and vest
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Cake, 4 dozen cupcakes, cake topper, and stand
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Decor
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Rentals, tables, chairs, tablecloths, overlays, mic and can lights (these last two didn’t get used-we forgot)
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Last minute rental of wooden rounds as we didn’t have time to cut them ourselves!
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Photographer
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Late lunch including utensils, lunch boxes, bottled water, and containers
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Invitations plus postage
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Flowers
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Refreshments for reception
TOTAL spent $3129.97/Budget $3325
We did not go over and even saved some. Budget WIN!
The day before and day of the wedding were beyond chaotic. Friday, we prepped everything we could, decor and food. Saturday, we headed for the venue to decorate first thing in the morning. Finally, we could put all the pieces together. Except they didn’t all fit together like I imagined!! Decor became more simple even if the tabletop displays included hand sanitizer. My daughter vetoed a few things, but gave in on a few. There were a few things I wished we had done, but time became the enemy. Around noon, we headed back home to put the lunch boxes together, change, and return at 4pm. We were a bit late getting started because setting up the zoom with the family who couldn’t attend took a bit.
It ALL turned out fantastic despite forgetting the cake knife; They used a pocket knife which we will laugh about for years!
We also forgot the cake topper!! We didn’t use the strawberry shortcake for the reception as we had plenty of cupcakes. Also, my SIL brought decorated cookies from my nieces wedding that they had left over, so we served those! We all ate strawberry shortcake the next day, plus everyone took some home, and I froze the strawberry topping for a later date along with a few angel food cakes. We had some leftovers from the lunch that we sent home with peeps. I would make a horrible caterer as I never want to run out of food, so I always make plenty.
In the end, a happy just-married couple is all that mattered!
Thanks for joining me on this journey. I hope you have found some useful information.
