If I have a wedding budget of about $4,000, how many guests do you think we can invite?

Just a rough estimate?and how many guests is considered a small wedding?
If I have a wedding budget of about $4,000, how many guests do you think we can invite?
Well that's about my budget and we are planning for at least 125 people there. I did most of the centerpieces, candles and decorations myself. The invitations I did myself. I have a friend that is a DJ and a photographer. And we are doing the food ourselves with the help of family and doing cupckes(much cheaper than a cake). If you get crafty with things you can save a lot. Good luck!
Reply:You can probably invite over 100 w/ that budget and I say 50 and under is considered a small wedding your wedding can still be a really nice w a 4000 budget some people get really fancy and have these big *** budgets and their wedding look so boring and lame its not about how much you have but what you can do w/ what you do have and you can do a lot trust me spend most the money on good food and a good dj the recpetion is the most memorable and should be the most fun part and in my opinon also don't get hella big centepieces do lots of candles and few calla lillies or pieones the simple stuff looks the best sometimes people tend to over do things and doesn't look good don't forget to save your honeymoon everyone I know says they wished they would have spent less on their wedding and more on their honeymoon





Sorry you didnt ask for all this advice but hey jus thot id help good luck!
Reply:It really depends entirely on what kind of wedding you are having and how expensive things are in your area. Basically, there are costs that don't have ANYTHING to do with the number of guests. For example, a photographer usually doesn't charge based on the number of guests, but rather based on the hours that they are working.





Overall, the expenses for which the number of guests is irrelevant are:





1. Photographer and/or videographer


2. Clothes and alterations


3. Hair and Makeup for bride


4. Transportation


5. License


6. Officiant's fee


7. Rings


8. DJ or Band or Stereo Equipment and dance floor rental


9. Ceremony musicians


10. Gifts for attendants, parents, etc








The expenses for which you might be able to save money with fewer guests are:





1. Ceremony and Reception location rental fees (most likely won't be able to save much here, since these are usually flat rates, but you might have more options if you don't need a large site to accomodate all your guests...)


2. Cake (again, you'll have to pay for decoration and delivery and whatnot no matter how many guests you have, etc but you should theoretically be spending less if you have a smaller cake that serves fewer people)


3. Food (style and presentation aren't dependent on guest numbers, but amount certainly is -- and you will need more waitstaff if you have more people)


4. Flowers (some decor isn't dependent on the number of guests...like bridesmaid bouquets and bridal bouquet....but other decor -- like centerpieces -- depends on how many people will be there.)


5. Beverages


6. Invitations and other stationary (in most cases, you pay less per piece after the initial printing, so if you buy in bulk you spend less per invitation overall....so you might not save all that much money if you have fewer guests)





I don't mean to scare you, but we are spending twice your wedding budget just for the food for our wedding of 135 guests. In fact, I know of photographers in my area that charge $4,000. So it really depends on your wedding style. I'm sure it's possible to put together a wedding for $4,000 but it will probably mean getting a friend do to the photography, having a casual backyard reception, and/or inviting a very select number of friends. Again, it also depends on where in the country you live...I live in a major metropolitan area, so things are probably more expensive than in other locations.





Also, I consider a small wedding to be under 100 guests on the invite list.
Reply:50-75 is considered small.





You have to factor in food/drink, attire, decorations, music, etc. It also depends where you live and thus what you are going to have to pay for those services. You could do a cake and punch reception with that amount easily. If you must have a meal, you will either have to DIY a spaghetti dinner, order in pizzas, or get a ton of heavy appetizers from the frozen section of Costco (15-20 pieces per person is actually the equivalent of two full meals per person and the expected amount to serve during the dinner hour if you go that route).
Reply:Is that your entire budget or your FOOD budget?





If it's the food budget, you could invite up to 130 people and they could have some nice meal choices.





If that's the entire wedding budget, you're looking at a guest list of probably no more than 50-55 people to keep costs under control. And, with that, you'll need to spend much less on the meal and/or refreshments.
Reply:A lot of that depends on you. But I'll tell you what I think.





I think for that price you could probably "pull off" inviting 150 people, but it would require major cuts everywhere else. Like the photographer, dress, dj, reception, food etc etc. We are barely pulling ours off for 75 on a $2000 budget. My dress was under $200, he is wearing a suit he already owned, we are having a pot luck style reception, and the reception is in the back yard....and I haven't figured out the rest cause we are running out of money lol





I would think 20-30 people as a small wedding. But that's because I see something like 200 as a big wedding, others might feel differently.
Reply:If you lived in my area, you might be able to have 20 - 30 people if you were having a dinner wedding and you really skrimped and cut corners on other areas.





But is the $4k your reception budget or your whole wedding budget? If it is only for the reception, then you could probably have about 50-60 people.
Reply:Totally depends on so many different things. Our cost was 10k for 50 guests but that was going to be at a restaurant overlooking the water with a photographer, great food, DJ, awesome cake, etc. and I also live in Southern California so it's a bit costly around here. If we had chosen to do a backyard affair %26amp; used music from an Ipod or whatever, we could have easily doubled our guest list. You need to first decide what's more important to you. Do you want more people or do you want a really special night for a select few?
Reply:My sister's first wedding cost us under $2000 and we invited 150 people! We did everything ourselves. We made invitations, food, decorations, favors! It was so much fun and it was simple! The dresses were beautiful and all found on sale! You just have to get creative with it and you can do it!
Reply:What are you planning to do for your reception? If you're planning to serve a meal and don't live in an outrageously priced area, you could invite 40-50.





50 and under is a small wedding where I live.
Reply:It depends on your area and how much you spend on other things like photography, DJ, attire, etc. Honestly, that is a very small budget.





Try this website:





www.costofwedding.com
Reply:You can add to your guest count by looking for sales on bridal gowns at places like David's Bridal and making your own invitations and center pieces. Some of the items you find at wedding stores are the same items at the Dollar Tree.
Reply:My budget was $4,000 also. We had and outdoor wedding and a reception at the same park. The food was catered (but buffet style) and we had 120 guests.
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