Nowadays with wedding costs escalating many couples wonder how they can host a wedding that will live on in memory, not through bills. It's no wonder that people get tense when they start to think about coordinating a wedding. But it doesn’t have to be this way. There is no need to spend lots of money on a wedding, the most important thing is to make it personal.
Whether your budget is $3000 or $30,000, here are a few tips to help you get the most for your money:
Before beginning to plan your wedding and reception, sit down together and discuss what your top 5 priorities are to determine where to go all out and where to cut corners. For instance, if it is important to you the wedding and reception are held at a particular venue or you know you MUST have a specific designer gown, then fit that into your budget and save money in other areas.
Keeping the guest list as concise as possible can help to drastically reduce reception costs. Most caterers, restaurants and banquet halls charge per person.
Food can be the biggest expense. A buffet or lunch can be a more cost-effective choice. Drop-off catering, where the caterer delivers already prepared food and sets it up, is another option, or catering all or part of the reception yourself is another possibility.
There are many options for low-cost or no-cost locations including parks or your own or a friends garden. Also consider a location that offers an all-inclusive package on the wedding, reception, and sometimes the honeymoon too. Choosing to have the wedding during an off-season or on any day but Saturday will also help to cut costs.
A few creative money-saving alternatives to shopping at a traditional bridal salon include purchasing a second-hand gown, checking out specials, renting a gown or wearing a designer suit. See some tips from Beautiful Brides.
Find out if arrangements are already provided at your chosen location. Perhaps plan the wedding in a garden, art museum or a beautifully furnished home. Or consider doing the flowers and decorations yourself.
This is definitely an area where do-it-yourselves can show off their skills and pocket the difference in costs. Print off your own computer or use your local photocopy service who can produce fantastic results on stylish paper at very good rates.
For some a band is an absolute must, for others a DJ, which is usually much less expensive. For the die-hard live band or music folk, look for bands that have day jobs and/or high school -aged bands. A rock-bottom budget option is to make your own musical favourite CDs.
Weddings tend to go by so quickly, and each moment is so precious, that having a photographer chronicle the event with a still and/or video camera is the only way to really capture the moment for posterity. But can photography be affordable. Check out what is available and what you are actually given at the end of the day.
Eliminating or limiting a traditional full bar to one or two hours will really cut costs. Alternatives include serving beer and wine only, not serving alcohol at all or only pouring a champagne toast. Check on your venue, you may be able to provide the alcohol yourself.