I'm working hard on my budget too. I'm trying to stay under $4000, and it might be close but if it goes over $500, it won't be entirely unexpected. We spent the most on the venue because it really needs very little decoration and it is convenient for both sides of our families because it is near our home for those on FI's side to stay at his parents/grandmother's homes to skip hotel costs, but it is also near a larger city for my family (I have nobody but my sister in this state) to fly into a closer airport and there are hotels nearby. We spent $750 on the reception place and $150 on the ceremony place, and it's basically a 250 year old tree on the lawn of an old plantation house, so there's no transportation needed between the two. 

We do have to have a caterer, so we're working on finding one that has rental items (much cheaper than renting from the companies around here) and we're going with a chicken dish, a vegetarian pasta (I'm a veggie), rice, broccoli, salad and rolls for a nice little luncheon. We're doing buffet style but will pay my sister's friends about $50 and a free meal (haha, it's nice to know college kids!) to serve. My budget for that is $1500 and it looks like we'll be coming in very close, but we can scale back if needed.

My mom is going to my hometown in NY and will pick up wine from the local winery there and use her....ahem, she's not a wino...loyal customer discount... and we'll have a keg. It's lunchtime so we might even go for a half sized keg, depending on how many guests come. We're expecting between 50-75 to come but are inviting 100. Some I KNOW aren't coming but just want to send an invite to let them know I wish they were coming. We are requesting no gifts since we've been living together for six years and will have a 3 year old by then, so I didn't think it was tacky to send invites to those who I know can't come.

My dress was on sale from a little bridal shop in the middle of nowhere  for $99. No joke....it's very plain but it fits like a glove and I think I'm going to do lots of borrowing from my grandmother's jewelry box. It was the first dress I tried on but for $99 I couldn't leave it behind.

For centerpieces, I'm doing cranberries and floating candles in my mom's Waterford crystal glasses- I bought 4 bag of floating candles at the Dollar Tree for $4, and I need 86 oz of cranberries...might be $5. So for under 10 I have table decor! I might do some things with fall leaves, like pressing them between  glass to make some for other tables. 

There is a discount landscaping place near my parent's house and we're going to get probably 10 pots of mums for $50, and I am pretty sure I'm going to buy a few bouquets of flowers at the grocery store for my sister and I to carry. She's the only bridesmaid, and my FI's brother is his groomsman. Our daughter is going to be the flowergirl but I don't think she's going to carry flowers- the plan right now is her to walk her daddy and me down the aisle. We'll move the ceremony flowers to the reception and it'll be great! The house for the reception is so full of personality it doesn't need much decor.

My MIL has a friend who sings at weddings, and I wasn't into the idea of live singing (I wanted to play a CD player with our favorites) but I think she's so excited about it I don't want to say no. So we might have a free wedding singer! We will play CDs through the built in speakers for the reception.

I'm making my own cake. It's fun for me to bake and if it gets too close and I'm too busy, my backup plan is to buy one from the grocery store. They have a nice store bakery at the grocery store nearby, so I'll just let them know they are on standby for the few days leading up. 

We have two people in our families that have nice cameras and I'm going to ask one of them to do portraits of us on that day after the wedding is over, and the other one to take pictures during the ceremony. Other than that, I'm going to ask others to share their photos on Shutterfly or something.

I'm hand making my invites. I bought a box of resume paper and bought some cardstock at Michaels and am copying their kits for half the price of the kits plus they're super personalized. I bought a punch stamp of an oak leaf (we're getting married under an oak tree) and I've cut out pieces of cardstock, stamped it, then run a ribbon through two slits on either side of the stamp so the ribbon shows through, and glued it onto the cardstock with the resume paper glued on. They look great and cost all of $15 for 50 invites. I will also make confetti with the leaf stamp out of different colors of cardstock to maybe sprinkle on the tables.

I say make your priority list. If you can find three things that matter a ton, then focus on them and either skip or really cut down on what you spend. I wanted a nice place to do this thing, then I wanted to serve a meal to everyone who came (coming from far far away on my side and a bunch of starving college kids on the other side). I want everything to be nice but I am not going to drive myself or my parents into debt for a wedding that lasts just a few hours. I'm also doing as many personal touches as possible. We're going to have a table with all the wedding photos of our parents and grandparents- I think that is so special and so personal but costs nothing. Those are the things that people will remember!