How I Planned Our Wedding for $5000!
All the details about our 8-guest wedding!
Last month I shared about why my husband and I chose to have a small wedding. You can read it here. This week I thought it would be fun to share the how!
Once we decided to have a small wedding, I decided that I did not want anyone present on our wedding day who we did not know. Another thing I decided was that I wanted everyone in our families to feel like they had a role and contributed something special to our wedding day. My Dad walked me down the aisle. My Mom painted my nails and helped coordinate food for the weekend. My mother-in-law and sister-in-law helped me do my hair. My brother’s wife made my wedding bouquet. My father-in-law built the wooden cross we stood in front of during the ceremony. My brother set everything up for the ceremony. And of course, Jackson and I played bride and groom!
So with a little background and without further adieu, let’s talk details!
Our Wedding Details
Venue - An Airbnb in the Blue Ridge Mountains
We spent $2300 on our venue. $2300 is cheap for most wedding venues these days, but it was almost half of our budget! The “venue” was actually just a huge cabin in the mountains that we booked on Airbnb. The reason we were willing to spend half of our budget on one thing is because it doubled as both the venue and accommodations for our families for the weekend.
Our ceremony was held by a creek on the property. Unknowingly to us when we booked the Airbnb, the creek ended up being a creek that was very special to us. I will write a whole newsletter about that story soon!
A quick note about airbnbs: Many airbnbs have rules against having any kind of events on their property. If you are thinking of hosting a wedding at an airbnb, be sure to check with the owners first. Our owners were so gracious, especially when we explained the size of our event.
Date - 10/8/22
Something that always goes hand-in-hand with choosing a venue is choosing a date. The date we chose was a Saturday in the fall. It was the Saturday after I turned in my big portfolio for my teaching license and the Saturday before my school’s fall break. This date worked perfectly because the stressful part of my last semester of college was over, and we were able to go on a week long honeymoon after our wedding!
Photography - Evergreen Film Co.
Besides our venue, we knew we wanted to spend money on beautiful pictures from our wedding day. But I still did not want to have any strangers present on our wedding day. Luckily, we knew someone who was both a friend and the best photographer around. Evergreen Film Co did an absolutely amazing job with our photos, and we are so happy with them! All the photos in this email were done by her, and I linked the website above if you are interested. We spent about $1500 on our photos.
Videography - My iPad & an Amazon tripod
Jackson and I did not care too much about having a highly produced wedding video, so instead, we decided to put my iPad on a tripod in the grass to film our ceremony. Is it a super high quality wedding video? No, of course not. But we have our wedding ceremony recorded to share with others, and that is all we wanted!
Officiant - A dear friend who is also a pastor
When we got engaged, we immediately knew who we wanted to perform our wedding ceremony. Jackson’s youth pastor from his hometown church and his wife are such role models to us and have also become sweet friends. Frank did such an amazing job with our ceremony and with our pre-marital counseling. We love them both and knew no matter what size wedding we had, we wanted them to be involved!
Dress - Etsy
I bought my dress on Etsy for $120, and it was perfect. I knew I wanted something silky, simple, and mid-length, and I was able to find exactly what I wanted! It was a little scary ordering it online without ever seeing it or trying it on; however, I was able to send them my measurements and adjust the length. It fit perfectly, and I did not have to get it altered! I was so grateful to find something to fit my personality and style for my wedding day.
Suit - J. Crew
Jackson got his suit from J. Crew. I thought it was the most beautiful light bluish gray (the color is deep water on the website). We spent more on it than my dress (around $300), but Jackson liked it so I knew he would actually wear it again. He has worn it multiple times since the wedding, so I would say it was worth the splurge!
Music - JBL speaker
To play music during our ceremony, we used a JBL speaker Jackson got a few years ago for Christmas. We hid it behind a bush by the creek so it would not be in our photos. During the ceremony, we had our officiant’s wife hit play and pause for us, and it worked perfectly!
Food - Tazikis
If you have never had the greek lemon chicken soup from Tazikis, you are really missing out. For our meal after our wedding for about 12 people, we spent about $250 on takeout from Tazikis. We ordered lots of our favorite soup, hummus, and pita. To follow it up, we all had our own pint of ice cream! A dream meal!
Hair/Makeup/Nails - Mom, Mother-in-law, Sister-in-laws!
Another big thing I wanted for my wedding day was to look and feel like myself. I was afraid if someone else did my hair and makeup that I would not feel this way. I watched a ton of youtube videos and decided I could do it all myself. So I did! I practiced my makeup a few times before the wedding day and then just replicated it day of. I also practiced my hair a couple times, and then my mother-in-law and sister-in-law helped me pin it up on wedding day. I picked out a neutral shade of pink and has my mom paint my nails the night before. It was special to just have those close to me helping! Plus, it was a great excuse to buy some new makeup! I spent about $250 total for makeup, hair, and nail products.
Shoes, Earrings, & Hair Pins - Lulus, Etsy, & Amazon
Whenever I ordered my wedding dress, I pictured it with blue heels. Light blue has been one of my very favorite colors for years, and I knew it would also look good with Jackson’s gray/blue suit. Plus, my family has always been Carolina Tar Heels fans, so I knew this was the perfect color! I bought my heels from Lulus. The earrings I wore were gold hydrangeas, my favorite flower, with pearls. I got them from etsy! Finally, I wore some simple gold and pearl hair pins that I found on Amazon. The shoes were $30, the earrings were $42, and the pins were $10.
Invitations - Canva
I made some simple invitations on Canva, mostly because I thought it was fun, and I wanted to have them as a keepsake. Fun fact about our invitations: I put the time as 5pm on the invitation but we decided to change it closer to the day to 1pm. It costs about $15 to get them printed!
Flowers - Trader Joes & Sister-in-law!
The day we were leaving for the wedding weekend, I went to Trader Joe’s and picked up about $30 worth of flowers that I liked - hydrangeas, baby’s breath, and lots of green eucalyptus. When we got to the cabin, I put them in the fridge, and my sister in law made my bouquet the next day. It was so gorgeous and exactly what I had envisioned!
Decor - Walmart, Father-in-law, Target, thrift store, Hobby Lobby
Because we did not really have a “reception”, we did not have to spend a lot on decor. We bought a tablecloth from Walmart for the communion table in the ceremony, wood for the cross my father-in-law built, a rug from target to stand on, and fabric from hobby lobby to drape on the cross. I thrifted the communion glass and plate that we used. All in all, we spent about $200 on the decor pieces.
Order of Events
Along with the details and what we spent, I thought it might also be helpful to know how we structured our wedding weekend.
Thursday: Jackson and I drove down to the cabin. My parents picked up my brother and sister-in-law from the airport.
Friday: Friday morning was when my husband’s family arrived. Together, we went out to explore the small town, get smoothies, and breathe in the fresh mountain air. Later that evening, we all ate taco bowls together at the cabin. We sat down with Frank, our officiant, to go over the details of the ceremony.
Saturday: On our wedding day, I knew I wanted to wake up and have a little time to myself to journal, pray, and enjoy waking up in the mountains before getting the day started. Then, I went downstairs, and we all cooked and ate a big breakfast together.
Following breakfast, some of us walked down to the creek to start setting up for the ceremony. Then, it was finally time to get ready! While I was getting ready, the boys finished setting up, got ready, and enjoyed some Tennessee football of course.
When both Jackson and I were ready, those that were with us prayed over us and over our marriage. I did a first look with both my Dad and with Jackson!
Our ceremony lasted only 20 minutes, but it was by far my favorite part of the day. Our pastor shared some things we had written about each other, we said our vows, exchanged rings, and were pronounced husband and wife!
We did the majority of our photos immediately following the ceremony. This also included Jackson and I taking our shoes off and taking some photos in the creek!
Around 5 pm, after lots of soup, ice cream, and time spent with those closest to us, we packed up and headed out for our road trip to the Outer Banks! I will share more on that trip another day!
Summary
Our wedding day was one of my favorite days ever. I felt that the Lord answered all the specific prayers I prayed over our wedding day and exceeded every expectation - from the ceremony to the weather to the people. I felt the Lord’s presence in the light autumn breeze, in the love of our families, and in the gift of the covenant of marriage.
When we got engaged, the first conversation we had was about how much we wanted to spend on our wedding. We wanted to be good stewards of our money as we began our marriage because we knew that then and now, the money is not ours but it belongs to God. Having a smaller wedding and spending the way we did is how we felt called to honor God in our wedding budget.
Maybe you think spending $5000 on a wedding is ridiculous because it is barely anything compared to what most people spend on weddings today. You would be right. Or maybe you think spending $5000 on a wedding is ridiculous because that money could go so much farther if used in other ways. You would also be right.
Ultimately, the budget of your wedding is up to you! But I hope this gave you inspiration and hope that you can have a beautiful, dreamy wedding AND not spend tens of thousands of dollars to get it.
Thank you so much for reading! I hope you enjoyed learning more about our wedding and how we put everything together! I had so much fun planning it and making it unique to us.
Talk to you next week!
Take care,
Caroline
Enjoyed reading about your special day! It really was a special day for all in attendance!