Seek Out Sample Sales
Wedding dress sample sales can yield pretty amazing designer bargains. Sign up for email updates from your favorite local bridal salons so you’ll be informed about their upcoming sale events. Some of our best tips: Arrive early , wear your bridal undergarments, and know your size in advance. Just don’t forget to factor in the cost of possible alterations or professional dry cleaning.
Ask For Help With Food Instead Of Gifts
This is an excellent option for backyard weddings or local halls. Reach out to your foodie friends, or your aunt who makes ornate cakes for every occasion. Many people love to help in this way, and you wont know unless you ask. The key is not to expect positive responsessome people prefer to kick back completely when they attend a wedding.
Choose Affordable Simple Wedding Rings
According to the Brides American Wedding survey, the average wedding ring pair cost $1,610. This is on top of the engagement ring, of course. A simple wedding band might be a great option, however. A simple band is low cost, understated, and wont snag on clothing. If you go simple and simply cut 25% off of the cost of the rings, thats a nice savings.
Strategy: Go with simple wedding bands Savings: $400
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Time Your Wedding For The Winter
The holidays are a popular and pricey time of year for weddings. But January through March is considered the off-season for weddings throughout most of the country. In most locations, youll likely find the lowest cost venue options during deep winter. You may even be able to haggle down the costvenues would rather have a low-cost wedding than no wedding on a particular date.
Order A Smaller Cutting Cake
Yes, wedding cakes can be expensiveand the bigger and more elaborate the cake, the more it will cost. To save money on your confection, talk to your baker about ordering a smaller, beautifully decorated “cutting cake” to feature during the traditional wedding cake cutting, and then having a less-expensive sheet cake or cupcakes to serve your guests for dessert.
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Track Every Wedding Expense & Prioritize Whats Important To You
Perhaps I should have listed this first?
Just like with personal finance, you need to track all of your expenses if youre not going to break the bank. Here is everything that we spend on our wedding including special notes on how we were able to keep costs down with each:
Reception:
- Opera House : $500
- Décor: $100
Food/Drink:
- Catering: $350
- Catering Fee : $50
- Drinks: Free
- Cakes: $80
Clothing:
- Flowers: $100
- GE Outfit: $150
- Wife Outfit: $100
- Videographer: Free
Entertainment/Services:
- Master of Ceremony: $300
- Flute Player: $75
- Postage for Invitations/Thank-Yous: $20
- Best Man/Maid of Honor Gifts: $60
Total Expenses: $2,563
Super Cool Unique And Inexpensive Wedding Venue Ideas
You deserve a wedding thats as fun as you are. If youre looking for non-traditional wedding venues that will help make your big day unforgettable, youve come to the right place. In this guide, Ill go over some of the absolute coolest non-conventional wedding venues that are perfect for dreamers like you! Just as important, Ill review some inexpensive wedding venues that will help you cut down on costs without sacrificing the quality of your wedding!
Ready to get started? Keep reading to find out the best inexpensive and non-traditional wedding venues that will help make your special day legendary!
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Make Your Own Confetti
Forumites suggest making your own confetti using small heart or flower punches and colourful paper, which should all be found in your local craft shop.
You can also dry your own rose petals in the oven if you have friends or family with rose bushes you’re onto a winner, but some forumites have managed to haggle cheap roses from flower markets at the end of the day.
Make pretty cones to hold the confetti using doilies, which can be found in pound shops, craft shops and on eBay*.
Make Friends Paparazzi For The Day
Many of your guests will record the day for posterity, so why not ask them for a copy of their photos and videos?
You can encourage this further by leaving disposable cameras on the tables at the reception .
Even though they’re not pros, if they take enough shots, hopefully some of them will be good ones. Use our Free Digital Prints guide for free prints and cheap photo books.
If you want a professional photographer, get your haggling hat on, like forumite Tiger_greeneyes.
We went to a wedding show last week and got chatting to a photographer. She charged £575, which we couldn’t afford. So I asked if she would charge less for a weekday and she said she’d discount £50. It still wasn’t great for us, so we mentioned that we’d only want a dozen or so photos. She said “make me an offer”. I replied “£250 cash” and she accepted! Don’t ask, don’t get. – Tiger_greeneyes
This is what former MSE Dan managed to get, after using some charm and chutzpah:
The photographer can be tricky to haggle with, as they sit you down, give you tea and biscuits and put you at ease. But that doesn’t mean it’s impossible.
We wanted a pre-wedding shoot, plus the photographer to stay for an extra couple of hours to catch speeches and cake cutting, but this added a fair whack to the overall cost.
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How To Have A Beautiful Budget Wedding
A beautiful budget wedding might seem like the stuff of dreams but it is possible.
Make your budget wedding a reality by using these tips from the experts. See how to save money on everything from your wedding invitations to flowers and food.
Planning a wedding is a challenging enterprise. Even tougher is planning a wedding on a budget.
When youre putting together the biggest, most exciting party youll ever host, the last thing you want to think about is how youll pay for it all.
Unless you want to start your marriage with a huge debt, you need to think about your wedding budget upfront.
Save Money On Your Wedding Cake
If you dont want to overspend money forget the tall, grand cakes from the popular cake shops.
Search for a small local cake shop and hire them to do the job instead. Not only you will save money but you will also support a small local business.
If you or one of your guests have a large social media following, you can also offer to share a photo of your wedding cake to advertise their services in return for a discount.
You may be even lucky enough to have a friend that is talented in that area and they will be able to make your wedding cake for you.
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Know Where The Money For Your Wedding Is Coming From
In 2018, nearly 10 percent of couples paid for their wedding entirely on their own. About another 10 percent had it entirely paid for them. Most couplesthe 80 percent in the middlehad a mix of contributors. Sit down with all the financial stakeholders to establish who is contributing what.
Kindly establish boundaries at this point too. If your soon-to-be F.I.L. is contributing, it doesnt mean he can add endless names to the guest listthat will quickly undermine your low-cost goal.
Every Newly Engaged Couple Is Looking For Creative Wedding Reception Ideas That Work Within Their Budget
What could be more fun than a wedding? You get to promise to spend the rest of your life with your best friend. All your friends and family are there to celebrate with you. The dress, flowers and decorations are all gorgeous because you spent top dollar on everything. The dance floor is hopping, and everyone is having the time of their lives.
But as the dust from the wedding settles after your honeymoon and as youre beginning to settle into your new life together, youre quickly going to realize one thing that isnt quite as wonderful. Your bank account has taken a serious hit.
It doesnt have to be like that.
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Here Are Affordable Wedding Reception And Food Ideas:
When you compare venues and food service costs, remember to compare apples to apples. All-inclusive packages may have a higher sticker cost, but a site thats a blank slate means you may need to bring in tables, plates, and linens, as well as the food. Calculate expenses for those items as well so that youre making a useful comparison.
Explore creative, low-cost catering options with a lower price tag:
Affordable Wedding Venues Hire Guide
Apart from simply listing budget-friendly wedding venues in Melbourne all in one place, were also happy to share our tips and tricks with you. Have a look and get inspired:
- Check for hidden costs Sometimes a wedding venue may seem quite affordable, but be sure to read the fine print! Some costs, such as corkage or the cake cutting fee, may not be stated openly. Its also good to make sure if the service charge is included in the price. Last but not least, check whats not included in the price of the venue and estimate how much it would cost to provide all the features youre going to need on your big day.
- Get married in the morning Wedding breakfasts and brunch receptions are a hot new trend in Melbourne right now! If you consider yourselves as early birds, this is a really cool way to add a personal touch to your big day. Venue hire prices tend to go up when the sun goes down, so if youd like to have your celebration organised a bit earlier, youre very likely to save a pretty penny.
- Consider a winter wedding With the average winter temperatures ranging around 10 degrees, Melbourne doesnt get freezing cold and youre sure to escape the heatwave! The best part about getting married between June and August is that venue hire prices are significantly lower at that time. If theres a spot you really like but cant afford otherwise, this is the solution to consider.
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Choose The Date Wisely
The timing can play a big part in the overall cost of your wedding.
Choose a date between November and April to avoid higher peak season rates.
Consider having your wedding any day but Saturday. Fridays are also popular wedding days but may cost a lot less than a Saturday event.
For even greater savings, choose a weekday evening for your wedding. With plenty of notice, your guests can arrange to book a day off at work the following day so that they can fully enjoy the wedding reception.
Dont worry about asking people to take some time off work. People who really care about you will understand how important this day is for you and they should not have an issue with using one day of their annual leave to attend your wedding.
Schedule the wedding to allow your guests time to arrive at the ceremony after the workday has ended. Many guests actually enjoy weekday weddings as this frees up their weekends for other activities.
Direct Your Guests To Your Wedding Website
When it comes to your wedding invitation suite, you can save as much as $800 by having a single insert directing guests to your wedding website instead of multiple cards for your other eventslike the rehearsal dinner, welcome party or day-after brunchas well as logistics, like transportation and details about the hotel room block you’ve set up for your guests. Erica Henriksen, Bella Figura, Syracuse, NY
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Choose A Location Near Your Guests
Choose a location for your wedding thats close to the largest number of your guests. While this wont directly save you money, it will make the next tip much more likely to succeed.
Strategy: Choose a location thats very convenient for most of the guests Savings: $0 directly, but it enables some of the strategies below
A South Carolina Beach Wedding At The Bride’s Childhood Home
If you’re lucky enough to have beach access from your childhood home, why not use it as the perfect backdrop for your nuptials? Real bride Lauren Schaper knew from the age of seven years old that’s what she wanted to do, and she made it happen when she married her partner. With a ceremony on the beach and a tented reception on the lawn of this family home, this South Carolina wedding made perfect use of easy beach access for a gorgeous wedding.
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Genius Ways To Save Money On Your Wedding
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Chances are, there’s something you’re dreaming about for your wedding day that might be just a teensy bit over-the-top: a statement flower wall that rivals Kim and Kanye’s crazy wall of blooms not one, not two, but three stunning wedding gowns, à la Chrissy Teigen or Serena Williams or, maybe just a diamond tiara worthy of a princess. But here’s the thing: All that style is really, really expensive.
When it comes to planning a wedding, it’s all about knowing your priorities and allocating your wedding budget funds wisely. That’s why making a list of your priorities and setting a budget should be step number one of wedding planning.
Lucky for you, our editors teamed up with some of the top wedding professionals from coast to coastflorists, planners, chefs, mixologists, cake bakers, you name itto put together a master list of been-there-done-that advice on how to save money on your wedding that could add up to hundreds of dollars.
From hacks that can knock $500 off the price of your wedding gown and $3 off each slice of wedding cake , it’s safe to say that this list has some tips that will help the two of you cash in on serious savings. The best part? These tips can save you money without sacrificing an ounce of style.
Keep reading for more expert-approved ways to save money on your wedding day!
Affordable Wedding Venues: 16 Stunning And Budget
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Your venue is more than just a place to have your wedding. Choosing the right location plays a major role in the look and feel of your celebrationand can often account for up to half of your total wedding budget. If the thought of writing a large check is making you consider eloping, dont panic. There are plenty of budget-friendly wedding venues that dont sacrifice on style and personality.
Choosing a less expensive venue will enable you to spend more of your budget on the things that matter most to youwhether that’s food and beverage, design and decor, or photography, says Amy Nichols of Amy Nichols Special Events.
Meet the Expert
Amy Nichols is a wedding planner based in San Francisco with a focus on California-based and destination weddings.
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