Our wedding is in one month and we are doing it with a $2000 budget and it is still going to be classy. How did I do this? (Warning, this will be long - I get so excited over the challenge of doing great things on a budget)
-Got my dress off the sale rack for $125 and it is a beautiful white strapless gown with a chapel train and beading on the bodice. It was probably a 2009 style but fashion in the wedding industry changes very slowly.
- We are having a dinner reception for 30 of our nearest and dearest friends at a hotel reception room (they often have smaller rooms for conferences that work great for tiny weddings). Even at $35 per person you save a lot by not going overboard on the guest list. For some people it is important for them to invite business clients of their parents, however our priorities are very much different! Since we are not having any dancing, we are saving a ton (we don't dance anyway).
-Our music for the ceremony will be a violin soloist that is charging us $140. I can still have beautiful classical music without the huge price tag!
-Flowers: I am buying them in bulk from the florist and I am arranging them myself. Since I am not paying for their labor to make arrangements, I am saving a ton of money. I also chose common flowers that are in season and always in stock - these are always a great buy! There are a lot of resources on the internet that show you how to make bouquets, centerpieces, and boutonnières. We are getting married outside at the park so we only really needed flowers for the reception.
-Cake: I got off easy with this one.... my dear sister is a wonderful cake decorator! However she was not in to this hobby when she got married six years ago and she managed to get her wedding cake for $60. It was a plain three layered buttercream cake that she decorated with fresh daises and it was gorgeous!
For everything else (shoes, hair pieces, invitations, thank-you cards, etc) I have been shopping the sale racks. We are also not having any brides maids or grooms men since it is too difficult to pick and choose, so it keeps it simple. DF is wearing his "good suit" with just a new shirt and tie.
My one recommendation is to keep the guest list small if you have a smaller budget. A lot of my friends are being "forced" into big weddings by their parents and they don't even know many of the guests!
xxx
Not everything has to be a huge expense, it just depends where your priorities lie (fab dress vs fab food, whether you want a video etc) Good luck! x
thats was a whopping £500 for 3 hours...so so worth it tho x
Yes, we did plan on having a small wedding reception/party thing with family and friends but since my family and most friends are in Europe and my husband's family and friends are here, we decided against it. Instead, we've been saving up for our future LO 
