How to Plan a Wedding for Under $2,000

You can put together a beautiful wedding using low-cost providers, imagination and the help of friends and family. Here are some ways to keep your wedding costs under control, without sacrificing ambience.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderate

Things You’ll Need:

• Wedding invitations
• Chapel or meeting hall with reception area
• Clergy or lay preacher
• Organist
• Photographer
• Flowers
• Wedding cake
• Food and beverages

1. Design your own invitations using your computer. Use a traditional or imaginative font for the announcement message and RSVP cards. Work with a copy shop or quick print shop to print copies on card stock or heavy paper. Cost for 50 to 100 invitations is around $75 to $125.
2. Be creative when you try to find a wedding hall or chapel that is attractive and inexpensive to rent. Inquire about local college or university chapels and local denominational churches or synagogues. Some municipalities or counties may own old churches or meeting places with architectural interest. Cost of facility rental should be in the range of $100 to $300.
3. Enlist friends to help in some of the arrangements, like flowers. Borrow vases or buy some large vases at a discount store and decorate them with ribbons. Purchase large bouquets one or two days before the event at supermarkets, discount stores or discount florists. Ten large bouquets can be bought for under $150, or around $300 from a discount florist.
4. Find a clergy person or lay preacher who will perform the ceremony for a reasonable fee of around $100.
5. Locate an organist who will play for a reasonable fee. Live music is much more desirable than recorded. If your wedding hall doesn’t have an organ or piano, you will need recorded music and a competent person to operate a portable stereo. Cost of an organist should be $100 to $150.
6. Find a friend of the family or other acquaintance who is a professional photographer or amateur with lots of experience and equipment and negotiate a price for taking photographs. Alternately, call several photographers who advertise in classifieds for low fees. This is the hardest area to cut costs in, unless you have a friend. Try to spend under $300 on a photographer.
7. Order your wedding cake from a supermarket bakery, for a cost of around $100. Use a supermarket or other deli department to provide food for the reception. Order a wide assortment of appetizers, sandwiches and hors d’oeuvres. Plan to spend $350 to $450 on food and $150 on plates, utensils and decorations.
8. Purchase a selection of sodas and enough champagne for your guests. Champagne will satisfy most of your guests’ desire for libation and is more economical than a whole range of alcoholic drinks. By the case, champagne can cost $5 to $9 per bottle. Borrow six to ten large ice chests to keep drinks cold, and buy translucent plastic cups in colors. Plan to spend $350 to $500 on beverages, ice and cups.

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