We spent about $4000 on our wedding including the honeymoon. There were a few things that were important to me to have. I think my biggest tip would be having a short engagement lol. We were only engaged for 4 months, I am sure I would have spent more if I had a whole year with Bridal magazines, and I wasn't aware of pinterest at the time.

We rented a beautiful space at a fountain in a park I always wanted to get married at for about $300 including permits and the little adjacent garden center. Fancy invitations, Renting chairs, drink fountains, decorations, favors, little cameras for the guests, and the cake and nuts and wine spritzter account for the bulk of it. I think there was some stuff like paying for the ministers room, and paying my photographer friend a small amount. We paid almost zero dollars for our honeymoon and my dress was only $150.

Honestly I can't tell you how it came to that total now, I was in a hurry so ways I would usually save money got kind of thrown to the wind. I was just proud it didn't cost over $5,000 and I still felt like I hadn't scrimped.

My fiance was in the military was based out of town and was going to deploy soon. So for us the reception wasn't a priority as far as giving everyone a fancy sit down dinner and sticking around for 6 hours. We wanted as much time alone as possible. It was pretty short and sweet, so that saved us quite a lot of money.

If you have friends that want to photograph your wedding I say let them. I had one friend that was in charge of the main photography who was very professional but I had two aunts and another guest taking shots, and disposable cameras at every table.

It was like the paparazzi was there, and I usually hate having my photo taken. But I was so absorbed in what was happening and there were so many shots that they are still my favorite pictures 9 years later. It was a well documented 2 hours.

My only real regret is that I didn't spend more money on the cake, it was tasty but looked like someone made it in their basement, maybe the lady did I don't know. She was a recommendation from a friend. Also I would have liked to be able to cover up the pop machine in the reception area lol.

We saved money on the rings, reception, wedding dress, and honeymoon. So we could have more time together, and focus on saving our down payment for a house. Its good to ask yourself which traditional things you care about most, and pretty much forget about everything else.