How to Plan a Cheap Winter Wedding
The average price for a wedding has skyrocketed to over $20,000. If you are planning a winter wedding, is it still possible to have your wedding for under $5,000?
This article was created to help you plan a winter wedding budget for under $5,000! But not just that, I will be diving into exactly how I was able to have a wedding for under $5,000 in my early 20s!
Before anything else, I’m Scarlett and I help everyday women like you with their money and investing problems by providing down-to-earth guidance! It’s like sitting down with your nerdy friend over a cup of coffee! 😊
Now, if you haven’t already, I encourage you to go check out my detailed wedding budget series that will help you understand different percentages and allocations of the wedding items and will help you understand what commonly missed items that you cannot dare to miss!
In this article you’ll learn how to keep your spending under $5,000 and how I was able to do it, too!
Wedding Budget Breakdown for Under $5,000
| Wedding Category | Budgeted Price |
| Venue | $250 |
| Photo and Video | $2,100 |
| Dress | $800 |
| Decorations | $200 |
| Signage | $20 |
| Cake | $400 |
| Stationery | $200 |
| Catering | $1,000 |
| Total: | $4,970 |
Let’s dive into the most important categories you need to have for your winter wedding budget for under $5000!
Hint: Check out the video on this page for tons of photos from my budget wedding – proof that having a winter wedding under $5000 IS POSSIBLE!
1. Venue
The first wedding budget item you need to consider if you are going to have a budget winter wedding is typically one of the most expensive!
If you want to spend less than $5000, your venue is the biggest area where you will need to sacrifice.
I was able to have my venue at a church, both the wedding itself and the reception. I only spent $250, and that included the pastor’s tip as well. I will say that I lucked out when it comes to having a wedding at a church because the church already had the tables, tablecloths, arch, and miscellaneous décor.
Here are a few venue ideas to have your budget wedding:
- A local large home (use the backyard, for example)
- Rent a large home via AirBnb
- Church
- Local park
- A small venue
The one big consideration you need to have when looking at venues is to determine how much it would cost to decorate. There are lots of places you can get for cheap but you would then have to spend over $1000 just to decorate.
I attended a beautiful wedding this past year that was held in a family friend’s backyard (they had a large plot of land) and all they needed to do was rent tables, chairs, and some decorations. All it takes is some brainstorming and creativity!
However, if you look at popular venues in a city area, there are many that range anywhere from $7000 to over $15,000.
Be on the lookout for a venue that has decorations already!
2. Photo and Video
Wedding photography and videography are rapidly becoming an expensive addition to wedding planning.
I have seen many people suggest skipping out on hiring a videographer to save money. However, there are still ways to have photos and video – I was able to do it!
The average price of a wedding photographer ranges from $3,000 to $7,000. The average price of a wedding videographer is from $5,000 to $7,000.
These prices have skyrocketed over the past ten years.
Considering these prices can bust your wedding budget, here is my favorite tip to get both your wedding photographer and videographer for cheap!
Choose a Winter Month
This article is focused on winter weddings, but this is very important to keep in mind when negotiating pricing with your potential photographer and videographer.
Choosing a wedding month that is not within the popular wedding season of April through July can save you hundreds of dollars!
I understand that a winter wedding may not be as pleasant for everyone, but being able to use it as a reason to drop pricing works.
Don’t Settle For Packages
One way I was able to afford both a photographer and videographer for my wedding was by negotiating the “packages” that the photographer and videographer provided on their websites.
A typical wedding photographer package may include a number of hours, a number of photos that they will deliver, bonuses like a wedding book, canvas print, or USB.
Negotiate with the vendor to not include certain parts of a package to lower the price!
For example, if they include 10 hours but you only need them for 6 hours, discuss lowering the price. Same idea if they include “bonuses” in their packages.
3. Dress
There are many ways to get a wedding dress when you’re on a budget!
I was able to negotiate a $1,200 dress down to $800. I did this by trying on trial dresses and buying the trial dress, instead of buying brand new.
Sometimes a trial dress may have a stain or a missing button (or they may be brand new!). Fixing or adjusting the dress will cost a lot less than buying it brand new.
Ways to get a cheap wedding dress:
- Buy from a consignment store
- Join Facebook wedding resell groups and buy from a recent bride
- Buy from a small-town wedding store
- Buy a trial wedding dress
4. Decorations
Be careful when looking for wedding decorations! If you go onto Pinterest, you’ll find tons of expensive décor options.
You’ll find everything from $250 welcome signs to $700 floral arrangements. Wedding décor can make budgeting for a wedding difficult!
The key to staying under $5,000 for your wedding is to be creative! You must be willing to go outside of the norm and spend extra time to research ways to recreate the décor that you want to have.
I spent countless hours online and in stores to find deals and budget ways to have beautiful decorations for my wedding. You just need to be ready to take the time to do this!
The first place I highly recommend checking out is your local Dollar Tree or dollar store. I was able to get votives for $1 each, for example. I also bought a lot of décor at wholesale prices online.
Be sure to also check out Amazon. I got [these mini tealights that I was able to resell later on and got all of my money back!
Additionally, take advantage of Hobby Lobby’s half-price floral every other week if you plan to buy garland or other floral pieces.
5. Signage
I highly recommend starting with Canva to design any signage you want to use for your wedding.
I was able to create my own food signs, welcome signs, and other signage by myself on Canva. Canva is a free website that anyone can use, and they have thousands of pre-made templates!
After creating the wedding signs, I printed them off on my own printer or off at Walgreens for the ones that were larger than 8×11. Next, I bought $1 frames from a local dollar store and cheap frames from Hobby Lobby for the large signs. (Be sure to check out the video on this page to see photos!)
I spent less than $20 on all the signage for my wedding, and it all looked great! Remember that you need to think outside of the box to stay in budget!
6. Floral
Wedding flowers are another huge expense that surprises many soon-to-be brides!
I saved hundreds of dollars by buying only “fake” flowers and I don’t regret it! In fact, I got many compliments about my bouquets and many were surprised that they were not real.
A real floral bouquet can cost $400 while a bridal bouquet that is made from silk flowers can cost $50. Plus, you can sell it afterward and make your money back!
Additionally, there are a lot of garland and arrangement pieces you can buy for half off at Hobby Lobby, which is the best option to check out!
Hobby Lobby also has a “His and Hers” section that is essentially wedding décor and floral. We got boutineers and garland from this section. It goes on sale every other week!
7. Cake
Many brides are surprised at the pricing of wedding cakes. For a detailed pricing breakdown of wedding cakes, check out this article!
The average pricing for a wedding cake now ranges from $500 to $700. I was not ready to spend this much money on a cake!
One of my favorite money-saving tips is to find a new baker in your area. Spend time researching for someone who bakes out of their home or is new. I did a lot of looking on Instagram and Facebook.
Also, buy sheet cakes! I have seen a lot of brides choose a small decorated cake for photos and feed everyone with sheet cakes from your local grocer or Costco. Remember to stay creative and think outside of the box!
8. Stationery
Wedding programs, save-the-dates, and invitations are expensive! Not just that but you’ll need to buy stamps, envelopes, and some people even buy stickers, custom stamps, and more.
Thankfully there are tons of ways to save money on your wedding stationery!
First, I recommend checking out Canva, as mentioned earlier. You can find a ton of premade templates that you can fully customize. You then save as a PDF and can get your invites or other stationery printed at cheap online stores such as Vistaprint.
Secondly, check out Etsy. I found a wedding invitation template for $7.00. It was customization and I got them printed on Vistaprint.
This is how I was able to get programs, invitations, a custom stamp, and other stationery printed for really cheap! I spent less than $200 on all my prints!
9. Catering
Food is another huge expense you’ll need to budget for!
A typical price for wedding food is $10 to $30 per person. This can go up to $50 to $70 per person depending on how fancy you want your venue and caterer to be. Watch out!
I chose to use Chick-Fil-A as my wedding caterer. What was also great was how memorable it was! I was nervous at first that people would not like such an “informal” meal, but to this day I have people tell me how great it was to have Chick-Fil-A at my wedding!
Here are a few options to save money on food for your winter wedding:
- Choose a fast food restaurant that caters, such as Chick-Fil-A
- Prepare food yourself
- Have a pot luck
Summary
There are so many ways to get creative and save money on your wedding!
The key is to be creative and to spend extra time to find a less expensive option for what you originally wanted. Remember that you want to have a great wedding day, not to have to pay it back for years to come.
Be sure to binge on my other detailed wedding budget guides!