Here are our Top 10 Wedding Money Saving Tips! Whether your budget is fit for Royalty or something more down to Earth, everyone can benefit from saving a few quid on their wedding costs.
Saving some spend on your big day could make the difference between a honeymoon in Barbados or Bognor, or a house deposit on that super crib instead of the money pit down the road.
#1 Trim Your Wedding Guest List
Each time you add a name to your invitation list, you’re increasing your budget significantly. It’s not just the catering costs, but also the extra centerpieces, favors, rentals, etc. Don’t invite anyone you haven’t talked to in five years. Don’t feel obligated to let single people bring a date. Avoid feeling pressured to invite all your work colleagues. And don’t let your friends bring their children.
#2 Friend Photography
Do you know any amateur photographers with amazing, expensive cameras? Chances are you do. With photography software becoming increasingly popular, people don’t necessarily have to take the most perfect pictures on site, and can tweak them later. There are a lot of folks out there who are fairly savvy with a camera and VERY savvy with Photoshop, so you don’t necessarily have to spend lots on a photography bill.
#3 Bigger & Fewer Tables
Ladies, we know you fantasize about your reception hall, and how there are tables for miles, with everyone you’ve ever known, sitting around them, their eyes glimmering with a mixture of awe, emotion, and jealousy. Now picture fewer, bigger tables, instead of lots of little ones. Fewer tables means you have to construct fewer centerpieces, and fewer dollars dished.
#4 Secondhand Dresses
You don’t necessarily have to buy a severely USED dress, ladies. Sometimes women will just decide against a certain dress, after they’ve purchased it. They may have gained a bit of weight, making the dress no longer fit, or they may just decide to go in a different direction at the last minute. Websites like www.wedbay.co.uk connect brides to be with former brides looking to get a little something back on their purchases.
#5 Buffet vs. Dinner
You may want to consider having buffet-style food at your reception, as opposed to plated, or family-style. Having plated meals with controlled portions, being served by an elegant wait staff may SOUND appealing, but that can add up quickly. Firstly, you need to pay for the extra wait staff AND tip them at the end of the night. You also need to send out response cards so that guests can indicate their meal or meat preference, which is another added expense.
#6 Local Flowers
Flowers can be one of the most important, mood-setting elements of your special day, and we don’t think you should have to skip them altogether just to pinch pennies. If you buy flowers that are local, or in season, you will most likely save a decent percentage on this expense. If you have a few large flower arrangements at your ceremony, move them to your reception and save some money.
#7 Have fun and do it yourself
Throw a “pitch-in party,” where you ask your friends to be a special part of your wedding by helping you assemble favors and make invitations, centerpieces, and other homemade inexpensive touches. Be sure to put out delicious snacks and have inspiring tunes on the stereo, so that your friends feel like they’re at a party, not just part of an assembly line. Click the link below for DIY wedding projects.
#8 Reduce clutter
Don’t become a décor junkie, keep the tables simple and elegant, it will look better and save you spending cash on trinkets you don’t use.
#9 Negotiate
Some hotel wedding venues will give the bride and groom a complementary room on the night. Negotiate before you book and remember, if you don’t ask you don’t get! Also remember that wedding venues will often do deals on weekday weddings.
#10 DIY wedding invites
Don’t go for engraving – regular printed invites work just as well. There are a variety of cheap wedding invitations available on the internet. For a casual wedding, consider printing your own invites from your home computer. Stationery stores now sell printed paper meant to use in a home printer as cheap wedding invitations.
