WEDDINGS ON A BUDGET
Are you looking to save money on your wedding? My husband and I planned a wedding for under $2,000 and in this post I will share just how we did it.
How to save money on your wedding
Don't serve alcohol
Shop around for the most reasonable wedding cake that will suite your needs
Consider a less popular day to get married
Shop for clothing and accessories at less obvious retailers
Hire someone you know who takes good photos
Look for a good budget friendly local caterer or friend that can help cater your wedding
Hire a friend or budget friendly local DJ
create your own bouquets and centerpieces
Keep your guest list small
Make your own Invitations
Borrow items to use for your wedding if at all possible
Keep your bridal party smaller
Shop around a lot for the best deals
Below I explain exactly how my husband and I used these ideas and created a beautiful and memorable wedding on a budget.
Our Budget Wedding
My husband Jason and I married in July 2006. It has been a while since we married and yet many of these tips and ideas still apply. Neither of us had a lot of money at the time and needed to stick to a small wedding budget. We both knew that we would have to cut costs wherever possible to make our wedding nice, but also keep it affordable. At the time that we married, I was still in college and living on my own for the very first time. I had recently had some major health problems requiring a pacemaker placement 2 years earlier, leaving me with a lot of medical debt. Jason proposed to me January 2006, and we married in July 2006. We both wanted to keep the wedding fairly simple and we had to keep the wedding expenses to a minimum. So if you are looking to save some money for an upcoming wedding you are planning, I am hopeful that these tips will help you to save and prepare a beautiful wedding.
How we made our budget wedding happen
Our total budget for our wedding was very small, yet we knew that a budget friendly wedding was possible. When I look back on our wedding, I honestly have no regrets on any of the choices we made. In total we spent approximately $2,000 on the whole wedding, and just slightly less on the honeymoon to Montego Bay, Jamaica. Thanks to my husband's parents providing us flier miles to pay for our airfare, this honeymoon was actually possible within our small budget. Trust me when I say, you do not want to start a marriage with a lot of debt! It is not a good way to start a marriage. Financial strain on a relationship can be very difficult and this is definitely not a good way to spend your first few years. It is best to keep your wedding costs lower in attempt to prevent adding extra unnecessary debt. This will help to set you up for success in the future as you will not have extra financial strain due to excess debt from your wedding.
Tips on planning a
budget wedding
Do not serve Alcohol
A huge expense at many weddings results from serving Alcohol. Many people will not even consider cutting the cost of Alcohol from their Reception. If you are willing to eliminate alcohol you can save so much more money. Let's face it, many people love to drink together but it's not always the best idea anyways. In many situations where drinking is present, drunk people causing problems is also present. So you could also save yourself the headache of Uncle Phil and his drunken craziness again.
Shop around
for a wedding cake
Buying a wedding cake is often very expensive from most bakeries. The wedding cake does not have to be as expensive as some retailers are charging though. There is nothing wrong with going with a simpler cake and I highly encourage this. Call around to local bakeries and inquire on prices and options in advance. Most retailers charge per slice for the cake and the simpler the cake, the cheaper the price usually is. At this point you can decide based on all factors including who is willing to charge less for the cake you are looking to buy. Try negotiating a little with some smaller bakeries to see if they may lower their price to make you a customer. Simple seems to be better, and to be honest simple cakes usually taste better anyways. Most bakeries will offer samples of their cakes too, if you are interested in finding out what it tastes like in advance.
Consider a less popular day
Many people choose to have their weddings during the summer months and Friday's and Saturday's are also very popular for weddings. If you choose less popular days or months for your wedding, you will have the possibility of saving a lot more. We saved a lot on the cost of banquet halls and wedding venue by choosing to marry on a Sunday. We had our wedding on a Sunday afternoon, which saved $400 off the price of the hall. Doing this also allowed us to use a venue for our wedding, that was typically only available if you also utilized their catering facilities, which we could not afford.
You can purchase clothing and accessories at less obvious retailers
Do not feel like you need to stick to shopping for a wedding dress, shoes, accessories at a typical wedding retailer. My dress came from a retailer that I loved to shop at in high school. They sold mainly prom dresses however they had a beautiful dress that worked. This retailer surprisingly had a bridal line they were just trying out and it was so reasonably priced. My dress cost a total of $140.
Shop around for the best deals
I checked around at other retailers for additional items needed and I ended up ordering many items online. I located my veil, shoes and some accessories online. My bridesmaid dresses were also very reasonably priced as well. I located my bridesmaid dresses at the same retailer where I purchased my dress. The bridesmaid dresses cost far less than any bridesmaid dress would at other retailers, and they were simple enough to wear again if they should choose.
Hire a friend or family member
If you happen to know anyone who is a photographer, DJ or possibly a chef these may lead to great opportunities to utilize their expertise. You can help them gain some business and also save some money. My husband and I were lucky to have all 3 available to us for our wedding and we did not regret a single one. My Aunt and Uncle did an excellent job catering the wedding, with the help of some of my siblings. My friend served as DJ for the reception, and a friend of my husbands took both our engagement and wedding photos. Small businesses can also be a great solution in this situation, because they are usually more reasonably priced and flexible.
Make your own Centerpieces and flower arrangements
If you have extra time and friends and family to help, you can put together your own reasonably priced centerpieces for your reception. There are many simple ideas on Pinterest and the library is also a great resource with many books to help in creating them. We created very simple centerpieces and table decor ourselves. We did this with low-priced craft supplies from a discounted craft store nearby. I also created my own flower bouquets myself, these were very simple and nothing fancy, but turned out very nice. I chose to use fake flowers but they still looked great and I was even able to make these bouquets up way in advance.
Keep your guest list small
Keeping your guest list small is so important when trying to save money on your wedding. Hosting a smaller wedding it will obviously be much more reasonable than a large wedding. So many costs can be decreased this way because of the small volume overall of everything you must purchase. You will have smaller costs on everything from invitations to food and it will take far less time to set up and take everything down also.
Create Invitations yourself
There are so many ways to save on Invitations today including online retailers such as Vistaprint and Shutterfly. Retailers like Wal-Mart, Sams club and Costco all offer wedding invitations as well. Depending on the situation and any promotions they may be running these options could even be a better deal. Shop around for the best prices available for the invitations that you want. Also don't forget to check for the best online coupon codes to be used when creating these invitations. Retail me not & brad's deals are just a few places that these can be located online.
Borrow items that can be used for your wedding
Do you have friends or family members that have recently been married? Or just know of someone who may own items that you could use? When my husband and I married, my roommate at the time owned an arch pictured below. She loaned the arch to us at the time and we decorated it to make it work for us. Borrowing items such as this, or utilizing items you already own is a great opportunity to save some extra money.
Shop around for the best deals
Always look for deals on everything, do not just settle for what is easiest or most popular. Many times just by spending a little extra time shopping both at online retailers and in stores, you will find that you can save significantly. There are always a lot more options available than the obvious solutions. I find most people tend to go for what is popular or convenient instead. Many do not even realize how much money they can save just by spending a little extra time shopping around.
Keep your bridal party small
Making sure your bridal party is kept small can help to reduce expenses. It can help you save by cutting down the size of the limo or eliminating extra expenses for rehearsal dinners, gifts, etc. Keep the bridal party limited to your closest friends and family. Just because they are your friends does not mean you need to have them in your wedding. I had many friends and family members that I care about greatly, that I was unable to have in my actual bridal party.
These are just a few expenses that can be prevented or decreased as you plan for your upcoming wedding. I really hope that some of the ideas in my post can really help you to create a beautiful yet reasonably priced wedding on a budget.
Free Wedding dress For Military Members and First-Responders
What is BridesAcrossAmerica.com? This program is a non profit organization offering free wedding dresses for Military, Veterans and First-Responders across America.
I located a website that offers and awesome offer for current military members or those veterans who served within the last 5 years. See more details here at this link for more answers to your questions. You can find answers to how this program works or even how you can donate to help support the cause.
Additional money-saving resources
Budget Savvy Bride offers some great wedding freebie Ideas that might provide some more money-saving ideas for you here.
Don't be afraid to shop at your local Dollar Tree for many items. Items you might find could include plastic flowers, items to create your own decor or centerpieces, Thank You Cards and so much more and all for just $1.
Check out this post I wrote on more simple ways to save money every day. This post might give you some more great tips on ways to save money on your wedding or to just save more money everyday.
