20k dinner cruise with 60 of our closest friends and family
Can not believe we actually stayed under our budget and now to get to use all of our gift money to 1) buy any remaining items off our registry, 2) start a significant down payment savings, and 3) still be able to put a few thousand towards a month long trip to southeast asia. This wedding was a destination for all of our friends and family and we were able to pay for our day-of-expenses and keep them under 20k (the emotional freedom here can not be overstated!) in addition to hosting a welcome dinner the day before (7k total- we had both parents offer to help with wedding expenses and we chose to put that towards the rehearsal dinner, splitting the cost to 3.5k for each family. We budgeted 10k for this initially and saved money by not choosing an open bar package and instead we paid a la carte, saving us a few thousand even in a party of enthusiastic drinkers).
The biggest factors that helped to keep us on track were definitely the guest list! All spouses/ fiances were named invitees and we didn't offer plus ones (prepare for a few guests to ask and know your boundaries here). We started with 70 invitations and 60 accepted. We sent physical save the dates with a photo of us to everyone (after you send out save the dates put it on your to do list to make sure the USPS actually delivered them- you might be surprised) and then designed digital invitations + sent RSVP link to all guests. We did send about 20 physical invitations to our guests over 40 or those we thought would prefer a physical invitation but this overall saved us quite a bit of money.
We also had strategy that I like to call "split it in half and throw $100 at it" that really helped over time! We started wedding planning with a joint income of 36k so needless to say we didn't ever really have a huge amount to put in savings at one time. We knew we needed to prepare for vendors accepting cash only so we tried to protect our cash for rent and whenever we could throw $100 towards our wedding fund we would. A $500 bill is overwhelming, we would start by splitting into $250pp and then whenever one of us could throw $100, $75, even $20 towards that amount we would and it ends up adding up quickly. Same with gift cards- between doing surveys for a stupid corporate wellness program and using credit card points, a little goes a long way over time. We opened a credit card intentionally for groceries and clothing related wedding expenses and maxxed out our rewards there which helped to cover our honeymoon resort and travel. We didn't have it completely paid off every month during wedding planning (planned irresponsibility oops but same approach of a few hundred dollars at a time) but we were able to pay it off completely the month after the wedding because we came out under-budget from our wedding cash savings fund.
One of the most practical ways we cut down on expenses was no floral centerpieces. A family friend is a professional florist who offered to do florals for us at no expense- I hated the idea of her working too hard at our wedding and knew I was only going to have my 4 sisters process down the aisle before me. She made five bouquets total, and they were beautiful- I did also have a backup plan to use costco + trader joes flowers in case the family friend fell through, I ended up buying a bunch of bouquets before for that purpose but these just ended up being decor at my apartment instead, which was our getting ready space for the day. On our tables we had candles, photo centerpieces (we used our own photos of trips from national parks that matched our color scheme but you could do black and white baby photos, family photos, book passages, poems, art, the possibilities are endless). We decorated decoupage oysters for all our guests as decor/ gifts and about 80% of our guests actually took them home! my husband ate the oysters at our local 75 cent oyster nights and would bring them home for us to process.
Other practical ways we saved were choosing a single-shooter option that started at the reception (I have 0 regrets) and choosing a non traditional dress. Originally, my V. Chapman dress was beautiful but I kept getting it altered to have the cups fit a little bit better and then at one point a seamstress ordered the wrong part and was kind of holding the dress hostage. I panic bought this dress from Azazie and it was the most incredible, perfectly fitting dress that was so secure the entire night.
The wedding festivities included a ceremony on the top deck of the boat, dinner and dancing in our private room, and a second line parade to a famous bar. I felt that we got to give our guests a high quality experience and I was shocked that we paid less than 20k for wedding day expenses.
homemade DJ mix DID NOT prevent the dance floor from staying packed all night
