How to Have the Wedding you Want on the Budget you’ve Got
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Weddings are one of those things that can end up being super expensive, but they don’t necessarily have to be. It just seems to be that when you throw the word ‘wedding’ into the mix, the numbers seem to shoot right up!
I remember being shocked when were planning our wedding; it was crazy how much companies charged when they knew it was for a wedding – for example, when my brother rang a venue and got a quote to hire for a ‘party’, they quoted him a price 3 times cheaper than they had quoted for a wedding reception! Sneaky right?
Although it can be easy to let the costs add up and run away from you, like with anything else, a little bit of planning and thrifty thinking can help you save money without compromising on your ideal wedding.
Here are some simple ways to save money on your wedding day:
Photography
Hiring a wedding photographer can be incredibly pricey! The most frugal way to save on this cost (assuming that you want wedding photos of course!) is to find a talented friend or family wedding willing to step into the role. Failing that, try using a less established photographer. Some photographers who haven’t been in business as long will charge lower rates than their competitors, but will take just a lovely photographs.
We shopped around for a while before choosing our wedding photographer and managed to get a great deal because he was still relatively new. The year after our wedding, his rate for the same package was almost double what we paid!
One of our wedding pics –
it was pretty windy!
Collect your guests photos
We put disposable cameras on the tables at our wedding for our guests to use and collected them up at the end (do those even exist anymore?!) but nowadays most people have phones with decent cameras on, and everyone takes photos.
To collect all your guests photos and candid shots, try Wedding Photo Swap. This is such a great idea, you simply invite your guests to add their photos to the website or mobile app, then you have easy access to all the pictures from your special day.
We had the photos from our disposables printed *cough* 7 years *cough* after our wedding, and needless to say – the quality was not good!
Make good use of sales
Don’t buy things full price, there’s almost always a sale price or discount to be had! I managed to get my wedding dress half price as it wasn’t the ‘current season’ and we got a great discount on suits too. Even our bridesmaids dresses were reduced in a sale, plus we managed to get extra discount for a pulled thread inside the skirt that nobody would see. Always shop around for the best bargains.
Use your DIY skills
If you’re at all creative, consider which aspects you can put your diy skills to the test on. We made all our own invitations and created some decorations for our venue. We also handmade table favours for our guests. This adds a nice touch, and saves so much money compared to buying things pre-made. It doesn’t have to be just you – you can get your crafty friends and family involved too.
Our table place setting/favour
candles
If you’ve got a great baker in the family ask them if they’d like to make your wedding cake. For our wedding, we chose to buy plain wedding cakes and gave our guests icing pens and edible decorations and asked them to decorate our cake for us. It was really unique and fun, plus cheaper than getting a professionally decorated cake.
Be flexible with your date
Finally, try pricing up different dates. The prices that wedding venues charge vary by time of year and day of the week, so if you can be flexible with your wedding date, you may find that you can get a much better price on the venue you love.
*This is a collaborative post
