Wedding budgeting ideas!?

Question

Hi guys,

Am getting married in a years time, and am panicking about money situation. Has anyone got any good ideas as to where we could cut back, or any money-saving tips>?

Or, any good websites would be appreciated, it is a mine field!

Answer 1

I'm getting married next May and I am also worried about costs. None of these people seem to get that you still want all the works but at a lower cost. One of my friends has said that her husband will do unofficial photos as a wedding gift, so no cost and we'll get more honest pictures. I'm making the table decorations myself - including name plates and favours. It costs about £3 for a length of fabric and about 50p for some ribbon and a big bag of sweets and hey presto - home made favours. My fiancee works for a printing company and so they will be printing all our invitations for free but you could do them yourself instead of buying them, if you have a decent printer (or do them at work!). If you know anybody who works somewhere that may help with any wedding plans ask them to help as a wedding present. They will be obliged to do it because you have asked and then when the wedding comes, they aren't really guna turn up empty handed are they.
Were having the ceremony and reception and evening party in the same hotel so that will cut costs of flowers and decoration as we only need one room doing. Also this cuts out the cost of hiring a car as we wont need to drive from the church to the venue. Don't worry about serving the most expensive champagne, not many people will be able to tell the difference, just get cheap sparkling wine I'ts just as nice. Buy bridesmaids dresses off the hanger, Debenhams or BHS as they are just as nice.
instead of a fancy tiara, try experimenting with flowers or a fancy hair pin, just as nice but a fraction of the price. Try on loads of dresses then look on the internet to see if you can find it any cheaper, I don't mean E-bay or anything but some shops can put an extra 20% on the price because of the shops name, not the designer. A buffet style reception is also cheaper as you wont need to pay any waitress fees. If anybody wants a mini bus putting on to take them home, let them sort it. You asked them to come now its up to them to sort their arrangements out.
Flowers, try to pick flowers that are seasonal to when you are getting married because they will be cheaper.

Don't go along with anything anybody else wants just because you feel you have to. It's your day not theres. If they want that extra thing ask them whose paying for it?

And remember to enjoy yourself. Hope this helped.

Answer 2

Invite less people so that you can spend more on each individual guest. Put your money in things that matter.
Remember that flowers will die, don't go overboard.
No one will remember if your tablecloths were cotton, polyester, satin, or linen.
No one cares about centerpieces. Something small and pretty is all you need.
A $200 dress from Nordstrom or J Crew is just as good as a $500 or $1000 dress from David's Bridal, if it fits your style. And, they have a liberal return policy so may be able to order 3 sizes at once, pick the one that fits best, and return the other 2 (confirm this before doing it).
Find a good local tailor to do alterations on your dress. And remember, the more simple the dress, the more simple the alterations will be.
Don't go overboard on your invites. Have them match the formality of your wedding. A simple ecru or white invite with a nice script on it (for around a dollar a person for the whole package) is better than $2 invites with cheezy opalescent flowers or castles. Remember that bows get crushed in mailing and that squares require extra postage. Picking the right invite can save you several hundred dollars!

Spending $40 a person on food and alcohol for 25 guests is better than spending $10 a person for 100 guests. Treat the guests well. No one likes bad food and cash bars. They've honoured you by taking time out of their day to witness your wedding - honour them by taking care of them.

Good luck with your wedding and your marriage!!

Answer 3

I am getting married in February.
First of all, theres the actual ceremony. I would suggest getting married in a register office. Okay, so traditionally a church or a lakeside venue is romantic, but if you and your partner, and your loved ones are there-does it really matter? This will cost £100 in total. This means your certificates, and booking the room and flowers. The room we have is huge, brightly lit and beautiful. These days they are really pretty.
For the reception venue, I would shop around. The best bets are scouts halls, community halls, and local pubs. Many will allow you to have it there for free, considering all the money they will make. The usual customers will still be allowed to drink there while you have your dances, and speeches etc, but it's cost effective, especially if you have a lot of friends. You could ask friends, and parents to make food, or even yourself! Go to iceland, buy party food and cook it up to two days before.
Invitations are what I struggled with. Then I found a shop called card warehouse. You can get 20 invites for £1.50, possibly even on E-bay. They aren't extremely exciting, but lets face it, nobody is interested in that! People can spend hundreds on invites! I bought four packs and that did me fine, for a total of £6, unbeatable!
For the cake, why not go all Hollywood. Buy a cake stand, about £12 from most places, and lots of fairy cakes. Have them iced prettily and arrange them! Very chic, and very now.
Otherwise, buy the separate layers from Tesco for quite cheap!
Next-the dress. It doesn't have to be a traditional wedding dress. If you see a pretty dress you like during the year, just buy it! Or, why not look on E-bay. You may be able to have it taken in for a reasonable price at a tailors, or if you have a talented grandparent or family member let them do it!
Give your family members jobs. Someone whos handy with a camera? Let them take the pictures!
Someone who is creative? Ask them to write a reading for the ceremony, or arrange the decorations.
Makeup for the big day worries? Have a friend who is makeup savvy? Let them do it!
Anyway, good luck! I have rambled on enough!

Answer 4

I just got married 4 weeks agoand we were on a budget, too. Keep your guest list low, remember the charge for the food and alcohol is usually per person. Only use flowers for the bouquets and do something else for centerpieces (like floating candles). Or down here we have a flea market and I know some people got flowers a lot cheaper there than a florist, then they just arranged the centerpieces themselves. Get your friends and family to help. Did you book the place yet? Some places provide everything, others are just halls where you do everything yourself. Compare prices. Limit alcohol to beer and wine. Get your cake from Publix, they are so good and reasonably priced. We were lucky and one of our friends is a professional photographer so her gift to us was to take the pictures, which saved us a lot of money. And one of our friends is a caterer so he did everything at cost. Ask around amongst your family and friends, maybe someone knows someone that can hook you up. It's hard to keep going because I don't your budget. But there is a lot you can make yourselves that will save you lots of money.

Answer 5

I'm gettin married in Sept' and we've kept our cost down pretty well, think where you would like to spend a lil extra i.e. Meal or Honeymoon, then cut back on other things. For example, i have made our table plan, gettin Wed in Reg' Office (£103.00 all in!) not having a bridesmaid, but instead asked my bestfriend to be a witness, Got my dress from Monsoon - alot cheaper than these "designer" shops, buying the cake from Marks and Sparks (we brought the top tier to try and it was gorge'!) and will decorate myself. Def have a look at Confetti.co.uk i got alot of ideas from there, its brill. We are only having 30 ppl to the wedding, close friends and family and everyone seems to understand- i think alot of people now, do tend to think there is no point spending thousands when houses etc are so dear!
What ever you do have a gorgeous day and remember its about you and your other half - no-one else!!!!

Answer 6

1 - ask a friend who is good at photography to take the photos instead of giving you a present
2- check out the charity shops for a dress if you havent organised one
3 - get your mums friends to do the flowers - they will have a great time doing this
4- get a friend to make the cake as a present
5 - organise the cars with friends with nice cars( I had this planned for my wedding but my dad as a surprise organised and paid silly money for a wedding car - it got lost on the way to the house so I ended up driving me and dad in my clapped out unwashed car !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! we did get money back but it nearly messed the day for me
6- if you are having flower girls and page boys buy them cool smart gear in the kids clothes shops and for the bridesmaid somewhere like debhanms - i kitted out my three bridesmaids for 80 pounds( for all three ) from debhanems new year sale .
7- find a shoe you like and know you can have them dyed or covered for a lot less than buying a " wedding " shoe
8- dont forget the something borrowed , something old
9- if booking a honeymoon book it as a holiday - the price could drop as much as a 1000 pounds to the same place and when you get there get upgraded - your honeymoon will be good no matter what room !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Answer 7

The best way to keep your budget down is to keep your guest list small. The cost of wining, dining and entertaining 150, 200 or 300 people is staggering. By keeping the guest list down, you also have the freedom to plan a wedding at a "different" sort of location, such as a bed and breakfast, historic home, art gallery, elegant restaurant, or other location that might not be able to handle a huge group. Think about it — do you really need to invite your dad's second cousin whom you haven't seen in 10 years, or your mother-in-law's 15 co-workers? Do you really need to invite everybody in your office, or would you prefer to just invite your five closest office pals? Invite only people you personally know and are fond of. A smaller amount of guests (under 100) is more intimate anyway. Me and my fiance will be getting married August 26, 2006. Congratulations.

Answer 8

U should go 2 ur local library and check out books about wedding planning or wedding planner. Also, u can go 2 yahoo or goole and search wedding budget ideas. I hope that these websites help u out a lot.

Answer 9

this might help get married in a registry office then try looking at church halls for the reception that way you can get Friends and family to help with the catering then you could go to France for a drink run you can print the invitations off on you computer you can make them more personal get your dress made it is cheaper than a shop one do the same for your brides maids you could then look round for a cheep d j for the night

Answer 10

We managed to get our wedding sorted out for less than £1000...

My wife managed to get a wedding dress from a local person who advertised it for £20.. She was jilted and was so angry that she wanted to get rid...

Get wed in a registry office... Then see about hiring a marquee at a nice venue... Can be cheaper than using their facilties...

Then see about an outside caterer and make the meal a buffet and make it informal...