How to Plan Your Dream Wedding on a $5,000 Budget: A Complete Guide

Why we should take wedding budget planning seriously?

Now that you're engaged, one of the most joyful days of your life is approaching! The issue is that it can also be the most costly. However, what if I told you you could save thirty thousand dollars in a minute? Doesn't that sound unbelievable? Stay with me, though, because I'll show you how.

In 2023, the average wedding will cost an astounding $35,000. That would be equivalent to purchasing fifteen iPhone 15 Pro Max phones or a brand-new, $27,865 base model 2021 Ford Mustang. That's a significant amount!

The good news is that you don't have to spend quite that much to have a stunning and unforgettable wedding. In actuality, as little as $5,000 might be used to organize a spectacular wedding day.

Our goal is to assist you in achieving that. Below, you can see a thorough budget breakdown for a $5,000 wedding, along with some clever money-saving ideas to ensure your special day is gorgeous and reasonably priced. Are you prepared to make your wedding fantasies come true without going over budget? Let's get started!

Average Wedding Budget Breakdown

Okay, what happens to all the money in this supposedly "average" wedding bucket? The breakdown resembles this wedding budget worksheet, which is based on data from the most prominent wedding planning website in the United States:

• Rental of a venue
• Fees for the officiant
• Photographer for Catering
• DJ
• Invitations to a wedding
• The groom's outfit
• Travel Costs
• Blooms
• License for marriage
• Cake for the wedding
• A videographer
• Live band
• Wedding dress
• Makeup and hair
• Favours for the wedding

Alright, sure. That cheddar is serious. But let's take a different look at these figures before you start researching elopement programs.

All we have to do now is reduce these percentages to match your $5,000 spending limit. Of course, we need to make some adjustments. Your wedding dress may cost 10% of your budget, while your venue may cost 60%. That's okay because you can make up for it by reducing other costs.

Here's a breakdown of how you can pull off each of these wedding expenses for a total of $5,000 or less.

1. How to determine the guest list

Let's discuss guest lists before getting into the specifics. Reducing the number of invitations makes it far easier to put together a $5,000 wedding.

Typically, a low-budget wedding has 50 attendees or fewer. The list is limited to your closest friends and family, making it ideal for a more private wedding.

How do you narrow the list if you have many friends or a large family? Make a list of everyone who MUST attend first, followed by a list of potential guests you need clarification on. You and your companion can try asking yourselves the following questions to determine who ultimately receives an invitation:

• It's been over a year since we last spoke with this guy.
• Would we invite this somebody out of obligation or want to visit them?
• Would this person's trip to the wedding be inconvenient?
• If we invite this person, do we have to invite someone else? (For example, will your great-aunt Carol anticipate invitations for her boyfriend and children if you extend an invitation to her?)

Ask your parents or another family member for their opinion on the guest list if they provide financial support for your wedding. However, it's optional if you cover all the costs yourself. Once the guest list is finalized, you can move on to other wedding-related tasks.

2. Choosing a budget-friendly wedding venue

Five thousand dollars is a good amount of change. However, it's easy to get disappointed immediately when the typical wedding location costs $10,400, more than twice your budget. Although you might not be successful in persuading a manager to reserve half of their venue space for you, there are many inexpensive alternatives for wedding locations, including:

• City Hall - The cost of a primary city hall ceremony might range from $25 to $100.
• A Church or Religious Organization—If you and your partner are church, mosque, or synagogue members, you can use the room for free or at a nominal price.
• Colleges and Universities—If you and your partner are alumni, you may be eligible for free or reduced admission to your school's event spaces.
• Parks - Although National Parks are free, you can hire a pavilion for $50 to $200.
• Beaches - Many public beaches provide free wedding services. However, some jurisdictions may charge $100 to $150 for a beach wedding permit. 
• A Private Club - You might be able to use a local club's event space for free or for a nominal cost if you're a member.

Peerspace is another fantastic venue resource. Because they let you rent venues by the hour rather than the day, they're ideal for weddings that are on a tight budget. Exactly how does that help? Because you will only be charged for the hours you utilize the space if you only want it for five to eight hours.

Additionally, you may rent a location for six hours for $1,050, including any cleaning costs, given that the average wedding venue on Peerspace is $175 per hour. There is more than enough time for a spectacular ceremony and celebration.

Budget: Let's allocate $1,200 toward a location.

3. Choosing budget-friendly wedding flowers

Henri Matisse once said, "I must have flowers, always and always."

According to Matisse, flowers accentuate a painting and add graceful energy and brilliant hues to your wedding setting.

However, as everyone knows, wedding flowers typically cost an astounding $2,300. That's a lot of money. But who says you have to buy your flowers from a florist? The artificial floral benefit is helpful in this situation.

First off, compared to real flowers, fake flowers can be four times less expensive! Additionally, you can still experience the enjoyment of do-it-yourself projects by utilizing fake flowers. Instead of paying someone else to arrange your flowers, you may do it yourself and use the money you save to fuel your creative fire by purchasing more do-it-yourself supplies.

Flowersarch offers thoughtfully designed solutions for various requirements and tastes to help you better appreciate the allure of fake flowers.

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We know that to see is to believe, so we provide beautiful sample products so you can experience our fake flowers' color and texture for yourself. We're sure you'll fall in love with our fake flowers after you realize how realistic they are.

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Selecting the ideal flowers can be very difficult. We've produced bundles with a specific colour theme to make things easier. To save you the trouble of choosing, our skilled design team has carefully selected a variety of imitation flower colour combinations. Pick your favourite colour scheme to create a magical wedding scenario.

If you're ready to dive in and make your own choices...

We heartily propose our best-selling items to anyone enamoured with fake flowers and wishes to choose their own. These products are classic hits because many people have tried and appreciated them. Since each is a best-seller, you can mix and match them to create your distinctive look.

Budget: $560 should be set aside for do-it-yourself artificial flowers, foliage, and other supplies.

4. Choosing budget-friendly wedding invitations

We've already discussed the effectiveness of e-vites and our top picks for digitally creating and sending free wedding invites. However, you can send invitations the old-fashioned way, via snail mail, for $5,000.

Put your do-it-yourself abilities back to work and print off an invitation template from the internet rather than paying a professional to make and deliver them for $530. The following websites offer free printable invitation templates for download and customization:

• Canva (many template options)
• Greetings Island (available in both free and premium templates)
• (Free invitation creator) Koala Ray
• Etsy(Some vendors provide templates that can be downloaded for a cost.)

Print the invites you like most on cardstock paper. A pack of fifty 8x10 cardstock sheets costs about $6 at a craft store. You can receive RSVP cards from the same sheet depending on how your printer is set up and how big your invites are. However, let's get two packs of cardstock in case the printer eats an invitation.

Postage costs about $0.58 for a regular envelope, but if you include return postage for RSVPs, you'll need nearly triple that amount. Additionally, if your invites are made on extra-heavy cardstock, you may need to weigh them at the post office beforehand to confirm that they weigh the allowed amount.

Budget: Let's set up $90 for envelopes, cardstock, postage, and any additional decorations you would like to use, like ribbons.

5. Choosing a budget-friendly catering

You could spend almost $4,000 just on catering, which costs $75 per person on average. If you cannot pay that much, what are you to do? Who will get a dish of food if you draw straws? Only sometimes.

Remember that $75 per person covers full-service, traditional catering, which includes wait staff. There are several more affordable ways to feed a crowd if you don't care about the formality, such as:

• Drop-off catering - The average price for 50 persons is $600.
• Have food orders delivered to your reception location by a nearby restaurant? This way, you won't have to worry about finicky eaters because everyone gets to choose their food.
• Buffet - For 50 persons, the average cost is $1,250.
• Hire a nearby caterer to set up a self-service buffet. Everyone can eat as much or as little as they like, and any leftovers can be taken home.
• Food truck - $800 on average for 50 persons.
• In essence, food trucks are mobile caterers quickly rented online for events. And how cute would it be to use one for wedding photos? Particularly if your wedding has a vintage theme and you decide on a vintage trailer.

Let's set aside $800 for a food truck to serve 50 visitors.

6. Wedding reception food ideas on a low budget

Marie Antoinette once said, "Let them eat cake."

If you persist, that is. A wedding cake from a bakery typically costs $500. This is quite doable on a $5,000 budget! However, there's still a chance to save a little extra dough—or batter, perhaps? A wedding cake's precise price may vary depending on a number of factors, including:

• The number of tiers
• The intricacy of ornamentation
• The number of flavours
• The breadwinner's level of experience

Because your guest list is smaller, you can reduce costs by selecting a more straightforward design or using fewer layers. Not to offend Madame Antoinette, but serving cake during your wedding is also not required.

Desserts from a bakery that provides one serving may be more cost-effective. Some things to think about are:

• Cupcakes  Typically cost between $20 and $50 a dozen.
• Donuts - between $8 and $30 per dozen.
• Cream puffs - $15–$33 for a dozen

With these selections, you can have a distinctive statement item for your reception and a more affordable wedding sweet. Yum, in a nutshell!

Budget: Let's set aside $300 for cake or any other treat you choose.

7. Choosing an affordable wedding photographer

Any wedding planning expert would almost always agree that photography is the one area where you should take your time. After all, if you plan to keep these pictures on your mantle for the next fifty years, you want them to appear well.

"All right," you may say. "But pay attention: that's costly." You would also be correct. Wedding images from a professional photographer can easily consume over half of your $5,000 wedding budget, with an average cost of $2,400. Let's take a closer look at that figure, though.

From the Moment you get ready until you dance at your reception, many photographers will accompany you on your wedding day. Some professional photographers may offer more affordable packages that include a few hours of shooting as a cost-effective option, enabling you to capture the essential images without exceeding your budget.

Furthermore, nobody mandates that you accompany a professional. Work is also necessary for student photographers. According to Fix the Photo, they typically charge between $50 and $120 per hour for their services. You may get eight hours of coverage for $800 if you can locate a student photographer who charges $100 per hour. It is the ideal option! Do you understand? Yes, I did think you would.

Budget: Let's allocate $800 for a professional photographer's basic package or a student photographer.

8. Choosing budget-friendly dresses

At the so-called " average " wedding, about 8.5% of the expenditure goes for attire. By slightly altering that to 12%, you will have $600 to locate new duds.

If you divide that in half, that's $300 for you and your fiancé to dress for the day. Alright, avoid spiralling. You can find a dress for that much money. All you need to do is search beyond the bridal salon.

White formal dresses are readily available off the rack at several department stores. You might find a more elegant wedding gown for less money by searching used bridal gown websites. Consider the following options:

• Nordstrom 
• Macy's
• StillWhite
• Thredup
• Nearly Newlywed

Another option is to rent your clothes. Our blog post, How to Plan a Wedding on a $1,000 Budget, offers suggestions for our top bridal gown and suit rental websites.

Spending limit: $600 on new or rental clothing.

9. DIY your wedding makeup and hair

Now that your clothes are organized, it's time to apply cosmetics and hair to finish your appearance. A professional stylist often costs $250 to style you for the day, so if it's a priority, you could definitely afford this!

If not, you can save money by applying your makeup and hairstyle for the day. Finally, you can use all of those TikTok tutorials you've accumulated and test your influencer abilities!

Budget: Let's set aside $100 for new treats, such as a curling iron or a new makeup palette. (Give yourself a treat.)

10. Using affordable wedding music

"Harmony and rhythm penetrate the innermost depths of the soul," according to Plato.

Exactly! However, if you want a professional DJ to provide the beats and melodies during your reception, you should budget an average of $1,400 for the evening. Again, though, anything worthwhile is worth doing for much less money.

DJ equipment rentals range from as low as $125 per hour to several hundred dollars for more sophisticated systems. All that is required is finding a skilled friend or relative to operate the laptop or turntables for you. Alternatively, you could use your old friend DJ Spotify to assist you and forego the equipment entirely.

The idea that you can use an iPhone to automate their work may offend some experienced DJs. Let's face it, though: you absolutely can. You will need more charisma and the genuine persona of the party host. However, if music is your top priority, you can create a playlist for your wedding and connect it to the sound system at your venue or a few Bluetooth speakers.

Budget: Let's set aside $250 for a two-hour rental of simple DJ gear. However, if you use a Bluetooth speaker instead, you can save this cost.

11. Remember the Miscellaneous Expenses:

Now that most of the ceremony and reception's main components have been covered let's discuss the miscellaneous.

You will require a wedding license to start your entire wedding celebration. Although prices vary by state, the national average is roughly $60. An officiant is also necessary for the party.

The typical charge for an ordained officiant is $300. However, some jurisdictions do not require an ordained officiant to perform a ceremony, so a friend or family member could perform it for free! Ordained online can also be done for free or at a low price, typically around $50.

You might also run into several additional unforeseen costs that arise during the day, such as:

• Taxes for Renting Tables and Chairs
• Delivery charges
• Travel costs
• Cake-cutting expenses (this is why sweets served only once are so great!)

Let's put aside some additional funds to handle any of these setbacks.

Budget: $300 will cover your wedding license, your officiant's gratuity, and any other unforeseen costs.

Total:

What harm has been done here?

• Cake, venue, and catering: $2,300 (46%).
• Pictures: $800 (16%)
• $250 (5%) for entertainment
• Clothes: $600 (12%)
• Makeup and hair: $100 (2%)
• Decor & Flowers: $560 (11.2%)
• $90 for stationery (1.8%)

This results in an overall sum of $5,000 on the nose.

Remember that this is merely a sample budget. Your experience with each component may differ. Furthermore, nobody says you must follow the % calculation in this case.

If owning DJ equipment isn't essential, you can outsource this cost to a Bluetooth speaker and use the money for something more important to you, like your wedding gown. However, you could hire a professional DJ and have the dance rave reception of your dreams if you can save money by wearing an antique family wedding dress.

Everything is completely configurable, and if you don't play your cards well, you don't even need to cut corners. Go out and conquer the world now that you have a wealth of knowledge on your deck! Or simply your wedding, if you have time.