You can do it nicely for under $5000 if you have folks that are willing to help and you are in a lower cost area. Both of my boys had recent weddings and we had very nice weddings and receptions while keeping it sensible. The new couples did not start off in debt and moms and dads all still have their retirement accounts.
Biggest savings can come in the wedding dress and flowers department! You can spend several thousand on a wedding dress or you can buy one from David's Bridal $99 sale. The pictures will all look just as nice. Flowers can tip the scale. Try one of the places that rent out floral arrangements and wedding props. They are artificial but you can augment with some fresh flowers here and there instead of having all fresh -- which again can tally in the thousands if you allow it. One of my DIL actually did her own fresh flower arrangements, even the bridal and bridesmaid flowers! Very creative! Try an early wedding where you can do hor d'oeuvres, fruit & veggies, and cake instead of a full meal. That can cut the catering in half.
I think the magazines are paid off by all of their advertisers to convince young people their weddings have to cost a fortune. There is no correlation between the success rate of a marriage and how much you spend on the wedding. |