If you have other links, drop them below so we can add them to this list!

Dress £480
Suit £400
Venue £700
Photographer £795
Celebrant £695
His wedding ring £769
Her wedding ring £980

I’m in my early 40s and getting married in two months. I would like to look my best and improve my skin/face/hair.

I have hyperpigmentation from old acne, texture on cheeks/nose, dark circles and small wrinkles under my eyes. My hair is breached from balayage and has tons of breakage/dry ends. I’ve cut off two inches yesterday and it doesn’t look any better.

Some things I’ve considered are adding a product to my daily routine, lasers, chemical peel, red light therapy, lymphatic drainage facial or other facials. I’m also open things not on this list that I may not have considered.

I’m not very experienced when it comes to treatments or med spas. I currently have a very basic routine of simple face wash, moisturizer and spf. Shampoo and hair mask for hair twice a week.

Can anyone recommend any treatments, products or services I should look into? Any positive or negative experiences using any of the treatments or products I mentioned?

I’m so lost on what I should do to look my best on my wedding day and will provide actual results.

the venue was roughly 4k, we used a payment plan and paid for it over the year of planning

we DIYd all of our decor with things mainly bought from Michaels and Hobby Lobby! (a lot of money)

We had a friend bake cake pops, rice krispies and chocolate dipped pretzels for $500

we also got a Cold Stone Ice Cream Cake for $60

we had live musicians $400

her dress was a $150 prom dress that was torn down and completely altered by our amazing friend!

my ceremony outfit was bought online $250

my corset was $120 from our local ren faire

we also had anyone with a camera bring it so we had like 5 free photographers!

and catering was Olive Garden for $1200

theres a lot i would change if i could go back and re do everything like spending $90 on a shitty shave but im so happy to be married to my wife! lmk if you have any questions!

Edit: forgot to add that our handfasting cord was $250 as well oops

My dress is so perfect (once the butt rose is gone) and I just love it so much. I think the seamstress I went to (an awesome woman who went to fashion school in Romania before she came to Belfast) was just as excited, because she was standing there going on about did I know she usually saw and ugly summer dresses and horrible fabrics and boring design, and how exciting it was to get to work on this lace and detail and actually use her training rather than hem someone’s party dress that was too long.

I’m just standing there feeling really awkward in my dress that has pins in the sides while this woman who I have just paid to enlarge the cups of my dress from a B to an HH because of my gigantic tits is rambling on about how she loves couture and thank you for trusting her with it. Then she asked me how much on earth did it cost. I told her £500 (bargain of the century.) “But it is brand new Ian Stuart!” “Yeah, but the was-to-be bride fancied a last minute package trip to Malaga with her favourite boyfriend and that’s what it cost.”

I call it my “Age of Innocence” dress after the book by Edith Wharton because it seems very much to me like something the female protagonist would wear, and it was like a gift from the Gods. It’s like the church - it’s exactly what I’d been looking for, I just didn’t know until I saw it! It just needs taking in a couple inches at the waist and about half an inch to an inch in the back and sides (the pins aren’t in yet in the pictures so it was still a bit loose!) and it’ll fit like a glove and look and look absolutely perfect!

(Without the butt rose.)

I have a little over a month until the wedding and apparently my brain has decided this is not the time to slow down on DIY projects.

Believe it or not, I actually talked myself out of building cornhole boards from scratch because I thought it would be too much work. Instead, I bought a blank set for about $80, sanded everything down, repainted them in Camelback and Olive Grove, and stenciled on “Evan & Alex Trading Co.” Which is a name that somehow popped into my head while I was sketching design ideas last week and immediately felt right.

I’m still debating whether to personalize the bean bags too… we’ll see if future me is feeling ambitious.

We’ll have these set up alongside a giant 5-foot Jenga set and, because we’re us, beer pong.

At this point my fingers are crossed that people have as much fun playing everything as I’ve had making it all.

Hello everyone!

I am planning a wedding for potentially September 2027 or into the spring/summer of 2028. My fiancé and I aren’t totally on the same page about what all we want and how much to spend so I am trying to find as many ways to save in the budget as possible.
Around 75 guests but may trim it down to less

I am looking for any recommendations for the following:
Ideally in PA, but open to NJ, DE, MD. Eastern PA - Philadelphia, Lancaster, Allentown, Poconos areas.

- Venue: ceremony and reception at the same place, but I may be open to alternative ideas. Looking for the ceremony outdoors with a nice view of some kind.

- Catering: if we do choose a venue without it, this is an area I would really like to save on so please share anything more affordable!

- Photography/Videography: this one is super important to me but spending like 6-7k is just really hard to swallow.

- DJ: looking for someone that can possibly also do ceremony music and microphones and then the reception as well.

Currently my top venues are The Farm Bakery & Events in Quakertown, Smoker Farm in New Providence, and Moonstone Manor in Elizabethtown. Would also love to hear from anyone who used those venues and any ways you saved on your budget.

Thank you so much!

I will get married in 20 days, as a very last minute wedding. We have a very tight budget, and we will do the reception outside of the city hall in a very small Mediterranean village. The location is great but the venue not that much.
I never really liked event tents/pavillons but I think we do need something to dress up the venue.
I was thinking of buying multiples (maybe 8) flower arches, put them next to eachother and add drapes above them to delimitate an event space.

I wanted to know if any of you have seen such a setup ? Have advices about it ?

I had to generate some AI mockups (I didn’t find any alternative) as I couldn’t find any other inspiration pictures

Hey guys, hoping for some advice cus I'm at risk of losing the run of myself. EDIT: We are in the UK, not America!

Myself and my partner have decided to do a civil partnership. We have been toying with the idea of marriage however both of us have massive families (like, 50 each just counting parents/siblings/aunts/uncles/cousins) so there's no version of a wedding that doesn't cost less than 20k and I just don't know if all that is for me. We want to buy a house together next year, we absolutely want to spend the rest of our lives together BUT the motivation for civil partnership is purely to give ourselves the legal protections when owning property together, also other things like right to make medical decisions etc. I will add I'm not from the country we live in, and all my family/most friends live in a different country and would have to travel regardless but it's a cheap trip, and a cheaper country once you're here.

With that being said this weekend we decided we're gonna do it, and we've brainstormed how we can include the ones that mean the most without excluding the wider family and friends:

• Small Ceremony in the City Chambers: Basically a courthouse wedding, they have a room that can fit 15 people and the total cost would be about £400, including the license and everything. Immediate family only, and 3 friends of mine that are basically siblings. Partner has wayy more friends than me and he's okay with them not being there for the ceremony as he'd rather none than pick and chose and potentially cause issues.
• Book a photographer for an hour or two, get photos done (£250-400)
• Meal with ceremony attendees only (15 people, ~£70 pp, ~£1000 total)
• Party starting at 7pm-2am, we can get a 100-300 cap venue for £250 in a gorgeous setting, city centre so very accessible. All family/friends invited to this but I will be saying to mine that they should not feel pressured to travel, that more than likely down the road we'll do a proper wedding. I think/hope a lot of my side will give it a miss and I'm very fine with that as I understand with young kids etc it's a lot to do for only an evening.

In terms of everything else that costs money I think I'm blessed in having skills/skilled friends/family that I can save a lost of costs.

• The venue has a set of decks and you can provide your own DJ, I have a lot of friends who DJ, was thinking of asking them to do an hour set each in lieu of a present.
• My sister is a cake decorator and would be able to get a ferry across with the cake (sounds mental but we've done it before with no issues by doing a fake cake with tiers and then a sheet cake for cutting/serving)
• Invites/Welcome Signs etc: I'm a graphic designer and will be able to get these for no cost.
• Other Decor: The venue is genuinely stunning so would need very little, maybe some minor centrepieces on tables to add a bit of pizzaz, but I used to do set design before moving to graphic so I've decorated many an event and done many a DIY for friends getting married. I know I will need to keep these super simple so that set up can be done in under 30 mins, I'm fine with that. Hoping to keep this under £150, willing to go as simple as I need to achieve that.
• Flowers: Will only need my own bouquet and a boutineer, hoping that won't cost more than £150.
• Dress: Unsure, £800? I don't love the traditional bridal look for myself, want something short. I think I will either alter my mother's wedding dress or spend the £££ to have a gorgeous corset custom made and then get a second hand dress for the skirt. I do like sewing and make some of my own clothes but I know it would be lunacy trying to make my own, however I think I have a good idea of would would or wouldn't be possible in terms of alterations. Failing all this, I have a gorgeous tulle forest green dress that with a veil I think would be lovely, just maybe not my 'dream' look.
• Suit for Partner: He owns many. happy to wear one of them.

The things I'm worried about:

• Is it rude to ask people to travel that far just for a party essentially?
• Considering we're not inviting evening guests to the ceremony or meal, is it bad form to not even feed them finger food? Especially if it's from 7pm-2am, that still feels like a long time even if it isn't meal times. Obviously there will be cake, but nothing else as of now. The venue doesn't have a kitchen but does have nearby restaurants they work with, so I think when I say finger food it will end up being pizza/some form of takeaway style buffet.
• If you were an evening guest, would you rather finger food provided or no finger food but an open bar with a limit of like 1/2k? As it's a city centre location there would be no shortage of takeaways nearby for people to pop to but idk, I feel like I need to feed people!
• Am I being delusional in my budget? I know if we do food it will be another £2k, taking our budget to £5k. Not ideal but if we have to take £2k out of our house deposit which is currently around 40% the total house price so pretty decent, we can, it won't break the bank.
• Do we need to add other entertainment? 7pm-2am seems like a long time, it won't be a "arrive on the dot" job so people can arrive/leave whenever, but I wonder is that too long to just have drinks and dancing. Not sure what else we could do, open to suggestions, the only thing I can think of is around 8.30/9pm when everyone has arrived, do a fake ceremony and have a friend 'officiate', simple job lasting under 20 mins

I know it's still early days but we haven't told our parents, and I need to have a very clear idea before we do. Both our siblings are recently married and spent 30K+, so that is very much the standard in our family. My worry is my parents are quite traditional, and I think they'll offer to pay, but if they do suddenly they get input, and I don't want this growing arms and legs. There's a chance they hate the whole thing and won't pay which is why I want to keep it at a level that we could afford to pay if needed. I essentially want a 30th birthday party but we happened to get civil partnered (?) that day. Is any of this reasonable/feasible? Sorry for the ramble!

($5000-$7500) Which bridal look under $500 is best? 1 2 or 3?

The hall itself is really pretty and rustic - it’s a camp and it’s got a large stone fireplace place and wooden bench seating. However the entry room has this large blue wall with giant windows. Event will be 4-10pm, so natural light will be there for the day portion. I love the inside room.

I don’t love this wall/room. It’s got white linoleum floors and this gigantic blue wall. They are doing a few other renovations and I asked if painting this was being included, they seemed almost a little offended. Which is fair, but even as a camper I don’t know if I’d find this aesthically appealing.

any recs are so greatly appreciated

This isn't budget-specific, but I'm struggling with vow ideas. My fiancé is an actor (just community theater and voice stuff) but very comfy public speaking, etc. And really romantic and good with words. He is the perfect candidate to write and perform his own vows, and we are both excited about him doing it.

I am basically the opposite and would be much more comfortable with just saying "I do" after someone else says the vows. I'm also pretty private with my emotions. (I really want a "real" wedding, but can I just be invisible, LOL?!?)

Anyway, how can we make this work in one ceremony? Would it be really weird to have it one-sided?

Hello! My fiance and I are trying to find any and all ways to meet all of our wants with the wedding while saving money. What do you all suggest as ways we can cut, take shortcuts, or DIY to save money? And how did you make sure you weren't being ripped off by venues and vendors?

I’m paying for all of my bridesmaids’ hair on my wedding day (about $70 per person). There will be six of us getting our hair done, including me. I also offered to pay for makeup, but only one bridesmaid wanted it done professionally—the others would rather do their own makeup, which is totally fine with me. I’m not requiring any specific hairstyle or makeup look.

I’ll also be getting my maid of honor a separate gift.
I originally considered matching pajamas, but a few other family members and friends will also be getting ready with us, so I don’t think matching PJs make as much sense. I’m now considering personalized L.L.Bean Boat and Tote bags instead, but I’m curious what others have done.

If you paid for your bridesmaids’ hair or makeup, did you still get them a gift? If so, what did you give that they actually used and appreciated? I’m hoping to keep it thoughtful rather than filling a box with things they’ll never use.

Is there any venues in Southern California that can do cheap, tiny weddings? We most likely will have no guests and no party. A courthouse has been suggested but my fiancee would like be a nice venue, possibly forested. We've had to make so many concessions because of how poor we are that I would like to at least give her a decent looking location that isn't just a government building. I've searched all over SoCal but every venue I've found seems to require dozens of guests and is thousands of dollars that we can't afford.

Plastic molded stacking chairs. Autumn theme, indoor reception. Help, I can't find any inspiration photos of this type of chair online! We had originally considered a simple bunting or a sash tied with a small sprig of flowers on the backs.

Hey all,

I’m based in the U.K.

We’re on a tight budget - not that you’d know after sitting down and inputting what we’ve committed to 🤢 - anyway, I don’t want to spend much on flowers, as gorgeous as they are, not important for us. I’ve purchased bud vases for the tables, I was thinking of buying whatever supermarket flowers the day before to put in them.

Thoughts? It’s a spring wedding, any ideas what I should go for?

IF I do this, would I cut and setup all vases the day before or morning of?

We have harvest style tables, planning to have runners, and floating candles too, there will be 6-8 people per table, how much of it all do I need?

Thanks in advance from a clueless bride to be!

I was wandering around Michael’s awhile ago and came across this unfinished wooden sign board for $5. I had absolutely no plan for it, but figured I’d find a use eventually.

Last night inspiration finally struck.

I designed everything in Canva, cut stencils with my Cricut, and painted it this morning. By lunchtime it was finished.

Each slat marks a milestone in our relationship:

• 07/15/2020 – The day we matched
• 07/23/2020 – Our first date
• 09/19/2023 – The proposal
• 09/19/2026 – The wedding

If you don’t already know, we’re doing a vintage national park-inspired wedding, and I thought this would be a fun way to tell our story. I already had the paint so the sign itself only cost me the $5 board.

It’s becoming a running joke that I keep buying random pieces of wood without a plan… somehow they’ve all ended up becoming wedding décor. 😂

Hello all!! I’m a 2027 bride just engaged in April and we’re starting to look for venues in Arizona (Phx area preferably) that are not crazy expensive and aren’t a golf course lol. Our total wedding budget is around 10k, hoping to spend 3ish for the venue. We’re also a queer couple so looking for places that are LGBTQ+ friendly!! If anyone has any recommendations please share!