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clujan50

i have a questin....did any of you ladies have a hard time cutting the guest list down to where you finally said forget it and listed only immediant family and friends that are close enough you view them as your sisters/brothers? im fed up with albuquerque being so expensive to have a decent wedding...i need help should i just haave a small wedding with just close friends and family and be able to work with my budget and not against it?

sgonz4

Both the groom and I have large families (lots of aunts and uncles) so cutting down the guest list would mean offending way too many people. Our wedding isn't all that big, although it seems like a lot of people to me (~100 guests), and when you start looking at the prices of food for all those people it gets really scary really fast. I dont' know how big/small your budget is, but there are some ways to cut down on costs.

1. Have a Sunday wedding - many reception venues will give you discounts on things like the dance floor/decor because they have already set everything up for a Saturday wedding the day before, and also it's not a peak time for weddings, so they make more money and you get the savings. We are doing this and got a discount on the food (15.00 a plate instead of 18.00), the organza cieling treatments (free for us, usually 500$), and half off the dance floor ($100 instead of $200). Also, ask if there are discounted food rates for children. We cut another 150$ off our reception that way.

2. Get a dress at david's bridal. I had a great experience with them even though some people say they didn't. Total everything came out to $550; pretty good price considering some people spend more money on their wedding dress then they do on a car.

3. Buy things online, and look for coupon codes. I bought my invtiations from weddingpaperdivas.com and sometimes they have amazing sales. I also bought all the stuff for wedding favors on Amazon and spent 75% less on everthing then if I bought the stuff from Hobby Lobby or somewhere else. Finally, I bought my shoes online from Unforgettable Moments (I wanted my shoes bright teal!), found a coupon code for $10 dollars off and was able to keep it under $40.

4. Flowers: I was really set on having Dalhia's in my bouquet, but this can be really pricey. Instead, the florist recommended a simpler flower with the same shape and color and is going to paint the centers to fit my needs (sounds funny but looks great!). Moral of the story: there is always a cheaper alternative. This option saved me 50% on my total order.

Alternatively, you can have the reception at a relative's house. Just have to pay for food and beverages, no room rental fee!

Good luck!

clujan50

thank you great advice ..where are you having your reception..sounds like the desert greens golf course(thats where i want to have mine)

clujan50

o and ou rguest list is 240 and about 80 percent being family...budget is 10k or less shooting for less but i highly doubt that

elio23

My cousins all had 250+ guests at their wedding. One even had 500+ guests at hers   I just couldn't see myself having a wedding like that.  Have you considered getting married outside of Albuquerque? I'm getting married in Las Cruces in 2 weeks. My FI is going to school there.  Getting away was the only way I could have a smaller wedding without offending family and friends (a lot of them aren't willing to travel too far).  It also helps that my FI doesn't have family in the states.  His family lives in Brazil and flights are suuuper expensive.  My final guest count is 90 adults and 10 children but I did have to do quite a bit of trimming.  To save quite a bit of cash maybe you and FI can each cut 20 from your list? 40 people down will save you cash and leave you at an even 200.  Whatever you choose, good luck!

[Deleted User]

What it all comes down to is that it is your wedding.  You want the closest and dearest supporting you on your day.  Don't invite people just because it would hurt someones feelings if they weren't invited.  If people get offended, explain to them that you would love to invite them but you have a limited guest list due to a limited budget.  Family would understand.  I am having this same problem, some family members want me to invite people I hardly know or never talk to.  It makes no sense to me why I should have to pay for them to come to my wedding, when they haven't been around in my life.

SRNtobe

I think doing a lot of the work yourself can save you a lot of money. My fiancee and I have some talented friends/family who are helping us, and it actually makes the whole thing feel really special for us because there's so much love involved! For reference, we're getting married in Abq. We're inviting 150, but since most of my family is on the other side of the country, we're only expecting about 110. Our budget is $10K for the 150 guests, but if we have a lot fewer then we'll come in under budget.

Things we're doing ourselves:
- Dress, headpiece, boutouniers, corsages, silk floral decorations: My mom is a seamstress (In Los Alamos, not Abq), and she's gone absolutely crazy (but I love it!) making stuff. My dress and headpiece are costing me about $350 since we're using silk.
- Invitations: I'm making these myself. I'm doing pretty simple square invites with vellum and ribbon. I got really pretty cardstock on sale at Michaels for $10. Total cost for all the invite and RSVP card materials, printer ink, envelopes, and postage is about $150.
- Ketubah: this is a decorated Jewish marriage license that's signed along with the civil marriage license and is hung on the wall both as artwork and a reminder of the committment . My fiancee isn't Jewish, but we both like the symbolism of it, so we're going to have an English one made. Either my mom or one of the groomsmen (who is a comic book artist) will paint it.
- Flowers: my future MIL is good at arranging flowers, so we're going to buy flowers through either Costco or FiftyFlowers and make our own bouquets.
- Music: I'm a music geek, so I couldn't trust some crummy pop DJ. We're going to do an ipod playlist (our venue has a built-in system we can use) and my brother will DJ. We may have a listening party with friends to choose the playlist to make sure it's got a good variety that everyone will like.

We chose a venue that lets us bring in the caterer of our choice as well as our own alcohol, which made it significantly more affordable than the other places we liked.

We're also skipping the limo and planning to carpool with family and the wedding party.

Nicholettemtz

Its all about you! I am planning a destination wedding and I am still having issues with my guest list and have many times wanted to just say "forget it, lets just elope!" haha but actually what FI and I decided is we are only having guests that both he and I have met and would like to be there. I am so sick of my family and his family telling us that we need to invite this person because of this reason or that when we dont even know who they are. At points I have to just remember that this is our wedding and our day to remember, no one elses.
You can definitely do some DIY stuff as well as look on here or other websites for decorations or stuff that the other girls are selling. I have bought some stuff from them that has saved me lots of money! Especially considering most stuff is only gently used because they only used it for the one day.
Good luck on your planning!!

sgonz4

Having your wedding out of the city is a great way to cut down the guest list. Clujan50, I am using Desert Greens Golf Course as our reception venue, and Alena is AMAZING to work with. Also, they managed to book me only 4 weeks before my wedding (previous reception plans fell through). I agree with everyone though; 1) don't invite people because you feel like you have to, and 2) doing things yourself is cheaper, always! (At least when it comes to wedding!!) Also, to compare, our budget was 12K and we invited 125 ppl. This includes the honeymoon and flights. Good luck!!