Organizing a pocket-friendly wedding is no easy task, especially when you have a large family. However, if you’re thinking about having a fall wedding, there are a few themes and ideas you can go with without spending a lot of money.
Plus, these budget-friendly ideas for a fall wedding are very trendy, interesting and will definitely impress your guests!
1. Go Rustic!
If you are more of a country-loving family, then this is your theme. There are a few must-haves you need to keep in mind: make sure to wear a white, traditional gown, accessorized with beads and other mismatched jewelry, use a lot of wood in your décor (from plate holders to wooden chairs and tables) and go for a naked cake (a cake that’s not covered in anything, no frosting and no fondant!).
Another thing you can do is incorporate as much cotton fabric in your wedding as you want, and even burlap. If you decide to choose this theme, you will save money on décor, a wedding planner and other expenses like chairs and tables because you can just borrow them from your friends and family. Don’t worry about the fact that they don’t match, that’s the whole point!
See more images on Rustic Wedding Chic.
2. Count On Wine!
A color that never goes out of style is red wine. Also, centering your wedding on a wine theme is elegant, it reminds you of France and it has a very chic and fancy touch to it.
For starters, you can use barrels as buffet tables, go for red wine colors when it comes to accessories, bridesmaids’ dresses and bouquets, don’t forget to add a table with wine and cheese for your guests and ditch the champagne, the whiskey and other alcoholic drinks in favor of wine.
Your dress should be fitted and your accessories subtle. You can wear a dark red lipstick! The cake can taste like your favorite grapes and even be covered in burgundy fondant. By serving wine and nothing else, you will save a lot of money on alcoholic drinks.
Also, serving cheese and wine instead of cupcakes will add to that sum of money you’ll save. You don’t have to buy an expensive wine, just go for whatever you can afford and has a nice color!
For more pictures check: Stems of Dallas, Ruffled Blog, Brendas Wedding Blog.
3. Farm Weddings, Anyone?
Farm weddings are very cute and affordable, but you’ll have to roll up your sleeves and get to work a little bit! For starters, you can ask a few members of your family to sacrifice their time during the wedding and prepare the food: buy meat, ingredients for a cold slaw or two (red and white cabbage, celery, carrots), potatoes that they can bake, boil or fry, make your own cake and serve homemade cookies!
You can also save money by wearing your mother’s or grandmother’s wedding dress with a few alterations to personalize it. You can wear your cowboy boots and save money on fancy shoes! If someone in your family owns a barn, you can make that your wedding venue, therefore saving money on fancy restaurants. Here are a few pictures to give you an idea:
Full gallery at Jill Tiongco.
4. Into The Woods
If you are a bohemian kind of person, you like nature and fall is your favorite season, you should choose the woods as your venue. All you need is an approval from the mayor’s office (if you live in a small town, you can get this approval within a week). They will ask you to clean up afterward and provide a toilet for your guests (which is not a difficult thing to do – renting a toilet is cheaper than renting The Plaza!).
Once you have the approval, you can start setting the chairs, tables, lights and other decorations. So you will save money on the venue, your pictures will look great with the colorful foliage as your background and you also don’t need to spend a lot of money on dresses or costumes.
You can simply make your own dress using fabric. A dress can require anything from 2 to 10 yards of fabric, meaning almost $20 to $100. You can find many patterns online to guide you! What do you think?
More pictures: Style Me Pretty, Green Wedding Shoes.
5. That Retro Charm
If your mother or grandmother got married in the 50’s or 60’s, you can use their wedding dress, add a nice bird cage on your head and a bald red lipstick and that’s all you need. For the groom, you can start scouting the thrift stores and choose old military attire or just a classic tuxedo, it’s up to you. By doing this, you will save almost 50% on clothing alone.
For the party, you can buy old music albums and play them, without having to hire a band, which will also save you money. For the party, you can have a backyard celebration or rent a tent and call it a day.
If you like Coca Cola, you can add a few vintage posts and glass bottles of soda! And don’t forget to leave your party in a vintage car (no need to rent, ask your friends and family if they own one!).
See more images at Green Wedding Shoes.
6. Add Some Sparkle!
This is probably our favorite idea ever! Just think about it: covering ordinary mason jars in glitter is a huge transformation that will save you money on vases for your centerpieces! Also, for these centerpieces you can use leaves and golden branches (covered in glitter or just a gold spray paint).
If you are really crafty, you can stencil golden shapes on the edge of your plates to sass them up a little bit. This way, you can use your own tableware, without having to rent or even buy! Also, you can make your own cake and cover it in fondant, then add tiny sparkling details (you can look online for some edible sparkle!).
Since fall has very vivid colors, it’s best to choose gold over silver (more adequate for a winter wedding, for example!). By adding sparkle to ordinary items, you will save money on tableware, vases, cake and other décor items!
For more images visit: Style Me Pretty, The Bridal Detective.
7. Plaid It Up!
This may seem like an odd choice, but the truth is that plaid and fall go hand in hand, so why not incorporate both of them into a wedding? First of all, you can wear a plaid shirt over your wedding dress to keep you warm, your groom can also wear his favorite plaid attire and you can use large pieces of plaid fabric as tablecloths (you’re looking at $6 per yard and cheaper, during the fall season!).
Also, you can use plaid fabric to keep your guests warm. Your cake doesn’t have to have a plaid color scheme if you think that would be too much – go for something simple, white, for example!
For more images check: Ciara Richardson, Syle Me Pretty.
8. Paper Folding FTW!
Paper folding will save you so much money you have no idea! First of all, you can cut pieces of paper and make them into giant roses to decorate your venue!
You can also create tulips, clouds, tiny paper cups and other cute details that will make everything look special and interesting. We have a few pictures for you, just in case you have a hard time imagining the whole picture! By buying paper and nothing else for your décor, you can save up to 75%, which is a great percentage!
View full gallery on Green Wedding Shoes.
9. The Halloween Thrill
There is a handful of people who are really thinking about choosing a Halloween theme for their fall wedding! It’s a little bit unusual, but this doesn’t mean that you would have to spend a lot of money if you went with this idea! First of all, start by baking your own cookies, doing your own makeup and hair and don’t forget to look for coupons!
If that is the case, how about you look for an old wedding dress at a thrift store and then personalize it? You can add spiders on it, flies and even…red paint! We have a few ideas for you, if you feel that this is your theme, so let’s save money together!
See more images on Hey Gorgeous.
10. Rainy Day Fiesta
If you live in a rainy area, turn everything to your advantage! Use functional and broken umbrellas to decorate, ask your bridesmaids to wear rubber boots and raincoats, use clear beads to decorate your venue and don’t be afraid to get muddy! The important thing is to not let things bring you down and turn everything into a money-saving idea!
By going with this theme, you will save money on decorations, bridesmaids’ clothes and venue (since you can pretty much set it up anywhere, now that the rain doesn’t scare you anymore!). You can find old umbrellas at the thrift store (broken ones go for $1 and less, so you can’t miss this!).
Images via: Noivas E Etc, Green Wedding Shoes.
Which of these ideas is your favorite? On which items would you save money when having a wedding and which items are must-haves no matter their price?
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