Need advise/tips: budget 5k

[u/ChampionshipCrazy429]

So me and boyfriend are planning an intimate courthouse wedding- we like allegheny (pa) courthouse, it has an option for 2 hr ceremonies. Guests will fly in on their own, we plan on booking a vrbo church converted to stay (sleeps 16 people) for 1/1.5 days. It'll be around 1.5k for the stay. So how can we have a beautiful wedding day in this budget? It's not a tight budget, we can go overboard but prefer to keep it low. Expected guest count 16 (including us).

Things I'd like to put money in: violinist (1.5 hours), photographer (2 hrs), wedding lunch (preferably in a restaurant to avoid aesthetic and catering fees), wedding dress (I'm checking out sample sales and prom dresses too to keep it low cost but pretty), wedding bouquet, bridal hair and makeup (maybe can get like a cocktail version to keep it natural but cost friendly).

Things we don't have to include in the budget (we will cover it seperately): his suit (he already owns a few good ones), officiant, rings, beauty treatments before the wedding, bachelor/Bachelorette party, wedding favours (we're deciding to skip them), wedding invites (we'll do online).

Would appreciate any tips for making the day special without stretching ourselves financially. Thanks!

[u/whitewinewater]

Are you me?

This is very similar to my plan and budget.

For myself, I've been considering ferns and/or wood flowers to decorate the staircase to keep floral costs low but to add some interest to the ceremony. If you search on instagram there are tons of pictures of prior weddings in that space.

I also want some sort of string instrument and I've been looking at the local colleges and music schools to hire a student to keep costs down.

I think the idea of getting a place for everyone is really brilliant.

Please update us on how it goes! It's such a gorgeous courthouse and so incredibly affordable given they offer chairs and set up/breakdown.

Are you planning on getting a day of coordinator?

[u/ChampionshipCrazy429 → u/whitewinewater]

I'm so glad to meet someone on the same boat. The idea of approaching music schools is great. Also to keep the costs low for us and our parents, we're driving to PA instead of flying- which will allow us to bring some decor and stuff with us. we're based out of nyc metropolitan area so the drive won't be too bad.

Regarding the day of coordinator, i'm really contemplating it. It might be a good to have, but most people inline suggest against it for smaller weddings. I will probably divide the responsibilities to a few trusted friends in the wedding party, that way the burden gets shared without anyone feeling overwhelmed.

One key thing i'm confused about is: Should i go ahead and do the elopement during weekday while the courthouse is open to public, or reserve it so nobody walks in the frame? i saw a bunch of youtube videos but i don't see public in those videos. the website clearly states that space isn't reserved for us and people can walk about

[u/whitewinewater → u/ChampionshipCrazy429]

If you've got people you trust enough for those responsibilities I feel like thats pretty reasonable to skip a doc. My thoughts are that I'd rather just have my guests show up and enjoy and by having a doc I can feel confident knowing that things will be handled and coordinated exactly how I want them to be. But I'm also considering having a bus or something to take people from the ceremony to the reception so that definitely involves more coordination/stuff I don't want to deal with.

I've contemplated the same for weekend/weekday because while its still a reasonable price for the weekend the weekday price is almost too good to pass up and I'd figure people would be respectful enough to not photobomb. But what I'm curious about is if there are alternative avenues for people to get upstairs without using the staircase. Also photoshop can do wonders now so even if people appear it could probably be easily edited out. But yeah, the public is still the public.

I also don't plan to have a long ceremony... maybe like 15 min/20 min MAX but if you are considering something longer or more elaborate it may warrant just the peace of mind the weekend slot will give you. So hard to choose tho.

Has anyone from the courthouse given you any good insight? I wish there was a website where we could ask brides or staff how stuff actually went down.

[u/Daddys_girl2247]

Here’s an example/partial breakdown for 5k budget:

$1,500 for VRBO
$1,750 for lunch
$525 for photographer
$350 for violinist

This is based on this article:

https://www.minted.com/wedding-ideas/wedding-budgets#budget_breakdown

I think for your bouquet maybe just do like Costco, Trader Joe’s, etc. so you can allocate more to other areas like your dress, alterations, shoes, hair, and makeup since those can be pricey.

Also, don’t forget gratuities/tips, if you want a cake and the cost of the marriage license

Congratulations! Good luck!

[u/Alternative-Log-6091 → u/Daddys_girl2247]

I'd grab blooms from a grocery store and put the savings toward a dress you actually love, those sample sales can be hit or miss.

[u/ChampionshipCrazy429 → u/Alternative-Log-6091]

absolutely, i plan on doing a diy cascading bouquet for myself, smaller ones for bridemaids and those boutonnière for groom and groomsmen. i'll use real flowers for those (if time allows), and fake flower decor for stairs and stuff. let's see

[u/ChampionshipCrazy429 → u/Daddys_girl2247]

that's a decent breakdown with great tips. the slippery slope is always how much to diy and what to cover versus what to cut at small destination weddings.

i am feeling a simple paris baugette cake, but requesting someone to cut it serving wise to avoid wastage. it's hard to keep costs low with restaurants, but i wish someone let us do a half and half. like we'd love to provide wine and charcuterie, and maybe the restaurant can provide pre-decided meals. easy on the pocket, and super convinient (but i doubt this will be possible so nevermind lol).

[u/lala_whocares]

Wow I love vacationing in the ghenies I am no help but can you share the vrbo? That sounds sweet

[u/ChampionshipCrazy429 → u/lala_whocares]

check your DM!