I think at this point we all know someone who has had to cancel their wedding because of lockdown restrictions, in some cases this has mean rebooking the same things for a different date free of charge, for others it’s mean losing a lot of money for pre-booked expenses like a wedding venue, food and photographer. As magical as your wedding day is, the costs can very quickly add up! I have always been a believer in the idea that a wedding day is just that, a day. As special as it should be, you shouldn’t be starting your married life in a huge amount of debt. I also think that the best weddings I have been to have been the most personal and intimate ones and that rarely means the most expensive! So today I wanted to share a few ways on which you can save yourself a lot of money and lets face it, hassle and still have an amazing, beautiful wedding.
homemade invitations
Before the big wedding costs even start you have one unnecessary expense. Invitations are ridiculously expensive, they end up in the bin (lets be honest!) and most people just use their phone calendar now to keep a record of upcoming events. Switching to digital invitations is both cost effective and good for the environment! If you have relatives that need that invitation experience then it might be worth just ordering a small batch of invites, it’ll save you serious money and then the people who do have a physical invite are the ones who will actually treasure them the most!
ditch the professional photographer
Outside of food and venue, photography and videography can be one of the biggest costs for any wedding day. Yes a professional photographer can give you a beautiful set of photos but your wedding photos can be even more beautiful and personal when they are created by your guests. Using old disposable cameras dotted around on the guests tables means everyone can capture special moments during the day and asking your photo savvy friends to take pictures whilst you have the ceremony means you’ll have access to lots of photos from different vantage points and ones that are extra special as they have been taken by people who are there to celebrate with you! It’s also a great idea to create a specific instagram hashtag and have the details on all your guests tables to tag so you can see all the photos people have taken in one go, think of it as a (free instagram) wedding photo album if you will!
cut the sit down dinner
Controversial but lets be honest, the sit down dinner is usually a bit rubbish. The bride and groom rarely get to eat anyway as they are constantly socialising and if you’re on a budget it’s one of the biggest overheads you can slash. Personally? I’d go buffet (obviously a served one right now!) it’s not pineapple and cheese on sticks anymore, you can have stations of amazing food, sharing platters and yummy cocktails which people will actually enjoy and save yourself a ton of money. I have honestly never once heard people say ‘the overcooked roast beef really made that wedding special’ so save yourself the hassle and go for the kind of food you actually like!
avoid the traditional bridesmaid dress
Lets be real, bridesmaids dresses are really just prom style dresses in more expensive packaging. Using a prom dress finder when searching for dresses gives you access to really similar styles and colour palettes to traditions bridesmaid dresses at a fraction of the cost. You can often find dresses with the same colour and fabric but different cuts too which is great for different body types (nothing is worst that trying to make everyone dress in a style that only suits on bridesmaid!) You can also ask your bridesmaid to help with the costs by doing their own makeup or helping with the costs of the accessories instead of spending money on wedding gifts. They get some snazzy new shoes and you avoid a weird collection of gravy boats, win win!
avoid a weekend wedding
This is the final and most sneaky tip of all, weekend wedding dates are venue gold dust. No literally they cost as much as gold dust (ok I jest) but they are really expensive. By checking for mid week costs you can often get a huge discount and a very sneaky icing on the cake is that you will find a lot of the people you have to invite (those relatives you’ve never met but your Mum insists you invite) can’t make a Wednesday knees up out of town. You keep your costs low, only have a wedding full of people you actually know and love and avoid weekend traffic, perfect!
So those are my top 5 tips for having a beautiful wedding on a budget, I really hope they gave you some inspiration and helped take some of the pressure off spending lots of money on your big day. Remember the wedding it one day, it’s the marriage that’s important, so save yourself some money and start your new lives together debt free and hopefully after a pretty amazing honeymoon (personally I’d be booking Tulum way before I hire that DJ….)
Leave a Reply