Yes, you read that right, our wedding was $500. Was it grand and specular? Nope, but we did not care.
“The marriage lasts forever, not the wedding.” Were the words my late Grandmama told me when I vented to her about how on earth were we going to pay for a wedding. My Grandmama and Granddaddy got married on their third date at the courthouse on Kessler Air Force Base in Biloxi, MS. Their marriage went through hell and high water but they made it through until their last days on this earth.
That was the love story I wanted, not the fairy tale wedding.
Trust me, I would have loved to have a big Catholic wedding with all our family and friends present but truthfully, we did not have the money to pay for it. We would have had to take out a loan to afford the wedding the size we needed. We wanted to go to the courthouse but some family members freaked out about that so we scratch that idea.
I remember sitting at my desk at work in tears because all I wanted to do was marry my Prince Charming. I did not care if it was while standing in the bed of his pickup truck wearing a brown paper sack, I just wanted to be the Mrs. to his Mr..
Thankfully, my mama’s wedding present to me was my wedding gown and veil. Pat’s suit was one that we had purchased many months before when he had to be a pallbearer at a funeral (he hates wearing black to funerals). My wonderful co-worker, Sharon made my bouquet that still sits on my dresser to this day. (She really knew how to pull out the southern charm with my bouquet!)
Once those details were figured out, I scoured Google for wedding venues endlessly. I finally came upon one in Helen, Georgia that offered either the chapel or gazebo ceremony with photos for $500. The catch was that there could be no more than 15 people in attendance. Y’all know what happened next, right? Everyone and their mama freaked out that we were not inviting our mother’s brother’s wife’s second cousin twice removed.
Yep, all those folks were upset but we did not care, it was all we could afford and we were not letting anyone take it from us. Sound harsh? Maybe, but the truth is my Grandmama’s words have never been truer. That day was just a day. We had the ceremony, no traditional reception (we went to a nice restaurant in town and everyone had to pay for their own meals), had a party at the hotel afterward, and then in the morning got on a plane and went on our amazing honeymoon.
He smashed the cupcake in my face….
The key to staying on budget with a wedding is to figure out what you really want and what is important to you. Still to this day, my hubs and I talk about our wedding and how happy we are that we did not take out a loan to pay for it.
How did you stay on budget with your wedding?
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omg…..i was reading this post and it mirrors me! My boyfriend and I are wanting to get married by end of year. We have many more important things to pay for than a wedding. I want to elope but like you my folks are freaking out at the thought of that. So it’s just not worth it in the end. I simply do not want to go through the stress of a large wedding. It’s so encouraging to see someone that was in my shoes, have a great wedding without losing your mind and dollar bills (or hundred dollar bills I should say). So glad i found this article on Pinterest. What did we do before Pinterest? 🙂
Hahaha! Yes, Amber what did we do before Pinterest? I’d be totally lost without it! 🙂 *Hugs* because I remember that stress all too well. You’ll get through it and you can most definitely have an amazing wedding for less! 🙂
Hi! This is a wonderful story and my fiancé are looking for places. My father lives in Cleveland, GA right outside of Helen and I was wondering if you could share where this is you guys got married there?
Thanks a bunch
Jennifer
Oh I love Cleveland! 🙂 It was at Magnolia Terrace in Helen. 🙂
This was such a refreshing post. I have known many a couple that spent thousands on their weddings and quite frankly, it really didn’t make a difference to the happily ever after! My husband and I also took the frugal route. There were a total of 18 people (including us!) at our wedding. 21 years later, we are still going strong. Marriage isn’t about the ceremony, it is about the commitment between two people.
Love it! Marriage is definitely about commitment and communication! 🙂
Hubs and I had a change jar in our closet that we tossed all our loose change in and I cashed it in totally almost $400. He asked me to marry him in August and I totally wanted to get married on 9/10/11 … So we had a teeny budget and a small amount of time. We threw our wedding in my parents backyard. Our moms prepared all the food and everyone was to BYOB. My dad’s friend let us borrow a huge white tent and my husband was friends with someone who allowed us to borrow 100 white folding chairs. We borrowed folding tables from family and my mom pulled out a bunch of table clothes she stashed away. Our decor was very limited. We did buy rope lighting from Home Depot and a trellis thing (sorry) from michaels and spruced it up with flowers and ribbon. My dress was 50% off at David’s bridal making it a whopping $150 and thankfully my mom was able to do what little alterations needed to be done. My mom and friend also did our photography (looking back I should have scrounged more cash for that but it’s ok.) I think in total there may have been $1000 spent on my wedding … Including what our moms and family might have spent on food. Borrowing the chairs and tent did come with physical labor. We had to pick them up, unload, set up, reload, and return. But well worth it!!! My wedding was by far not extravagant but it was an awesome day marrying my love and spending it with great friends and family!!!!
I loved your wedding Meg! It was so much fun and the food was awesome! 🙂
Wow, I am impressed that you pulled that off for $500! You both look great and what a cute little gazebo!
Thank you Anne! 🙂
Wow, that is amazing how you spent so little! I must admit, I’m a little addicted to Say Yes to the Dress on TLC, but only because I think it’s unbelievable how much these women spend on their dresses, let alone the entire wedding. Good for you!
Oh yes! I love Say Yes to the Dress! The most expensive bridesmaid dress I’ve ever had to purchase was from Bridals by Lori in Atlanta. I was like “uhhhhh, $350 for a bridesmaid dress???” The bride was lucky I love her! 😉
Oh, I love it! Your Grandmama was a smart lady! You two look so beautiful and happy, and that’s what it’s all about: the happiness and the love. We had a really small wedding as far as guests go, too. It’s kind of hard initially, but it really is the biggest way to cut the budget.
Yes it is! 🙂
My husband and I eloped in a little chapel. I was so stressed out planning the wedding and his patrol dates kept changing so one day he said, “let’s go get married on Thursday when you are off.” I am so happy we did that! Going on 14 years!
Heck yes!! I love eloping stories – I think it is just so romantic! 🙂
We had an inexpensive wedding too. I bought my wedding gown on clearance sale for $199.00 and I made my veil, wedding cake and bouquet. Family and friends provided food for the reception. Simple is just as special!
Yes it is! I strongly believe in keeping it simple! 🙂
This is awesome! Our wedding is coming this fall and we feel the same way you feel about your wedding.
Very mature to stick within the budget you had. Not many could make that mature decision. Love the dress!!!!
its so nice to read your story. Me and my fiancé are planing to elope. We’re not too fussed about big weddings (we both find it rediculous too spend so much cash on favours and centrepieces etc) that we just decided that our wedding should be about us and we can do it how we want. So our plan is to go somewhere nice, I’ll be wearing my wedding dress and he’ll be wearing at least a nice shirt (it’s being discussed lol), we’ll get married, take photos and then go do whatever we want. We’re thinking about maybe throwing a big bbq for all friends and family the day after or whenever we get back. It’s our dream wedding.
That sounds like a wonderful idea to me Liz!
Eddie and I eloped last Febuary 21, 2014. Best decision we could have made. Called our best friends the day before. We had a best man and matron of honor. I wore on an off white suit and Eddie wore a blue suit. After the ceremony, we went to dinner at our favorite restaurant. We later called family and friends to tell them our news. No regrets!
Love your story Jacqueline! Happy almost-one-year anniversary! 🙂
Hello! I absolutely LOVED your story and was wondering if you could let me know where in Helen you were married? I just got engaged and what you described is my PERFECT wedding! I have been with my guy for years and I just want us to take the next step together and we don’t need a big wedding for that. There is enough love between the two of us that any wedding would suffice. 🙂
Besides that, we have been saving for a house and a big wedding is something we both do not really want and we wouldn’t be able to afford it anyway if we did. We just want our closest family members to share that intimate moment with us. And that’s hard for some people to understand!
You both look so happy and beautiful!
LOVE LOVE LOVE!! <3
Thank you Leigh Ana! We got married at Magnolia Terrace in Helen. It was amazing! 🙂
Wow, this is amazing! I really needed to read it. I am not sure how well we can do, but I hope no more than 2000 – 2500 dollars. It may sound like a lot, but 1200-1500 is already for the Church. I am not sure I can find a Church cheaper than that.. However, I did find amazing FREE wedding chapel!!! Anybody who is interested, can find it here:
http://www.chapeldulcinea.org/
The only downside is that it is located in Texas. I mean, is it really worth to pay for the tickets and hotel to have the free chapel, or just pay for the local Church. We will be living in Minneapolis area, so it would be a quite a long flight. And honestly, I don’t really want to give up Church. I can give up anything else (even buying my gown as used or very cheap), but Church is a must have. We have not created a full budget for it yet, but we will be soon.
Unfortunately we don’t have family to help us out as everyone is living out of US or other states. But I think it is time to start working hard and look for the best deals, and I just have to become very creative!
Being creative will save you tons! Also knowing what you truly want, like knowing that you want the church and that it’s non-negotiable is great! Your budget is great and I know that you’ll stick to it! 🙂
Hi! I like your story! We eloped 27 years ago and spent $35. That included roses for a bouquet, a bell and the license. My husband set the timer on his camera and that took our official wedding photos.
When we got home, I didn’t feel married so we had a big church wedding and the reception at my favorite aunt’s home. All told was $2700. Including God in my marriage has made all the difference.
That’s amazing Lana! I love hearing stories like this. 🙂
Best advice ever: Figure out what’s important to you and focus on that! Everything else is fluff, we kept our guest list limited to people who would be really happy and excited for us vs people we just had to invite for show. We want a day of love and fun and happiness, focusing on starting our married life off surrounded by the same people who will be there every day for us in the future!
That is awesome Nicole! I love that you only invited those that you felt actually wanted to be there – I swear it’s the worse when family wants you to invite everyone and their Grandmama.
I love this idea! My Fiancé and I feel the same way. We really want to save money and have a nice honeymoon. We had planned on having a simple church wedding, but when we started adding up the cost of a dessert reception for 200 people, plus all the decorations to make a church gym not look like a basketball court, it just seems like more trouble than it’s worth! I’m going to talk to him about just having our family and very close friends involved in the ceremony and having the reception at a restaurant. Since becoming engaged, I’ve been shocked at how many people have such strong opinions about what a wedding “should be”. I just want to marry the love of my life around people I love who love us dearly and encourage us. It’s easy to get carried away or give into pressure. Neither of us want to go into debt or have to postpone our wedding until we can afford a grand affair. Just because a wedding doesn’t fit into the standard box of many people’s perception, doesn’t mean that it is less meaningful or important. Our goal is to focus on preparing for life after the wedding day. Where did y’all go on your honeymoon?
You are so right Emmy! I remember how all of sudden when we got engaged, everyone and their mama thought they had a say in our wedding. It drove me crazy. :-/ We went to St. Lucia — it was money well spent and we are so happy we decided to spend it on our honeymoon instead of a grand wedding. 🙂
My husband and I got married in Vegas where I am from. We were both in the Navy and we met and married within 3 months. But I sit here 25 years and counting so it must have took..lol.. Years later my husband surprised my with a wedding in a lovely Chapel to renew are vows and then to a weekend away at a bed and breakfast. Your marriage is not about the day it started it is about the journey you go on together that counts. And hey why go in debt for one day when you don’t have too? However with that said if you want to save up to have your dream wedding then more power to you!!
Little known fact, by law US military members and retired veterans can receive free weddings in base chapels by base chaplains. Also using the word wedding always drives the price up. The same flowers for a funeral are $50.00 but for a wedding they are $200.00. By simply interchanging search terms a $1,000.00 wedding dress becomes a $500.00 prom dress or a $200.00 cocktail dress. An engagement ring can easily cost more than the same ring marketed as a diamond ring. A caterer will charge more for a wedding but less for a retirement party with the same food and centerpieces. Wedding is a buzzword that can drive the price up by 10X what the goods or services are actually worth.
I did not that about military members! That’s awesome! And thank you so much for all your incredible tips Rachael!
I’m so grateful we had connections when it came to my wedding! My husband’s aunt runs a lakeside campground with a beach where we had the ceremony and reception for free, our DJ offered us a HUGE discount because he and my MIL were long lost relatives and DH and I were firefighters, my grandmother made the cake, my mother in law works at a smokehouse where she got the prime rib for cost, and my bridesmaids, grandmothers and I made sides. I told my bridesmaids to pick out any purple dress rather than telling them which specific one to get and none of them spent over $20, my mom went to a cut your own flower place where they sell flowers by the pound and got all of our flowers for $60, we bought my wedding dress online since I was incredibly average sized, brand new for $120, I DIYed all of our decor with coupons, thrifting, and hand me down things like old mason jars and metal watering cans. My mother in law wanted to invite over 100 people on their side alone but I managed to get us down to 80 (20 on my side, 60 on his) so I had to be extra thrifty to accomodate. I think all in all costs were around $1000 which seems crazy to me but was thankfully dispersed among the many people who offered to help.
I agree that a wedding is more about the marriage than showing off how much money you have! Thanks for writing.
Oh Wow this gives me so much conformation!! We too don’t want to go in debt for a wedding and we were thinking of doing the exact same thing. Of course we put the wedding off twice until a later date because we haven’t been able to afford anything. We have 2 kids and things are tight but hopefully soon maybe next spring or 2019 may be our time to say I do. I guess we will soon see and finally set a date in stone God Willing! Thanks for sharing makes me feel so much better for our idea!! 🙂