Planning a wedding can be stressful. In America, you see statistics that say the average cost of a wedding is $30,000-35,000 dollars. Macayla and I had the goal of keeping our wedding under $5,000. Spoiler alert: we succeeded at nearly $4,700 total for the big day. If you’re here to read, you may be curious as to how we managed this with the scale our wedding was.
All Images are by Beth Sweitzer Photography
Here is what this blog post is not… It is not a “we did it best.” If you have the budget for $50,000 and there are things you value for your day more than we did, please do so, but that was not our goal. This is not a “ours was a cheap wedding” post either. $5,000 for an event is still a lot of money to some. We do not take for granted what we got. I can confidently say, we walked away from our wedding MORE than satisfied by how it went when it comes to the values we wanted for our big day.
This post is for those of curiosity about our wedding experience and for those who like the price of $5,000 and are wanting to read about the possibilities. It is also for those to go back to 2021 and remember the day along with me as I write this. I am incredibly grateful for every hand and heart that went into Macayla and I’s day.
Some statistics for our wedding:
Budget is $5,000, we spent $4,700 (roughly)
We invited over 300 and hosted around 200
We booked the venue for the full day
Rehearsed the night before at a local park
We each had 6 people standing with us, plus 2 ushers
The Values
A wedding is a want, not a need. The only need with marriage is that it’s legal (and someone to marry, haha). Hitting a lower budget wedding came down to what we truly value for the day. So our biggest value was of course to have a wedding celebration. But, we wanted to have a celebration without financial stress. Our core values were:
Christian Beliefs being present
A good photographer and videographer
A fun venue
Our people and guests
Chacos (Yes, we really wanted to wear our chacos during the day and it was worth it)
Time alone on our day
Our Honeymoon (Next Blog being released)
Not Valued (As Highly)
We wanted food on our day, but not a meal. We set our wedding time from 2-5:00pm and provided some fun desserts and drinks after the ceremony. Not having a meal for 200 people was a massive money saver.
Fancy Clothing. Macayla and I’s outfits combined were under $350. Yes, you can find your dream dress and outfits for good quality and far cheaper. I biasedly believe we looked wonderful. We did value the colors though. :)
Both of these things, if you do it right, can be a huge money saver.
$4,000 out of $4,700
As mentioned, we valued who captured our wedding and where it took place. Roughly $4,000 of our budget was on our venue, photography, and videography.
The Venue:
The Belvedere Ballroom in Carthage, Missouri was perfect. In 2021, it fit the budget and the look that we wanted perfectly. We wanted a space that would house a large amount of people, but have the look we were wanting as well. This venue at the time cost $1800 which was within the budget. The Host was incredibly nice and welcoming to us, and for those who care, they didn’t watch our every move day of. It truly felt like it was our venue for the day.
Photographer and Videographer:
Who captured our wedding was FAR more important to us than anything else. I can confirm that writing this in 2024, this is still worth every penny. At the time, I had little photography experience and wanted to not only hire someone who was clearly good at what they do, but who I wanted to learn from through observation. Beth Sweitzer Photography, now based in Hawaii, was perfect for this! She was incredibly friendly and took all the wonderful images you see. Our good friend Jess Morton (Now with last name Strunk!) captured our video for an incredibly fair price! She even included some personalized details into the video that actually made me cry the first time watching it. Thank you Beth and Jess! You guys inspired Every Little Thing Creative to become what it has.
The other $700
Due to the generosity of family and friends a lot of costs got to be taken out. Our cake was handmade from Macayla's Grandmother, our bridal party paid for there outfits (not rented, if you want a cheaper wedding, make sure it's cheaper for them too), Macayla's dress was under $200, family made and provided basic lunch for the party and treats for the reception, we didn't hire a DJ and just made playlist for a friend to operate, and more. With these changes from normal tradition, the extra $700 was very affordable.
Other things that saved money
Macayla's Dad was the Pastor (Legally)
Macayla dried flowers I gave to her in the past for her bouquet
Rehearsal was held at a local park
Zero Catering
Decor was either handmade from leftover house items or used from venue
Honeymoon was little to none out of pocket thanks to gifts from family and friends (Separate blog being posted soon)
Paper airplane send off (Pics below)
No wedding Coordinator (Thank you Spencer and Shaylee for helping our wedding go smoothly)
There's not much detail to cover about the wedding day, as it was perfect for Macayla and I. The small details were cheap/free thanks to the incredible family and friends that helped make our day what it was. We enjoyed all the moments with friends and family while celebrating with fun deserts and dancing. You are still appreciated to this day and will be forever!
If you’re planning an 'on a budget' wedding, I would love to chat! Shoot me an email at redmons2021@gmail.com
-Hunter Redmon
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