Cheap Fast Wedding?

by Mary Cretella
(Naugatuck, Connecticut)

I need to have a fast cheap wedding. I have to do this because I would like my Nana to be there - she's 88 years old and not doing all that well. I would also like my father-in-law to be there and his health isn't that good either. My fiancee has just been reunited with him after 25 years. So this needs to be quick.

I have a budget of around $2,000 and I can use my sister's back yard for the party. I'm not sure where to start though, so can you help me?

Answer:

I've been thinking about your wedding over the last few days.

I'm not going to advise you on ceremonies as that's very personal and the options are very different in the US to England. So I'm only going to focus on the other parts of your wedding.

First off, it's great that you've got your reception venue sorted out - that's probably the biggest thing! If you're having it in your sister's backyard, you'll save yourself a fortune. In a backyard, a buffet or BBQ is always great. You could either do it yourself, or you could get friends and family to help out - it'll take the stress away and share the cost too. Think about cheap foods that you could use like chicken, sausages, quiches, potatoes, salads, meats etc.

For drinks, depending on how far your budget will stretch, you could offer some free alcoholic drinks. A free drink with the toast is really a must and I think you budget can stretch that far. Other than that offer free soft drinks (sodas) or ask them to bring their own. For me and my partner, it was important that we gave our guests free drinks all day and night, so we bought lots of wine when it was on offer in the supermarkets. We got it half price so it was really cheap. (However, I've always found wine is much cheaper over here in England than it is in the US).

You could make your own decorations for the yard using tulle, lanterns, candles and fairy lights. Have a look at the decoration section - you'll get more ideas there. I wouldn't bother with favours - the last 5 weddings I've been to haven't had favours, although I don't know if it's a must-do in the US.

You can pick up free wedding invitations that you print out yourself at Wedding Invitation Ideas (another site of mine). The invites are all completely free and you just need a home printer.

For your dress, you can pick up a dress from eBay for under $150. Lilywedding.com also do cheap wedding dresses made to order and Nordstrom.com also have a lovely range of dresses that are under $200. Alternatively, you could try some of the second hand dress markets, just search 'second hand wedding dress' on Google and you'll get loads of dress markets.

For your accessories, you can easily pick up some tulle and make your own veil. Some craft shops actually sell packs where you can make your own, or you could get one off eBay for about $30. You could make your own garter as well. I found some really pretty ribbon that had little flowers and lace attached to it. All it needed was some elastic sewn on the back and it would have been a ready-made garter. If you're getting married in October, you should be able to pick some cream/white/ivory satin sandals or shoes in the summer sales, so wait until then to buy them.

For your flowers, limit the number of bouquets and buttonholes as they're expensive. I don't know how creative you are, but you could make your own bouquet - it's not as hard as it looks, it's just finding the time to do it! Perhaps a friend could help you out with this area? Have a look on at the the flower section and see some the ideas there for cheap wedding flowers, bouquets and centrepieces.

Photography is usually quite a big expense. I got my friend to do mine as they'd done a few other weddings and she did it as gift to us. If you don't have someone who could help out in that way, then think about asking students or asking non-wedding professional photographers. Try to limit the time the photographer is at the wedding as it will generally reduce your cost and put your wedding album together yourself. Make sure you agree to have the negatives or the original digital shots after the day - many photographers keep them so that when you need extra prints you have to pay for each one!

In terms of getting started and planning, do all your legal stuff first and set the date. Then draw up your budget with allocations of how much you think you will spend in each area. You can pick up an example budget on the website and there's a wedding planner as well with an Excel budget when you sign up for the newsletter.

Then start to ask your friends and family if they can help out. Think about their talents and what they could do - every little helps and it will reduce your stress in the run up to the big day. You'll also find that they'd be delighted to help you out on your big day - in fact, they'd probably be honoured!

Best of luck