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Wedding Ideas

Last Updated: BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 55 Comments

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Outdoor Wedding IdeasToday I am just showing you some of the MANY MANY MANY things that I have been pinning on Pinterest. I love it all and I’m so excited to plan a wedding. Sorry to my manly readers 🙂 And sorry to those who follow my personal Pinterest page, it is probably extremely annoying. I am a crazy planner and love planning anything.

To read all of my wedding-related posts, click here. Some of my posts include:

We haven’t done a whole ton of planning yet. Still trying to figure out whether we want to have it next Fall or Spring of 2014. Not really in a huge rush or worrying about the exact date just because it won’t change anything in our life. I just want to plan something fun and of course nice looking at the same time.

I do know for sure that I want an semi-formal outdoor wedding. And I want my dogs involved. Ha right? I have pretty much narrowed down the possible venue, photographer, food ideas, and everything else.

We also have pretty much already asked most of our friends to be bridesmaids and groomsmen. We will have 8 each (AH!). Definitely going to be a big wedding. Lately I’ve been dreaming of a small 20 person wedding but obviously that will not happen.

So my question for you guys today is:

How much was your wedding altogether? How much did you spend on your venue, photographer, music, and each part of your wedding? Let me know!

Also, if you have any wedding posts on your blog, please leave the link below so that we can all see.

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About Michelle Schroeder-Gardner

Michelle is the founder of Making Sense of Cents, a blog about personal finance and traveling. She discusses how her business has evolved in her side income series. She paid off $40,000 in student loans by the age of 24 mainly due to her freelancing side hustles. Click here to learn more about starting a blog!

Comments

  2. plantingourpennies says

    Have you considered eloping? Our wedding was $235 and it was perfect in every way =)

    I enjoyed that wedding so much more than the belated reception/housewarming party that we threw several months later that cost ~$900. To me that was money wasted.

    Reply

  3. Lindsay says

    We set a strict budget for our wedding and stuck to it. I had everyone trying to up my gown budget and I ended up getting it done for $50 over, but had a friend make my birdcage veil as a gift so the $50 wasn't spent on that. You can definitely do it on a budget. My venue was expensive ($3500) which meant the rest of my budget had to flex around that. I borrowed a lot for our centerpieces and even used pieces of wood that a friend cut a log into as our base. Wedding planning is so fun! Enjoy!
    http://www.domesticatedworkingwoman.blogspot.com
    My recent post I said Brrrrr

    Reply

  4. DC@Young Adult Money says

    How much was your wedding altogether? How much did you spend on your venue, photographer, music, and each part of your wedding? Let me know!

    Our wedding was probably somewhere between $10-$20k when it was all said and done. Our photographer was about $1,500 or so (sorry I'm blanking even though it was only a little over a year ago). Music was about $400 total, food was about $3-$5k in total, and venue was about $3k or so (got killed on table/chair rentals! But one tradeoff was that we could get outside food/drink/dj vendors, so it was definitely worth it). We paid almost nothing for cake and flowers, got a great deal and we did not care much about flowers (or i should say my wife didn't!).

    My wife wrote an awesome post earlier this year about how to save money on a weddings:
    http://www.youngadultmoney.com/2012/08/09/7-ways-…
    My recent post Best of Young Adult Money: 2012

    Reply

  7. ashleenikol says

    Love to see your wedding pins! They are putting such great ideas in my head. I've not even begun to think of what the price of mine will be, but I do know that I want it to be on the cheaper end. Lots of DIY decor and such! And I'm considering making my bridesmaid dresses myself!
    Happy New Year Michelle!! Have a great time tonight!!

    My recent post 2013 Goals

    Reply

  9. therandompath says

    Love the pins, especially the outdoor venues. So pretty!

    We didn't have a big wedding, but we didn't want one. We got married at this really old courthouse in our area surrounded by both of our families. Then we had a really big reception/party at my parents house with family/extended family and friends. We then went to Hawaii for our honeymoon. It was perfect for us.
    My recent post Life, Updates and a Recap: Goals For December

    Reply

  11. PKamp3 @ DQYDJ says

    We did 8 each in the wedding party, and during the (Catholic) ceremony, had them standing up near the altar, fanned out onto the main area. Pretty funny since no one in the audience (other than the photographer) could get everyone in the shot without backing up behind the pews.

    No post to share… I think my Y Chromosome got in the way (sorry). However, if you want any perspective from a male, you know where to find me.

    Reply

  12. Sean@onesmartdollar says

    You are going to have a blast planning your wedding. Hopefully you get some help to take away some of the stress. My mother-in-law helped my wife out a lot and that helped really make it a fun year of planning.

    Reply

  14. Lena says

    Aww…the picture with a dog is awesome! You guys totally need to take one like this too 🙂 Our wedding was cheap, only a little over $2000 because we were broke and didn't want to have a ton of debt to start our life together with. But we had friends who did photos and video, my Mom made my dress, and we skipped on a three-course meal and did just desserts. It was modest but lovely!

    Reply

  15. AlexM says

    I got married 25 years ago. The common amount to spend was 10K, we spent under 2K. Buy your dress on clearance, off the rack! I got a $1500 dress for $99. Make your own veil. If you're not that handy, buy a plain cheaper one and go to the craft store to embellish. IMO, don't skimp on flowers or the photographer. There are some things pros do better and you want these to be items you can depend on.

    We had brunch instead of dinner and everyone loved it. It was a lot cheaper too. A DJ is cheaper than a band. You are not in the dire financial straights that we were (my fiance lost his job a couple of months before the event), so we had to have a cash bar but paid a tab for the wedding party. It was a bit embarrassing, but a financial necessity.

    The main thing is to think of this as a party. Not the event of a lifetime. Your love is the event of a lifetime and too many couples get caught up in the excitement of the event and care more about that than the actual life part.

    Reply

    • makingsenseofcents says

      We will definitely not be skimping on the photographer, that's the main thing that I want to spend my money on.

      And I agree, I'm only thinking of it as a party. Getting married means nothing to me as we already live the "married life".
      My recent post Wedding Ideas

      Reply

  16. Joanna @ OFB says

    Love your ideas. It actually makes me want to follow you on Pinterest! Weddings are just so exciting.

    I'm not sure what was spent on our wedding several years ago. One thing I would change would be the photographer, though. DO NOT skimp on this. My bro-in-law is a photographer, and we used him. I really wish we'd hired someone to do a more thorough and professional job. I think you can find ways to save on any other area of the wedding, but splurge on photos. You will be happy you did!

    Reply

  17. Heather says

    I remember when I first got engaged I wanted a big wedding too, I didn't want to leave anyone out. But once you get into the details of the price that it costs we decided to go smaller and ended up having an amazing wedding with no more than 100 people.

    We had our reception at a pavilion and it was absolutely beautiful and rather inexpensive. You could look into pavilions that are near you that you can rent for the day, that way the landscaping is basically done for you!

    Just be careful, all the prices that you see probably do not include taxes and gratuity in there… Our wedding ended up being around (not including honeymoon or rings) $6,500, people till this day tell me how awesome our wedding was, I thank the amazing DJ for those memories. I recommend spending quality money on a DJ 🙂

    Reply

  19. C The Writer says

    So this probably isn't the best thing to say but to answer your question, I've never even been on a date…so my wedding, as you put it…um…obviously did not happen.
    My recent post Handling money poorly.

    Reply

  21. Briana says

    Our wedding was fairly frugal. We had it outside near the lovely pond in my parents' backyard. My parents rented a huge party tent (about $200) which we decorated with things we made. I made the invitations myself, so probably about $20 there. My brother and mom made the food, so maybe about $200 for supplies. My dress was almost $600 but I fell in love with it and couldn't resist! My mom also did all the flowers herself so I am not sure how much she spent there. Also, the greatest gift ever was my husband's grandmother, who is a photographer for a newspaper, did our wedding photography free as her gift to us. A huge money saver! All in all, I think we spent $3000, including the rings and fees for the justice of the peace. Not too shabby.
    Good luck with planning. It is a blast!
    My recent post 2012 Goal Review

    Reply

  22. Goldeneer says

    Our wedding was about $12000 and initially had budgeted for $8000. Best advice I got: prioritize what is really important to you both and spend accordingly.

    We tried really hard to keep it small at 22 people and frugal. We housed our immediate family and best friends in a gorgeous cabin by the water. I could have cared less about having decorations, flowers and cake so I left that to my MIL (important to her) to gift it to us. Initially I was going to buy my dress online directly from China but didn't allow myself enough time for shipping.

    – Weekend gorgeous cabin rental $4500
    – Honeymoon $2000
    – Home made food for 22 people for 2.5 days $700
    – Dress, fitting, shoes, tux $1000
    – Sumo suit rental, VERY memorable $400
    – Bridesmaid dress used from another bridesmaid outfit: free
    – Music: iPod, free
    – Fireworks: gift
    – Flowers: gift
    – Cake, homemade: free
    – Photographer, asked for a digital copy of all of our guests' cameras: free
    – Everything else $3000

    Reply

  23. iheartbudgets says

    You know, I need to bust out my old spreadsheet. I think we spent about $10k altogether, most of it on venue, videographer and photographer.

    And my wife (also a Michelle) is the same way. She had our wedding planned like a year before we were even engaged, lol.
    My recent post 5 Reasons To Start A Budget For 2013

    Reply

  24. elle & ish says

    Just like you I plan to have my dog in the wedding… 🙂 I really hope he lives up to that point though. Since I'm not even engaged yet I'll be following your wedding posts closely as inspiration!! 😀 Good luck w the planning!

    Reply

  25. Living Debt Free Rocks! says

    Enjoy every moment of the planning and make sure to not let the actual wedding day pass by in such a blur of activity that you have trouble remembering those unique and precious moments. I was given this advice and it did help to savour our day even more.
    I don't consider that our wedding was anywhere near frugal lol! We got married in Oct 2012 and we spent $7500 on a very intimate wedding. That amount didn't include the cost of my engagement ring. The most expensive item was the cost of our photographer who we brought in from Montreal to NYC where we got married. He was worth every single penny as the pictures made me cry in sheer joy and my husband was rendered speechless by the quality of the photographer's work. The pictures spoke volumes for us and how we felt on that day. http://livingdebtfreerocks.wordpress.com/2012/10/…

    My recent post 2012 Flashback & 2013 Fast Forward

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  27. christineslittleblog says

    Altogether with wedding and honeymoon I think we spent about $15k – $20k. Our two big splurges were our photographer and our receptions venue. Also, don't scrimp on food. No one likes a wedding with bad food. 😉

    Photographer: My husband and I really wanted a photojournalist style photographer who would just capture the day as it happened rather than have us pose for a bunch of fake shots. It turned out wonderfully! We did the obligatory family portrait type shots at the reception but the majority of the photos are natural and that was he was able to capture some really amazing emotion.
    Reception Venue: Our reception venue was all-inclusive (except for the cake). They did food, tables, decorations, waiters, DJ, and anything else you could think of. I was planning the wedding from halfway across the country so I did not want to be bothered with food tastings and picking out table linens.

    Yes, it was a really expensive day, but my husband and I had an amazing time and we have amazing wedding photos haning all over our house.
    My recent post

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  28. seedebtrun says

    Our wedding was about 6 grand, not including the honeymoon.. We did it outside, used fake flowers, my wife bought a $100 dress, etc.. But we did write the ceremony ourselves, and it really was a great day.. We also squeezed an open bar into that budget..

    One note.. Nobody EVER says.. I wish I would have spent more on that wedding dress!! 🙂
    My recent post How to Stop Biting Your Nails

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  29. munchkin says

    I can't really contribute to the advice since I am not married but I love your Pinterest pictures! It your wedding looks anything like them, its going to be beautiful!
    My recent post Sunday Social

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  31. studentdebtsurvivor says

    Love your pinterest photos. The bf and I aren't married so I don't know much about wedding budgets. Both of my sisters are married and spent a lot on there weddings. I've talked to the bf about eloping but he wants a church wedding. I'm thinking a small ceremony and reception. I know weddings can be pretty expensive. Looking forward to seeing what you plan and what you spend 🙂
    My recent post 2012 Wrap-up & Welcome 2013!

    Reply

  32. Simple Finance says

    Our wedding was about $13,000, but I have to say that it was too much. It was a wonderful day, not over the top (not my style), but in reality, once the day is over, it's OVER. You have the pictures, the memories, etc., who cares if your dress was top of the line, you had an open bar, or hot-house flowers from Mexico? I don't think this is something you can really understand, though, until after you've been married for a few years. It's tough to gain that kind of "perspective" on a wedding during the engagement/newlywed phase!

    Reply

  34. Corinne says

    I'm working on updating and linking all wedding-related posts to this page: http://www.discoveringmykismet.com/p/6-9-12.html

    Most of them are there but there are a few still floating around I'm working on. We tried to do as much ourselves as possible, but even a DIY wedding isn't not expensive.
    Our photographer was $3800 – definitely a huge expense but it was one of the top three things for me. I didn't want to cut corners with our photographer and I'm completely happy with the money we spent. Could we have spent less? Definitely. If I were planning right now I know of some new photographers within the last year that would probably cost less.
    Our venue + food was just shy of $10,000 for 125 people – included the venue, food, alcohol, cake, tables & chairs. Also within that price was a day-of wedding coordinator who handled all the set up which was nice – I told her how I wanted it and she made sure it was done by the time we arrived.
    My dress was roughly $1800 and I loved it – and still do.
    I believe our final total was just shy of $20,000. Definitely more than we wanted to spend. I know there are places where we could have cut back but we definitely didn't spend as much as we could have and cut out some non-essentials which helped keep things down.
    Best of luck with all the planning! Don't let yourself get stressed out about the money – there are so many alternative ideas nowadays that you can really get creative!
    My recent post 2012 Year in Review

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