Guest post from Bronwyn
When my wonderful boyfriend proposed to me, I immediately bought a pile of bridal magazines and began looking for inspiration online.
I quickly learned one thing: Love may be free, but weddings can be expensive!
A quick google search showed that the average price of a wedding in the US is a little over $25,000. I initially laughed at this number, but having now planned a wedding, I can see how easy it would be to spend this amount of money.
In an effort to help other brides who are in the process of planning their big day, I wanted to share some money saving tips I knew going in, and some I learned along the way:
1. Decide how much you can afford.
I didn’t want to dip into savings to pay for a wedding, and I was definitely not going to put anything on credit. So I reviewed my monthly budget for areas where I could cut back each month. I multiplied this by the length of our engagement to determine my total budget.
2. Cut that amount by 10%.
There will be overruns, there will be items you forgot to include in your detailed budget, and trust me, as the day approaches you will want to throw money at problems just to make them go away.
My advice would be to cut your initial budgeted amount by 10% just to give yourself a little cushion.
3. Choose your top three priorities.
These are the items you will “splurge” on (splurge being a relative term). You may want to get your fiancé’s input on these!
4. Create a detailed budget.
Make sure this budget doesn’t exceed your total budget (including your 10% cushion). If it does, go back and revise.
5. Be upfront about your budget.
Don’t be afraid to tell vendors what your budget is for their particular area
Our baker and florist were both happy to offer us options that fit our rather modest budget. (Our florist even said, “Honey, more flowers aren’t going to make you any more married.”)
6. Be careful when dress shopping.
Although it might be tempting, DON’T try on a dress above your budget as you could fall in love with it.
Also, make sure to budget enough money for alterations and bear in mind that different styles will cost more/less to alter.
7. Consider if it’s something you actually need.
Yes, that ring cushion marked down from $50 to $25 may be a great deal, but do you actually need a cushion to put your rings on?
8. DIY can be your money-saving friend OR foe.
Buying a print-at-home invitation kit from Michaels was substantially cheaper than paying a professional to print them. However I have also seen brides spend a fortune on DIY projects.
9. Don’t feel guilty for not saving every penny.
Not every suggestion is right for every person (I wasn’t willing to have my wedding on a Tuesday to cut costs), pick and choose the ones that are right for you.
10. Remember what it is all about!
At the end of the day, you will be married to you best friend. And you can’t really put a price on that!
What are YOUR tips or tricks to save money on wedding expenses?
Bronwyn married her best friend in 2012, and is now a part-time bean-counter, full-time penny-pincher, wife, and mom to the world’s most adorable toddler (she may also be a little biased!)
Laurie says
Great suggestions! I’m a wedding photographer and see how expensive weddings can be! I think scaling down the guest list is a huge help. I love lots of flowers but finding cheaper in season flowers makes a difference. Also using greenery is less expensive and beautiful. I’ve seen brides have a small wedding cake and then cut a sheet cake in the back or use cupcakes/pies to stretch desserts. You can get creative with dessert bar. Serve pasta is a great way to save money. Have people rsvp via website and maybe only send rsvp cards to non internet savvy people. Borrow jewelry. Do cheap or no favors. Get married during the week instead of weekends. Rent decor instead of buying. Take advantage of venue amenities. Limit wedding party size. That cuts down on flowers. Buy wedding dress off the rack but be careful to factor in alterations. That’s all I have off the top of my head.
Always hire a professional photographer! 🙂 but seriously, ask if they will cut down on hours, number of photographers or exclude extras like albums or engagement session to cut cost if you want professional pictures.
denise says
We used Wedideas.com for our flowers! My beautiful artificial bouquet and my husband’s boutonniere are on my dresser in a vase and still look as gorgeous as the day I got them! Much cheaper than real flowers and I still get to enjoy them!
Also, we only bought the bare minimum and did NOT decorate the sanctuary!
JP says
We did an hour session and a beautiful location and had about 20 guest. We had lunch at a restaurant close by, less than $300 and it was gifted to me by a brother and friend. I was able to negotiate the engagement session rate for the hour and found an up and coming videographer to do video. I found my dress and flower girl dress on ebay and asked my 2 attendants to wear black dresses. A close friend gifted flowers and an aunt bought the cakes. Total cost for everything was south of $2500.
Other ways to save money: Dont’ have a reception. It’s not a requirement. The most important part (IMO) is the ceremony. Do a dessert reception or a breakfast for close friends and family if you must.
Keep it simple and don’t feel you have to put on the show of the century. It’s about you and your new spouse. The best gift you can give your family is by having a strong and happy marriage.
Ellen says
We’ve been married almost 30 years so know things are drastically different now. We got married during the xmas season and used the decorations from the church as part of our theme. (Poinsettias and roses for the flowers.) Also, for my dress, I simply took a magazine picture and asked to see that style in my price range. Utilized that a lot and saved a ton. 🙂
Lea Stormhammer says
Terrific tips – and these could be used for any big celebration, not just a wedding. Thanks so much for sharing.
And that’s a fabulous wedding photo! Thanks for sharing that too!
Lea
Jen says
My suggestion is to keep your wedding small! Only invite friends and relatives you regularly see. If you haven’t seen/talked to Uncle John in 5 years do you really need to invite him? I found it tough because my parents wanted us to invite everyone, but we would have had a huge wedding (on parent has 8 siblings and one has 9 siblings plus spouses plus cousins most of which I never see/talk to). Someone suggested to me only inviting people you see on holidays (Christmas/Thanksgiving). We also decided not to invite work people because we weren’t close to anyone we worked with at the time.
Because we kept it simple we rented a house on the lake and a friend picked up BBQ at a local restaurant and served it for us…. we paid for the food but her gift to us was serving it.
Also, don’t tell people you order from it’s for a wedding or the price triples. We got a white cake from a local place and added our own topper… we never said it was for a wedding so we saved!
Keelie Reason @LoveHopeAdventure says
at my wedding, a lot of services were given to us by our friends. However, my mom had this idea that saved us money and used up potential waste. We purchased potted flowers for the centerpieces of the tables. After the reception, we gave those centerpieces to special people that took part in our wedding, such as the parents, grandparents, wedding coordinator, soloist, and people like that. It showed our appreciation to them, but served as a dual purposed. What is really cool, is that since my mom ended up with one of those flowers, she potted some of it for me after the wedding. I still have the plant from my wedding 13 years ago. I thought it was a really cool and frugal idea. I assigned specific people in charge of handing out the plants to the designated folks. I was not in charge of that end of things.
This idea definitely took forethought, but I had my flower girl through dried rose petals from roses that my husband had given us during our dating years. Anytime he would give me roses (which was usually just once a year), I’d dry the petals and save them in a box. So, we had the flower girl throw those. I know it is a minimal expense to avoid, but it had a lot of meaning for us.