Not Allocating Funds Correctly
Garrett Richardson Photography
Just like buying shoes, an apartment or a pair of jeans, when it comes to financing a wedding, you should figure out how much you need to spend to get what you want. Set your expectations accordingly, and use our budget breakdown above as a guide. To avoid stress, also allot 5% of your budget for a “just-in-case” fund. If you’re paying for your honeymoon yourselves, remember to budget for that as well.
If you’re asking yourself how you can possibly save up for something as expensive as a wedding, don’t worryâit’s doable. As soon as you’re engaged, start putting aside as much of your income as you can for the wedding. Saving 20% of your monthly income is a goodâthough loftyâgoal. The longer your engagement, the more you’ll be able to put away. You can also save up by limiting your spending on small stuff . These changes will hardly affect your quality of life, but after a year, the extra cash will cover some wedding essentials.
The Basic Courthouse Elopement
If your budget is $100, you could spend your money like this:
$25 to $100 Here in Nashville, the fee for a marriage license clocks in at $99.50. And $60 of that can be waived if the couple completes a premarital counseling course within the last yearhello savings!
If your budget is $3,500, you could spend your money like this:
Venue: $0 for your future in-laws backyardFood and beverages: $750 for drinks and a buffet prepared by friends and familyAttire: $200 for a dress $200 for a suit rentalFlowers: $0 for wildflowers you picked for a bridal bouquet, bridesmaids bouquets, and boutonnieres $1,500 for a tent, dance floor, table and chair rentals, lighting, and DIY centerpiecesWedding Planning: $0 for an aunt willing to chip in and coordinate the day-of details $500 for a talented friend or amateur via CraigslistEntertainment: $75 for a speaker rental $0 for a great playlistDessert: $50 to $200 for a cutting cake, cupcakes, or pies from a bakeryInvitations: $50, DIY
If your budget is $7,000, you could spend your money like this:
Wedding Budget Template By Vertex42
Vertex42 is the wedding budget excel for couples who know what they want but have no clue what its all going to cost. Enter your wedding items and use the estimator to determine how it all adds up. From there its a simple matter of distributing your funds according to your priorities and replacing the estimates with real values as you discover them.
One of the better tips on saving money is to overestimate the value of everything by at least 15% so that you dont wind up blowing your budget or end up having to make major sacrifices.
Read Also: Inexpensive Welcome Guest Bags For Wedding
Limit Your Guest List
Less is sometimes more! You might feel tempted to come up with a guest list as long as the royal weddings, but think of it this way: Every guest is an expense. It sounds harsh, but its true, you guys! With each addition to your guest list, youre only driving up the overall cost of your wedding.
To save money on your wedding, you may want to host a smaller, more intimate affair. If the number of people at your wedding isnt important to you and your fiancé, try cutting your guest list by 20%, then another 20% on top of that. Or invite more guests to the wedding ceremony and host a smaller reception with your family and closest friends.
Cheap Wedding Reception Ideas
The most expensive item on your wedding bill is likely to be your venue hire – here are some tips on getting an amazing location without breaking the bank.
Get married in the low season. Some venues will be cheaper in around October to March. Similarly, weekdays will often be cheaper than weekends. Be flexible with your dates and see what you could save.
Read Also: Which Ring Goes On First
Think About Preparing Dessert And Food Items By Yourself
This may sound weird, but it is possible to prepare food and dessert for wedding guests at home. If some of your family members are good at cooking, there will be no issue at all. Just decide the menu and assign dishes to your family members.
For instance, if your mom can make amazing cupcakes, you dont need to spend a hefty amount while purchasing an expensive wedding cake. Similarly, by cooking other food items at your home, you can make your dream wedding more affordable.
In fact, it happens to be one of the most feasible DIY wedding ideas on a budget. Food prepared at home is delicious and healthy. Moreover, when you prepare food for your guests, it is a sign of your affection towards them. This will surely give a unique touch to your wedding.
Pick One Meal To Serve
Theres nothing worse than hungry guests. The start time of your wedding will impact on your food and drink bill: the later in the day you start, the fewer times youll have to feed guests.
Pick a time of day for your ceremony that allows your guests to have lunch before your wedding, and then focus your budget on a slap up early evening meal.
Read Also: Fleet Farm Wedding Registry
If Youre Getting Married In A Church Ask The Auxiliary For Help
If youre getting married in a church or in the hall of a civic organization, ask if the auxiliary club associated with that venue has suggestions or ideas. While they might not be able to directly provide a lot of savings, they may be able to offer ideas and small services that can save a little, and they sometimes can point you to something unexpected that can be a huge savings.
Strategy: Ask the auxiliary club associated with the church or other organization where your wedding is being held for help Savings: Small, but potentially big
Wedding Budget Excel Spreadsheet By A Practical Wedding
A Practical Wedding provides a wedding budgeting spreadsheet that guides you through the planning process without you even knowing. Start with an overall budget, break that budget down by category, and start checking things off your list. Before you know it, youll have everything planned and accounted for without spending an extra dime.
This works perfectly as a Google sheet, but for those who prefer a more tactile approach, it works just as well as wedding printables.
Read Also: What Ring Goes On First Engagement Or Wedding
Split The Cost Of Decorations And Consider Buying Used
Non-floral wedding decorations can cost $600. This can be a perfect opportunity to go minimal by looking for used decorations. If you know someone who is getting married, you may be able to split the cost of decorations with them so that you both use them, cutting the cost by half. If you know of any recent weddings, you can also contact them and ask what they did with the decorations.
Strategy: Split the cost of decorations or buy them used Savings: $300
Step #1: Plan A Simple Honeymoon
Right now, as I write this post, theres very little travel happening in the world. But I imagine that at some point thatll change and well be back to planning honeymoons.
Instead of luxurious and expensive honeymoon, consider traveling within your own area or country. If youre in the States, consider taking a road trip to the national parks. You can camp and keep costs way down, while experiencing some of the most gorgeous scenery in the world!
Also Check: How To Plan A Wedding Under 5000
Feel Free To Buck Traditions
Dont ignore traditions completely, but try your best to include only the ones that are most meaningful to you. You can also create your own! If youre interested in learning more about where popular wedding traditions came from, check out our podcast, The Bouquet Toss!
How To Plan A Cheap Wedding
By | Submitted On February 26, 2005
There’s no doubt about it, weddings can be expensive. The average cost of a wedding today is $20,000 – $25,000, and weddings are estimated to be a $25.3 billion industry. But don’t worry if your budget cannot stretch for the most expensive custom-made gown, elegant invitation cards, or the top photographer, it doesn’t mean that your wedding will be any less unique or special than anyone else’s.
You just need a bit of guidance and a few tips to help you achieve the dream of your big day. Here are a few suggestions with tips on how to save on some of the more expensive aspects of a wedding.
Wedding Gowns
Do you really need a hand-made wedding dress with beads and diamantes? This is where the big cost is and there are several options in cutting the cost. Why not opt for a second-hand wedding dress? It’s probably only been worn once anyway and you can get a once expensive dress for half the price. Consider buying an evening gown/cocktail dress from a department store or look into renting your wedding dress for the day.
The Reception
The obvious choice is to shop around for the best rates, but consider hiring a photographer for the ceremony only and ask a family member or friend to take snap photos of the reception. Or you could go one step further and ask them to take the photographs for the whole day and not bother with the expense of a photographer at all.
Invitations / Stationery
Miscellaneous
Summary
Don’t Miss: What Goes First Engagement Or Wedding Ring
Look Ravishing With Free Makeovers
While some brides go DIY, it may save a lot of stress if you get make-up done by a pro. Before you start wincing at the fees, there are sneaky ways around this.
Get your make-up done at a beauty counter in a department store, then simply buy the lipstick to ‘touch up’ .
Department stores also run beauty courses that you could attend. You can learn a new skill, do your own make-up on the day, and even help out at your friends’ weddings.
Alternatively, check out local beauty training schools. They may do your hair and make-up free on the day as part of their training. Check Beautyfinder for a directory of training schools and colleges in your area.
Entertainment For Budget Weddings
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Hiring a band or DJ can be quite expensive and a well-considered Spotify playlist is guaranteed to keep people dancing.
- If you do hire a band try and make the most of their time and also try and stick to their existing playlist as you may have to pay extra for them to learn a song that isn’t in their repertoire.
- Ask friends and family members if they know any local musicians such as buskers or students, often people do and they will be more than happy to play at your wedding for a small fee.
Also Check: How To Plan A Wedding Under 5000
Need Fast Cash For Your Wedding Flog It
If a few quid more in the wedding fund would really help, get flogging. Selling via eBay usually pays best. Our Ebay Selling Tricks guide offers a crash course, from cutting eBay fees by tweaking start prices and using cheap closing-fee listing weekends to adding extra pics with special tools.
You can also harness Facebook’s power to sell to others in the local community. The best bit is there are NO fees, so you keep the profit. See our guide for tips.
Prefer speed and ease rather than getting the top price? Several sites let you enter details, they offer a price, and you post the goods free. See our Flog It guide.
Also consider setting up a specific bank account to pay your earnings into. That way you’ll see the wedding cash pile up, rather than just disappearing into your current account. See the Top Savings Accounts guide for best buys.
Get The Legalities Done First
Other jurisdictions will differ, but in Ireland, you need to apply for a marriage license three months in advance. That means you can’t have a wedding any sooner than that. Make sure you get the legalities organised as soon as possible – apply for your license and you can edit the finer details later. Get more information on legal weddings and civil ceremonies in Ireland here.
Photo by Into the Light via One Fab Day
Also Check: How To Plan A Wedding Under 5000
Finalize Your Guest List
If you havent already, its time to create your final wedding guest list. Remember that if your parents are contributing financially to your big day, theyll get a say in whos invited. Be sure to keep your venues capacity in mind as well, and dont invite more people than the space can handle. Even though youll likely receive regrets from some guests, you dont want to risk it.
Dont Forget To Haggle
In the end, your wedding costs will partly depend on how hard a bargain you drive.
When buying a wedding package, for example, its always worth trying to negotiate by researching what other local wedding venues charge, and how much your chosen one charges for other events. Whatever is agreed, just remember to get it in writing!
We have some more tips and tricks on keeping wedding costs down in How much should we spend on our wedding? And for inspiration, why not read Carols story Our wedding for 50 guests cost just 2,500.
Read Also: How To Have An Elegant Wedding For 5000 Or Less
Come Up With A Detailed Budgetand Stick To It
First things firstbuild your wedding budget. It’s important to have a budget that is detailed and accounts for everything, big and small, so there aren’t any unexpected expenses that come up. Plus, it could serve as a to-do list of what to buy or arrange for.
“Seventy-five percent of your budget will likely be comprised of the venue, food, and beverage,” says certified financial planner Claire Beams. A bride-to be herself, Beams suggests figuring out those big expenses first so you know how much you have to spend on everything else. She says to allocate $500 to $1,000 for unexpected expenses.
Having a discussion with your partner about your expectations and how much you want to spend on things will help you come with an accurate budget and stick to it. Once you have the numbers figured out, it’s easier to seek out vendors because you can choose based on who can work with your budget. Here is the Real Simple wedding budget template to help you get started.
