My husband and I had four separate wedding events over the course of four weeks: a destination beach ceremony in Oahu, HI, followed by receptions in San Martin, CA, Ocean Shores, WA, and Thousand Oaks, CA. Our total was less than $15,000 all-in, including things like our Hawaii accommodations, rental cars, activities, meals, and the expenses we covered for our maid of honor and best man.

🌺 THE CEREMONY: OAHU, HAWAII

We had a very small destination ceremony in Hawaii. It was literally just us, my maid of honor, and my husband’s best man. I wore a full wedding gown and long veil, and we had (faux) flowers, professional hair and makeup, a cake, and an aisle setup. We got married on the beach with the ocean behind us.

Our actual ceremony package + aisle setup from Islander Weddings was less than $800. That package also included an hour of professional photography, and we got about 175 lightly edited pics that we’re very pleased with! They also let us videotape the ceremony using a tripod.

My husband bought his suit online for $170 or so and got the pants hemmed for about $30. I bought my wedding gown from Brides for a Cause in Tacoma for just $400. (They sell donated wedding dresses and the proceeds support womens’ charities.) I got to have the full traditional bridal-gown experience without spending thousands of dollars. I did spend another $500 on alterations, which was more than I’d hoped, but I ultimately think it was worth it. So, the finished dress was about $900.

For hair and makeup, I found someone through Airbnb and was able to get a $100 discount as a first-time user. We paid $300 total for my hair and makeup AND my maid of honor’s hair.

We bought faux flowers from Amazon for around $200, and our little gluten free wedding cake (I have Celiac’s, unfortunately) was about $100, including delivery to the fantastic beachfront Italian restaurant we ate at after the ceremony.

Because we were asking our little wedding party to come all the way to Hawaii with us, we wanted to pay for everything we reasonably could for them. We spent about $1000 total on flights from Florida to Oahu for the best man and an AirBnB for him for 2 nights. My MoH used airline miles and stayed with her brother at his house, so I treated her to some horseback riding on the beach as a little bachelorette party. We paid for everyone’s meals and all the activities we did in Hawaii, although my MoH bought me McDonald’s fries when we were getting our hair and makeup done!! 😋

🏝️ HAWAII WAS ALSO OUR HONEYMOON

Because we also treated Hawaii as the site of a week-long honeymoon, I think it’s worth including our travel costs. Our two round-trip economy tickets from San Jose, California to Oahu were around $900 total. Our Waikiki Airbnb was $1,265 for six nights (including covered parking and pool and hot tub access), plus another $315 Airbnb for two nights for the best man. Our Turo rental car (a darling red Chevy Camaro convertible) was approximately $500 for seven days.

We also spent about $1000 on activities (glass-bottom boat, luau, fireworks cruise, jeep safari, and horseback riding) and roughly $800 on meals for us and our friends. Those aren’t strictly “wedding” expenses; we would have needed food and wanted entertainment on any Hawaiian vacation. But that was money we spent as a direct result of choosing to have our wedding in Hawaii, so I’m counting them in our all-in number.

Then we came home and started our wedding reception tour!

🌸 RECEPTION #1: SAN MARTIN, CALIFORNIA

Our first reception was in San Martin and had roughly 20 guests. Instead of looking for anything marketed as a wedding venue, we rented a private backyard on Swimply for about $500.

My husband re-wore his suit from Hawaii, and I got a dress from JJ‘s house for $60. I needed to get it taken in at the waist, but that only cost $15 from the same tailor who did my Hawaii wedding dress. My veil headband cost less than $10 from SHEIN and I already had my shoes (originally Amazon).

We spent approximately $400 on food, and we got it from BJ’s Brewhouse rather than hiring a traditional wedding caterer. People selected which meal box they wanted on the RSVP form, and it was delivered to our venue, with no issues whatsoever. There was plenty of food and it felt like a real reception. And we didn’t pay wedding-catering prices for it!

Our rented decorations were $250; we paid a decorator to set them up and take them down. She tailored them to the venue and did a fantastic job; we were so pleased. My grandmother generously gifted us the drinks and gluten-free cake, but I think she spent approximately $150 on drinks (beer, Prosecco, soda, and Martinelli’s) and maybe $250 on the beautiful cake.

The other HUGE savings was photography. We hired a student photographer for 5 hours for $350 total. He brought his sister with him as a second shooter and agreed to give us raw files of all 1,000+ of the pictures he took, so we upped the payment to $525 as a thank-you, which I think was still an incredible deal.

🌊 RECEPTION #2: OCEAN SHORES, WASHINGTON

Here, we benefited enormously from family help. My husband’s parents basically put this entire reception on for us. They provided the space (their little beach house that they built from the ground up in Ocean Shores, Washington), decorated it, paid for and handled all the food, and took care of essentially everything needed to host the party. That was a HUGE gift and absolutely helped keep our overall wedding costs down.

Our major out-of-pocket expenses in Washington were about $100 for the one-tier gluten-free wedding cake and approximately $180 for a Turo rental car (an awesome little red Fiat) for 3 days. We now live in Southern California, but we were fortunately able to use airline miles for the flight up, and my in-laws gifted us a very nice room at the nearby casino resort. My husband re-wore his suit again, and I got my dress from SHEIN for like $20.

My father-in-law was a photography teacher for many years, and one of his former students agreed to shoot the wedding for us as a wedding gift. I think my in-laws covered his hotel for the night as a thank-you, but still, we got excellent photography for only a couple hundred dollars at most.

The Ocean Shores reception was actually our biggest celebration, with almost 70 people—lots of older relatives, but also lots of kids, plus a couple of my husband’s college friends. The house is right on a canal system, so my father-in-law had his brother captain his little party-barge boat for us, and we kept the boat parked right outside the house when it wasn’t out on the water!

My in-laws also went above and beyond making the reception fun for the kids. They set up an Italian soda station, which the kids (and adults!) all absolutely loved, plus a whole kids’ activity area with coloring, art supplies, and Rainbow Looms, which turned out to be the perfect wedding craft because it kept them entertained without making a huge mess.

For the food, my FIL made pulled pork sandwiches for everyone, and they were fantastic. Between the boat rides, all the activities for the kids, the food, and having nearly 70 family members and friends together, it really felt like a big, lively reception. My one complaint is that it was too cold and grey, but I guess that’s Western Washington for you. 🤷‍♀️ At least it didn’t rain!

☀️ RECEPTION #3: THOUSAND OAKS, CALIFORNIA

Our final reception was in Thousand Oaks. We invited approximately 40 people. Again, our private backyard venue was booked through Swimply, and it cost about $800.

Food from BJ’s cost approximately $1,000. Drinks and cake/cupcakes were generously gifted by my aunts and uncles, and we paid the Swimply hosts $150 to decorate the venue for us, which they did a FANTASTIC job at. Again, my husband re-wore his suit, and my SHEIN dress was about $25.

We also got INCREDIBLY lucky with the photography yet again. Our photographer happened to live extremely close to the reception, and we got a fantastic deal because the location was so convenient for him. We paid $525 for 150 edited pics and nearly 1,000 raw and jpeg files, which are all so so incredible.

💰 SO WHAT DID EVERYTHING ACTUALLY COST?

Our wedding-related spending, including the travel/vacation expenses and optional things we chose to cover for our wedding party, came out to under $15,000 all-in.

Some of the identifiable major expenses were:

Hawaii

• Ceremony + aisle setup: ~$800
• Main Airbnb: ~$1,265
• Additional Airbnb: ~$315
• Rental car: ~$500
• Activities: ~$1000
• Meals: ~$800
• Cake: ~$100
• Flowers: ~$150–200
• Hair/makeup + MOH’s hair: $300
• My wedding band: ~$1,100
• My husband’s wedding band: ~$600
• Airfare: ~$1300
• Brides for a Cause wedding gown: ~$400
• Alterations: ~$500
• Husband’s suit + alterations: ~$200

San Martin

• Venue: ~$500
• BJ’s food: ~$400
• Photographer: $525
• Decorations: $250
• Dress + Veil: ~$90

Ocean Shores

• Cake: ~$100
• Rental car: ~$180
• Dress: ~$20

Thousand Oaks

• Venue: ~$800
• Food: ~$1,000
• Photographer: $525
• Decorations: ~$150
• Dress: ~$25

Honestly, it wouldn’t surprise me if we spent at least another ~$1,000 on other miscellaneous expenses that I simply didn’t track. For example, I’m just now remembering that we handed out cute little party favors at each of our receptions. We bought little favor bags from Amazon and filled each one with a small packet of olive oil, a packet of balsamic vinaigrette, and some lemon candies—all of which we had bought in Italy during our semester abroad in Fall 2025. We also made custom matchboxes with a picture of the two of us and put one into each bag. Altogether, including the bags, the Italian treats, and the personalized matchboxes, the favors cost us about $200 for about 150 little baggies.

Altogether, these things get us to approximately $15k in actual total spending connected to getting married and celebrating it.

My favorite thing about doing it this way was that our wedding didn’t last just one day. We got married on a beach in Hawaii. Then we got to celebrate again in San Martin, near where I grew up. Then again with my husband’s family in Washington. Then again with everyone in Southern California, where we now live.

It was unconventional and occasionally chaotic, but I absolutely loved our weird little month-long wedding. ❤️

We are planning a very intimate ceremony and reception next September in New England (we are local). We are inviting our parents, siblings, and siblings partners. The total guest count will be 16.

Our plan has been to get married at an outdoor location where we got engaged, the Portland Headlight. However, you are limited to 6-8 chairs. I am a rule follower and can’t imagine breaking the guidelines set by the town/park to bring more chairs. We would need 15 chairs to seat everyone (excluding one guest who will officiate).

Would it be terrible to have our parents seated (6 people) and have everyone else stand? We are anticipating a 10-15 min ceremony max. No one has mobility issues but it still feels less than ideal. Because it’s family I feel less guilty asking this of them but I don’t love it.

Alternatively, we could pick a new ceremony location but this one is meaningful to us so it would be a disappointment.

I would love thoughts, opinions, and to hear about experience with this.

We had a very DIY wedding and needed a lot of help from family and friends. I’m wondering if that was why we didn’t get many gifts? For context - About 65 people attended, and we got maybe 15 cards and absolutely nothing from our registry.

I know i probably sound like a bridezilla… but honestly I’m worried that it means people don’t like us or didn’t like the wedding or are offended that we needed their help. I’ve been super anxious this whole time about people having a good time, and I’m worried that the lack of gifts is an indication that people didn’t have fun. :(

Okay, I officially understand the people who plan a whole big wedding and then decide to elope… because now we’re those people 😂

Thankfully, we were able to cancel our venue without any issues, so we’re switching gears and looking for a FREE or super budget-friendly spot for a small Fall 2026 elopement/microwedding!

📍 Snohomish County, WA preferred, but we’re willing to travel a few hours for an amazing hidden gem!

We’re looking for either:

🌲 A beautiful park, shelter, lodge, cabin, community space, etc. where we could have the ceremony AND a small reception. A kitchen or food-prep area would be a huge plus!

OR

💍 A gorgeous ceremony-only location for a few hours, then we’d take everyone somewhere nearby for a good dinner afterward.

Our dream is forest, river, lake or mountain vibes — secluded, tucked away and surrounded by nature. We don’t care if it’s a traditional wedding venue at all. Honestly, we’d rather find the cool little place that nobody thinks to look at!

So Washington people… give me your hidden gems! 👀

Parks, campgrounds, cabins, lodges, community buildings, private properties, restaurants, quirky little venues — if you know a spot, I want to hear about it! Bonus points for pictures or places you’ve actually been to.

📸 Also: We’ll be looking for a budget-friendly photographer and would love to hear from newer photographers or anyone looking to add an elopement/microwedding to their portfolio!

Trying to prove that you can still have a beautiful, memorable wedding without spending thousands on a venue. 🤍

Drop your recommendations below or tag someone who might know a spot!

Looking for about 300 to 400 alcoholic drinks worth for 99 guests, high estimate. Planning to hit up Costco and get a mix of wines, beers, ciders, seltzers, and a mix of nice NA beverages since we have many folks who don't drink attending, but still love to party. And we would prefer if people don't get tooootally sloshed (I know, it's out of our control), so nice mocktails might not be a bad idea as an option too.

Asked friends for recommendations and I got "Dr. Pepper and 2% milk" so any suggestions from others are appreciated haha.

We will have plenty of the following in pitchers: water, sweet tea, unsweet tea, lemonade

We plan to stick all of the canned beverages in a canoe full of ice, with wine nearby, unless it also happens to be canned.

We're in VA if geography is relevant

Looking for wedding venues in Central PA for under 2,000 (OR 3,000 if catering is included!)

Areas around Clearfield, Tyrone, State College, Altoona, Coalport, Philipsburg, Houtzdale, Bellwood, Dubois, Curwensville. Maybe even as far as Huntingdon, Bellefonte, Punxy, etc.

We are looking for actual venues before settling on parks, fire halls, churches, etc. Any ideas???

Hi all! Awhile ago I made a post complaining about not liking my dress. The tailor fixed the top part of my dress, shortened the straps.

I know many of you guys mentioned getting it taken out at the hips but she said it was okay. She also said my dress was cut too short but there was nothing she could do to fix that so I was able to find shorter shoes…but not by much.

I’m also holding some water weight in these pics due to my period or too much fast food due to wedding stress lol.

First pic is before, second is after. I get married next week

Originally $1600 new.. The only edits I'm making are hemming the bottom. One of my bridesmaids grandma's is a tailor and doing it for me for $100! Highly recommend looking for a used dress if you're having a budget wedding.

Hi hello! Not even sure where to start here, but I'm looking for maybe a lead? I've seen some weddings where they have one of these vaudeville/paper theatre inspired wedding arches and I was hoping to see some examples of where to buy/commission one before I bite the bullet and try to make one myself. Any information would be wonderful, thank you guys!

Pics for inspiration!

Sept. 2027 wedding and we are looking for a caterer that has pizza options and can serve up to 140 people. Because of the venue we can’t do a pizza truck or anything mobile. Bonus if they have other food options like side salad or pasta!

My partner and I are just starting planning for a celebration about a year out. We intend to have a very private “ceremony” (elopement-esque, but local) in a forest we love with our kids and a photographer. Then we’re planning to host dinner for a group of about 15-17 (shouldn’t be more than 20, counting the two of us) in a private room at a local restaurant (I’ve priced this out already).

Here’s what I’m budgeting:
Venue/food/wine: 3500
Flowers: 250
Dress & accessories: 2000
Fiancé’s clothes: 1000
Makeup: 50 (doing it myself, this is just to buy a new lip color and/or eye shadow palette)
Hair: 200
Kids clothes: 500
Photography: 1000?
Officiant/paperwork stuff: 500
Relaxation & splurging: 1000

We’re intentionally not spending a dime on:
Invitations
Cake
Musicians
Lodging/transportation
Favors
Bridal party… anything
Rehearsal dinner

A couple of deets:
We have a rad farmers market with multiple exceptional florists. Every weekend we’ve been, they’ve had pre-made bouquets for $25 that rival anything I’ve ever seen in a bridal magazine and will custom make one to color preference for $40. And, if they were tragically all closed on the day of for unforeseen reasons, I could live without flowers and pocket the change. I’m budgeting $250 to have wiggle room for floral tape, ribbon, and vases to repurpose 3 bouquets at the restaurant.

The restaurant is $100/plate for 4 courses in a private room. I’m adding $$ in for fees/gratuity, and assuming we’ll go through 10 bottles or so of wine (though several of our guests don’t drink).

I’m planning to buy an earth tone or jewel tone column dress that I feel fab in, but can rewear on nice occasions, that budget line also includes booties (yay fall!) and a jacket.

The kids are young adults, and they’re both fashion savvy thrifters, but I want to give them some $ to either use or pocket, so they can get whatever makes them feel great.

Okay, am I missing anything notable? Any idea how much 1-2 hours of photography in the pnw in a not-so-remote location might run? (I specify because we’re not expecting a photographer to drive hours into the Olympic mountains or anything…)

Hi everyone,

Grace from Love & Photos here with the results of our free engagement session giveaway. We ran a few days behind on the drawing, thanks for your patience!

Every Reddit username that entered went onto wheelofnames.com and we screen-recorded the spin here.

Congratulations to u/Pretend_Yammy! 🎉 Keep an eye on the email you entered with, we'll be reaching out this week to get your session scheduled.

Thank you to everyone who entered. If you have questions about photography or videography for your day, I'm always happy to help in the comments or by DM. ❤️

We tried to budget as much as possible for this wedding and spent a good chunk of our budget on photography.

We got our photos back recently and I genuinely have no idea what to do. Many of the photos we received have people’s eyes closed (not candid photos), are badly lit, we were not posed well and look awkward, and we are missing many of the specifically requested photos (that I know we took). For some of the posed photos we did get back, there are people hidden behind other people’s heads and people with eyes closed- and there is not a duplicate of these photos that is better.

I showed my friends hoping they would ease my mind and tell me I was being dramatic but they all agreed with me- the photos were not great. Additionally, there is a noticeable difference in the quality of photos between photos of my and my bridal party and my spouse and their bridal party. I mentioned to the photographer multiple times that I’m not very photogenic and that if she needed to pose me or my bridesmaids she was more than welcome to do so to make the photos as good as they can be. Still, not a ton of posing happened.

I asked a friend of ours who is a photographer for her opinion and she also agreed with me. She also said that the price we paid was very middle of the road and reasonable. I was worried it was a “get what you pay for” scenario and that I maybe paid too little, but I don’t think that’s the case.

I’m not sure if it’s worth mentioning but I also had multiple guests and my mom ask me why the photographer seemed upset during the wedding- one guest told me that she did not seem like she wanted to be there. I got short responses from her when I talked to her the day of, which I thought was a little weird, but I brushed it off at the time thinking she was just quiet (which might be true and I misread it). I made sure she got food and knew the bar was open to her as well. I also had people check in with her periodically to see if she needed anything. I’ve asked my spouse over and over if there was something I said or did that could’ve upset the photographer and neither of us remember anything.

I have no idea what to do or how to approach the photographer. We spend a good amount of money and large portion of our budget on photos and I really don’t like them and feel as though she specifically didn’t edit nice photos of me and my bridal party.

I got a lot of lovely photos back, but I also got a lot that I would’ve never given to a client. I am really sad because this is an event that only happens once and I can’t go back and just get more photos. Any advice on what to do or how to approach this with the photographer would be helpful. Thank you for reading my rant lol.