Weddings on a Budget
Wedding expenses can run totally out of control ending what should be the happiest day of your lives into a nightmare of debt, arguments and stress. Even for those of you lucky enough to have parents in a position to pay for your Wedding, watching costs and keeping within a budget is essential in these economic times.
A good place to start would be to organise your wedding outside of peak holiday months. If this is difficult to do, then see if you can organise your wedding for during the week, a Friday evening or on a Sunday. Most wedding venues are willing to offer specials or discounts on the days and evenings they are traditionally not so busy. Photographers and other service providers would also be more flexible with their prices on days viewed as not so busy.
Many venues have fantastic specials during the winter months so this is a great way of saving on venue hire. Traditionally winter is “off-season” so service providers would also be cheaper.
The time of day you plan your wedding can have a massive impact on your budget. Instead of a lavish 3 course dinner in the evening why not consider a lighter lunch wedding reception, or even a champagne breakfast? Breakfast also translates into a lower bar bill! You could have a chic cocktail party with classy tapas style snacks and other delicious finger foods, but the more complicated the snacks the more expensive they would be. Remember too many drinks before the guests have anything to eat leads to everyone getting tipsy early on! So it is a good idea to offer something to eat early on in the celebrations. You can have a big bash for all your friends when you get back from your honeymoon.
Keep your food choices simple and choose cheaper meal options like delicious chicken dishes served with fresh salads instead of expensive meat cuts like fillet steak.
As far as music is concerned, a DJ is cheaper than a live band. Make sure that he/she has background music that you like to play when you make your entrance and during dinner.
For flowers and décor on a smaller budget there are a few ways of saving money, For table arrangements try and keep your tables small so that you don’t have a vast empty space in the middle of the table to fill with flowers. A way around this is to present your food on platters placed in the middle of the table from which guests would help themselves. Beautifully presented food can act as the décor for the dinner.
Choose vases with narrow tops as these do not require as many flowers to fill them as wide vases. Use small arrangements of flowers interspersed with lots of candles so cutting down on the number of flowers you will need. Another idea is to fill beautiful glass containers of different shapes and sizes with coloured water at different levels, float candles in these and this can be a very effective way of décor without using expensive flowers. In fact candles and lovely candle holders are a great way of adding loads of style to your wedding décor at minimal cost.
Your wedding favours are a place where you can trim your budget because to a large extent, you can put them together yourself. Consider buying a variety of sweeties in the colour of your theme and displaying them in stylish glass containers, or make up organza bags for your guests to take home.
Some brides are opting to make a donation to a charity of their choice. Have a look at http://www.saweddingvenues.com/favours.aspx to get some good ideas. Give the men a gift of a lotto ticket – you never know, one of your guests may be lucky enough to hit the jackpot!
Please add any cost cutting ideas of your own here! Lets share these brilliant ideas we may have with other brides.
Wedding expenses can run totally out of control ending what should be the happiest day of your lives into a nightmare of debt, arguments and stress. Even for those of you lucky enough to have parents in a position to pay for your Wedding, watching costs and keeping within a budget is essential in these economic times.
A good place to start would be to organise your wedding outside of peak holiday months. If this is difficult to do, then see if you can organise your wedding for during the week, a Friday evening or on a Sunday. Most wedding venues are willing to offer specials or discounts on the days and evenings they are traditionally not so busy. Photographers and other service providers would also be more flexible with their prices on days viewed as not so busy.
Many venues have fantastic specials during the winter months so this is a great way of saving on venue hire. Traditionally winter is “off-season” so service providers would also be cheaper.
The time of day you plan your wedding can have a massive impact on your budget. Instead of a lavish 3 course dinner in the evening why not consider a lighter lunch wedding reception, or even a champagne breakfast? Breakfast also translates into a lower bar bill! You could have a chic cocktail party with classy tapas style snacks and other delicious finger foods, but the more complicated the snacks the more expensive they would be. Remember too many drinks before the guests have anything to eat leads to everyone getting tipsy early on! So it is a good idea to offer something to eat early on in the celebrations. You can have a big bash for all your friends when you get back from your honeymoon.
Keep your food choices simple and choose cheaper meal options like delicious chicken dishes served with fresh salads instead of expensive meat cuts like fillet steak.
As far as music is concerned, a DJ is cheaper than a live band. Make sure that he/she has background music that you like to play when you make your entrance and during dinner.
For flowers and décor on a smaller budget there are a few ways of saving money, For table arrangements try and keep your tables small so that you don’t have a vast empty space in the middle of the table to fill with flowers. A way around this is to present your food on platters placed in the middle of the table from which guests would help themselves. Beautifully presented food can act as the décor for the dinner.
Choose vases with narrow tops as these do not require as many flowers to fill them as wide vases. Use small arrangements of flowers interspersed with lots of candles so cutting down on the number of flowers you will need. Another idea is to fill beautiful glass containers of different shapes and sizes with coloured water at different levels, float candles in these and this can be a very effective way of décor without using expensive flowers. In fact candles and lovely candle holders are a great way of adding loads of style to your wedding décor at minimal cost.
Your wedding favours are a place where you can trim your budget because to a large extent, you can put them together yourself. Consider buying a variety of sweeties in the colour of your theme and displaying them in stylish glass containers, or make up organza bags for your guests to take home.
Some brides are opting to make a donation to a charity of their choice. Have a look at http://www.saweddingvenues.com/favours.aspx to get some good ideas. Give the men a gift of a lotto ticket – you never know, one of your guests may be lucky enough to hit the jackpot!
Please add any cost cutting ideas of your own here! Lets share these brilliant ideas we may have with other brides.
