How to have a wedding for $5,000 or less

When Joey and I got engaged, we knew one thing for sure: we didn't want to spend a ton of money. We wanted this to be special, but more like a party than a wedding. With some thriftiness, a lot of work from us and some family members, and not caring too much about being fancy, we were able to have a wedding for 150 people that cost us just around $5,000. Here's how:

The bride:

My dress came from David's Bridal. It was on the final sale clearance rack. Cost: $500
Veil: Bridal Exchange (a consignment shop) Cost: $80
Shoes: My shoes were a pair of black flats I had purchased from somewhere like Walmart about 2 years ago so they were old and broken in. I bought some Modge Podge and glitter from Amazon and then finished them off with a clear coat of Modge Podge Finishing Spray. Final cost: $20
Flowers: All of our flowers came from the Dollar store except for the Tiffany blue ones. We could only find those at Hobby Lobby. My grandmother did all our flowers with the help of a florist. I think all around they cost about $100 (this includes the flowers for centerpieces. I also purchased these at the Dollar Store).

Bridesmaids:
My bridesmaids all ordered their dresses from Amazon. We found some beautiful lace dresses for around $70. The exact item we ordered is no longer listed but I did find a similar gown here:
https://www.amazon.com/Miusol-Womens-Casual-Sleeveless-Vintage/dp/B00ZWSEGFK/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1498575405&sr=8-1&keywords=bridesmaid%2Bdress&th=1

Again, those are Dollar Store flowers. Not too shabby!

Flower Girls:
We hit the jackpot with custom made flower girl dresses on Etsy. Guess how much they cost?!?!?
Guess!

.... $40. And they were SO CUTE.
Joey's mom bought the girls' shoes so I honestly forget how much they were but they were some super cute sandals from Penny's that were on sale. The baskets and flower petals I purchased on Amazon. Cost: $15.

Groomsmen:
Joey got a great deal on his tux! I think he paid like, $10? This was at Louie's Tux Shop. My brother got also his Tux from Louie's. So did all the Groomsmen (that's why he got the deal) Everyone spent just under $150. Shoes were purchased through an awesome friend so we got brand new Converses at a discount. I bought my brother's pair so I could steal them after the wedding MWAHAHAHA.

Look at those shoes!

The Ceremony:
Our venue was the History Center in Downtown Fort Wayne. I cannot overstate how amazing this place is. The guy in charge of reservations (Steve) was SO accommodating and friendly. He basically told us we had the whole day even though we only had the place booked for about 4 hours. Cost: $400
They provided chairs which we chose not to rent covers for because ain't nobody got money fo' dat. The room was beautiful to begin with so we didn't feel the need to add much. I did decide to purchase an arch for us because I felt like we need something to focus the room. I looked online and found wedding rental websites where they had some tacky-ass arches for upwards of $200. Nope! I turned to Amazon again and purchased a white arch, three different slips of gauze in our colors, and a rope of LED lights. Joey went out and purchased some more flowers (which he literally duct taped hahaha). Final cost: around $35
We also had a small table with a picture of my grandfather on it. The table was borrowed from a friend.

The Reception: 

Our venue for the reception was amazing as well. We had it in the Tiger Room at CS3 aka Calhoun Street Soups, Salads, and Spirits. It only cost us $350 and that included the price of the bartender! It was for at least 5 hours but they basically said we could stay until their bar shut down. This price included the bartender fee and table cloths. The catering cost us about $1000. This was food for 150 people including appetizers

Our centerpieces were liquor bottles that we have been saving over the last few years. Thanks to me being a crazy lady we started saving them before I even moved in! I straight up told him "We need to save these for our wedding." I guess it speaks to our relationship that neither of us questioned the fact that we were both getting married someday. 

Centerpiece and wedding favor

Our wedding favors came from Amazon. They were skeleton key bottle openers. Cost: $40 for keys and $10 for the tags.

Our wedding cake came from a local bakery called Sweets So Geek. It was a Game of Thrones themed cake with dragon eggs on top. Cost: $160
We also had cupcakes that were from another local bakery but I don't know the cost because they were a wedding gift from one of my besties <3

Everything else:

Our officiant was Joey's sister. She got certified for the ceremony online. Our close friend Ramon ran the sound at the ceremony. A longtime friend from home was our photographer. I cannot overstate how amazing she was (look at the pictures!). Cost: $1000

If you want to check out her website go to https://www.alexwrightphotography.com/

Our DJ was a good friend, Crystal. She. was. AWESOME. She helped us run the reception as far as timing everything because we had no idea what we were doing. The music was amazing and she was a great personality to have running the show! Cost: $600

All in all, we were very lucky. Joey's mom, my grandmother, and a dear friend helped alleviate some of our costs because they knew we were doing this thing on our own. With some thrift and not caring too much we pulled off (in my humble opinion) a pretty awesome wedding!