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How did you save money on your wedding?
- Thread starter FloatOn
- Start date
- Look at the venue dates. Usually Sunday will have the biggest discount in price
- Sunday time -> people need go to work next day -> Don't have to spend much on much liquor and venue hour will be less -> save $
- -> Also have wedding&ceremony at one place to save $
- Look at venues like state parks and such, they will be a lot cheaper and unique
- If you want to save money on the wedding dress, you can use sites like Brides Across America. The money you spend on those dresses will also support troops looking to get hitched
- Opt to do decorations by yourself. Can make your close friends/family help decorate day before etc. You can browse online for cheap flowers, plants, etc whatever decor or decoration you want for the table
- Use online websites to send invitations/RSVP's. Will be a lot cheaper than paper invitations, eco friendly, and they can keep track of who replied and who got the emails etc
- Shop around for food vendors, you will find someone that will be an amazing cater or service for a lot of things. Food is important, don't cheap out on it for bargains. BUT you will find lots of competing rates, also make sure you tally/research how much tax all the vendors will be putting on you.
- Photographers know the market of your city and they will be very expensive. But you can easily research and find lots of photographers that want to get into wedding biz or event biz right out of uni etc, so you will find someone that will definitely be cheaper than the popular choices. Just make sure to book them and get to know them one v one, can get better rates and get feel of how they will capture you as a couple
We're eloping and having a small party with friends and family afterwards.
Big weddings seem so pointless. We'd rather spend that money building our lives together and going on some trips.
Big weddings seem so pointless. We'd rather spend that money building our lives together and going on some trips.
Don't do a full bar just do some wine and a beer keg. We were gonna have an open bar and it was gonna be thousands of dollars, beer keg was just a few hundred.
Getting married this Friday!
Let's see the aprox costs...
Guests: aprox. 40
Venue: Having it on her parents yard = $0
Food: Pork + Potatoe gratin + salad = $100
Drinks: We're only giving the guests a toast and then alco-free stuff. If they want to binge they bring it themselves. 3L Chapel Hill + sodas = $100
Dress and suit: Dress $35 from a website, suit $40 tailored threepiece from a Thailand trip (very talented children I must say :P ).
Hotel for us: $120
Photographer: $0 Wife's friends will do it for fre (#obinvickkanh on insta if you want to check it out)
Tables and chairs: $0 Borrowing from the school I work at.
Plates/Cuttlery: $10 Plastic bulk stuff from closest budget store.
Music: $0 Spotify...
So in total our wedding will cost about $400 but our parents are paying half of that (food and drinks) so for us it's only $200 which feels perfectly manageble :)
Let's see the aprox costs...
Guests: aprox. 40
Venue: Having it on her parents yard = $0
Food: Pork + Potatoe gratin + salad = $100
Drinks: We're only giving the guests a toast and then alco-free stuff. If they want to binge they bring it themselves. 3L Chapel Hill + sodas = $100
Dress and suit: Dress $35 from a website, suit $40 tailored threepiece from a Thailand trip (very talented children I must say :P ).
Hotel for us: $120
Photographer: $0 Wife's friends will do it for fre (#obinvickkanh on insta if you want to check it out)
Tables and chairs: $0 Borrowing from the school I work at.
Plates/Cuttlery: $10 Plastic bulk stuff from closest budget store.
Music: $0 Spotify...
So in total our wedding will cost about $400 but our parents are paying half of that (food and drinks) so for us it's only $200 which feels perfectly manageble :)
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Really think about who you want to invite, more people doesn't necessarily make for a better party. Go intimate, with close friends and family, extended family and work colleagues don't need to be there.
Pick a venue with experience and one that offers a more complete package. Having a subcontractor for each little thing (catering, cake, decoration) can get expensive quick.
Timing: if you plan a date close to the start /end of the off-season, you can save big without sacrificing chances for good weather and service quality.
Pick a venue with experience and one that offers a more complete package. Having a subcontractor for each little thing (catering, cake, decoration) can get expensive quick.
Timing: if you plan a date close to the start /end of the off-season, you can save big without sacrificing chances for good weather and service quality.
Got married at the courthouse, invited only immediate family and our two friends who were witnesses to dinner. But a fancy dinner. My friend who was the witness paid all court fees, my parents paid for the dinner, and her parents bought us a week in Portugal.
Our cost: €0
Our cost: €0
By brother cancelled the party and just went to the mayor office with a few friends and family members to do the administrative wedding. No church, no party, no dress, no dresscode, no nothing. They got married in the work clothes they where wearing while renovating their kitchen in the morning and went back to it almost immediately after.
I don't think you can go cheaper than that.
I don't think you can go cheaper than that.
What's your budget? Do you expect to make money back (aka are you asian? lol).
If you wanta lot of food, have the dinner at a buffet.
Food is the most expensive part and ranges from 30-100 dollars per plate (or $1000 per table).
Get/designate a family friend to take pictures if you're not a photograph snob (I definitely don't care much about photos).
Buy multiple store cakes and tier it yourself. A lot of wedding cakes are nothing special. Might as well buy cakes you know you like. Or order a bunch of cupcakes like I did and arrange them in a tower.
Buy supermarket flowers to put a bouquets together yourself.
If you wanta lot of food, have the dinner at a buffet.
Food is the most expensive part and ranges from 30-100 dollars per plate (or $1000 per table).
Get/designate a family friend to take pictures if you're not a photograph snob (I definitely don't care much about photos).
Buy multiple store cakes and tier it yourself. A lot of wedding cakes are nothing special. Might as well buy cakes you know you like. Or order a bunch of cupcakes like I did and arrange them in a tower.
Buy supermarket flowers to put a bouquets together yourself.
My wedding was pretty big, probably 150+ people. We hired a caterer to do buffet style and it cost arount 10k. The venue was renting space at a legion hall for $400. Overall, the wedding cost me 17k (including custom dress and suit, decorator, rentals, invites that i designed and printed myself)? I made back about 13k, so not bad.. a 4k wedding. My sister had a bit smaller wedding with less than 100 guests and less moving parts. She had courthouse ceremony and only had wedding dinner for guests at a large chinese buffet. I think it ended up costing her 8k and she was able to profit.
I did have an open car and it did run a bit expensive since my our families are huge drinkers and cost me some sweet profits... So maybe I should have arranged for drink cards/tickets.
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Instead of having your guests buying you gifts you don't want, ask them to pay for the reception.
We actually made a small profit on our wedding, due to cutting costs in various ways. Instead of doing an all inclusive package, we rented a place that was barebones and did most of the things ourselves. Did our own decorations, bought our own drinks in wholesale. Asked a family member to photograph our wedding, used friends as bartenders/waiters for a small fee. Hired a Dj that was family of the best man. Bought our rings online, bought the dress second-hand. Had a buffet style dinner and finally only asked for money as a wedding gift.
:3 ??
East Asian weddings are notoriously expensive and there are hard reciprocation expectations (like every guest giving back 50-100 bucks in money).
Guests should expect good food or 10 course meals. Many dishonor if no! Many tense moments were had with trying to plan between me and my parents as I tried to cut corners! Especially fighting about what my husband wanted to wear but LOOK AT HOW COOL OUR GETUP WAS?? (he's scottish descent, i'm viet. his suit cost more than my dress)
An image I made before our custom outfits were made that I used on our invites:
My cousins ran up 50-80k weddings, so yeah! Are you not impressed with my frugality? hahah
It definitely put them in a debt hole but maybe it was worth it for them.
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"Hello friends and family, we would like you to pay us for visiting us."
Compared to other friends it was a relatively inexpensive wedding. Although by the standards of this thread it was rather large and lavish. We were able to lock in the reception hall rate before renovation were complete. That one move ended up saving us nearly $75 per person.
We didn't have one. Just a civil service.
My sister did a cheap beach wedding. She lucked out on the weather and it went real nice. For a cake she just did cupcakes from Sam's Club.
My sister did a cheap beach wedding. She lucked out on the weather and it went real nice. For a cake she just did cupcakes from Sam's Club.
Mine costed something like 20k for only 30 guests. I paid half of it and got back 3k or so. Her half was funded by her parents but they got back more than 10k from guests.
I got some framed caligraphy from an ex prime minister though.
As to the question from the OP, I guess savings for a few months? Don't go overboard and just spend more on the honeymoon instead for the memories you'll make together.
I got some framed caligraphy from an ex prime minister though.
As to the question from the OP, I guess savings for a few months? Don't go overboard and just spend more on the honeymoon instead for the memories you'll make together.
By not inviting shitloads of guests and throwing an expensive party.
My brother is doing the opposite and the amount it's costing is insane.
My brother is doing the opposite and the amount it's costing is insane.
Perfect, that's how many we had and we nearly paid completely out of pocket!
-Stock invitations
-Make your own cake (if you stack pre made cake sheets on top of each other no one will know better and you can save hundreds)
-If the dress and suit fit very well don't go for alterations
-DIY decor
-DIY flower girl and ring bearer props
-In season or fake flowers.
The only thing I suggest investing in are the things that directly affect your guests, such as food and photography. We didn't do a videographer because we put money into a really good photographer who captured everything perfectly.
Using planning websites like the Knot or Zola helps too. Craft stores and larger general stores (Walmart/target) will help.
This will require a lot more of your own time. I hand plucked fabric petals off of 10 large silk hydrangeas for my flower girl to drop down the aisle.
Get your bridal party to help! Support comes in numbers.
I think that's about 90% of the information I can give you lol.
-Stock invitations
-Make your own cake (if you stack pre made cake sheets on top of each other no one will know better and you can save hundreds)
-If the dress and suit fit very well don't go for alterations
-DIY decor
-DIY flower girl and ring bearer props
-In season or fake flowers.
The only thing I suggest investing in are the things that directly affect your guests, such as food and photography. We didn't do a videographer because we put money into a really good photographer who captured everything perfectly.
Using planning websites like the Knot or Zola helps too. Craft stores and larger general stores (Walmart/target) will help.
This will require a lot more of your own time. I hand plucked fabric petals off of 10 large silk hydrangeas for my flower girl to drop down the aisle.
Get your bridal party to help! Support comes in numbers.
I think that's about 90% of the information I can give you lol.
Our venue helped a ton. We had wedding and reception at the Unitarian Church. It was incredibly convenient and insanely cheap. Like $200 I think.
Because of the venue we bought our own liquor and had the caterer serve it. Caterer was good but not insanely fancy.
DJ was awesome but definitely not the most expensive. He also brought a photo booth and helped run things. Feel good about that expense.
We also found a photographer that was amazing but also really cheap since it was a side job for her.
I'm a video editor so I did our slide show.
I'm a graphic designer so I did our invites and stuff. Super fucking fancy but didn't pay anything but materials. Took a week off work to put them together though.
We did our own low key decor. A lot of stuff bought from goodwill or second hand and then sold after.
Cake wasn't massive. Small cake with cupcakes and cookie spread to keep costs down. Gave choice and guests loved it. Still tasty as hell.
Guest list wasn't super massive. Maybe 70 people ultimately came, I think.
Because of the venue we bought our own liquor and had the caterer serve it. Caterer was good but not insanely fancy.
DJ was awesome but definitely not the most expensive. He also brought a photo booth and helped run things. Feel good about that expense.
We also found a photographer that was amazing but also really cheap since it was a side job for her.
I'm a video editor so I did our slide show.
I'm a graphic designer so I did our invites and stuff. Super fucking fancy but didn't pay anything but materials. Took a week off work to put them together though.
We did our own low key decor. A lot of stuff bought from goodwill or second hand and then sold after.
Cake wasn't massive. Small cake with cupcakes and cookie spread to keep costs down. Gave choice and guests loved it. Still tasty as hell.
Guest list wasn't super massive. Maybe 70 people ultimately came, I think.
Save money:
- Skip the flowers. Seriously. You don't need anything but a bouquet for the bride, something for the ladies to hold, and leftover petals for the tables, and those you can do yourself. I made mine the bloody morning of the wedding.
- Don't get sucked in by the whole dumb "wedding colors" thing. Do a classy black and white. Cheapest and still looks great.
- Don't make the bridesmaids/grooms buy special outfits or shoes. With the B&W theme, everyone has a black dress/suit they can wear or borrow.
- Do your own decorations, if any. I just rented a really pretty/classic-looking place and borrowed their hurricane lanterns for the tables, then spread leftover flower petals on the tables around them. Boom.
- Got any baker friends/family members? Ask them to do the cake. My aunt made ours and I made the topper.
- 2nd hand wedding dress. I got mine at a 2nd hand store then fitted. (2nd hand dress w/ BW theme and handmade bouquets)
- iPod/digital playlist instead of a DJ (though we got a friend's friend to DJ for a much lower price that was fun)
- Celebrant (one of my sister's coworkers had a license, so I 'paid' her with a bottle of champagne to do the quick ceremony part)
- Hair/make-up. You can do your own or have a friend come over to do the ladies.
Spend money:
- Open bar/nice food plan for guests (if not doing a BBQ/potluck, which is also a great way to save money)
- Photographer
Love your wedding arts, Prax ~
- Skip the flowers. Seriously. You don't need anything but a bouquet for the bride, something for the ladies to hold, and leftover petals for the tables, and those you can do yourself. I made mine the bloody morning of the wedding.
- Don't get sucked in by the whole dumb "wedding colors" thing. Do a classy black and white. Cheapest and still looks great.
- Don't make the bridesmaids/grooms buy special outfits or shoes. With the B&W theme, everyone has a black dress/suit they can wear or borrow.
- Do your own decorations, if any. I just rented a really pretty/classic-looking place and borrowed their hurricane lanterns for the tables, then spread leftover flower petals on the tables around them. Boom.
- Got any baker friends/family members? Ask them to do the cake. My aunt made ours and I made the topper.
- 2nd hand wedding dress. I got mine at a 2nd hand store then fitted. (2nd hand dress w/ BW theme and handmade bouquets)
- iPod/digital playlist instead of a DJ (though we got a friend's friend to DJ for a much lower price that was fun)
- Celebrant (one of my sister's coworkers had a license, so I 'paid' her with a bottle of champagne to do the quick ceremony part)
- Hair/make-up. You can do your own or have a friend come over to do the ladies.
Spend money:
- Open bar/nice food plan for guests (if not doing a BBQ/potluck, which is also a great way to save money)
- Photographer
Love your wedding arts, Prax ~
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Here are a few things we did that really helped.
Agree 100% with this.
- Only invite people you WANT to invite. We paid for everything ourselves, so we weren't inviting extended family "just because".
- Don't give everyone a +1.
- If you're flexible on date, pick a Friday in an off season. We love Christmas, so a Decemeber wedding was an easy choice (and it saved us $$$).
- Shop around on your venue. Ask your local Nextdoor or Facebook neighborhood groups for suggestions. More often than not, there's a space you had no idea existed nearby.
- Incorporate as much DIY as you're comfortable with. We did our own centerpieces, favors, and invites. You can pay for services that do things like that, but if you're crafty and creative, this can save you a LOT.
- Similar to the venue suggestion above, ask around for a smaller or local florist and Bakery.
Agree 100% with this.
City Hall. Just me and her. (Sorry I know this is no help)
I remember back in the 80s in my family, people just got married at home and all the aunts would cooks.
I remember back in the 80s in my family, people just got married at home and all the aunts would cooks.
We went abroad and invited absolutely nobody.
Had a combined wedding and honeymoon in one and as gifts from friends and family, we took small donations.
Had a combined wedding and honeymoon in one and as gifts from friends and family, we took small donations.
Didn't hire a DJ or a band. Included a "song request" form in the invites, built 2 kick ass playlists from that. One for the breakfast (with all the slow/acoustic stuff) and one for the evening. Still got the playlists, absolute bangers.
Well I'm Chinese and I know getting money during weddings is common but that much? Never knew. I never asked my married cousins how much it all costs or how much money they got.:3 ??
East Asian weddings are notoriously expensive and there are hard reciprocation expectations (like every guest giving back 50-100 bucks in money).
Guests should expect good food or 10 course meals. Many dishonor if no! Many tense moments were had with trying to plan between me and my parents as I tried to cut corners! Especially fighting about what my husband wanted to wear but LOOK AT HOW COOL OUR GETUP WAS?? (he's scottish descent, i'm viet. his suit cost more than my dress)
An image I made before our custom outfits were made that I used on our invites:
My cousins ran up 50-80k weddings, so yeah! Are you not impressed with my frugality? hahah
It definitely put them in a debt hole but maybe it was worth it for them.
My responsibility for the wedding was finding a band. Found one that was really great, contacted them, and was told that their minimum charge was $5K. I told him my maximum budget for music was $3K and he was like, "Okay, no problem." So I saved $2K that way.
We bought our flowers at Sam's and my mother in law did the table arrangements.
Didn't hire a photographer just had a friend who was handy with a camera.
Kept the list small-ish.
No DJ/dance floor at the reception, also no alcohol.
Didn't hire a photographer just had a friend who was handy with a camera.
Kept the list small-ish.
No DJ/dance floor at the reception, also no alcohol.
we are having a very small wedding. we're not getting married in a church (chose a local, famous cemetery instead, very reasonable price for a two hour block), maybe around 15 guests. a friend of ours is officiating, and that person's SO is photographing (although i wouldnt mind springing for a pro, personally). havent decided on a cake yet, no excessive flowers, no band. she's found a great dress that she loves for practically pennies compared to most wedding dresses, and specifically chose what she did so she can re-use it for other fancy occasions, and im just wearing my really nice black suit and buying a new shirt/accoutrements for it (the most expensive thing on my end is probably a small piece im having made custom). we're just having dinner afterward at a really lovely restaurant in the city (which my my mother is paying for).
we had to postpone the wedding until next year because our life is in not fantastic shape financially right now, and technically we're saving for both a wedding and a big move. as far as pure "how to save money" goes, every paycheck we earn we both set aside a certain amount of money directly into savings, no matter what. we also determined the financial figure we need to have every month to cover bills and general expenses to survive without really struggling - as an example, lets say $2000 - and every dollar we make over that amount, whether its from working overtime or various windfalls, also goes directly into savings. if we have a month with an extra payday, it goes directly into savings. ive also been taking around $10 cash on every trip to the grocery store, and squirreling that away in a little fund as well. trust me, it adds up.
we had to postpone the wedding until next year because our life is in not fantastic shape financially right now, and technically we're saving for both a wedding and a big move. as far as pure "how to save money" goes, every paycheck we earn we both set aside a certain amount of money directly into savings, no matter what. we also determined the financial figure we need to have every month to cover bills and general expenses to survive without really struggling - as an example, lets say $2000 - and every dollar we make over that amount, whether its from working overtime or various windfalls, also goes directly into savings. if we have a month with an extra payday, it goes directly into savings. ive also been taking around $10 cash on every trip to the grocery store, and squirreling that away in a little fund as well. trust me, it adds up.
I think it definitely depends on what socioeconomic class you are from (my family ranges from working class to middle class, same for his side), how many guests the wedding is, and what traditions are insisted upon. Neither my parents or his parents helped with the costs, so it was a bit of a gamble.
We had to do a whole reception at house, rent limo, and go to park for pictures excursion too. To be honest, it was exhausting, and most of my cousins including myself did not particularly ENJOY our weddings, but we understood it was a family and "showing face" thing.
My family is probably pretty gauche. We ask about money things a lot (salaries, costs, profits). I don't always particularly understand why people shy away from numbers.. until I remember some of my family members can be jealous or petty on top of it and can use it for their own schemings haha.
As for saving up, he was living with me and my parents for a year, so he was able to save up a lot of money since my parents didn't charge a lot for rent.
We had enough left over not to go to honeymoon, but to downpay for our current condo when the market was still favourable for buyers. Best money-saving decision? NO HONEYMOON.
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We spent about $11k on ours for around 225 guests. We did our wedding on a Friday out of season in April in order to save about half the cost of the hall rental; we chose the buffet option for our guests instead of specific meal choices, and we only kept our bar open for an hour and only for beer and wine, then cash after that.
Being invited to someone for a sleepover is one thing, being one of 100-150 guests at a wedding reception is quite another.
Skip traditional catering companies and go with a local bbq place. They are much cheaper and don't hit you with as many fees.
We had a pretty traditional wedding but we did the following things to save money:
Use grocery store for all our flowers. Seriously amazing work and saved us thousands.
Made the centerpieces ourselves. Made acorn displays in glass containers with lights. Everything was bought at the dollar store and took minimal work.
Made seating cards ourselves. Easy way to save a few hundred bucks.
It wasn't bad. We didn't even tap into our savings for our wedding. We paid it off entirely the next morning. Felt good. It's very easy to save money. Just remember, people are just there to have fun. No one remembers the flowers, the centerpieces, and all the other details. Get a good DJ, have alcohol, and have fun.
Use grocery store for all our flowers. Seriously amazing work and saved us thousands.
Made the centerpieces ourselves. Made acorn displays in glass containers with lights. Everything was bought at the dollar store and took minimal work.
Made seating cards ourselves. Easy way to save a few hundred bucks.
It wasn't bad. We didn't even tap into our savings for our wedding. We paid it off entirely the next morning. Felt good. It's very easy to save money. Just remember, people are just there to have fun. No one remembers the flowers, the centerpieces, and all the other details. Get a good DJ, have alcohol, and have fun.
We're skipping the wedding and eloping early next year. Then we're having a crawfish boil back home after our honeymoon for whoever we care to invite.
Biggest money saver was easily handling the decor ourselves. We hand made all the centerpieces and various bits. Buy chair covers instead of rent, it's cheaper and you can sell them afterwards too. We bought the dress and suit from Asian companies for 300 total, my wifes dress was amazing and looked better than most 1k dresses in stores nearby. My suit has a slightly different material for the lapels and exterior of the pocket stitching and I got to choose the cuts, button designs and stitching color. It even has 'tailor made for' and my initials in the jacket. £120.
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We were very fortunate to have her grandparents that lived on the beach of a lake and let us use their yard / beach. We had my aunt, who is a professional photographer, who offered her services for free as their gift to us.
The dress was ~1300, and she happened to pick one where they had some inventory issues or something so she got like $300 off. I dont remember all of the details.
I made all the food myself - tacos. Feeding about 150 people ended up costing about $300-$400 if I remember right, thanks to the bulk buys at Costco.
Then renting tables and chairs, getting a couple kegs + other alcohol, and so on...everything else honestly ended up being about $1000 or so. I distinctly remember us totalling everything up and laughing when we realized her dress was about half of the expenses.
Coming up on 3 years now - we have gone to plenty of weddings of friends/family members before and after and I dont see the appeal of spending more. It's just not for me. Or, thankfully, my wife.
The dress was ~1300, and she happened to pick one where they had some inventory issues or something so she got like $300 off. I dont remember all of the details.
I made all the food myself - tacos. Feeding about 150 people ended up costing about $300-$400 if I remember right, thanks to the bulk buys at Costco.
Then renting tables and chairs, getting a couple kegs + other alcohol, and so on...everything else honestly ended up being about $1000 or so. I distinctly remember us totalling everything up and laughing when we realized her dress was about half of the expenses.
Coming up on 3 years now - we have gone to plenty of weddings of friends/family members before and after and I dont see the appeal of spending more. It's just not for me. Or, thankfully, my wife.
We used basic decorations the venue had, cut our invite list from 380 to 280, didn't go overboard on the clothes, and didn't pay for alcohol. It was in southern Indiana so prices are probably pretty cheap compared to other places in the US.
Our wedding was like.... €1500, so we didn't need to save....
We had just a tent wedding in my parents garden, a good playlist, some of my Sonos speakers and a good caterer for 25 people.
In this €1500 pricetag the rings and fees are included.
We had just a tent wedding in my parents garden, a good playlist, some of my Sonos speakers and a good caterer for 25 people.
In this €1500 pricetag the rings and fees are included.
The important thing is not save where you shouldn't. You need drinks and they need to be served at a good temperature. No hot beer please.
I have friends and family that married at the beach (literally in the sand). They said it was cheap, simple to organize.... But it was also for few people.
Cutting costs for a 100+ celebrarion will be hard, maybe try arranging a cheap place because you will need a lot of space. Maybe even a friend of family has some space for that.
I have friends and family that married at the beach (literally in the sand). They said it was cheap, simple to organize.... But it was also for few people.
Cutting costs for a 100+ celebrarion will be hard, maybe try arranging a cheap place because you will need a lot of space. Maybe even a friend of family has some space for that.
This is the way to do it. Weddings are not what a young couple in 2019 should be spending money they don't have on.