Here is how we cut our wedding bill for 120 people from 45k to 10k! Our wedding planning experience got off to a bad start when we told our wedding planner we

Here is how we cut our wedding bill for 120 people from 45k to 10k! Our wedding planning experience got off to a bad start when we told our wedding planner we had no specific budget. He took that to mean an unlimited budget... and came back with a plan for a 100 person medieval-themed party in fancy dress, complete with monogrammed plates and dancing midgets. Total cost around 45k euros. (The midgets alone were 1.5k!) So we sacked him and did it for 1/4 of the cost: - Timing - Switch to a Thursday, with an afternoon ceremony and evening dinner. No problems getting a venue. We decided not to stress about people who couldn't make it midweek. - Venue for ceremony - The venue was a medieval cloister in the middle of Amsterdam. By doing it on a Thursday afternoon, we paid their standard rates for a business meeting. We made friends with the venue manager. He was able to provide post-ceremony drinks and nibbles at much cheaper rates. - Celebrant - A friend who did weddings in a another region was able to register with the city council to be our celebrant. Zero cost. - Fancy dress - As a joke to the wedding planner's medieval idea, we surprised our best man etc with ridiculous medieval fancy dress. A cheap way to help everyone laugh even more at their speeches. - Flowers - The previous evening, the venue was used for the Dutch 'Wildlife Photographer of the Year' awards presentation. The friendly venue manager kept their flowers for us. Zero cost. - Wedding cake - Decided we could do without this if people had nice post-ceremony drinks. Zero cost. - Dinner - Booked out a nearby restaurant for the night. They could seat 80. That worked fine as from the 120 guests, many families with kids appreciated the option to go home after the post-ceremony drinks. The restaurant arranged all the catering at their standard reasonable prices. Very nice meal served by professional staff. Zero stress. After dessert, everyone gathered at the bar area and talked and enjoyed themselves til 1am. - Photographer - A friend asked if she could take photos. Problem solved at zero cost. - Band/dancing - Neither of us wanted this. Lots of clubs nearby for people who wanted to go out afterwards. I definitely recommend booking a standard restaurant for a wedding dinner. Don't go to a specialist wedding venue!