Choosing a simple wedding gives you room to stash away extra cash and dodge a mountain of stress. These days, more couples are stepping away from the idea of pouring a fortune into a single day.
Maybe the budget is tight, or perhaps you would rather channel those funds into something that lasts longer.
If any of that resonates, there are countless paths to pulling off a celebration that feels like you while keeping everything wonderfully unfussy. You will find simple wedding cake ideas, simple wedding decoration ideas, and so much more.
Whether your heart is set on an indoor gathering or an outdoor party, plenty of low-key approaches will help you bring it to life. No matter how pared back you go, you will still hold onto sophistication, grace, and real beauty without sacrificing a thing.
Simple Wedding Invitations
Wedding invitations can be both simple and totally elegant. The trick is zeroing in on details that echo the mood of your celebration.
Add a personal flair to give it that extra spark. Here are some refined easygoing invitation ideas to get you started.
- Be realistic about what your designs will cost from the very start.
- Get crafty by making decorative borders with punches or stamp cutters. It costs very little and instantly gives the card a polished feel.
- Reach for ribbons. They bring a whimsical touch and also keep everything neatly bundled together.
- Use personalized stamps to press your initials, wedding date, and return address into the paper. It delivers a crisp, official finish.
- Print everything on watercolor paper.
- For rustic or simple backyard wedding ideas, lean into twines and tags. Twines paired with custom Kraft paper tags never go out of style.
- Create a personalized embosser featuring a custom monogram. It never fails to feel timeless.
Simple Wedding Decorations
With simple wedding decoration ideas, you do not have to drain your bank account. You can work with objects already around you, provided they match the theme you have chosen.
While you explore, bridal expert Abby Larson of Style Me Pretty suggests steering clear of overdone Pinterest recycled ideas.
Those concepts tend to fade out of style quickly. Check out some straightforward decoration approaches below.
- Scatter flower petals all around the space, even without having flower girls. This gives the venue a charming softness in place of full floral arrangements.
- For simple beach wedding ideas, gather seashells. Drop them into clear vases or hurricane containers and use them to dress up the venue.
- Repurpose the bridal party bouquets as centerpieces right at the reception.
- For simple wedding reception table decoration ideas, try burlap table numbers. Also, keep the tables airy and uncluttered, and let your favors pull double duty. You can dress the table with wedding favors, or design decor pieces that actually become the wedding favors themselves. Anyone can do it.
- Go green, or wrap twinkling lights around trimmed branches.
- Line the aisle path for an indoor or outdoor wedding using candles or string lights. Candles tend to be cheaper and lean much more romantic.
Simple Outdoor Wedding Ideas On a Budget
For couples who genuinely thrive outside, you can host your day without wiping out your savings. Nature delivers an unmatched kind of beauty, though you will need a few core elements to make it work.
Tiffany Rivera of Simply Breathe Events points out that no matter how tiny a wedding is, it will still need food, rentals, decor, bar service, staff, and some form of entertainment.
So those basics must stay in the plan. Peek at some budget friendly simple wedding ideas below.
- Host a backyard barbeque. Gather your friends for a BBQ and exchange your vows right in the middle of it all. No fuss, no unnecessary chaos.
- Have a backyard wedding. You only need tables, chairs, canopies, and some lights. Decorate with flowers or greenery if the mood strikes you.
- Enjoy a wedding while camping. If you are a couple who loves camping, invite your people along and say your vows surrounded by trees and tents. Serve finger food and plenty of booze. Wedding accomplished.
- Have a wedding in the woods. Go rustic and plan a woodland wedding. Arrange chairs for your guests beneath trees wrapped with string lights. You can sprinkle petals on the ground for an added layer of loveliness.
- Ditch the caterer and swap in a food truck or cart instead.
Small Indoor Wedding Ideas
Indoor wedding gatherings feel intimate and snuggly. When you shrink that down to a small indoor wedding, it becomes completely dreamy.
Look through these simple small wedding ideas for indoor spaces below.
- Trim the guest list down to the absolute minimum. If you want a wedding with no more than 20 to 50 people, only invite the folks who truly matter. A clever trick from Jove of Jove Meyer Events is to scroll through your recent call and text list. The people you have spoken to within the last three months are the ones who count. Invite them.
- Cut costs by booking a venue where the existing decorations already match your vision. Think about non traditional spaces like restaurants, coffee shops, hotel suites, or even your own home.
- Stick with only what truly matters. Shed the excess fluff and fill the time with activities your guests will actually enjoy.
- Spend wisely by upgrading the most meaningful things like photography and food. A smaller guest count frees up your budget significantly.
- Design intentionally with the fabrics, lights, and plants to suit your space and desired ambiance. According to the valley, do it so well that your guests have real elbow room.
Simple Wedding Reception Tips
The wedding reception tends to swallow up way more money than the ceremony itself. You can save significantly on it by being clever and keeping things simple.
Most of the heavy lifting falls on the venue, food, and drinks. Browse some of our simple wedding reception ideas below.
- Avoid venues that require you to use their in house catering.
- Hold the wedding and reception in the exact same spot.
- Adopt simple themed buffet serving stations.
- Purchase booze in bulk or ask guests to bring their own drinks.
- Skip the cocktail hour entirely.
- Throw a wedding party potluck.
- Enjoy off the shelf appetizers.
- Raise your bar. Serve only beer, wine, and a single signature cocktail.
- Do a basic buffet.
- Skip the champagne toast.
- Keep the reception short.
Wedding Cakes Ideas
Cakes bring beauty and add a layer of grace to the wedding reception. You can either go totally flamboyant or keep it low key.
If you lean toward the latter, Maggie Austin advises you to develop a dessert that speaks to your personal style.
Incorporate details consistent with your wedding concept while also keeping cash in your pocket. With that said, check out some simple wedding cake ideas.
- Build up the area around the cake with linens, greenery, photos, candles, or even flowers. This approach fills out the space surrounding the cake beautifully.
- Strip it naked and work with fillings and flavors, says Betsy of Nine Cakes. Think lemon curd, orange, chocolate ganache with toasted almonds, and similar options.
- Package cake slices as favors for your guests. This pulls double duty.
- Buy an iced cake from a boutique bakery or add it to your catering contract.
- Supplement one or two tiers of display cake with sheet cakes.
Simple Bouquet Ideas
One of the sharpest ways a savvy bride can trim expenses is through wedding flowers. You can put together a bouquet from inexpensive blooms to carry you beautifully through the day.
Mary Coombs stresses that your flowers should be chosen with purpose, not just for their colors. Without further delay, let us explore simple wedding bouquet ideas from Jill Mason of Starflower.
- Go for budget friendly flowers like English roses, carnations, hydrangeas, daisies, and more.
- Order flowers limited to just one or two varieties wholesale and ask for a volume discount.
- Stay within the current season so you get them fresh and affordable.
- Reach for the big blooms. This strategy gives you a more substantial bouquet using fewer stems.
- Think greenery such as sunflowers and wild grown daisies.
Every elegant bride who wants to keep cash in her pocket will fall for a simple wedding. Above, you have discovered simple wedding ideas for cakes, reception, bouquet, decor, and more for the big day.
These are step by step tips to guide you through the wedding planning process.
By the time the celebration wraps up, you will have enough money tucked away to splurge on a dreamy destination honeymoon. And you will have spared yourself an enormous amount of stress.