When you undertake the seemingly crazy task of planning a wedding within a $2,000 budget, you have to think outside the box. When it came to the idea of traditional wedding vendors and wedding rings, we did exactly that.

Honestly, one of the most difficult parts of the wedding planning process was trimming down the guest list (or should I say, “going at it with a machete”?). The list started out gigantic, even for our $2,000 wedding. We knew we had to cut it back because of Goal #5 for our ideal wedding: “We will have real time …

My friend got engaged a few months before I did. By the time I baked a celebratory engagement cake and showed up on her doorstep, she had already purchased several bridal magazines and started a file folder to capture all her wedding ideas and inspiration.

Instead of starting with the details—dress, flowers, centerpieces, invitations—Matt and I took a different approach while …

People pretty much thought we were crazy. A wedding for under $2,000? On a Saturday evening? In July? With just seven months of planning?