After lots of research, I learned something fudamental about wedding budgeting. You just can’t have a weekend wedding with over a hundred people and serve a traditionally catered dinner on a teeny tiny budget. So, if you are looking for the ways that you can really significantly alter the bottom line you have to be flexible. Find an untraditional catering option or self-cater the party. Pick another time that isn’t a peak wedding season weekend. Or, pick another meal besides serving dinner. And finally, scale back the guest list.
I have to admit we didn’t do any of this. Instead we resigned ourselves to the idea that we would be spending a lot on our wedding. But, we got more comfortable with it when we realized that there is nothing wrong with spending what you can afford, especially when you are also supporting great businesses, even if it does seem like a staggering amount. I mean when I plan a party the budget is like, what, 100 bucks? Anything over 1K starts feeling like monopoly money to me. But, I’m happy (or at least happier) to fork it over for cool indy companies, gay friendly vendors, and people that support the same values we do.
Here’s where we are planning to save:
1. DIY Bar- I looked for venues and caterers that allow us to bring the beer and wine in ourselves. This means more money for tapas made with local, organic ingredients. And the added bonus is that my beer snob fiancee can hand pick her favorites.
2. Non traditional cake- We realized that when we said that wedding cake was a priority, we meant that we want cake and that it should taste amazing. We don’t really care if it’s specially decorated. So, I’m thinking about having a “cake buffet” with a bunch of different, unadorned cakes on pretty stands.
3. Asking friends to help- Ceremony music? check. Videographer? check.
4. Ditching favors- It’s just not necessary, and I don’t think anyone will miss ’em.
5. DIY paper stuff- I’m so excited to buy a gocco and start making something awesome. And, Ginger is going to illustrate our Ketbuah.
So, how are you being thrifty?
We are also cutting corners in a lot of the same ways. All music is going to be from a computer, only beer and wine wil be served, and I am making most of the decorations and paper goods. Also, J’s friend is making our cake for us. I have been trying to figure out what other crafty friends we have.
We’re splurging on our ceremony and honeymoon, but planning to keep our whole reception party DIY to balance out the budget. We’re throwing it in a friend’s backyard and self-catering (which is actually the only part that I’m freaking out about pulling off!). Another friend is doing our cake(s), another our photographs, etc. And I’m planning on making all the paper stuff – std’s, invitations, thank yous, favors – myself.
We’re taking our friends’ words of “If you need anything, let me know” literally. Photographer and D.J. are being filled at a much lower cost by a friend and a co-worker. Several people are going to be asked to make cookies for one of my favorite parts of a Western Pennsylvania reception, the cookie table. Our reception place itself is the bar side of a bar/restaurant, and we’re using the cheaper (and more fun) catering option of the pizza buffet.
Hello!
My name is Amy and i noticed that you were looking into using AVAM as your reception site. I have been looking into the same venue and wanted to know if you have been able to visit yet and also if it is “budget friendly.” Any feedback you have would be great!
Hi Amy! We are seeing the AVAM for the first time next month over Thanksgiving, so definitely stop back by as I will post pictures of the tour. I really scoured through all of the venues in the MD, VA, DC area via the internet. And, in my opinion, the scuplture barn at the AVAM is pretty reasonable at $3500 for a Saturday evening rental, and $3,000 on Sunday evening. That includes access to the museum and outside ceremony locations for a 5 hour event plus setup/clean up time, but doesn’t include any tables and chairs, etc. I definitely found less expensive places, but often they weren’t as centrally located which didn’t make a lot of sense for us since most of the guest list is from out of town, and we didn’t want everyone to be renting cars and driving back to their hotel for eco-friendly and partying reasons. So, I think the AVAM is pretty reasonable for it’s location. I hope that’s helpful, let me know if you have more questions!