A couple pulled off their dream wedding with 125 guests for under $25,000. From Costco cake to thrifted decor, here’s how they did it.

Anyone who has gotten married or even just been to a wedding recently will tell you it’s expensive.

Some couples are trying to cut costs for their weddings wherever they can, eloping or forgoing elaborate bachelorette parties.

When Madeline Sideras and Greg Johnston tied the knot in 2023, they had to be creative to stay within their $25,000 budget.

Madeline Sideras knew she didn’t want a long engagement when Greg Johnston proposed in January 2023.

Sideras, 31, is a model and content creator based in Los Angeles. She set her wedding date to Johnston, a 28-year-old tech recruiter, for July 13, 2023, just six months after he popped the question.

Sideras had always wanted a summer wedding and didn’t want to wait a year and a half to get married.

“The engagement process can be very stressful, and I just wanted to do it as quickly as possible,” she said. “Six months felt like enough time for me.”

The couple had their hearts set on a backyard wedding with a budget of $25,000.

“I love the movie ‘Father of the Bride,’” Sideras told Business Insider of her vision for her “casual and celebratory” wedding. “I think that’s such a sweet movie, and I love that aesthetic. I just wanted a backyard wedding.”

Sideras and Johnston planned to invite between 125 and 150 people to the wedding, but they wanted to keep their budget at $25,000, to which Sideras’ parents contributed.

According to The Knot, the average cost of a wedding in California is over $39,000, but Sideras didn’t want to go into debt paying for their event.

“You have to cut it off somewhere,” Sideras said.

Finding an affordable venue was step one for the couple.

Although she wanted a backyard wedding, Sideras didn’t have a backyard in Los Angeles for the event, as she lives in an apartment.

She first searched Vrbo and Airbnb for homes she could rent for the weekend of the wedding, but she couldn’t find a rental property that allowed for large events.

Then, she stumbled upon the Bissell House in Pasadena after hours of searching online. The venue has since closed, but it had the spacious backyard Sideras was looking for, as well as a beautiful interior.

“As soon as we got there, I could tell, ‘This is it,'” Sideras said. “The Bissell House had so many antiques and beautiful furniture, and the wallpaper and everything inside. It was like the perfect grandma shabby chic house.”

Sideras rented the house for $10,000 for three days and two nights, using it as lodging for her and Johnston’s families over the weekend. The couple also hosted their rehearsal dinner at the Bissell House, so they didn’t have to pay for an additional venue.

Sideras wanted the decor to feel effortless.

As she focused on the backyard wedding aesthetic, Sideras hopped on Pinterest to make a vision board for her wedding.

“I knew I wanted long tables with dinner party vibes. That was one of the first photos I pinned,” she said. “And then I saw mismatched plates and linens. I love anything in life that can be mismatched.”

She decided she wanted mismatched dishware, linens, and vases, but she quickly discovered that renting from an event company would be out of her budget when the first vendor she contacted told her it would cost $5,000 for dishware alone.

Sideras decided to thrift mismatching dishware for the wedding instead of renting it.

Sideras, her mom, and her aunt all love thrifting. They frequently text each other photos of their bargain finds. When she realized thrifted dishware would be the most economical choice for her wedding, Sideras recruited the pair to help.

They scoured thrift stores and buy nothing groups, using a mood board Sideras made as guidance for what to find. They ended up sourcing around 130 dinner, dessert plates, and wine glasses, sticking to a maximum budget of $1 per item.

“It was so fun for my mom, my aunt, and me to constantly be texting each other like, ‘I just got these five plates’ or ‘just got this set of 10 plates from my buy nothing group,'” Sideras said.

Sideras’ mom brought many of the plates from her home in Indiana to the wedding, and the others lived at the bride’s apartment until the event.

Sideras found cloth napkins on a secondhand website.

For her napkins, Sideras turned to Maxsold, which allows users to bid for items online that they can go pick up in person.

She bought pink cloth napkins through the site and found some additional napkins at thrift stores. At the wedding, they were arranged to look like flowers atop mismatched gingham tablecloths, which Sedaris bought from a wholesale site.

Thrift shopping saved Sideras thousands on place settings.

“We spent under $500 for every single place setting that we got,” she said. “I ended up keeping 12 plates or so, and I sold some or gave some away.”

She also saved money by arranging her own flowers.

“I feel like everyone knows flowers are an insane cost for weddings,” Sideras said. “I would have loved to spend thousands of dollars on florals because they’re beautiful, but unfortunately, it was just not in the budget.”

Sideras said one of her bridesmaids, who was also getting married in 2023, used the Los Angeles Flower Market for her wedding flowers, which inspired Sideras to do the same.

“We just went the day before, and I didn’t really have a vision, to be honest,” she said. “Since it was a backyard wedding, I felt like it didn’t need to be fancy white roses or anything like that.”

She got advice from her friends on how many flowers she would need to make floral arrangements for the tables and her bridesmaids’ bouquets, as well as guidance on which flowers would best withstand the July heat. She spent around $400.

“Three or four of us went to the flower market to pick them up, and then we brought them back to the apartment and arranged them all,” she said. “It probably took an afternoon.”

She paid someone to arrange her own bouquet, though.

Kelly Jean Ross arranged Sideras’ $250 bouquet, which featured an array of pink and white flowers.

“I paid someone to make my own bouquet because I knew that would be in a majority of the photos, and she did amazing,” Sideras said. “I was so happy that I spent money on that.”

She also rented tables and chairs from Facebook Marketplace instead of an event company.

“Table and chair rentals — that’s another insanely expensive cost,” Sideras said, telling Business Insider that she was quoted a minimum of $5,000 for table and chair rentals from an event company in town.

“I ended up going on Facebook Marketplace,” she said.

Sideras rented folding tables and wooden chairs from two small businesses she found on the site. It cost a few dollars per table and $1 per chair, so they didn’t add much to the budget.

They got their dance floor from Facebook Marketplace as well.

Sideras found a black-and-white checked dance floor on Facebook Marketplace for the event. She and Johnston didn’t invest in a formal DJ, either.

“My husband has a few friends who work in the music industry, so he just had one friend who was manning the speakers,” she said. They also used an app that seamlessly transitions from song to song for the dancing portion of the evening.

“It was awesome, and we were able to play Justin Bieber and all the songs that DJs never play,” she said.

They also borrowed some decor from friends of friends.

From helping her source decor to setting up the wedding on the day of the event, Sideras’ community was integral in making the wedding come together without breaking the bank.

For instance, Sideras’ friend Ashlyn Rudy served as her wedding coordinator. During the rehearsal dinner, Rudy noticed the reception area getting dark as the night went on, and she immediately sprang into action.

“She had a friend who was a lighting person, so she’s like, ‘I’m going to get some lights,'” Sideras said.

By the wedding day, they had plenty of string lights to keep the reception space bright, and Sideras didn’t have to do any extra work.

Sideras and Johnston also saved money by forgoing things, like ceremony decor.

The couple didn’t add flowers or an archway to the ceremony space, and they reused the same chairs they used for dinner for guests.

They also didn’t have much signage for the wedding. They just had a welcome sign made by a friend at the front entrance.

Stationery costs can add up, and keeping it as simple as possible helped the couple save money.

A thrifted wedding dress helped Sideras cut costs, too.

Sideras wanted different wedding dresses for her ceremony and reception, setting a budget of $1,000 for both. She pictured herself in a vintage gown with puff sleeves and a tea-length skirt for the ceremony.

“My mom and I went to so many places, and no one really had one,” she said.

Eventually, she contacted a now-closed vintage store called The Gorky, asking if they had anything like what she was imagining. By chance, the store had a $400 dress in the back of its stockroom that fit the bill.

“A staffer sent me a photo, and I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, I think this is it,'” Sedaris said. “It didn’t have puff sleeves yet, but it had sleeves that could become puff sleeves.”

She went with her mom to the store to try it on, and the gown fit perfectly. It was meant to be.

A poofy veil completed the look.

The Gorky recommended a seamstress to Sideras, who created the puffy sleeves of her dreams.

Sideras was also a fan of a voluminous veil she had seen photos of, but she didn’t want to spend $600 on the accessory.

She asked her tailor if she could make a similar veil, and she was able to for just $100.

Sideras got her second dress from Anthropologie, allowing her to stick to her budget.

Skipping a traditional caterer helped the couple save money.

Catering is often the most expensive aspect of a wedding, as feeding over 100 people a three-course meal can be costly.

Sideras and Johnston found a workaround, having pizza from La Pizzeria Co. at the nuptials instead of a more formal meal.

“It was between tacos and pizza because we love both of those,” Sideras said. “I just emailed a whole bunch of different pizza places that did catering, and I went with the cheapest one.”

“They were amazing, and it was just a flat fee for the amount of people,” she said of La Pizzeria Co. “There was also salad and other little things included.”

They also just served wine and beer from coolers, so they didn’t have to pay for a bartender. Not every wedding venue allows that, but it’s a great way to save if you have the option.

Sideras’ sister-in-law made the couple a small wedding cake for photos.

Wedding cakes can cost hundreds — if not thousands — of dollars, which was also out of budget for Sideras and Johnston.

“I knew I wanted just a simple strawberry shortcake-style cake for us to cut into,” Sideras said, adding that she didn’t “want it to look overly professional.” Her sister-in-law ended up making the cake for them.

“I think she just made a box cake and decorated it cute, and that was perfect,” she said.

They turned to Costco for cake for the rest of their guests.

Because she didn’t want to pay for an expensive wedding cake, Sideras bought a few sheet cakes from Costco instead.

Her aunt picked them up, decorated them with strawberries, and displayed pieces on some of the thrifted plates Sedaris bought.

“That was really sweet, and no one even knew that it was Costco cake because it was already cut up,” she said. “It turns out Costco cake is a hit.”

Sideras and Johnston’s biggest “splurge” was their photographer.

Sideras tapped photographer Bliss Katherine, whom she had previously worked with as a model.

“I always just kind of knew that I wanted her to be our photographer,” Sideras said. “I’ve worked with so many photographers, so that was really, really important to me.”

“The photos are insane, so that was the best use of our money,” she added.

Sideras said setting expectations with yourself about the wedding is key to sticking to a budget.

“You have to pick one or two things that are important to you, and then the rest you just have to let go,” she said. “I would have loved to have a live band, but that would have been very expensive.”

Likewise, she thinks it can be helpful to approach the wedding as just an event when searching for rentals, as some retailers can charge a premium for wedding items.

“Don’t be afraid to ask for discounts for things, too,” she said. “What’s the worst they’re going to say? No?”

She also recommends using the resources you have in your community, especially if you live in a pricier market like Los Angeles, and trying not to put too much pressure on the event.

“I think I’m a pretty chill person, so I was never really that stressed,” she said.

Looking back, Sideras said her wedding day feels like “a dream.”

“It felt incredible,” Sideras said of her wedding day. “We have so many people tell us to this day, ‘Oh my gosh, that was my favorite wedding I’ve been to.'”

“It was so calm and relaxed and just felt so us,” she added. “It was so special, and I will love it forever.”

The post A couple pulled off their dream wedding with 125 guests for under $25,000. From Costco cake to thrifted decor, here’s how they did it. appeared first on Business Insider.