In 2022, the average wedding in the U.S. cost $30,000. That’s a lot of money for an event that’s only a few hours long.
The good news is you don’t need to spend thousands of dollars to have a great wedding. Small-budget weddings can be fun and memorable if you explore out-of-the-box ideas.
This article will discuss five simple ideas that can take your small-budget wedding from zero to one hundred. Here’s what we’ll cover:
- Curate a social media wall
- Choose a creative venue
- Incorporate live music
- Take song requests
- Customize hand-made throw pillows
1. Curate a social wall
A social media wall is a digital billboard for all your wedding content. It’s a simple way to collect and display all the wedding content (images, videos, statuses, reels, and tweets) your guests share in one place.
With a wedding social media wall, you can:
- Capture all of the sentiments and emotions of your big day
- Engage guests in real-time
- Share fun wedding moments with people who didn’t get to attend the event.
You may think setting up a social wall requires a lot of work and budget, but it’s pretty easy and inexpensive to pull this off. First, set up a designated hashtag for the event and encourage your wedding guests to share pictures and videos with it.
Once the hashtag is up and running, use a social media aggregator like Juicer to create a real-time feed that gathers and displays all shared videos and photos from different social platforms.
Juicer lets you embed the social walls on your wedding website or display it on the wedding venue using a display screen. This way, everyone sees the content they’ve shared.
Here are some tips to get the most out of your social media wall:
- Choose an easy-to-remember hashtag, like #camilovestory and #DanaAndDaveWedding
- Drum up excitement in advance so that people will upload their photos on the day
- Choose a reliable tool that will allow you to curate, customize, moderate, and showcase your photos in real-time.
At the end of the event, thank your guests for participating in the social wall. And keep your wall up after the wedding so your guests can relive the wedding memories for months to come.
Learn more about creating a social wall for your wedding.
2. Choose a creative venue
Traditional wedding venues are expensive. To cut costs, choose an unconventional location for your big day. With out-of-box imagination, you can transform any space into a breathtaking scene that your wedding guests will remember for years.
You have many options — from modern sidewalk cafes and rustic barns to local parks and creative co-working spaces. Choose one that best reflects you and your partner’s hobbies, interests, and personalities. Say you and your partner are book lovers; a library-themed venue is a great option. And if you love gardening, consider throwing a picnic-style wedding in your backyard or a friend’s garden.
Feel free to negotiate with the space owner or manager if you find a non-traditional venue that costs a little over your budget. Most venues have flexible pricing and are willing to offer a discount if you ask.
3. Incorporate live music
Live music creates a vibrant atmosphere and encourages spontaneous entertainment — it’s definitely a great addition to your big day. To save money, hire local musicians who will be open to working with a small budget — rather than the more popular ones.
Furthermore, there are many ways to add live music to your wedding. You can have a ‘duet’ performance from guitar-and-vocal or piano-and-violin combinations. Or ask a solo pianist or guitarist to play timeless tunes that guests can sing and dance along to.
No matter the genre, live music creates a truly magical atmosphere and keeps the festive ambiance alive until the end of the event.
4. Take song requests
There’s nothing like a great playlist that brings people together! Taking song requests is one of the best ways to engage guests and make them feel important on your big day. And it’s even better when the playlist is filled with song requests from friends and family.
As you send out wedding invitations, ask guests to suggest a song they’ll like to hear on your wedding day. Add all their requests to your wedding playlist, and delight them with these songs during the event.
After the wedding, send a thank you note to guests with a Spotify or Apple Music link to the playlist — so they can continue listening to it. And voila — your wedding is a hit!
5. Customize hand-made throw pillows
Hand-made pillows might not cost much, but they definitely leave an impression on your guests. And it’s even better if you make them yourself. Your guests will appreciate the time and thoughtfulness you put into them.
How do you craft throw pillows that stand out from the crowd? Follow these five tips to make an impressive statement:
- Pick a unique fabric that matches your wedding theme.
- Get creative with textures, patterns, quilting, lacing, embroidery, and more.
- Add small embellishments — like elegant ribbons, sequins, and lovely beads — to bring your throw pillows to life.
- Choose the perfect size. Use small throw pillows if your wedding venue is small. And bigger pillows for larger outdoor venues.
Don’t let a small budget ruin your big day.
It’s not about how much you spend on the wedding, but how much you enjoy the event. So, don’t worry too much about your budget. Rather, focus on out-of-the-box ideas that create beautiful memories for you and your guests.
Not sure where to start? Take the first step with a wedding social wall powered by Juicer.
