MINIMAL + Budget-Friendly Wedding Planning | How Much Our Backyard Wedding Cost 

My wedding was 2k with about 150 people. It can be done quite inexpensively especially if you ask family and friends to help out. I still have friends that tell me that our wedding was one of the best weddings they’ve been to.

This video just puts my mind back to when I was newly wedded. My partner and I just had a court wedding, we were both minimalist and preferred saving to invest than spending. Right now we’re retired and living out best life in Springfield. Much love Meghan❤️.

$8,500 for 15 people is actually TWICE AS EXPENSIVE as a $35,000 wedding on a per person basis! This was actually an expensive wedding where the cost was brought down by having very few guests!

One of the things I love the most about north America and Europe is how most of people care about the beauty. About make everything looks beautiful intentionally. I am from Brazil and one of the most difficult things to find is backyards houses or even front yards as beautiful as you find there... Man... Even to find a beautiful place to marry here is incredible different. Because there are not thousands of beautiful places (well-taken cared of) and when we find a beautiful place it costs an arm and a leg 🥹🥹🥲🥲🥲🥲

Wow!! great job Meghan..you will find this amazing- I got married in 1978, had the reception at a well known venue on a marina , 50 people, rolling bar, band, choice of 3 dishes for guests, nice simple dress and total was.....$ 1500!!! How things have changed! Congrats on a beautiful wedding day, you will have wonderful memories for sure!

I love the personalization (even though it’s a budget wedding). I feel like adding vendors makes the ceremony commercial. I am planning my wedding and I love that I found this kind of inspiration ❤️

Meghan - You are setting such an example of minimal wedding for the world! You looked adorable on your wedding day 😊 Wish you happy married life 😍

I loved this! We got married in Windsor, Ontario so not too far from you :) We also had a super simple wedding. We rented a Manor which made everything so so easy and made the cost significantly cheaper! It is already a beautiful place so we didn't need decorations, we got married in the garden so no need for flowers. The catering was provided by the Manor and we chose to get married on a Sunday so the rental fee for the Manor was half the price of a Saturday wedding (only $800) We also chose to have a morning wedding with a brunch. The meal was fancy & exquisite and cost about $32/ person but had 4 courses and included lovely cuts of meat. ( The dinner meals started at about $45/ person so the brunch was cheaper) Because it was a 10am wedding we didn't have music and dancing so we saved there, and no alcohol. We used Vista Print to do our invites which cost about $50-$60 I believe. In the end I think ours cost about $5,500 for 80 people with the meal costing the most at about $2,600. Our cake was $300 I think, $200 for photography as I just had her there for the vows, and bit of the beginning of the reception. Maybe 1.5 hours total. We had such a beautiful day and 8 years later I still hear people talk about how unique and lovely it was and how awesome the food was! I recommend a wedding venue that is naturally beautiful so it cuts down on not only cost but work! No set up, no clean up! I literally showed up at like 915am and we said our vows at 10am. Ate and mingled, enjoyed the punch and desserts and cake. We were heading to our honeymoon by 2pm!

Congratulations! Beautiful! I had a small wedding 26 years ago. It was $5,000 US. You did an amazing job of creating a beautiful day to celebrate your new life together.

What a blessing to hear how much you saved for you wedding. Amazing!!! Beautiful wedding.👍❤️💙💐

This is all so wonderful! My 4 year wedding anniversary is this Thursday the 22nd. We spent about $8,381 USD on our wedding which also includes the cost of the rental condo we stayed in for our Honeymoon. I did all the flowers myself! All daises, Poms, and baby's breath. I did my own makeup as well. And my friend and roommate from college was our photographer. So we saved tons of money too!

Thank you so much for sharing your experience and breaking everything down. The video of your wedding was absolutely beautiful and I’m so happy for y’all. My husband and I got married almost 7 years ago and we paid for everything ourselves so I actually had no idea the cost of everything so I found that so interesting. We had wonderful friends and family who helped us out and we did DIY on everything we could to save money. What was really nice about that was that nothing went to waste and everything was reused since we did not use flowers for our center pieces. I didn’t even think about the fact that our wedding was sustainable until I watched your video. At the time we were just trying to cut costs but that makes me happy as sustainability is very important to me.

Your wedding was beautiful! We also had a small wedding. We actually contacted a local school and they let us borrow the marquees/table/chairs that they use for events for free! Once we put on table cloths etc they looked great 😊 x

Wonderful, honest video about your wedding. Too many brides focus on the wedding and not the marriage.

LOVE this. thank you!! this is exactly what i want my wedding to be like so it is so nice seeing others doing these small budget friendly weddings! beautiful wedding!! congrats u guys:)

I had a small wedding too,it was really nice to hear all your preparations for your big day . It meant a lot for my husband and I, not to be in debt afterwards. Congratulations I wish you both a happy and healthy long life together.

This was so refreshing to watch! I loved it! Everything looked beautiful and professional. Congratulations! X

I can save $$ by growing my own flowers, best friend on cake duty n sister on hair n makeup, family on food. Stuck on where to have it and reception cuz my backyard is all veggie garden n I'm sure they wouldn't want to sit in my veggie patches 🤣

I absolutely loved this video! It had been so inspiring and all these connected information helped me a lot! Thanks a lot!

What a beautiful day! Congrats to you and Sean.

I love your style. That's exactly how I would do it too, as low budget as possible. Bridezilla's comes from angsty anxiety and going absolutely crazy about expectations of perfection. As you dealt with a photographer fail, and scrambled to find someone else, there's always crazy stuff. You did great. Your dress was absolutely beautiful! I think key things for brides are the dress and the flowers. You found a beautiful dress that was just so you. I thought it was beautiful! I would do Michael's flowers too and pay for a bouquet. Your sister in law did a beautiful job on that cake. Looks very professional. Looks like you married a wonderful man who has a great family, which is 100% more important than wedding details! Your wedding day looks like it was absolutely perfect!Bless you all! I'm so happy for you! ❤🥰

I loved the feel and look of your wedding! So lovely and intimate! My husband and I had quite a bit larger wedding several years ago, but I think we kept the cost around what yours cost (friends who helped, low venue cost, etc.). One of my favourite wedding purchases was my shoes, a pair of blue Tom's shoes which I have definitely worn over and over since then!

Amazing!! This just how I want my wedding!!! Thank you!

We bought a wedding package that cost us $1600 with photographer, cake and ceremony. My dress was $200 including tips. I did my nails and our hair and makeup was $150. We had 10 guests at that day and zoom. We loved how everything went out. I liked the fact that yours was very small and thoughtfully done. We would like to do another wedding reception in our home.

This is insightful and freedom to have few friends in your wedding wishing you all well

Weddings are so expensive! This is definitely nice to see beautiful done! 🙌

Such a helpful video! Thank you! Also love the way you talk, it's very soothing!

My fiance and I got engaged last Christmas. I just bought my wedding dressing yesterday. I found a gorgeous local church with reasonable price. We saw it yesterday, it felt right. We are estimating we will have about 50 to 70 guests. We are getting married in October. Like the tips

I’m glad you mentioned Amazon!!! I ordered one recently from there, but heard some great reviews so glad to hear real time feedback on it!

I love this wedding!! Very beautiful and intimate ❤

Your wedding was absolutely beautiful. Was lovely being part of it!

Thank you for sharing the details of your beautiful & smart budgeted wedding. I got so many good ideas 💕💡

You are glowing! Many congrats!

I sooo appreciate this video. This was everything I needed to hear 💖

It is so wonderful to for you to share some of your experience and tips! So helpful! Thanks so much for sharing! xx

Hi Meghan, watched you’re wedding video and it’s so simple but very beautiful.🥰

Fantastic tips, dress and Veil and backyard wedding are super great ideas and suggestions.

This is very useful thank you. I love that you told us all your details

That's awesome I love your idea. I am starting to be minimal as well. I spend around 1,000 mine was at home as well.

i was SO happy when you said you’re canadian and that you’d be converting everything! canadian bride to be here thanking you :)

Congratulations on your wedding🎉. Mine was 18 years ago and was a small gathering with our close friends and family. Also was inexpensive but with everything I wanted.Was in my friend's clubhouse. I designed my dress and my aunt, mom and I helped to add details on it. However we got a caterer company which setup venues, cake, and a small band.

This video is awesome! Great tips!

My Dream Wedding 😍❤️ Congratulations Meghan 😊

This is so helpful . Thank you ❤

We had a small wedding like you. 2 months ago, 15 People with us in the yard of my mum and had a barbecue. Just 300€ we had pay for Food and Drinks and had a lot. 400€ for my dress (asos) and suit 500€. The Rings 1100€…It was our Dream wedding❤️

Thank you for your tips!! 🥰

Great tips! Thanks for sharing ☺️

YOU are a beautiful bride and I love you wedding pictures, you look breathtaking. Love the bouquet and your common sense. Magically beautiful !!!!

this is such a great video!

Congratulations Meghan! You are a gorgeous bride and your wedding was very beautiful. Where did you go for your honeymoon? I love all your videos they are very helpful and calming. Wishing you the best!!!

I live in Canada and getting married soon, this was so helpful!

Congratulations on your marriage. May God bless you with many years of happiness. I also bought my wedding dress on Amazon for $145.00 USD. We are planning a small intimate wedding. I thought I was the only person who would be cooking my own food. My son is a minister and will be officiating my wedding. So no cost there. We are looking at a Thursday evening, which will lower the cost. Unfortunately I don't have a back yard, so I am looking a getting married at the park. Over all we are planning to spend less than 2000. We'll see if we make. We are looking at 15- 20 guest.

Loved this Meghan! The cost and fuss of planning such a massive event is something that turned me off weddings for a long time. This is definitely the route I would take if and when the time comes.

My wedding was relatively small compared to most weddings of my family and peers. I loved my wedding. My husbands sister had a large city backyard. She and her husband attended a lot of parties related to their jobs. They had reached a job level where it was expected they would entertain. Because I wanted a garden reception they offered to host the wedding reception. Wow! They rented a tent, tables and chairs. They rented the tablecloths. They bought the tableware. I paid for the garland, flowers and cake. My wedding was as at 1pm and the reception was from 1:30 to 5pm. The food was simple and inexpensive. They paid for wait staff for Friday afternoon, Saturday evening/night and again Sunday evening. Friday was my Wedding, Saturday was her work party and Sunday was his work party. So the rentals covered a three day weekend. The negotiated a lower rental rate for 3 days for the tent, table and chairs. My only disappointment was my brother in law promised flowers in the landscaping and he didn’t do it. Had I known I would have gone over and planted them myself. There was greenery, but he didn’t plant flowers as promised. I was glad I bought the garlands and table flowers. They did use the garlands and table flowers for their parties Saturday and Sunday. I was glad the flowers got multiple use.

What a lovely wedding ❤❤❤❤

This is so inspiring and your wedding was so beautiful!

Hi Meghan, I’m praying that you will have a lot more viewers and not giving up on youtube because i will miss you. you are one of my favorite influencer i say this cause mostly ytuber that i used to watched was already stop uploading haha. thank you. happy newly wedding! ♥️😊

Your wedding was so beautiful. I loved the flowers and didn’t realise they were fake. At least you can keep them too. My husband and I didn’t haven’t a wedding, we just turned up at the city centre said our vows, signed the paper and my husband drove to uni (he skipped his morning lecture for the ceremony lol) and I got the bus home! Even that cost us a few hundred. I did regret it a little when I was younger but now 17 years later I don’t mind, wish we had a photo though it’s a good story to tell 😉

Thank you. That calms me down!

Such good ideas! Your wedding looked beautiful. Definitely saving this for the future 🥰

Great smart wedding..... good job 🤩

wonderful!

I’m still single but I really enjoy watching this 🌷🌷🌷 it’s very informative, interesting and helpful to know 💖💖💖 thank you for sharing with us ☀️☀️☀️ Congratulations 🎉 you’re a very pretty bride 👰‍♀️

Oh how I wish my daughter would have watched this!!

Congratulations! Loved your wedding, everything about it. Thank you for sharing valuable information. I loved your cake, I have 1 question, were the flowers on the cake natural flowers?

Thanks Meghan for sharing the cost of your wedding. You two did save a lot and had a beautiful wedding. ❤My husband and I had a very small wedding in our house and make our own food.

I have been married for 48 years, 15 people huh, boy things sure have changed in most families ( that I knew) 150 to 200 was considered an intimate wedding, we had what was considered as a small wedding 500 people, back then the woman elders done all the cooking and baking, the men made the wine and sometimes the beer too. Just with my husband's family,my family including all 8 grandparents that was already 68 people. I come from a family of 12 kids my husband's family had 9 kids, not to mention my mom there was 10 kids my dad 8 kids, husband's mom 7 kids and his dad 5 kids. Can one see how quick it got to 500.I think these tiny weddings are harder to pull off, and I think you done a great job. You should be proud of yourself.

Lovely wedding! Did you have a first dance? Ours was so special to us and that moment was photographed 💗

this video is lovely

I really enjoy this!! As weeeeks approach on our big day, it was a bit misleading.. having a backyard as a venue plus making your own food is such a blessing. I thought you had some secret tips on actual venues and food lol Still very helpful and insightful!!

My back yard wedding was $3k and it was beautiful :)

Thanks so much for sharing.

Omg your sister in law's cake looked better than the original pic you saved. beautiful.

Congrates to you and your husband Meghan! We also got married recently, and I remember ppl told me "how are you going to do your own hair? do you know how?!" I was like, well, I do it every day 🙃 and I, too, loved the reaults 😊

We will have a backyard wedding and yes i will have some bridesmaids and maid of honor. What i did was, I asked them to pay for their dress and hair and make yp but i searched for the cheapest yet quality dresses and they have the option wether to buy from that shop or not. I just gave my recommendations and color preference. It was easy. They already chose their dresses. As for the hair and makeup they are not decided yet but they can do their own make up if they have too.

nice tiny wedding i like the video :)

Amazzzziiiingggggg..

Bravo à vous deux

Love this, thank you for sharing! Please tell me who you found last minute for your videographer? I’ve been looking and cheapest is around 3,000 so far :-(

This is exactly the kind of wedding I want for myself. Simple, intimate, and classy. Thanks for sharing your perfect day. I mean it when I say this is exactly what I want. Curious if you went on honeymoon or not?!

My little sister tried to do this and somewhat did..but,boyy!!Her in laws took over and refused to allow her keep it small.I would do mine like this!

When one of my step-sisters got married, she bought a dress that was being discontinued and saved a lot of money on that.

It’s crazy how prices differ in countries. In Australia it’s cheaper to buy a basic suit then hire - you can get a suit from $200 where as all hire is that or more.

My mom is a floral designer. I know that she would go nuts if she didn't do the flowers if I ever got married. That would save money.

Our wedding cost the price of a marriage license. We got dressed up, with to the magistrates office with friends (the office was old school fancy, with a large fireplace and chandelier) got married, then went out to eat. We had an amazing honeymoon and I have zero regrets. 11 years later we're in our early 30s and going strong. So happy I had such a truly minimal wedding! (the marriage license was $35. $145 is insane!)

I would be interested to know what the guests thought of this. It seems very cheaply done. BUT wedding are expensive so this is a great alternative for people on a small budget.

Hi! I love the wedding! I am planning something similar for the winter…in Alaska. I am concerned my guests (less than 20) will be bored or not entertained because it’s so small. What was your experience?

Hello Meghan, your wedding was so inspiring :) could you share with us your playlist? Wish you all the best. Greetings from Poland :)

I want to have a small wedding, too! 💒👰🤵❤💖

We´re getting married next year and I was thinking a simple reception with only parents and siblings (due to the crazy costs and some toxic relatives I wish not to see there.. we would use the savings for mortgage or travel ) and a big wedding, then again I ask myself if I won´t have regrets one day that it wasn´t a "big" thing with all the usualities.. Idk.. any advice? :) PS: informative and beautiful video as always

I'm in Canada too, Meghan! I once messaged you about wild salmon on Facebook :). I am in Durham Region.

your sister's cake looks soo much better than the pinterest one

❤️❤️

Very helpful and a lovely wedding. Love that you found your dress on Amazon! Who signed the wedding certificate in lieu of bridesmaid and groomsmen? I like the idea of not having anyone stand for me (in the future) but who signs as a witness?

My husband and I went to the courthouse and then to the beach so roughly $400 for marriage license,hotel, food, and gas. Would 100% do it like this again since we were then able to put the money in to a house. We did it during off season so we saved even more money on the beach front hotel. Funny story, we ended up having to go out of state because our state stopped doing courthouse weddings because they didn't want to have to recognize same sex marriage. We are not a same sex couple but were still affected by it.

Oh my gosh I am literally wanting to do the exact same thing... Except we will be having about 80 people.

Congratulations to you i Wish lost of love and happinness

❤️❤️👏

This is so ideal but i can;t even make my guest list under 130 and it is stressful.

Didn't hear anything about your side of the family, would love to know about them too..