My Low-Key NYC Wedding Cost $19,612

Job: Freelance Makeup Artist
Partner's Job: Engineer
Location: New York, NY
Number of bridesmaids: 2

I didn't have a wedding planner. I coordinated and organized everything myself with the help of family and friends. I assigned certain people a task for the day. I even drew out a floor plan of where I wanted everything. We got engaged in May and were married on January 2 of the following year. We had a lot of out-of-town guests coming, so it made sense to have it around the holidays.

We couldn't have done this day without the generosity of our friends and family. It truly took a village, and we were so grateful. It really was an incredible day filled with love!

My husband is from Brazil and wanted me to have something from his country, so he bought the diamond there and had a jeweler in New York set it. My wedding band was from the same jeweler and cost $1,200. His ring was a gift from his parents and cost $800.

I didn't realize the cost of stationery — wow! I bought some elegant card stock and envelopes online and printed the invitations at my mom's office. The cost of stamps for invitations and thank you notes was $90 including international postage. We set up a free website with The Knot and included directions, gift registry, hotel information, and a place to RSVP. That definitely saved a lot of money and hassle.

I didn't have place cards because I didn't want people stuck at tables. That also saved us money.

The restaurant where we had our wedding let us decorate the night before since the party room wasn't being used. Afterwards, we went upstairs to the restaurant for dinner. Everyone paid for their own meal, but it's a very reasonable place, about $15-$20 an entree.

To cut down on costs, and to make things easier on our international guests who we didn't want to get lost running around the city, we did the ceremony and the reception at the same venue. There was no venue fee as long as you paid for a minimum of 120 people for dinner, which is about how many we had.

Since I'm Jewish and my husband is Christian, we had my oldest brother officiate for us. He paid $15 to be ordained online and was able to incorporate both our religions in the ceremony. I did pay $50 to have a friend's roommate from Brazil teach me how to say my vows in Portuguese as a surprise for my husband during the ceremony.

Two friends also did readings. We borrowed a microphone from my friend.

Originally, I wanted to rent a loft space for the wedding, but the cost of rentals (chairs, tables, etc.) adds up. So we found an Italian restaurant that had a bar, party room, and cool loft feel. Since they already had tables, we didn't have to pay for rentals.

We had a set price for a buffet dinner, plus passed appetizers during the cocktail hour. My husband loves Italian food, and we wanted food to be a big part of the wedding. Nothing is worse than a wedding with overdone food that tastes like you're at a bad prom! We had an open bar, except for the last hour. We opted for the not-super-top shelf, but we did request a better tequila and they were very accommodating. The food and drink was paid for by my mother, stepfather, and husband. It cost $1,680 an hour for the open bar, so I decided to just pay the bar tab for the last hour of the event. Since it was so late, people were drinking less alcohol and more coffee. The bill came out to $800 with tip.

The menu included cheesecakes, but we wanted a wedding cake. My father offered to pay for the wedding cake, but I didn't want him to have to pay too much, so we ordered cupcakes from Molly's Bakery in the West Village, and they made us a layer cake so we'd have something to cut.

We had a candy bar for my new stepdaughter, who was four at the time of the wedding. My stepmother put it together, and got a lot of the candy on sale after Halloween. She also paid for special M&Ms with my stepdaughter's face on it. We asked our international guests to bring candy from their own country, too.

Friends in my industry told me about The Bridal Garden in Chelsea, a non-profit dress shop that donates all their proceeds to charity. Designers donate showroom samples in all shapes and sizes. I went to have a look and I found a gorgeous ivory column Nicole Miller gown with vintage looking beaded straps originally around $1,800. I got it for $600! The store has an incredible seamstress who did all the repairs and tailoring for $300.

Gray and Davis, the jeweler who made my wedding rings, loaned me a gorgeous gold and diamond ring for the wedding day, and I wore a vintage gold and diamond watch that belonged to my great aunts from the 1950s. I also bought a small gold letter earrings online for $25 with my husband's initials.

I got Spanx and a special stick-on bra for $160. I bought my crystal head piece on Etsy for $60. My shoes were knock-offs of the ones I wanted (which were about $300) and on sale from Aldo for $40. They were super comfy.

Being a makeup artist and beauty writer, I called in all my professional favors and got most of the services gifted for free Everything was done by friends or clients, except for my makeup, which I did myself. I typically charge $500 for brides. The only thing I paid for was $90 lash extensions.

My bridesmaids each did their own hair and makeup. We all got ready together and had a few tequilas in the process.

My husband and his best man rented their shoes and tuxedos online. I told my two bridesmaids to just buy a long grey dresses. They each spent about $100.

Our ring bearer was my West Highland terrier so we got him a doggy tux online. My stepdaughter was our flower girl. We ordered her dress online for $60, then I went to a haberdashery shop on 34th street and bought a silver ribbon and crystal piece and sewed it together myself for another $10. She also wore a flower headband I found at Target for $13.

I asked a set designer friend and my husband to help me design the backdrop and overhead lighting display, which we set up the night before. I had an old-school disco ball and bought a motor for $25. We used battery-operated candles for the ceremony. I bought various vases online and made table settings with sticks I collected over the summer and put floating candles on top. The cake topper was two West Highland terrier figurines

If you're willing to do the online searches and hunt, you can find great stuff cheap.

I found photographers to be super expensive or really cheesy, so I had my little brother and two photographer friends take photos. Two friends with video cameras recorded the service.

Another great thing about the venue is that it had speakers and hook up for DJ equipment, so our DJ didn't have to bring any of his own other then his decks and music, which saved us money. He is a friend and has played parties for me before so he gave us a huge discount and worked within our budget.

We had Jenga set up with markers for guests to write on instead of a sign-in book. We still play with it and reread everyone's messages. We also had 50 pairs of socks in a basket in case women wanted to dance without their shoes on. Being a makeup artist, I spent months collecting makeup to set touch-up stations in the bathrooms.

I got each of my bridesmaids thin gold drop earrings for $30 each. The best man and my brother, our officiant, each got cufflinks I got offline for $25 each. Since my husband was learning to fly, I got him helicopter cufflinks. I got my stepdaughter a silver heart locket with my husband's photo in it. After the wedding, I bought my mom, dad, stepmother, and mother-in-law mini photo albums to say thank you.