5 Smart Ways to Save on Your Wedding
Before you start with your wedding planning, you should sit down with your partner and discuss your financial situation in regards to your wedding plans.
You should comfortably establish who’s paying for what or if someone in the family is contributing or paying for the whole wedding.
Whatever the case is, you should have an estimate and realistic budget while brainstorming your needs as guidance, so you don’t end up broke and regretful after the wedding.
The key is to know how certain aspects of the wedding are priced and what areas you don’t mind “sacrificing” if need be.
This will help you make clever decisions when it comes to not breaking the bank.
Here you will find 5 smart ways to save on your wedding:
1. HAVING THE CEREMONY AND RECEPTION AT THE SAME PLACE
This option will only apply if you’re not following any religious traditions where sometimes you marry in a church or temple.
Vendors who need to go to two locations will obviously charge more, so doing everything in the same location will definitely help you save extra bucks.
Also, having two locations could mean having to include transportation for you and your guests; this equals to more expenses.
So if you don’t truly envision yourself following certain traditions, then finding a place where you can hold your ceremony and reception is a big plus for savings. It would definitely be more convenient for your guests.
2. STATIONERY
If you hire a graphic design company to make your own exclusive wedding stationery designs, then you will probably end up paying an arm and a leg. You pay for exclusivity this way.
On the other hand, you can still hire a graphic designer who works with set templates that you can choose from. This is a great way to save and guarantee they will still be professional.
Another option is to DIY since there are websites that offer this service however, for this option I feel that you need to have a little background in graphic design.
If you don’t have a sense of design, then your best bet to save money and play it smart, is to hire the graphic designer who works with templates.
3. DAY OF THE WEEK
Getting married on a Saturday is very popular whereby venues charge a higher fee. If you're fine getting married on a day other than Saturday, why not picking a Friday or even a Sunday?
If you decide going for a Friday, give your guests a decent amount of time in advance so they can request that day off of work or at least request a half day if your wedding is later in the day.
If you decide to go for Sunday, the smartest way to do it is on a Sunday prior to a holiday that falls on a Monday every year (Presidents Day, Memorial Day, Labor Day, Columbus Day, Martin Luther King Day etc). This way your guests will have Monday off anyway, and can recover from a long night fun ;)
4. FLOWERS
If flowers are not extremely important to you, why not having some non-floral arrangements? Non-floral centerpieces for example, are much less expensive than floral and there are endless options depending on the feel of your wedding.
Also, this could be a good idea for guests that are allergic to some flowers. But if you definitely want to add some fresh flowers to your day, then you can have some real flowers in some areas of the wedding, and use non-floral arrangements in other areas.
5. THE WEDDING DRESS
You can save lots of money by going with a non-designer gown. You can find beautiful dresses for less money when they have less embellishment which usually raises the price.
Also, I strongly recommend you buy your dress in person. When you buy it online, you don’t know how it’s going to fit you and alterations can be really costly.
You don’t want to end up paying three times more than the price of the dress for all the alterations that need to be done.
Sit down and think what’s not that important to you that can be modified in order to avoid high costs. These are just some tips of things that you can modify during your wedding planning in order to make it happen and not ending up broke! :)
Lastly, keep in mind that food or a price per person cost structure usually applies, depending on your wedding venue. This is a very good way to understand more or less a big chunk of what your wedding will cost when you add up the amount of people you want to invite to what the price per head is.
Don't forget to add the tax and fees that most venues tack on as well, plus keep in mind that you need to add additional vendors aside from the venue's cost (such as photographer, makeup artist, hair stylist, etc.).
Paula Anger is a Delray Beach Certified Wedding Planner, owner of Verano Events and author of *Verano's Essential Wedding Guide*. Paula has been in the event's and fashion industry for over 10 years and has worked with well-known celebrities. Connect with us: info@veranoevents.com
