What can I do to cut costs planning a wedding?

Question

What can I do to cut costs planning a wedding?

Answer 1

what ever you can do by yourself, do it. i just got married 3 weeks ago and the only thing i would have done different is buy my invitation from a pro instead of making them myself because to much headachs go into that,but i hada friend do my reception, had a b b q reception, had in season flowers, always cheaper that way. buy the dress on sale. rent the tuxedos. i spent maybe $4000 on mine.

and at the end of the day all that matters is that you have become one, and to spend all that time and money for just one day isn t worth it. if i could do my whole wedding over again it would have just been my family his family, me and my husband and my son and the preacher.

Answer 2

Check your library or Halfprice bookstore for a book,

'How to have a big wedding on a small budget' by Diane Warner; retails for $15.

Answer 3

Use an iPod instead of a DJ or band

Buffett instead of sit down

Beach ceremony instead of at the venue or a church

Make your own wedding cake or give out cookies instead

Make your own invitiations - programs - Save the Dates

Forego floral centerpeices on the tables and use candles instead.

Answer 4

-Buy your cake at a supermaket. they have catalogues with wedding designs at a fraction of what a baker would charge you.

-DIY all you can. If you are crafty, you can arrange your own flowers and decorations.

-Get married on a Friday or a Sunday. They have deep discounts on those days, Saturday is the most expensive day.

-Compare shopping. Ask a vendor if they wil matcf X vendor price. If you don't ask for discounts, they won't give it to you.

-Get married off season (September-April) for deeper discounts. You can save 60% for marrying off-peak season, ane even more by booking on FRi or Sun.

-Cut off unncesary costs: programs, save the date cards, favors can be cut off altogether.

-Avoid 'pseudo-tradition" traps: You do not need a unity candle, o need foir guest book etc.

-Keep your guest list verty trim. Under 100 is best, 50-75 is better. Under 50 superb. You do not need to invite everyone that you know and distant rekatives that you haven seen in years. HS friends that you haven't talk to, neighbors and coworkers, gym acauqntances do not need to be invited. Also, you can have better stiff by invitting less people.

-Keep your wedding party small. Overbloated wedding parties are nor only passe but also tacky. No need for 3 flowers gitrls, 2 page boysm ring bearers, histesses, ushers and 6 GM and BM. You do not need none of that to get married and it's very expensive. Less is better.

-Buy from manufacturers. Wedding vendors will rip you a new one. I've bough a lot of stuff that was not labeled wedding and not on wedding sites and save 80%.

-Buy gently used: Craigslits and ebay are great plecae to buy gently used or new accesories: baskets, left over blank  designer invitations, flutes, cake toppers, tialras, veils, shoes...you name it. I like Craigslits oarticulary, becaus e people are just tryimng to get rid of the stuff for cheap and many times they will give you free stuff too.

-Avoid engraving or personalized junk. It's an unncesary expense and it's very expensive. No one likes personalized stuff and is a waste of money.

-Enroll family and friends talents

-No need for limo, seriously. No one ever sees it anyway and is Not wortyh it. Save $300

-Fimd budget friendly sites: local parks, golf courses, elk's lodge, VFW, YMCA, school cafeterias, community halls, chutch felow ship halls or a relative's property are all budget friendly choices.

-Make a budget and stick to it and DO NOT (never!) fund your wedding through credit card... BIG mistake. Have the wedding that you can afford.

-No need to decorate the church., Churches are beutiful anyway. Save $300

Good luck and congratulations

Answer 5

Have family members help out with food,

dont have a dj,

have a family member take your pictures,

now if your having your wedding next year,ask for giftcards this Christmas that way you can buy your favors,invitations ,

centerpieces,table cloths,dinnerware and alot of other

stuff like at Walmart or Target.Cheapest way to go.

Answer 6

Don't listen to anyone who says "You have to have this at a wedding" or "You have to do it this way".  Then plan it like a fun party.  Ask helpful people in your life to provide things for the party instead of getting you a wedding gift.  Ignore the unhelpful people!  For hundreds upon hundreds of years people have been celebrating their weddings simply (and cheaply).  The focus should be the marriage, the family event, not the fancy celebration.

Answer 7

you could do cupcakes instead of the cake..thats what we are doing..it saves money and is very cute! finger foods,decorate yourself,DONT CONCENTRATE SO MUCH ON WHAT YOU THINK EVERYONE ELSE WOULD LIKE DO WHAT YOU LIKE AND WHAT FITS YOUR BUDGET!! lol (: congrats

Answer 8

Try choosing a date in the winter months (January to March), we are looking at venues now and were thinking about November or January, off the bat venues charge $1500 for a January wedding and have better package prices.

Also, think about doing your wedding on a Friday or Sunday for better prices as well.  A Friday wedding package would cost us $15/per person less at some venue and others have quoted us 10- 40% per person less than the identical Saturday wedding.

Those are two really easy ways to save a ton of money upfront on reception costs, just by picking one date over the other.

Good Luck

Answer 9

had my dream wedding and we spent around 2500. Here are some ideas to help cut corners. We had about a 100 guest show up, maybe 125, don't know the exact count. We anticipated around 200.

We cut lots of corners but it was beautiful.

Family member took our pictures.

Family friend baked both cakes for the cost of the ingredients. (Only the bottom tier of a 3 tier cake was eaten, and all but 1/4 of the grooms cake was left)

A lady at our church did our center pieces and decorations, she already had the stuff from a previous wedding and they happened to be in our colors.

We didn't serve a sit down meal, instead, we served cake, punch, grapes, cheese, dinner mints, peanuts, chocolate covered strawberries, and ice water for guests who didn't like punch. Ask around and borrow serving dishes/punch bowls.

The church let us borrow the table clothes for the tables.

We used the church greenery as a back drop.

I made the boutineers for the groom, my dad, his dad, best man, and my ring bearer.

I got mine and the maid of honor bouquets at micheals for 12.99 each, they were hand tied flowers.

I got all the party supplies from sam's and oriental trading.

Flower girl basket and pillow, I found them on clearance for 1/.2 price at the craft stores.

We printer our own invitations on my printer, I picked the invites up for 1/2 price at the craft store.

I used the craft store coupons (40%) off the purchase a kit that included the guest book, pen, cake server, and flutes for toasting.

We had the guest blow the bubbles at us and that doubled as our favors, i personalized them and hand tied ribbon in our wedding colors.

I splurged on my dress and veil, but nothing over the top. Just ask about the cost of alterations before you purchase the dress, this is one thing I wish I did. My dress was detailed and the alterations were more expensive than I thought they were going to be.

Get your friends to play the ceremony music for you, or use Cd or Ipod.

Flowers for the centerpieces and the courages if you don't have time to make them, use the grocery store florist. They are cheaper and the flowers are just as pretty as the high priced florists.

Answer 10

One thing my friend did at her wedding to cut costs was to hold it at her church or a friends yard where she didnt have to pay rent or anything. I also heard one time that some one had given out handmade crafts to the guests instead of expensive gift bags. You can also ask some friends to make the food for you. (what my parents did was have a potluck... it was actually kinda fun)

Answer 11

My wedding costed less than $1000. Here is how we did it:

1 wedding dress.....origional design my MIL is a seamstress!!

2 Flower girl dress.... same as above

3. Brides maid dresses  same as above

Total for all 4 dresses  $ 76

4. Suits not tuxs went with black....already in the groom and groomsmen's closet

5. Flowers... My hobby is floral arrangements  total $96  I had a lot of flowers!!

6. Photography... gift from friend(photographer) we paid $300 for the album  with real gold accents

7. Church...$0.0, Pastor $25, Reception space $0.0 (fellowship hall at church) Food   took up the remainder of costs.

The money that we saved....we spent on our honeymoon!!

Answer 12

I'd say make everything you can except the wedding cake, that's an expert job, but you don't need the fondant and all the fancy decorating, that's where the costs are... just get it iced and put some fresh flowers on it.

Don't decorate the church, it doesn't need a thing except some alter flowers if you want them.

Do your own invitations, $1 favors (no one gives a c**p what they get as a favor, they really don't), and shop shop shop for that dress!  I found one $1200 cheaper just by calling around, and they know they have to be competitive with the internet outlets now.  Call some alteration shops in your area and ask what they would want to alter your dress if you buy it online, you might save $100's right there.

Answer 13

check out freshroses.com for flowers...

just click on your wedding month and they will show you all the flowers available.

they come straight from the growers and are really fresh-mine came in 2 days before my wedding and didnt even need to be refrigerated.

plus they are really cheap-i ordered about 6 bunches of roses and tied the stems together with ribbon for the bouquets (thats the style now anyway)- and they sent instructions for corsages and boutonnieres. you get a lot for the money

Answer 14

1. no registry, if anyone's bringing anything, it'll be cash this way (we'll buy what we need later instead of get expensive things from stores that have registries)....most stuff are cheaper at outlets!!!

2. no rsvp cards (rsvp online or by phone) and inviations from stores or we're making them ourselves. Check out vistaprint.com and look at their invites... they usually give away alot of stuff for free and you can choose linen finish and then decorate the cards with ribbons yourself to make it extra nice! I think they were giving away 10invites last time I checked  :)

3. asking for service as presents from close friends and family instead of gifts, (ie photography, videography, cakes,...)

4. flowers (after alot of researching and actually finding great deals, i finally found roses 2dozens for $16!!! fresh and they'll come in large pails so we can design them however we want). However if your budget is tighter then just have a bouquet for yourself and one bout for him and put other stuff as centerpieces like a bowl with floating candles (bowls don't need to match). Try costco, walmart... if you're looking for florists then ask it on your local craigslist website and google it long and hard... i found the same floral arrangement in two different shops, one for $80 and one for $40! exact same thing! the $40 one was on page 16 of google in my search!!

5. makeup: after looking everywhere and getting ridiculous quotes like $325 for one day for makeup and hair, i called a local makeup college and asked for referrals of their graduates. i'm getting the consultation for free and can meet up with some of the grads, interview them and negotiate a price.

6. hair... i got a gorgeous pony-tail clip on hair extensions that was only $40 and is amazing!!!!!!! all you have to do is design the front of the hair and clip that on the back and voila! you look like a queen!!!!!

7. cakes... my friend will bake two cakes for the tiered look and i'll have cupckakes in the middle tier... this of course won't feed everyone so i'm getting an amazing slab cake from a bakery for $150!! it'll be decorated in the same pattern as the other cakes... strawberry shortcake!!!

7. we won't have music but you can definitely cut the dj out by having your ipod hooked up to good system... personally i don't like the side remarks of djs anyway and you can have a few bridesmaids in charge of this task

8. i'm ordering my dress online and getting it tailored here... much cheaper!!!! apparantly david's bridal is good and alot of people are happy with ebay.

9. the wedding will be at a restaurant so setup and decoraion costs are practically much less!

10. jewelry for the day, i'm not buying it, it's tradition for us that the inlaws buy the bride a set so i'll be wearing that

11. bridesmaid dresses... they'll coordinate it with me and the budget it very low so everyone can afford their own dresses.

12. wedding favors... i'm buying one for each family... i'm giving out tree seedlings for them to plant :)

13. car rental... so far we're set on renting but if worse comes to worse we won't even!! i'm not in the mood to spend $1000 on a rolls royce for a day!

14. we're not going cheap on dresses, suits, etc just always keeping our options open and looking around :)

15. I highly recommend a budget planner that you can edit over and over. This is the one I'm using: http://www.vertex42.com/Links/go.php?url... I've basically made a budget, put notes on each cell accordingly and then i try to find ways to beat that or change things around so the total is less... it takes work and you need to be very resourceful but it really does work!

All the best :)

EDIT: forgot to say that you can easily skip the favors and pick upto 100 different pictures and go to www.moo.com and order 100 minicards for $20! then punch a hole and tie a ribbon on it and place them on each person's place setting. This will serve two purposes: 1. place setting; 2. a beautiful bookmark..

Answer 15

Hound Lover is spot on!

Also, go to discount stores for your dress.  Mine was $300.

Hire an ameteur photographer - but make sure to view some of their work to make sure you like their style.  Some of the photographers I interviewed charged upwards of $2,000.  I chose someone just starting out and she charged $800.  Her photos were amazing!