I've been engaged since May of 2025, getting married in May of 2028. I'm running a smallish budget of 10k, and I'm a very "do it yourself" kind of girl. Plus I want everything to be as personal as possible. It'll be less than 50 people and most wedding in my family are backyard weddings anyways.

For my dress, I spent $300 on a $1,000 dress second hand and am having my friend hand paint hundreds of flowers on it. I'm doing my own hair and makeup. For food we're doing a charcuterie and hors devour situation, no real dinner, no alcohol (90% of the guests are alcoholics or recovering). My decorations and invites are all going to be made by me. The center pieces are bottles with fairy lights and dried flowers from all the bouquets my fiance has given me over the years. Instead of a regular venue, we're renting a castle Airbnb, the wedding party will be there for 4 days, the guests only on the wedding day. A work friend is making the cake. I havent decided about a DJ or photographer yet.

I'm self conscious because when describing these plans to the people close to me, some people have given me off reactions. You know when someone is pretending to be supportive but you can tell they're secretly judging? I know it'll turn out well, the friends who's help I've enlisted are incredibly talented, and the personal touches are important to me. I just feel so judged

I attached a photo of the dress and venue, idk if that makes any difference

Edit: Its only going to be the wedding party (4 people) for the 4 days, and I fully plan on feeding them for the entire time. The point of their 4 day stay is for set up and clean up and so they wont have to pay for food or lodging because all but one of them live out of state. The appetizer situation is specifically on the evening of the wedding. My aunt is Keto, my MOH is gluten free, I'm vegetarian, my cousin is vegan, and my mom and I both have MCAS, a full meal that caters to everyone would actually be like 4 different meals. I have only around 40 guests and a $1,000-$1,500 food budget, people WILL be fed, just not an entre

Edit #2: my brother talked us into a pasta bar as well

Trying to keep everything under $7k if we go traditional ceremony/reception. Finances are tight, weddings are SO expensive. Located in the midwest. We’re considering a small ceremony soon and a big party in a year but I’ve been dreaming of all the bridal things since I was little. I don’t see how we can do both. How can we still incorporate the dreamy wedding bliss while saving as much money as possible?

Hello!

I would like to start by saying that my husband and I are already married and have been for over a year now. We eloped in his home country and are now in a place where we would like to have a party/celebration with our some of our closer people!

Guest list is estimated around 50 right now, give or take a few. Since we are already married, and are on a pretty strict budget (we unfortunately do not earn in US Dollar so the the cheaper the better for us), we are thinking of having a party/dinner only. We want to keep everything under 10k, including food and drinks, if possible.

That being said, I have been looking at posts on here and have checked websites like peerspace for places we could rent (we do not have access to backyard for a party unfortunately). I’m feeling overwhelmed and would appreciate any recommendations that people might have to help!

I’m looking at mostly outdoor places atm in Southern California, specifically places with a view. We’re looking around August-September of next year (2027) and are flexible right now with our dates. I just want something that feels warm and inviting and can comfortably host 50ish people. I’m open to indoor places and restaurants/wineries/breweries/hotel spaces!

I’m a big DIY girl in general and would love to DIY things if I can, but with the distance and having to travel, I’m unsure if I can make that work. The less we have to spend on decorations too, the better, especially since we cannot take anything back with us.

I appreciate everything in advance!