It wasn’t until well into my adulthood that I realized the fairytale wedding I knew I wanted was utterly, and hopelessly out of my price range. After I let that dream go and had my feet firmly cemented back on planet earth I realized that my wedding could be just as lovely but done on a much more realistic scale. It took examining every aspect of my wedding and trimming the fat.
After going through the process I came up with a list of 8 ways to save big money while planning a wedding.
1. Cut Paper Costs:
Until you have one or are closely involved in the planning of you, you won’t realize just how much paper is involved in weddings. Just think about it, you’ll need Engagement party invites, save the dates, bridal shower invites, not to mention that the actual wedding invites which often include Reception info cards, RSVP cards, and envelopes. Even if you shop around, the cost of this can get pretty expensive, especially if you plan on inviting more than 30 guests.
Trust me, I looked at many websites; wedding paper divas, Shutterfly, tiny prints, FedEx andVista Print to name a few. None of those companies offered 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 Microsoft 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 altogether and announced our engagement on Facebook like true Millennials. So instead of mailing out something to all of your guests for each wedding event, consider printing your own or even doing digital announcements for some events and saving your money to splurge on really nice wedding invites.
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 any other shopping trip. I suggest buying off the rack, discontinued or sale items for your bridal look. 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. With a little tailoring and customizing discounted or second-hand items can look as good or better as pricey boutique items. The best way to reduce your budget is to approach things with an open mind and be willing to work for a good deal.
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 TLC’s 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.
The downside is that those accessories are just as expensive as they are beautiful and, most importantly, they are seriously overpriced! If you love the dress, buy it but don’t feel like you have to get all of your accessories from the place where you bought the dress. This goes for alterations as well. You may be able to get a better deal at a local tailor or prom/bridal boutique. Try searching or beaded belts, veils, headpieces, and other bridal accessories on Amazon and Etsy.
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! I acted as my own wedding planner, my mother and I created the bouquets for the bridesmaids as well as boutineers for the groomsmen, my uncle acted as DJ and a good friend hosted the reception. These little acts of service and kindness saved my husband and me hundreds of dollars!
5. Offseason Wedding
We were able to save a LOT of money byhaving an off-season wedding. Most weddings take place in June for the summer wedding season and in September for the fall season. Because of this, you can get a pretty good discount for booking a date in the early spring or winter months.
Also, depending on the day of the week you choose, there could be additional discounts. Weekday weddings are typically less expensive than weekend weddings, and Saturday tends to cheaper than Sunday. We had 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 our 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 can choose from awesome package deals. Many banquet hall/ non-traditional wedding venues offer packages that allow you to add an on-site wedding ceremony to your reception package for an additional fee. This is exactly what we did for my wedding because the church we initially wanted gave us an outrageous price for the ceremony only! The banquet hall we ended up going with was very accommodating.
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 backdrop gave us separation from the dinner tables and made it feel like space was transformed for the ceremony. In addition to being very accommodating, the venue also threw in an open bar and a custom wedding cake. Saving us even more money and eliminating the need to find/ hire a baker.
7. Skip The Rehearsal Dinner
Ultimately, If you are looking to save money you will need to be flexible. For me, this meant not hosting a rehearsal dinner for the wedding party. It would have been nice to have but we needed to prioritize. There are many events involved in a wedding and some you may be forced to skip or re-imagine if you are on a tight budget. Consider this when deciding how to handle your engagement, bachelor/bachelorette, bridal shower and rehearsal dinner.
If it comes down to prioritizing, I would say spend the bulk of your money on things like the photographer, DJ and an open bar since these are the real memory making aspects of the day. Alternatively, dialing back on wedding costs can save money for your honeymoon or just setting up your new life, post-wedding.
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 the future marriage between you and your spouse, not the centerpieces!
Brittany Wright, B.A in Creative writing and English – University of Illinois Champaign-Urbana, is an aspiring writer and creator of the She’s Wright blog. This black, millennial mom loves everything beauty, motherhood, and marriage related!