A wedding is a big event in anyone’s life. Many people want to share their celebration with their family and friends, which often ends up with them spending a substantial amount of money. The average cost of a wedding in the U.S. is over $25,000, which is what many Americans spend on rent or their mortgage in an entire year!
Although it is true that weddings can be expensive, with careful planning, a good strategy and by making smart decisions, you can make the most important day of your love life into a memorable and wonderful event for all without breaking the bank.
Watch the video here:
Create and Stick to a Budget
The most important step to controlling your wedding spending is to settle on a realistic budget. Consider how much savings you jointly have, any contributions from your family members, and potential monetary gifts you may receive to help offset some of the costs.
Create a spending limit, but be realistic that you may go over that. Therefore, it is advantageous to create a “cushion” for your budget of 10-20% to account for last-minute expenses that you didn’t plan for. For example, you can plan a summer wedding, but a sudden onset of rain may make it necessary to tent the event and lead to spending you didn’t plan for.
Create a Checklist
Create a wedding checklist that includes the areas that you will have to cover. Start with the essentials, such as venue, food, the dress, the photographer, transportation, decorations, etc. Purchasing a wedding organizer is a small expense that can help you focus on everything involved to plan a wedding. Premade organizers suggest everything you may need for the ultimate event, helping you not forget anything.
Prioritize
At this stage, you should decide what is a must for your wedding. Having a discussion with your significant other is important to figure out what is important to each one of you. Some people may want to get the best photographer to capture the details of the day, but may not care as much about flowers or decorations. Another partner may want to create the most exquisite menu to impress the guests but will opt for asking guests to snap pictures with their phone cameras to save on that expense.
Having this conversation early on can help you decide what to spend more on, budgeting more for non-essentials. This will prevent you from committing to spend a lot on some things that are not as vital to your preferences before budgeting for the big-ticket items.
Trim the Invitation List
Wedding costs scale with the number of people you invite—by having fewer guests, you will spend less on food, drinks and you may rent a smaller and less spacious venue. But how can you decide who to invite? Afterall, cutting people off the invitation list may seem rude.
Your wedding day should be about you, so don’t be afraid to invite only people that you truly want to be there. Close family members are a must, but there isn’t a good reason to invite relatives that you have never met before. Plus, does your mom’s best friend from college really need to be there?
Create a max number of people and then trim the invitation list accordingly to save on your wedding costs.
Choose an Off-Season Date for Your Wedding
You can save money by choosing an off-peak season date for your wedding. The most popular wedding months are during the summertime, and venues may charge less in January, March or November. Cold weather may limit you to an indoor setting, but unless you are adamant about having a garden reception, off-season dates can be a big budget saver for your wedding.
Rent a Non-Traditional Venue
Renting a venue may be the highest expense you’ll have when planning a wedding. To save on costs, ditch the traditional venues, such as restaurants and hotels, which will rake up the rates by charging you per person or per hour, or require you to choose their expensive caterers and approved vendors.
Instead, hold your special event at a non-traditional venue! Airbnb is a great resource to find beautiful and unique locations around the world that may be perfect for your needs. From a beach shack in Hawaii to a mansion in Beverly Hills, you can rent a great house for you and your guests. Plus, you and your fiance, and even your bridal party (if you so choose) can stay there, saving on hotel costs as well!
Just make sure to get an OK from the host for your big day!
Rent The Wedding Dress
You will only wear your wedding dress only once, so you have to decide if it makes sense to spend thousands of dollars on it? Renting a dress instead of purchasing it through Rent the Runway gives you plenty of options to find your dream dress for a fraction of the price. This choice can even allow you to wear a designer dress you would never afford to buy on your own! Plus, returning the dress after the event will free up closet space necessary to house your gown for years to come.
The Food and Drinks
Food and drinks will eat a lot of your wedding budget, so you have to look for a catering service that can provide the number of dishes at an affordable rate. The price you will pay for food will depend mostly on the type of dishes that you want to be served at the wedding.
Remember that good food doesn’t have to be expensive or fancy. In fact, you’ve probably been to a wedding where the food looked exquisite but tasted awful!
Instead of sticking to a traditional menu, such as chicken or fish, why not honor your heritage? If your husband’s grandparents came from Asia, why not offer your guests a delicious Chinese or Thai buffet?
If you were born in the South, create a menu with fried chicken and mac n’ cheese that is always a fan favorite! These choices will not only help your wedding be unique, it will also bring down the costs of typical wedding courses.
If you have friends or relatives who are good in the kitchen, why not get together and plan your own menu? This option will definitely be the most affordable one, plus will allow your guests to show you how much they care!
Don’t opt for expensive alcohol to stick to your budget; This article proves most people can’t tell the difference between a $5 and a $50 bottle of wine! Throw in a couple of cheap champagne bottles (nobody will tell the difference) for toasting and you’ll be all set to cheers to your special day!
Decorations and Wedding Favors
Many people make the mistake of letting their wedding planner dictate what favors they should have. However, depending on the number of guests you have, this can get expensive! Shop online for cheap wedding favors to find what works for you!
The DIY trend is exploding, and you should get it on it to save on your wedding day. Decorating your venue in your individual style can be super fun. Instead of opting for expensive flowers, choose balloons and paper mache wedding decorations instead! Pinterest has ton of ideas for wedding decorations that can inspire even the least creative person.
Planning your wedding to be affordable is not difficult. Don’t focus as much on material things and remember that love is free! Also, remember that a wedding has to be fun and full of good cheer, and making people happy doesn’t require spending a lot of money.
We hope that you have enjoyed our article and found it useful. What important tips have we missed? Share them with us and other readers in the comments section below, and make sure to visit https://savemoneytricks.com/ for more money-saving advice.
