Spend The Time Researching
Avoid venues and vendors that dont state their prices or price range on their website. You wouldnt consider buying a dress that didnt have a price tag on it, would you? In your research phase, make sure you are working with venues and vendors that are upfront. Oh and if part of your research results in phone calls run for the hills if you get on the phone with a wedding provider who is giving you a sales pitch before giving you a price range.
Weve found that the bride/grooms that create a priority checklist and spend the time researching are far more likely to stay in budget than those who dont. Now that you have created a budget, you may still need to identify a way to cut cost for your special day.
Here are a few suggestions for cost cutting the venue and still getting the experience you envision.
What Is Excluded From The Rental Costs
How many hours can you use the venue? Some couples may assume that a venue covers everything you need for your wedding and reception needs. Dont think that way. Other things require a lot of research. Take your time and seek help from qualified planners.
A wedding is best celebrated without being chased from the venue because you have run out of time. So, dont ignore the importance of asking the time you can spend at the venue. Modify your programme to avoid overtime rates, too.
There Is The Overhead Of The Retailer To Consider For Brick & Mortar Shops
If youre going to a brick and mortar REAL wedding dress boutique to buy your wedding dress, then your wedding dress will be expensive because of the overhead that the store has to pay to RUN that store!
That shop has to pay rent, electric bills, insurance, cashiers, sales people, etc And all of this will be reflected in the final cost of your wedding dress.
To avoid this, simply buy your dress online. There are beautiful online wedding boutiques such as Blush Fashion which cut out all of the additional in-person store costs while still giving you the experience of purchasing a quality wedding dress. She even makes custom gowns!
Traditional in-person wedding dress shopping is not really all that traditional anyway. Its a modern invention and something wedding dress boutiques make us feel like we have to do. But you dont! You can avoid that whole experience completely if you want!
And if your friends or family members insist, consider having a little party at your house where you try-on affordable wedding dresses that youve purchased online and then return all the ones you dont want to keep!! You can drink champagne, play music, and hang out without a pushy dress salesperson!
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Buy A Basic Cake And Decorate It Yourself
The cake is one of the easiest places to save a stash of cash, as wedding specialists can charge an arm and a leg for these. By this stage most guests will be too stuffed to put away much cake anyway.
Here are a few tips to cut the cost of a cake.
My mum and I baked 120 cupcakes for my sister’s wedding the week before, but didn’t have enough freezer space to store them. So we called the local Iceland supermarket. It kindly agreed to lend us one of its industrial freezers free of charge. – Former MSE Debs
Buy Your Own Booze To Cut Costs And Look Out For Sales
Cut costs further by supplying your own alcohol. You’ll usually need to factor in the corkage fees, which can be as much as £15 per bottle. Do the maths buying your own and paying corkage often still wins.
Remember, like everything, corkage isn’t fixed, so haggle. Even better, look out for venues that don’t charge for corkage, then check out our Wine Deals page for codes to save you more.
Also check shopping comparison Mysupermarket’s wine section, which includes all the big supermarkets.
Some sellers, such as Majestic, offer a “sale or return” policy , letting you take back any plonk you don’t get through on the day. It’s best to mention this when you’re making your order if you think you’ll want to take advantage of it.
And, as always, please be Drinkaware.
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Weddings Are Expensive Because They Are Time
There are so many wedding services where the work you actually see represents just a fraction of the time that goes into it.
Take for example, wedding photography. Your photographer might be there for eight hours on the day, but they’ve also spent several hours in consultation, either over email, video chat or meeting with you in person. And after your wedding, they’ll spend several days pouring over every single shot, selecting the best ones, doing touch-ups, and packaging them up so you can easily show them off to friends and family. Editing the photography on average takes three to four times as long as the time spent actually taking photographs. Your investment is covering so much more time than it takes to just grab some snaps. Likewise a wedding dress can require hours upon hours of hand-stitching, a wedding cake will take hours upon hours of decorating – you get the gist!
When any wedding supplier sends you a quote, try not to consider just their time on the day, but if there is consultation, prep or follow-up time going into their service as well.
Photo by Anna G Photography via One Fab Day
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*.
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Keep Your Wedding Affordable By Diy As Much As Possible
Because I am so organized, I love to craft, and the wedding is not going to be giant, I have decided to everything I can myself. DIYing a wedding does save money but what it takes is time and ability. Looking at bridal crowns on etsy, I have decided that me and my hot glue gun can handle that task for way under the $40-$150 that sellers charge. I dont want something that I dont have the skill to accomplish, so Im taking that one on myself. I found this blog post on Lauren Conrads website that is a good start on what tools are necessary.
My inspiration:
Theres Actually A Good Reason Why Weddings Cost So
- https://www.huffpost.com/entry/why-weddings-are-so-expensive_n_58b9d6b9e4b05cf0f4009592
- Yes, weddings cost more than other big parties. And theres a legitimate reason for it. Every so often, a news outlet will come out with an investigative report, claiming they have proved that the wedding markup this idea that vendors charge more as soon as they hear the word wedding is, indeed, real. A reporter will call a vendor about a birthday party of a
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Why Is Wedding Makeup So Expensive
Lets be honestyou were thinking it, right? As youve shopped around for your wedding beauty services, you were surprised by the cost. Its okay. Im here to help explain.
Photo: K.Napier Photography | Model: Madison Simoneau | Makeup: Ashley Marin, Marin Makeup | Hair: Joyce Rodriguez | Dress: Something New Bridal Boutique | Flowers: Fern and Curl Designs | Venue: The Acre Orlando
Many of the companies you are contacting are likely seasoned makeup artists who have been working for 5 or more years as a freelancer . The experts understand how to do every eye shape, face shape, and skin color they could possibly come in contact with on a job.
To be honestif you cant do that, you shouldnt be charging money for your services .
At the end of the day, makeup services are a luxury for many brides and bridesmaids, meaning that this is a want and not a need. We understand that having her beauty look perfected by professionals may not be important enough to some brides. Thats okay!
Im talking to those who are fortunate to be able to afford professional hair and makeup services. The range of costs for makeup services is all over the board. It is so important for you to do your research!
Youll Never Hire So Many Suppliers Again
Think about it no matter whether youre hosting a 30th or 1st birthday, 50th wedding anniversary or even an engagement party, the chances are that youll never be hiring so many individual suppliers to work on a celebration for you again.
When it comes down to it, weddings are only as expensive as the amount of vendors and suppliers you have involved in your day. You might hire a venue, photographer and catering for celebrations down the track, but would you also hire a videographer, photo booth, florist and stylist? The chances are probably not.
Weddings are a great celebration of your love and it can often be something that couples feel deserves their well-earned cash. But with couples changing weddings up to suit themselves more and more often, keeping to a budget or choosing to hire less suppliers for your day is perfectly acceptable.
It all comes down to what you think is worth the cost. Which, to be honest, you should be doing with all of your vendors for your wedding to make sure that youre really getting the right suppliers for you.
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Use Of The Reception Venue Chairs
Rental rates may not cover the costs of using chairs. A reception venue may add additional charges for this service. So, modify your budget beforehand. If you make a mistake, at least, the expenses will not be high.
Hidden costs can ruin the wedding you dream of. Budget to cover these unexpected expenses, and most importantly, pick a reliable and trusted reception venue. While it can be a long process, take your time. All your efforts will pay off. A reputable location can be a dream come true at the end of the day.
Economics Of Dealing With Nightmare Clients
In an ideal world, we would draw strict parameters around what our services include. There would be a baseline price, then every additional email, phone call and meeting would be charged for.
In the real world, this would be counterproductive to fostering relationships with our clients. We want our clients to lean on us and invite us into their private world of wedding planning. That is how we can help them and demonstrate our value. I take a lot of pride in this.
However, there are those few clients who are particularly demanding of our time. They take up a disproportionate amount of energy.
Wedding vendor prices are in place to subsidize those few high-maintenance clients. No, it isnt sexy or cool to talk about bridezillas but the economics behind this one makes perfect sense.
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Rustic Barn Venue Hidden Costs
If you are planning a rustic, country-themed wedding, a barn is the perfect setting. But getting the barn up to par for your ceremony will require lots of work, and dont forget those extra wedding venue costs.
Restrooms: If the barn is not equipped with restrooms, you will have to provide them yourself, and its going to cost you if you want more than the basic porta potty.
Climate Control: Depending on the season, you may be required to rent either heaters or fans to keep yourself and your guests comfortable and happy,
Generator: While barns can be quaint and charming, they may lack certain modern-day luxuries. like electricity, which you will then have to provide.
Cleaning: You definitely want your wedding to be free of spiders, dust and dirt so you will have to hire a commercial cleaning crew to get that rustic, homey feel.
Lighting: Unless the barn has lots of natural light, there will be additional costs to provide adequate lighting.
Post Production Isnt Just Fixing Mistakes
A photographers work doesnt end after your wedding day. But, first, the shots are uploaded to a computer and edited with professional software.
In the case of the hobbyist, its possible they dont have editing software at home or may only know a few basics. Having already spent an entire day on this, if theyre not going to edit them, they probably wont go through the 2,000 raw shots to find the good ones either. Youll end up sorting through blurry and dark images looking for something that looks nice.
This, again, is something you discussed with the , and now theyre bringing out the style and mood you requested. Wedding photo styles can range from candid photojournalism with a de-saturated, vintage look to artistic portraits with a light, airy glow. A professional photographer uses both camera effects and computer after-effects to achieve your desired look and feel on the best shots.
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Couples Are Willing To Pay More To Have Social Media Ready Personalized Weddings Like Never Before
There is a lot of evidence that social media is impacting the prices that couples are willing to spend on their weddings.
First of all, guests are going to post from weddings and they are seeking out beautiful and unique places to capture the perfect photo. To meet these expectations, couples are paying more to provide, essentially, Instagrammable backdrops for their guests.
Its hard to avoid this expectation as couples are bombarded with beautiful photos on their own Instagrams and on
These backdrop and social-media ready experiences are becoming more and more extravagant. One only has to think back to celebrity weddings popularized on social media, such as Kim Kardashian and Kanye Wests flower wall. That thing was $136,000! For a flower wall. How are people supposed to keep up?!
Other must-do add-ons for modern couples include photo booths, a wedding wheel with prizes for guests, chandeliers hanging from trees, and the list goes on and on.
TIPS FOR SAVING MONEY: The obvious answer is to just not care about social media or impressing your guests with extra gimmicks. BUT if you really want to set up something creative for your guests, consider a cheaper option such as creating your own photo booth made from thrift shop items.
