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How to Plan Without Compromise – Peerspace

July 22, 2025

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Your wedding may very well be the best day of your life. But contrary to popular belief, it doesn’t have to be the most expensive. Although The Knot will tell you the average American wedding costs around $33,000 in 2025, couples pull off stunning weddings for only a third of that price all the time. We know — because we talked to them.

Often, the messaging around planning a wedding on a budget is one full of caveats, peppered with “sort of”s and “if”s. It’s true: You can spend down-payment-on-a-mansion money on your wedding. Easily.

But that doesn’t have to be the case. According to the real-life couples and experts we interviewed, pulling off a downright dreamy wedding for less than $10,000 doesn’t have to mean making major sacrifices or quitting your job to become a full-time DIY decor designer. Instead, it’s all about prioritization: figuring out what matters most to you and running towards it wholeheartedly. After all, isn’t this day really about showing up with love and intention?

Table of Contents

Meet the experts

To get to the bottom of how to plan the best budget wedding, we talked to Niki Day, owner and Creative Designer of Ember & Stone Events. Having honed her wedding-planning skills in Las Vegas, crafting “high-end, high-design elopement experiences,” Niki knows how to keep costs low precisely because she knows where couples often spend the most.

We also chatted with Dana Miranda, financial journalist and educator and the author of “You Don’t Need a Budget: Stop Worrying About Debt, Spend Without Shame, and Manage Money With Ease.” Dana’s overall financial message is all about using money as a tool to get what you want out of life — including your wedding — without giving in to undue stress.

The equation: Time, budget, and vibes

Spoiler alert — and perhaps a surprise: For a lot of our couples, the final budget actually came later on in their planning process. Rather than starting with a bottom line and working backward from there, militantly making cuts, couples first decided what was important to them, figured out how to do it affordably, and therefore wound up with an overall affordable wedding.

That’s because when it comes to planning a $10k wedding, the equation isn’t as simple as “budget, budget, budget.” It’s a three-part balancing act, between:

Time (and effort): Resources put into DIY projects, personal involvement, and planning.
Budget: Both figuring out an ideal bottom line and making wise spending decisions.
Experience: Figuring out what truly matters and investing in those elements.

You can basically think about it like time + budget = experience. The trick is balancing those two resources to get to the experience you want.

As Dana said, “It’s really about naming what it is that matters to you about that day.” Instead of starting with the final budget figure, she recommends couples ask themselves, “‘What is it that matters to us about this day? How can I use money to support that?’”

Then ask yourself, how much time and effort am I willing to put in to bring the cost down — or, on the other hand, what am I willing to pay to not have to do?

Meet the couples:

Along with the experts, we also went straight to the source and chatted with three couples who walked the walk. Each planned their dream wedding for around $10,000 and were generous enough to share their budgets — and advice — with us:

Taylor Blevins and Keith Harris, married September 2023

Omar Lopez and Briana Lopez, married April 2024

Taylor Ann Nagib Gomes and Pedro Nagib Gomes, married May 2025

How your guest list impacts budget

We’ll set the record straight right up front: It’s just true that smaller weddings tend to be more affordable. Wedding costs are often stated “per head.” But that doesn’t necessarily mean your guest list has to be the first to go.

While two of our couples had weddings with a guest list of 50 or fewer (a headcount resulting in what’s known in the industry these days as a micro-wedding), Omar and Briana had 177 wedding attendees. The couple kept the ceremony itself private, with only family and close friends, before opening up the dance floor for the larger crowd at the reception.

However, both Taylors we talked to would tell you that their curated guest lists were just as much about personal comfort as about cost. “Weddings can, for the bride and groom, turn into…hosting,” said Taylor Ann. “I really wanted not to be worried about everyone else on our wedding day.” A smaller guest list can make it easier to stay fully present with each other and your guests, rather than feeling like you’re frantically making the rounds.

Taylor agreed: “We wanted to be able to spend individual time with the people that are most important to us,” she said. With their guest list of 45, she said this was a goal that they “easily accomplished.”

Of course, the process of narrowing down a guest list can lead to some potentially uncomfortable conversations. Taylor, for example, said she and Keith decided that “when we’re inviting friends, not everyone is going to get a plus one.” They managed their guest list by limiting plus ones to those whose relationships were at least two years old or who’d put a ring on it.

But at the end of the day, it’s your big day — not your second cousin’s or work acquaintance’s. “The way we approached our guest list,” said Taylor Ann, “was, like, who really knows us as a couple and has walked the years with us? And the people that came to mind immediately were the people that were on the guest list.”

Pro Tip: Wedding planning sites like Zola and Joy offer guest list functionality, but never underestimate the power of a good ol’ spreadsheet. If you don’t have Microsoft Excel, you can use Google Sheets for free.

How to figure out what matters most to you

So—how do you decide which experiences are truly worth your time and money? Here are some tips.

Talk it out. Any dream wedding takes two — so plan a sit-down with your sweetie.
Start with your story. Consider a theme that’s unique to your relationship.
Consider size. The smaller the wedding, the smaller the price tag.
Start with a rough budget figure. A tiny bit of wiggle room can go a long way.
Talk timing. The longer your engagement, the more time you have to save up.
Understand your schedule. If you’re working 80-hour weeks, DIY is a lot harder.
Divide and conquer. Bring your skills — and trust your partner to bring theirs.

Pro Tip: While making a list of all the things you want for your wedding — and taking a red pen to it — may sound painful, it can be a great way to visually and emotionally clarify your values in an instant. “If you put things at the bottom” of the list, said Dana, “you can have that gut check when you cross it off: Do I actually want this or is it worth the extra $250? Doing that prioritization and having the conversation can help you get in tune with what matters.”

How a $10k wedding budget breaks down

As we’ve just discussed, the specifics will vary depending on what’s most important to you. Maybe you decide it’s worth it to spring for a DJ at the expense of your party favors — or maybe you and your guests know how to have a good time without alcohol on board. We recommend choosing three elements you decide are most important and investing your resources — both time and money — into those.

While your specifics will likely be a little different, here’s a sample breakdown of a $10,000 wedding.

Photography: $2,500
Venue (through Peerspace): $1,800
Food: $1,800
Attire and accessories: $1,200
Decor, ambiance and party favors: $1,000
Drinks: $900
Flowers: $350
Invitations: $50
Entertainment: $0 (Yes, really. More on this below!)

Note: This budget leaves you an additional $400 for miscellaneous costs, including your marriage license.

Additionally, we’ll share figures from our couples’ budget breakdowns in the Additional Resources section below.

1. Photography: $2,500

Source: Taylor Blevins and Keith Harris / Unabridged Photography

It might surprise you to see photography listed right here at the top, ahead of food and way ahead of alcohol. But it’s a once-in-a-lifetime moment — which means many couples find it’s worth the money it takes for picture-perfect memories of it.

Professional photographers don’t come on a shoestring budget — and these days, you might also feel tempted to add a videographer and even a professional content creator to the mix. Many photographers offer a package price that reflects their time and labor and includes a limited number of images, but beyond that, you may have to purchase additional photos a la carte.

Even so, many couples are glad they spent money on getting their big day correctly captured. “I knew photographers were going to be really important,” said Taylor. “I was willing to spend upwards of a third of the budget on that.”

Omar, himself a wedding photographer, was able to ask a professional photographer friend of his to shoot the wedding. That choice saved the couple a lot: all they had to cover was a flight and hotel for their friend.

Taylor Ann and Pedro are similarly blessed with artistic friends, including several skilled amateur photographers. Instead of paying for photographic services, they just paid for rolls of film and development for a particularly skilled film photographer friend of theirs — a total of about $150 to $200, Taylor Ann estimated.

Of course, these days, we all have high-powered cameras in our pockets — but given that it’s your wedding, it’s a good idea to have someone specifically dedicated to the cause, and ideally someone with proven abilities. Some couples prefer to keep all their guests present and unburdened by their cell phones, which means a photographer is, for many couples, a worthy hire.

Shopping a peer-to-peer marketplace like Snappr could help you connect with a professional photographer for a fraction of the traditional price; on this platform, you can hire by the hour and scale based on your personal budget. Prices vary by region, but in a sample quote pulled for Portland, Ore., a four-hour all-inclusive wedding shoot was less than $500. And of course, make sure you’re asking the right questions before hiring a photographer.

Pro Tip: Photography was the one thing Niki said she would advise couples not to cut corners on. (We asked.) If you want to save money on your professional photographer, she advises, “maybe you don’t need the full amount of time for the dance floor.” Have the photographer work the floor for just the first hour. “That’s enough,” she said.

2. Venue: $1,800

For many couples, the wedding venue is the single largest expense on the docket. According to The Knot, the average cost of a reception venue alone is more than the entire wedding budget we’ve laid out here: $12,200.

In comparison, nearly 75% of wedding venues booked on Peerspace in 2024 cost less than $2,000 — and the median cost of a Peerspace wedding venue is just $1,160. Peerspace also allows couples to book by the hour, so they pay only for the time they truly need, as well as offering transparent, fee-inclusive pricing throughout the booking process.

Each of the couples we interviewed used Peerspace to book their wedding venue. Briana and Omar booked a Peerspace for $602 for their small wedding ceremony spot and then a room in their local community center for the reception. Taylor and Keith secured a naturally beautiful indoor/outdoor wedding reception venue in Chicago—hosting both ceremony and reception there—for just $1,200. Finally, Taylor Ann and Pedro paid about $2,300 for their Peerspace beach house.

If you do want to book a traditional wedding venue, it may be difficult to find a space for a price as low as we’ve listed here — though choosing off-peak days and hours can help reduce the price to some extent.

Pro Tip: Saturday weddings are often thought to be the most expensive—but here’s some good news: on Peerspace, they’re actually 6% less expensive than Sunday weddings.

While many couples talk about the “wedding tax,” the jury is officially out; some experts maintain that the costs are not meant to gouge couples, but rather to reflect the higher level of service and longer planning timelines many weddings require. In any case, though, traditional venues can be painfully expensive.

Pro Tip, Part Two: No matter what venue you choose, Niki recommends couples look to maximize the money they spend by asking what’s included. The “basic bones” of tables, linens, serveware and glassware can really add up if you need to rent them all. “If your venue includes a lot,” she says, “that’s a win.”

Before you sign or click “book”, skim our essential questions to ask a wedding venue before booking to skip any unwelcome surprises later.

3. Food: $1,800

Food can be one of the biggest wedding day expenses — so much so that, after BOYB, BYOE (everything — food and beverage) is the second-highest amenity search filter here on Peerspace. The third: BYOF (bring your own food).

Source: Taylor Ann and Pedro Nagib Gomes, Taylor Blevins and Keith Harris / Unabridged Photography

It’s also one of the most flexible expense items, however. While a sit-down plated dinner can easily run you upwards of a hundred dollars per head, couples who are willing to put in a little bit of upfront planning can save thousands while still keeping their guests well-fed.

Taylor and Keith, for example, kept their Chicago wedding on-theme by making it a deep-dish pizza party. For eight pies and two big salads, they spent about $400. “It was filling. Everyone loved it,” said Taylor: “Carbo-loading for the dance floor.”

Pedro and Taylor Ann were lucky enough to have their family pitch in to help them keep their food costs low. Along with main dishes catered from a local barbecue restaurant, the couples’ loved ones put together appetizers and sides like salad and cole slaw. (Just be sure to clear with your venue that home-cooked or BYO food options are allowed.)

Pro Tip: Another key tactic for keeping overall food costs low is cutting the cake — literally. Instead of towering tiers, consider opting for a smaller, couples-only cake for the must-have photo, and then serving a separate, more cost-effective dessert for guests. Taylor Ann and Pedro, for instance, set up a chocolate fondue fountain, with bites like fruit, cookies and crispy rice treats for guests to dip and enjoy. “It was a hit,” Taylor Ann said.