Budget Wedding Tips
Increasing numbers of couples are chosing a budget wedding as normal weddings are becoming more expensive each year, the average cost being about six months salary if you are earning 25,000 a year. As this is your special, unrepeatable day, you are naturally drawn to the absolute best and most luxurious of everything. Not only for yourself, but to give your guests a really beautiful day to remember. You have to concentrate on your budget and focus on some key things where you need to spend and other areas where you can save money. Below are some ideas where you could economise, you need not chose them all but pick and chose the ones that suit you the best.
Almost never considered are the costs associated with the hand made wedding dress; many brides sell their dress soon after they are married and this is a sensible way to reduce the cost. It is easy to buy a wedding dress that has only been worn once for less than half the price and there are now many shops that specialise in pre-enjoyed wedding dresses. If you are worried that your dress may have been already seen by the vicar, you could visit shops some distance away which minimises the chances that it has been seen before.
The largest single cost is that of the wedding reception but even here savings are possible. You may not believe it but statistics show that an average of 189 guests attend so when you are planning your cheap wedding, this is where most savings take place. Don’t invite everyone you know, in particular relatives that you haven’t seen since you were a child or people who are just acquaintances. Where the meal is concerned, why not have a buffet instead of a full, waited on, three or four course blow out. Further reductions can be made in the choice of the wedding reception venue. Instead of a fancy hotel, it could take place in a friend’s house or a local club where money could be saved on both food and drink if you either make them yourself or get friends to help.
Professional photographers can be expensive to hire for the whole day, so one idea is to book them for just the wedding ceremony so that you get great traditional shots of the service and the relatives. Then rely on friends and family to supply the photos of the wedding reception. If you have a really gifted friend, they may be willing to take all the photographs for you.
Your wedding stationery is a prime area for making savings, providing you have access to a computer and a good quality printer, however it is probably a false economy to choose cheap paper as people like to keep them. Presentation is everything so always get the best you can afford. Your word processor should be able to handle the normal type of invites etc., but you could also be more creative by incorporating photos or graphics.
Florists and flower arranging can be very expensive, especially when they know it’s for a wedding, so why not buy them direct and arrange them yourself or get a friend to help out. If you have a college or adult education centre nearby, you could check to see if they run flower arrangement classes and ask a couple of students if they would be willing to do yours.
You may be surprised at just how expensive a lavish wedding cake can be, so for the budget conscious a good alternative could be a large sponge or chocolate cake. Are any of your friends good in the kitchen? They may be honoured if you asked them to prepare your wedding cake. Failing that, you could buy some ordinary fruit cakes and then ice them yourself, adding the pillars and toppers the night before.
As a last cost saving measure, ask a friend or relative who has a nice car, if they would be prepared to decorate it and use it instead of a limousine, they will be more than happy to play an important part in your big day. Yours may be a budget wedding but it can still be enjoyed by everyone that attends and they won’t have noticed it was arranged on a very tight plan.
Want to find out more? Check out the main section about planning a wedding.
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50 Favorite Tips For Cutting Your Wedding Costs