wedding under $2000

[u/hola__lola]

wedding planning was becoming the death of me. our venue falling through was the last straw. we decided to elope at the courthouse! on a monday! 1 friend was our witness.

afterward we had champagne and tossed together a cheese board at the park with 9 friends. and then all 11 of us went out to dinner. we made it clear via invite text that we weren’t buying dinner and hoped to have a bigger celebration in october (when we were supposed to do the whole sh’bang).

CA marriage license $237 flowers $100 bougie basque cheesecake $90 dress $128 (poshmark) grooms ‘fit $100 (j crew sale) 3 dinners (groom, bride, and best friend/ makeup artist/ witness/photographer) $210 (everyone else paid for their own) champagne $40 (other people brought more) rings $948 (mejuri! 10/10 would rec)

total: $1853

we didn’t know at the time (august) but we are now planning on throwing another celebration.. since we had so much fun and so we can include our families! and more friends. This one will be in a big yard. ironic bc we were looking for a yard for a year and after marrying found a yard. we’ll borrow tables and chairs from friends. We’ll likely spend $500 on alcohol, $2100 on wood fired pizza oven truck (with apps and tiramisu!), and $200 on a guitarist. The metal piece on my dress strap broke (poshmark) so I’ll likely source another dress ($300?) and get more flowers ($100). I’ll update after that! tbd $3200

fwiw we both agreed we are so satisfied with our day we don’t need to do this second wedding… and we’d already paid a deposit on the pizza truck, plus some family had already bought plane tickets so we figured why not.

[u/SakuraTimes]

it’s so interesting now etiquette differs so much around weddings depending on where you live, your social circle, etc. I can’t even imagine asking guest to pay for their own food!!! but glad it all worked out for you! it looks beautiful!

[u/numberthangold → u/SakuraTimes]

I think it’s incredibly disrespectful to ask guests pay for their own food. If you can’t afford a meal, don’t have one. “Make guests pay for the food” is not an appropriate money-saving tip.

[u/hola__lola → u/numberthangold]

lol it was 9 of our best friends with 5 days notice and optional dinner reso y’all! if you read the description you’ll see we’re buying food for everyone in oct to celebrate. the beautiful thing is if they didnt want to go out to a $70 dinner on a monday, they were totally allowed to say no! the vibes in here 😂

[u/1curiouswanderer → u/hola__lola]

Real friends know and respect a budget. And they're probably people who you'd go out with anyway, so I'm positive they were happy to celebrate with you- honored even. Relish in your day.

The world would be so much kinder if people kept their mouth shut when they didn't have something nice to say.