1. Cut Paper Costs:
There is a lot of paper in weddings. Engagement party invites, save the dates, bridal shower invites,
Trust me, I looked at many websites; wedding paper divas, shutter fly, tiny prints, FedEx and Vista Print to name a few. None of those companies gave me the look that I wanted for the price that I could afford.
This is when I decided to attempt printing my own invitations. I found the blank card stock & laser cut invite holders I wanted on amazon.com, designed my own invites on word and printed them myself. Click here to check out my blog & companion video on my invite process for more in-depth info.
Another way to cut paper costs is to cut certain 'must have' items. Let's just be honest, do you need to send out engagement announcements and Save the Date cards? Don't forget the cost of postage to mail each! Evites are much cheaper, and less time consuming. We skipped the save the dates all together and announced our engagement on Facebook like true Millennials.
2. Get that Bargain
Weddings are expensive but you don't have to go broke to have a nice ceremony, reception or look good. When it comes to your wedding look, you can cut costs by treating your wedding day look like an other shopping trip. I suggest buying off the rack, discontinued or sale items. You can also stray from the traditional wedding gown and wear a prom dress or other evening gown. This can cut your costs drastically since anything with the word "wedding" or "bride" attached to it will have the price jacked way up.
Click here to see my complete wedding look, which I pulled together for less than $1,500.
3. Don't Spend All Your Money in One Place
When you are trying on dresses the dressing room attendant is really trying to sell you on the dress you are wearing. Meaning, after you are in a gown and liking it they will "jack it up" as they say on Say Yes to the Dress, by adding the right veil, jewelry and other accessories to pull the look together for you. This was probably one of my favorite parts of dress shopping, but often times those accessories are just as expensive as they are beautiful, and don't forget, over priced! If you love the dress, buy it but don't feel like you have to get all your accessories from the same place. This goes for alterations as well. You may be able to get a better deal at a local tailor or prom/bridal boutique.
4. Ask for Help
Money isn't the only thing you will need when putting together a wedding. You will need a lot of laborers as well. If you can't afford to hire a bunch of different vendors for your wedding, be sure to ask around for help. If you have a cousin that does makeup, a brother that takes pictures or a coworker that is really crafty you can save a ton of money by getting them to work for free to no money. A lot of relatives or friends will offer their help so don't be shy when you need to ask!
5. Off season wedding
We were able to save a LOT of money by having an off season wedding. Most summer weddings are in June and Fall weddings are in September so you can get a pretty good discount for booking a date in the early spring, or winter. Also, depending on the day of the week you choose, there could be additional discounts. Weekday weddings are less expensive than weekend weddings, and Saturday is cheaper than Sunday. We have a Saturday evening wedding in November. The venue had a low volume of events during that month so they threw in a lot of discounts in order to secure out sale.
6. Onsite ceremony & Reception
There are benefits to having your ceremony and reception at the same location. Guests won't have to travel and you could get a discount from the venue. In the case of our wedding, we were able to have the wedding ceremony and reception in the same room at the banquet hall venue we chose. We originally wanted to have a church ceremony but the cost we were quoted for the church we wanted was way out of budget.The venue we went with let us set up the garden chairs, our backdrop and wedding arch on the dance floor. My main concern was that I wanted to walk down an aisle and they made this possible. The back drop gave us separation from the dinner tables and made it feel like the space was transformed for the ceremony.
7. Skip the rehearsal dinner
Ultimately, If you are looking to save money you will need to be flexible. For us, this meant not hosting a reception dinner for the wedding party. It would have been nice to have but we needed to prioritize.
Every little girl has an idea of what her dream wedding will be but sometimes those little girls grow into women with a lot of bills, debt and no rich parents! But, even so, you can have a beautiful wedding, surrounded by the people who love and support you the most. Remember that it is your day and you don't have to follow traditions or do anything you don't want to, but most importantly it is about your future marriage between you and your spouse, not the centerpieces!
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