Easy Ways To Save Money At Your Wedding
How To Save Money At Your Wedding
It’s a known fact that weddings cost money. A lot of money!
You’ll be busy worrying about how to save money on wedding expenses and trying to find ways to stay organized.
Many couples struggle trying to save money for their wedding while also paying normal debts and bills.
That doesn’t mean you can’t have an authentic wedding that speaks to their personality.
There are many ways to save money and stay true to your wedding budget.
Shop for your wedding decorations and accessories on Amazon
You’ll be amazed what they’ve got!
Wedding Invitations
Why spend so much on paper wedding invitations that end up in the trash?
Besides, let’s get with the times. Almost everyone has a smartphone and an email account.
Why not send wedding invitations via email?
You can use a cheap email marketing service like Constant Contact to choose a template, add the details, and wait for the RSVPs to roll in even quicker than waiting for people to drop an RSVP card in the snail mail box.
We can’t blame you if you want to send traditional wedding invitations, they’re so pretty!
Consider sending traditional invites and then ask your wedding guests to RSVP to the wedding using email.
Check out wedding invitations from Amazon or, read our blog post to compare the top 6 sites to order custom wedding invitations.
They can be customized to match your wedding colors and theme AND they can print all the addresses on envelopes for you — score!
You’re one step closer to saving more money on your wedding.
As for wedding invitations, you can still save money and easily DIY them. Trust me, nobody will know.
Ask a designer friend for help or buy a downloadable template and create an invitation that suits your taste. Print them at home or a store like Staples or Kinkos.
Wedding Venue
When you’re trying to pick a wedding venue, you’ll discover that some days of the week are more popular than others for couples to get married.
If there’s more demand for a given day, you’ll pay a higher price for a venue. Boo.
Saturday is an extremely popular day to get married, so be prepared to pony up.
You can save money by choosing a less popular month, such as February or December. Or, how about getting married during the week?
Fun Fact: My husband and I wanted our wedding date to be significant to us. The anniversary of our first date fell on a Monday so we went with it and it saved us boat loads on the venue. We knew it wasn’t convenient for guests, but nobody cared! The people who love us and wanted to help celebrate took the next day off work.
You could also choose an unconventional place to host your wedding like a restaurant, a friend’s house or a bar.
People will love going to a wedding that is different than the 5 others they’ve been to this year.
When your wedding is unique, those are the ones that get remembered for years to come.
Authentic Bride Guide Tip: If you choose a restaurant, you will have the food covered and you might avoid the renting fee for the venue. Yay!
Wedding Decorations
Shop: Affordable wedding decorations
Decor can add up very quickly and chances are you’re not going to need 100 plate chargers and 72 paper lanterns anytime soon.
If you don’t want to spend so much money on pre-made centerpieces, signs, aisle markers, and flowers, you can do the next best thing.
Browse Pinterest to get wedding DIY ideas, then visit a craft store and your vision will come a reality right before you eyes.
And at half the cost, if not more!
Wedding Flowers
If you want to have fresh flowers, consider blooms that are seasonal and local.
Flowers that are in season at the time of your wedding are less expensive.
Locally sourced flowers are fresher and will last longer.
Can’t stand the thought of spending mucho dinero on fresh flowers that will die in a few days?
Consider using silk flowers for all your decorations. Trust us, nobody will notice.
Wedding guests are not inspecting every little details, they are having fun at your authentic wedding.
Or, you can switch things up and only use fresh flowers for bouquets, corsages and boutonnieres, then use silk wedding flowers for everything else.
Wedding Food & Drinks
After the ceremony, every guest will be looking forward to the food and drink.
Let’s face it: everybody loves food and most guests need a couple cocktails before they feel comfortable busting a move on the dance floor.
The classic plated, sit-down dinner is often the most expensive option.
There are many alternatives that are just as delicious, authentic and will save a good chunk of your budget — triple threat for the win!
Ask catering companies about buffets or family-style stations and organize the best solution for your budget.
What about a food truck? Start thinking outside the box!
Another great way to save money is to limit the booze!
Instead of a full open bar, consider offering a complimentary signature cocktail.
Or, buy a few kegs of beer and stock up at wine at Total Wine or Costco, and all other drinks are a cash bar.
The opportunities are endless depending on your budget.
Depending on if your venue has a bar or if you’re hiring an outside bartender, you can customize the perfect combination to fit your budget.
Wedding Cake & Dessert
Your mantra for the cake should be less is more.
More tiers on a cake = mean more money.
You could have a single tier cake for the photos and cake cutting, and serve sheet cakes for your guests.
Hello, have you tasted how delicious Costco cakes are?
You can check out grocery store bakeries for tasty and affordable cakes.
You can choose a simple design and dress it up with a beautiful cake topper or other decorations from Amazon or a craft store.
You can always try something entirely different.
Think about an ice cream sundae bar, a cookie decorating station, or even your favorite assortment of pies!
Of course, there’s always the trendy doughnut wall as well.
Wedding Guests
When it comes to the final head count, you can trim your wedding guest list in order to save on food, alcohol, and rentals.
For example, you don’t have to give all adult guests a plus one option.
You can limit it to couples you hang out with more often or only couples that are engaged or married.
Don’t forget to inform your parents and in-laws that they are not allowed to extend invitations to anybody without your blessing.
Wedding Photography
If the photographer you love is insanely expensive, don’t let it get you down.
Ask them to recommend another photographer, who works for them at a lower price. This means that you can get similar quality and style on a budget.
Related Content: Questions to ask wedding photographer before you hire them
Wedding Music
You have several choices to entertain your guests at the reception.
The most popular option is to hire a DJ.
If you’re more interested in live music, hire a smaller band that requires fewer musicians and equipment.
There are a lot of companies that offer multiple services (photo, video, DJ) with a package bundle discount.
You can also save huge in this category by creating a playlist on your phone and asking a trusted friend to run the music for you.
>> Get our FREE Wedding Budget Tracker. It will help you stay on track and organized throughout the entire wedding planning process.
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