Money Savings Tips for a Wedding
By Mike
Congratulations! You are going broke! I mean”¦ getting married! As I mentioned in my first post on how to save money for a wedding over at my other blog, my best friend is getting married next spring (and I also have a sister-in-law getting married at the end of next summer, in 2010). So, while I will end up broke in 2010, as I am the best man for both weddings, I will try to share all the money savings tips related to weddings that I could find:
Money Savings Tip #1: Talk to people
I have already written about how much money you can save through your network. A wedding is definitely a great occasion to test how good your network is to help you save money. So, whatever you are looking for (dress, flowers, ballroom, cars, etc.) tell as many people as you can. One will ultimately come through with something like:
“hey! My friend is a DJ, he’ll give you a good deal”.
The only problem with using your network is that you might risk compromising on the results. Therefore, I suggest telling your connections that you are still shopping around and ready to meet the friend without obligation. You don’t want to hurt feelings; you simply want to save money on your wedding!
This would be a great idea if you are a looking for a nice car for your wedding: if you have a rich aunt, this is the moment to give him a call ;-).
Money Savings Tip #2: Go back to school
I was able to get a ridiculous price for our flowers because I used the first and second money savings tips for my wedding at the same time: a friend of a friend had a sister finishing her courses to become a florist. Therefore, she was ultra motivated to do our stuff while she didn’t charge much because she was not officially done with her classes yet.
Getting a student to do certain things (I wouldn’t let a student cut my fiancé’s hair for example ;-) ), can help make things affordable. In addition to the money you are saving, they are usually very motivated as it is one of their first jobs (and it is so cool to work for such a cute couple that is getting married ;-) ). We were very pleased with the results and we paid half price.
Money Savings Tip #3: The DIY method
We used this trick to save on wedding invitations. Instead of paying $500 for some pieces of paper that will be thrown out after a month (except by your parents!), we picked nice paper with letterhead and printed all the invitations. You just have to add a personal touch (nice envelopes or ribbons) and you will have nice wedding invitation cards for 50% of what it costs if it’s done by someone else.
Money Savings Tip #4: Try combinations
We were lucky enough to combine the ballroom with the food; we actually found a nice restaurant with a room reserved for private parties. The room was big enough to welcome 150 people and looked like a medieval chapel (with granite floors, stained glass windows and a huge wooden bar). Since the restaurant was taking care of the food for 150 people, they didn’t charge us for the room. By combining wedding services, you might be able to save a few bucks!
Money Savings Tip #5: Prioritize
There are virtually no limits on how much you can spend on a wedding. Some people like it very fancy and spend $75,000 and some others manage to get a frugal wedding for less than $10,000. I guess it is all a matter of prioritizing. In my case, I really wanted to have nice cars. This is why I decided to spend more money on cars and spend less on something else. By making your wedding list budget, it will become easier to make decisions.
There are several ways to save while planning a wedding but one thing I would not be shy to spend on would be the honeymoon”¦ after all, this is the most important part of the wedding, right?
October 19th, 2009 at 8:19 am
My best tip is to avoid going into debt for the wedding and honeymoon. What’s really important are the relationships, the new couple’s, those with friends and family. In 30 days, no one will really care if the cake wasn’t 12 layers tall, or if the flowers weren’t over the top, or if you couldn’t afford a 26 day Mediterranean cruise.
I got married 20 years ago and paid on some portion of that debt for 10 years. Trust me, don’t go into debt for a wedding or honeymoon!
October 20th, 2009 at 8:26 am
Firstly, I want to apologyse for my English, I’m Potuguese – so, you have a devoted reader directly from Lisbon, Portugal! ;)
Now, regarding the topic – I actually got married last year.
Besides designing and printing all the stationary, we’ve decided to hand-made all the favours as well. More money saved…
Other tips are related to the attire – one can actually have her gown hand-made or ordered online with a great discount – same for the groom of course. My bridal shoes were ordered online and only costed me €60 (with delivery costs included) which is a great deal when comparing to the shoes sold by the bridal shop – which were from €200 to €350. Also, for the evening I had a faux-fur stole that was borrowed from a friend who had married only one month before.
Don’t be afraid to research the best deals and aks your friends – most of them will be quite happy and honored if you they lend something for your important day.
October 20th, 2009 at 8:41 am
Who’s the punk in the photo?
October 20th, 2009 at 10:47 am
that’s me, and my lovely wife off course. No photoshop ajustments ;-)
October 20th, 2009 at 12:52 pm
It’s easy to have a cheap wedding — the trick is to make it lush and lovely and cheap.
For the reception: create focal points. Most people do not notice the small details – but do notice the large overall impression. Put risers on the food tables, and create tiers. Drape with fabric remnants for interest.
Use lights. It may cost you a hundred dollars or so to rent lights, but you can get a really dramatic effect.
Make dessert towers of pies of cupcakes instead of a $2,000 cake.
We’ve specialized in DIY weddings for 15 years and made amazingly beautiful diy wedding invitation kits: http://www.invitesite.com/weddings/All-wedding-invitations.php
We always have some on sale, so you get $15 invites for $1.50 (since you are printing and assembling)
Have fun! And made sure someone in on point on your wedding day. Hire a wedding co-ordinator. It’s worth it.
Helen Driscoll
Invitesite.com
Pasadena, CA
July 29th, 2010 at 5:23 pm
Good advice! My tip is to book suppliers close to the date. As a wedding supplier myself I know that with a year to go, I have plenty of chance to fill the date but the closer I get the less likely I am to get something so the more competitive I am likely to be with my price!
December 15th, 2010 at 1:23 pm
There are endless ways of saving on your wedding some of my favourites include:
1. Meal – this is potentially one of the largest expenses. You can reduce the number of guests (not always easy). Consider using alternative suppliers, speak to local resturants where you know the food is good value and tasty and then talk to them about doing a deal on supplying the food for your big day (they don’t have to know it’s a wedding, say its a family function (suppliers love to boost the price as soon as they hear the word “wedding”), if you are going to order a decent number of meals expect a decent discount.
2. Honeymoon – If you are not having a lot of guests consider combining the wedding and honeymoon and get married abroad (only one venue to pay for).
3. The rings – You can get cheap wedding rings by shoping around, but remember you dont’ have to go with platinum or gold. Costume jewellery will get you by for a year or two until you can afford to get better quality rings. Or if you want to spend a little more consider paladium rather than platinum (it’s from the same family as platinum and looks the same but is quite a bit cheaper).
I hope these help.
April 7th, 2011 at 2:41 pm
Don’t waste money on the food, spending £50-60 a head on food and wine on top is just a big waste of money – nobody will remember it. We had fish and chips at our wedding and knickerbocker glory for desert, cost £17 per head – all the guests brought their own wine and we saved over £4000 on the wedding budget for our honeymoon.
Think about it –
Roger
October 22nd, 2011 at 9:28 am
Save money on the wedding video by hiring a broadcast quality camera and asking your friends and family to film you throughout the day each doing a 30 minute shift. They don’t need to be pro’s, just be keen to do a good job. When you have all the footage hire an editor to make a tip top wedding video. I have seen a few people doing this in the last year at weddings I have entertained at.
November 2nd, 2012 at 3:43 pm
Great article,
I defiantly think that magicians are the best forms of entertainment these days. A close-up magician can walk among guests during canapé’s, meal and even during the photographs filling in lots of gaps during the day. The average magician will perform for 2-3 hours at a wedding so you really do get a lot for your moneys worth. Tom London
April 4th, 2013 at 7:59 am
Some good advice here. I would say entertainment during the photo period is the best time as this is always seems quite a long time for guests who are just waiting to eat!