Wedding planning on a real budget
A beautiful wedding doesn't need a big price tag.
We help couples plan a meaningful wedding for around $1,000, with real prices, ideas that have worked for other couples, and free tools that do the math for you.
No judgment, no DIY projects that eat every weekend, and nobody telling you to spend more.
Choose the shape of your day
Courthouse celebration
Just your closest people, so more of the money goes to a great meal and great photos.
See what's included
Backyard wedding
You already have the venue. What you're buying is rentals, food, and a rain plan.
See what's included
Brunch wedding
Invite more people for less. Eggs, pastries, and coffee cost a lot less than dinner.
See what's included
Micro-wedding
A small group and thoughtful touches, somewhere that means something to the two of you.
See what's includedWhere the money goes
What does a $1,000 wedding actually look like?
Picture a borrowed backyard, a good outfit, and a cake from a bakery you already love. Food takes about a third of the budget. A photographer comes for an hour or two instead of all day.
| Category | Typical range | What it covers |
|---|---|---|
| Ceremony & venue | $0-150 | Courthouse fee, park permit, or a backyard you already have access to |
| Food & drinks | $250-350 | Your largest line for almost everyone. Plan it per guest, not as a lump sum |
| Attire & accessories | $100-200 | Off-the-rack, resale, or something you already own, plus alterations |
| Photography | $200-350 | A short paid session, or a photographer in their first years building a portfolio |
| Flowers & decor | $50-125 | One flower type in bulk, candles, and linens you can reuse |
| Invitations & stationery | $25-75 | Digital invites plus a handful of printed keepsakes |
| Cake or dessert | $50-100 | Sheet cake, a small cutting cake, or a bakery dessert table |
| Contingency | $50-100 | Ice, tape, safety pins, the thing you forgot. You'll use this |
| Total | $725-1,450 | Most couples land near $1,000 by trading one category down |
A 12-guest courthouse day sits at the bottom of every range; a 45-guest backyard party sits near the top of food, decor, and rentals.
How we help
Five steps, in this order
Most budget trouble comes from doing these out of order: booking a venue before counting guests, or buying decor before pricing food.
- 1
Set the real number first
Decide what you can spend without borrowing and without touching savings you actually need, and write it down before you look at a single vendor price. Everything after this comes out of that number.
- 2
Lock the guest count before anything else
It changes four categories at once: food, rentals, stationery, and dessert. Ten more people costs closer to $150 than the $30 most couples assume. The guest list guide shows the arithmetic and builds the list in three tiers.
- 3
Make the format and the guest list agree
Sixty people at a seated dinner and twelve people with full-day photography break the same budget for the same reason. The kind of day you plan has to fit the number of people coming.
- 4
Spend on your top three and keep the rest simple
Nobody remembers the chair covers. Put your money into food, photos, and one thing that's just for you, and let the other five categories be simple.
- 5
Plan the day-of logistics people forget
Ice, trash bags, an extension cord, who sets up, who cleans up, and who holds the license. A $50 contingency and a one-page timeline prevent most day-of spending.
Example weddings
A $982 backyard wedding for 32 guests
One taco bar, forty rented chairs, and a friend behind the camera for three hours, in her parents' backyard. Food worked out to $9.70 a head.
See all nine line items, what they'd do differently, and the $55 nobody remembers to budget for.
- Can you really plan a wedding for $1,000?Start Here
- Affordable wedding food ideas guests will actually enjoyFood & Drink
- How to host a backyard wedding without it looking homemadeVenue
- Where the money actually goes in a $1,000 weddingBudget
- The five questions that set your wedding budgetBudget
- Cheap wedding venues nobody thinks to callVenue
The $1,000 Wedding Starter Kit
A one-page budget worksheet, the guest-count math, five vendor email templates, and the 30/60/90 checklist, all in one email.
The 18-page PDF lands in your inbox in a minute or two. A few days later you'll get one short follow-up with where to start. That's all, no list.
Final thought
Make room for the marriage, not just the wedding.
Spend less on expectations and more on what matters. A $1,000 day that feels like the two of you is plenty of wedding.