We want to see the most breathtaking wedding venues out there!

Most romantic wedding venue?
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Since I'm doing a backyard wedding with just immediate family (5-7 people) I thought it might be cool to have each person do something in the ceremony. Our colors are red, blue, and purple. We're not religious but my family is.

My sister: tie my end of the handfasting knot

FH's adult daughter: tie his end of the handfasting knot

My dad: ring warming. I don't particularly enjoy the idea of being given away like a cow (that's just the image that comes in my head whenever I imagine it. A cow wearing a veil and taking a big bite out of the bouquet as my dad says "her mother and I do" to who gives this woman away. Absolutely no shade at all to anyone who wants that. I know it can be really meaningful and sweet.) I thought asking him to do take care of having everyone bless/pray over/give good vibes to the rings before and then him "blessing" the rings during the ceremony might be a nice alternative?

My mom: flower queen - blue

My sister in law: flower queen - purple

FH's daughter's partner: flower queen - red

My brother: ???

By flower queen I mean we could have each of them wear a dress in that color and then pin flowers in that color all over it (or just get a dress with 3d flowers) and have them wear flower crowns or flower boas. Would that be silly? I was thinking since we're going short and simple in our backyard that might be a fun alternative to floral decor too.

I'm kind of stumped on my brother. I'm also not 100% not sure if he and my SIL will be able to make it so I don't want them to officiate or something else that can't be taken out if they have to back out.

Edit: and if there are any ideas different than what I have here - please give them to me! 😊

Spreading the word! If you’re nearby, you might be able to grab a dress at a great price

We are eloping!!! We have found our photographer/planner and they have provided a list of vendors they work with but they are a bit out of our budget, ~$750+. I was shooting for more around 300-400

Would love some recs on hair and make up artists that would be able to do this, we’ll most likely be staying in Port Angeles. Bonus point is that I have curly hair and I would really like for my hair to stay curly.

TLDR: We are having a micro wedding and want to announce it and also announce we will be having a family get-together for everyone in the summer of 2026. Does the wording make sense so that people aren't expecting a 'traditional' wedding?

The title is kind of click bait-y... We are not really eloping.

Here are some facts my (not)husband and I are in a civil partnership and have been for 8 years (together for 9). Due to nationality issues we didn't want to tie the knot until I was a citizen.

Flash forward to 2025 and I am legally a citizen now (yay!) and we're going for our second round of IVF (yay trauma!) and when we sat down and crunched numbers and stuff I broke down and told him I wanted to be married before we started IVF again. He agreed and we realized we don't actually want a big wedding.

That brings is to now. We are getting married in May (I can't actually believe this is going down but it so is) with our siblings (and their +1's), parents (well my mother and perhaps stepmother) and our witnesses (can't be family, so says the law). All in all about 20 people.

However, we didn't want to announce AFTER the fact because we have a bunch of family events coming up and it feels rude (in our culture) to just be like 'oh btw we got married and didn't say anything about it.' So, we decided that next year we will be hosting a family gathering which will just be a bunch of pizzas and beers (and wine because tomato Europe) and it won't be a WEDDING and I want to make sure people understand that.

We don't expect gifts, we don't expect anything other than the company of our loved ones.

Why can't we do that now, you ask? Time and weather. Also, because I never wanted a wedding and just wanted to elope because I feel uncomfortable being the center of attention and it's a lot of pressure.

That being said, we made the executive decision to give out cards with the following message to our loved ones (please note this is translated and I promise you the original sounds so much better):

Dear Loved Ones,

We're getting married!

We want to announce that we will be married in May 2025 in an intimate ceremony, with just our parents and siblings.

It is our deepest wish to share this very special day with all of you, but for now, it's not possible. However, we want you to know how much you mean to us and how much we value your love and support.

We are planning a celebration in Summer 2026, where we hope to come together with everyone and celebrate with pizza and drinks, just as we always wanted. The only gift we ask for is that of your company.

Much Love,

M + R

This is the card we are sending. It will NOT have the date or address of the actual wedding (the top and bottom black squares) and we will be handing these out by hand (not addressed) to avoid any confusion.

https://preview.redd.it/9n9o2u6ea7ge1.png?width=1432&format=png&auto=webp&s=9f1dc2b5881a4f40528e7e861a4b8a97a4af77dd

I am very excited, this is a great compromise for us and something we are very much looking forward to.

Hi all! We are doing a small ceremony and then a larger reception (probably 200+ people) and trying to find the cheapest possible venue. Unfortunately it does need to have some indoor space to accommodate older guests, but some outdoor space is okay! We were even contemplating a community center, so truly not stressed about it being very pretty or fancy.

Ideally hoping for it to be in the East Bay but would take any recommendations for other places in the Bay Area! Thanks in advance for the recs

Hi all!

My partner and I are looking at a million different options for getting married at some point in the next year and a half (depending which option we choose and needing more time to plan). I’m looking for ideas/suggestions for planning a wedding (affordably that would be able to accommodate my family in the US and his family in West Africa).

My dream wedding is very low key, immediate family and close friends (30-40 people) outdoor ceremony in the mountains (PNW girlie) and a simple dinner to follow.

The biggest issue we have is getting all of our loved ones in the same place. Getting tourist visas to the US can be a really difficult and long process because of the country they are from and likely going to get harder with this new administration. I’m afraid if we plan a wedding in the US the likelihood of his whole family successfully getting the visas is pretty low. And you can only apply a couple of months in advance, so the wedding would already be well in the works by the time they could apply.

The list of other countries we could get married is limited to those his family can travel to either with no visas or easily accessible visas (Bahamas, Morocco, Turkey, UAE, etc.) and they are not as cheap as social media has told me but if anyone has done it or has suggestions I’d love to hear!

Getting married in his home country is an option but not ideal. If hosted there it would be planned by his family and would likely be a 500+ person wedding largely with people my partner doesn’t even know. I’m open to doing this as a second wedding as I know his parents would love to throw it but it would be far from the intimate wedding both my partner and I want.

Any out of the box ideas, cost effective suggestions for destination weddings, or should we just say fuck it and elope?

Sorry this is so long! Appreciate any help.

Destination Wedding in Mexico

Hey everyone, My Fiancée and I are strongly considering a destination wedding at an all-inclusive resort somewhere in Mexico. We’re aiming for May of 2026, hope to invite 40-50 people, and we want to keep the budget around 8k-10k all together (or as close as possible).

We’re looking for all-inclusive wedding packages, at an all-inclusive, family-friendly resort. Ideally, we’re hoping to find something for $180-$250 per person per night. We’d prefer a low (or none) requirement for minimum nights stay from the guests so we don’t have to ask them to take a whole week vacation unless that’s what they choose.

We’re hoping to find somewhere with a spa and hair/makeup services, safe beach access, good food, and entertainment of some kind.

For the wedding, we’d like to have a ceremony and a reception of some kind, we’re hoping for good food, some music, and good photography. Any other special perks included in the package will be a bonus (I know many of these resorts offer different perks when you book)

We want to be sure it is a well rated, safe, secure, and clean resort with safe airport transportation available at a reasonable price.

Dreams Vista in Cancun seems to have all of this but the two packages they offer are for 20 guests and 79 guests (and only the larger package for 79 guests includes a reception) and so we’re wanting to look around and see if there are any comparable resort packages that offer something for a wedding size right in the middle of that for 40-50.

Any kind of recommendations, advice, or tips for us are appreciated and more than welcomed.

Thank you!! 🙏

I love Vegas and have always wanted to get married in Vegas but not I realize I have no idea where to start and have no idea how much it will cost. I want a wow venue but that’s probably going to be out of budget. Any ideas or experiences anyone can share?

Hi! I'm looking for a chapel in SoCal that is under $1000, preferably under $700. Haven't been doing good financially but have pushed it off three times because of this. Very interested in outdoorsy settings or anything pretty. Not interested in a reception, just a chapel. I live next to Los Angeles so around there would be preferable, would also love something coastal. Not very picky

Hello redditors. I have this vision of my wedding to be in a lush, landscape with whimsical and natural vibes AND/OR Mediterranean/Andalusian vibes. Our budget for everything is $10k but really we don't even want to spend that, but all these venues I'm seeing that fit my vision are like $6k + food is WAY past what we're trying to spend.

Details: Feb 2026 is the plan, day and month are flexible. 80-100 guests (just family). Prefer outdoor ceremony with indoor/outdoor reception. We're located in Cape Coral and are willing to travel max 3 hours (Tampa, Miami, anywhere in between). Courthouse is not an option. Neither is cutting guest list.

I've searched all the botanical gardens (Fairchild, Selby, Vizcaya, Morikami, Sunken Gardens, etc etc etc) and no matter how much my heart loves them, I don't want to go into debt with the venue. I've come across various city or state owned parks that charge fair hourly rates (like up to $600/hour), and either include only chairs or nothing but the venue - these numbers are appealing.

So here's my new idea: getting ready in a nearby vacation rental (since park prob won't have suites), ceremony in a pay-by-hour park that is still lush and natural, reception at a delicious nearby restuaraunt OR catered to vacation rental (if it's big enough).

So I'm looking for suggestions for lovely parks that you may know of in these areas (think: rental via county parks & rec site). I've found 2 so far - Florida Botanical Gardens in Pinellas County (includes rental permit only: ~$160; must be out by 5pm), and Deerfield Beach Constitution Park & Arboretum (~$400 for ceremony but capacity is 75 people).

I'm also wondering what you think of the idea to do the park then rental or restaurant and if it does in fact seem like I could save money that way.

Hello, my fiance (nonbinary) and I (nonbinary transmasc- saying this bc it’s relevant) have been together for 7 years (8 in February) and haven’t managed to actually tie the knot due to various reasons - mostly money, my desire to have top surgery before our wedding, needing money to do that, and general hierarchy of needs (we don’t even have our own apartment yet). I finally proposed last August but we haven’t been able to make much progress towards actual wedding planning as they have had major medical things come up and I was briefly unemployed. Well, given that we’re both dfab and our marriage would be considered a same sex marriage and we live in the US where things are currently going sideways, my fiance is panicking. They want us to essentially elope, probably this summer, fall at the latest. We’re talking about applying for the marriage certificate and then doing a tiny, tiny sort of “ceremony” at the beach. Us, the officiant, and probably 3 witnesses (our respective best friends, if mine can visit, and their grandmother.) I don’t even know where to start. I know we still want it to be special, but I’m trying to save money for a car and we also want to get into an apartment this year. Do places sell packages for an event this small? Will we still have to pay an arm and a leg for it if we go that route?? Do we just go to some busy beach and deal with the fact that there will be a lot of people? What the hell do we wear to a budget beach elopement? We really can’t justify spending “wedding clothes” type money. I know we’ll want a photographer at the very least, and that’s going to be hundreds of dollars if I’m being extremely optimistic. I don’t know how to make this special without spending the money I’m so desperately trying to save right now, and they’re absolutely not willing to hold out any longer if there’s a chance our right to marriage is going to be ripped away before we get the opportunity. I want us to get married, but I don’t know how to plan for this without setting us back on our other immediate life plans. Any advice on putting together a memorable but properly TINY elopement - not a 50 person “micro wedding,” I’m talking like 10 people max on a beach together - would be greatly appreciated. Flairing as rant/vent bc this is more rant than question, but my goal is very much to seek advice lol. I am completely lost for what we can do within any realm of reason when we’re meant to be SAVING money, not spending it.

Hi y’all! I am newly engaged and not even sure where to start. Any tips & tricks would be appreciated. Also if there’s anyone that recently got married on a budget on the treasure coast of FL … tell me everything.

So I've been using this article for an outline on who and how much to tip. Does this look right to you?

And, how do you actually give people their tips. Cash or check? I've paid online for most of these services so far, but they don't have a section listed for gratuities. The idea of carrying around hundreds of dollars in cash for my whole wedding day sounds stressful, but the idea of tipping with a check feels off to me. Can I ask my day-of coordinator to handle distributing gratuities if I tell him how much to give each vendor?

FWIW, we'll have a limited number of vendors- just one photographer, a caterer, and the day-of coordinator. No DJ, not doing florals, picking up our decorations and probably desserts as well. (Do you tip a rental place? I assumed not if you're not getting it delivered or having them do any setup, but I have no idea how this industry works.)

I don't normally put a lot of time or effort into my day-to-day hair and make-up. On an average day, ponytail and a dab or concealer over any pimples or other blemishes. If I want to look nice for something like a date night or nice event, I work curling cream into my wet hair and let it airdry, and maybe add some subtle lipstick. On the few occasions in my life I've let friends do my makeup (like for prom) I wasn't that happy with it - I felt like I didn't look like myself at all. I was originally thinking to forgo professional hair and makeup for my wedding, since it's just not something that matters much to me and I generally feel like less is more. Budget is a factor too, but honestly even with unlimited funds I'm not sure it's something I'd be into.

However, my sister says it's important to have your makeup done for your wedding because people often look washed out in their wedding photos, and a make-up professional can set you up to counteract that. Is there any truth to this? For others who aren't super into hair and makeup - did you have it professionally done for your wedding? Whatever choice you made, did you regret it? What factors did you think about?

Possibly relevant details: I'm white, with lightly tanned skin and curly hair (approximately 2b). My wedding will be an outdoor daytime wedding (late morning ceremony, lunch reception) in a sunny place. I have not found my dress yet, but I know it won't be white - our dress code is pool party chic and I want something colorful and fun.

Anyone have any advice or costs/logistics information on how you DIY your ceremony arch or back drop (preferably with fake flowers)? Looking for specific links or suggestions to arches, flowers, arbors or other any helpful information that you used or that helped you along the way!

I’ve seen YouTube videos on designing it (examples of using pool noodles and flower blocks), but no one shared specifically how many fake flowers they used or the cost it took to make it. Thank you so much in advance 😊😊

I see all the platforms that cost $50 or higher to be able to give the option to my guest for uploading pictures they take at our wedding.

I’m wondering though if there are any free or cheaper options. As most know this entire planning process has cost an arm lol I don’t want to now spend the leg and on an app service.

I usually do google for small events but they’d all need to download googles app and that’s just not suitable. Help! Please..

Hey y’all, 2026 bride here! We are well underway with planning our wedding. We were able to secure a beautiful venue for only $2k which is making us feel real good. Now we are on to photographers.

Now I’ve seen so many brides say that this is the one area you really shouldn’t skimp on because it’s your memories for the day. I am of the same mind. This will probably be our biggest expense. That said, they all seem to offer packages from 4 hours of coverage to 10. Now, 4 seems too few and 10 too much. What’s the sweet spot for wedding day coverage?

Also, did anyone do videography as well? I never really thought of doing this, but one of the photographers I’m looking into offers it and I find myself drawn to the idea. Anyone regret doing video or regret not doing it?

Thanks!

Hey all! Let me start by saying, I realize this is a very niche question. :) I’m planning to do bud vases with fake flowers for the reception table centerpieces. One thing I’m wondering about is what do to for the “water”? If I don’t have anything in the vases, it just looks off to me. I haven’t found any vase filler like glass beads or marbles that I love either. I’ve tried painting the bottom half of the vases with frosted glass paint, but it doesn’t stick. Does anyone have any ideas?

Hi everyone! I'm planning on getting married later on this year in October and I'm just doing a courthouse wedding and want to pour more of the money into my husband's wedding band.

I found this ring that I for sure know he would love, but I don't know anything about jewelry so I was wondering if anyone could advise me if this ring is worth the price?

He wears rings all the time and hardly takes them off, so I want to make sure this is the right ring since it's a bit pricey. Otherwise I can look for another ring around the same price that won't break so easily.

Would appreciate any advice, please and thank you sooo much!!

Me and my fiance are getting married in April with a very small amount of guests. 5-10 max kinda tiny. Has anyone done this and what did it look like? We really just want a nice ceremony somewhere in nature/woods and would like some photos just as something to have as a memory/frame. I don't know how to even book a venue with most places talking 50 guests as small. What did you do with so little guests? I'm not much a of a social person and neither is my fiance so we want something personal and quiet while involving really close family.

Hi there, I am set to get married in August in Michigan this year. I have yet to receive a floral quote... but I'm currently leaning toward only using professional florist for bouquets and boutonnières, and instead opt for DIY bud vases and tapered candles for centerpieces.

I've attached some photos of what I'm envisioning. All shades of pink flowers (probably a lot of roses, due to it being August). I've thought of buying flowers from a local grocery store or farmers market and putting 1-2 flowers in separate bud vases.

Has anyone done this? How far in advance can you buy flowers from the store before using them at your wedding? I don't want to opt to do things this way and then end up in a pickle, so I'd love to hear how this worked out for you-- as well as what cost looked like. Thank you so much!

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Looking at photographers in the area a lot of them are in the 4 grand range. Really just need for 2-3 hours for the ceremony and family photos. What were other people able to find?

My fiancée and I (both femmes in our early 30s) are getting married in May, and we recently decided not to hire hair and makeup vendors. For a number of reasons, we just don't feel we can justify the expense. We're Americans eloping in Ireland, so most of our wedding budget is going toward travel costs. The only professional vendor we've made no compromises on is our photographer, because having great photos of the day is super important to us.

We both want a fairly natural look, but makeup wearers out there know that "natural" makeup looks still require effort and forethought. I'm trying to get myself organized so that I can nail down our looks and products well in advance with plenty of time to practice. Does anyone have advice about how to go about this -- particularly since it involves not just my own look, but my bride's as well?

As some slight additional background, I do think this is going to require gathering at least a few additional products. We don't have much in our makeup arsenals at the moment. She and I have very similar skin tones, but we also have different hair colors, eye colors, bone structure, and eye shapes. She is pretty shy about trying new makeup, so I really want this experience to be easy and uplifting for her.

(I'm nervous about hair too, but that's something I haven't really begun wrapping my mind around quite yet and it feels very specific to our individual hair types/lengths/desired looks.)

All of this is to say that, come the big day, it's going to be just her and me getting ready together, and we don't want to be distracted by or stressed over our looks. We want to feel like ourselves, but also we want to feel beautiful and ready to be photographed. I am the more makeup- and hair-adept one of us, but I'm by no means a makeup artist or a stylist, and I haven't really worn much makeup in recent years. Any advice or tips on doing your own + someone else's wedding-day makeup on a budget would be so very appreciated!

One idea I've had is to make a makeover appointment at a makeup counter, and to ask the artist to give her the look she is envisioning while I watch them do it. Then, I can ensure I have the same or similar products and tweak/practice what they did until we're happy with it. If anyone has thoughts on that or has tried something similar, I'd love to hear about it.

Thanks so much for reading!

My fiancée and I are set to get married in April and considering hosting a small (15-30 people) event, perhaps consisting of: 1) a brief marriage ceremony ; 2) optional cocktail hour; and 3) dinner.

We have an official (much larger) wedding ceremony later this year but want to host a mini ceremony for the day we actually tie the knot with close family & friends.

Any and all suggestions are welcome!

Budget wise flexible but prefer under $10k all in (if possible).