I've seen some great suggestions for ways to save money when planning a wedding.
- Have the wedding around noon with a lunch reception. This is less expensive for both venue rental and food, and if it's a lunch reception, there's no need to have a bar.
- For a small-ish wedding, an iPod and sound system can provide music.
- You can make really nice decorations and invitations yourself.
- Go for a smaller cake and not a "sculpture"
As long as the venue is nice and everything looks good, can we do all these money-saving things without seeming 'cheap'?
We're footing the bill ourselves, and although we're comfortable financially, we just don't see the point in spending a huge amount of money on 1 day.
2007-08-05 05:16:28 · 11 answers · asked by SE 5 in Family & Relationships ➔ Weddings
if you provide food for your guests, you are not cheap. you are a good hostess. everything else is just a cherry on top.
the only concern I have with the IPod is that it won't be loud enough. also you should definitely have a designated IPod person that knows what they are doing, just in case something goes wrong.
don't worry about looking cheap, worry about having a good time with your guests.
2007-08-05 06:59:04 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
I feel your pain. We paid for our wedding on our own also. For our toast, we used sparkling cider or sparkling juice. We also had a place where you could bring your own liquor--we hired a bartender from a local bartending school for cheap and bargain shopped for our liquor (we live in PA so this is hard). You can make what they call a fake cake if you want with a real top layer and bottom later and fake in between. You could also have a small cake and have sheet cakes in the back which can be used also. I suggest looking on different websites for the cheapest deals online--oriental trading is a great place to find some things (I got a good amount of my things from them as well as Ebay.) You can do things cheap when you do a good amount of the work yourself such as the decorations, invitations, and such. The iPod is a great idea as long as you kind of have a good friend help you keep an eye on the music and help if be the mecee for the reception. Also you can save with photography by having a friend or a freelance person do it. Many people who work at picture studios in the mall do it on the side (this I know because I worked in a studio for 4 years and take wedding pictures now as well as most of the others do the same.) Good luck. You can save money but know it won't look like a celebrity wedding but it will look great. If you are okay with it, your guests will be okay with it. I hope this helps!
2007-08-05 07:08:16 · answer #2 · answered by strtuptalk 1 · 2⤊ 0⤋
An alternative to having a lunch wedding could be having a morning wedding and serve breakfast buffet style (eggs benedict, fruit bowls, mimosas, french toast). The cost of breakfast is very minimal, so you're catering bill would be much less expensive. It's also a really unique idea.
Another alternative would be have a cocktail reception. have the ceremony at around 2:00 so that you can have cocktails and hors d'oeuvres at 3:00 or 4:00 rather than providing a full meal.
Spend money on the things that are worth spending money on, no one should judge you for doing what you want.
2007-08-05 07:00:10 · answer #3 · answered by quiet_hands 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Yes you can. Really the wedding cakes that are separate cakes instead of a sculpture are more modern, and no one realizes it is cheaper. We did our sound system off the laptop. Rent a great subwoofer and we went to Sam Ask and bought the DJ system with the large speakers on sell that now we can use at all parties. It was great. In my opinion the only way it looks cheap is if there is no decorations--like no flowers and fold out chairs. Cheap are the people who want the wedding to be potluck. I have been to very few early weddings that provided alcohol. Only alcoholics want liquor prior to 2pm. Most people do not spend 50-100,000 on weddings. Yes you hear about it a lot but its not as many people as it seems.
The people who are coming love you and want to see a ceremony uniting a couple in love for the rest of their lives. After all the point is not to impress these people with this huge affair, something they've never seen before with amazing food they've never experienced. It doesn't seem as if the classy affair that you are planning will be offensive to anyone who is coming to your wedding.
2007-08-05 05:48:56 · answer #4 · answered by phantom_of_valkyrie 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
For a large part, it depends on where you are from, and what your culture is, too.
I went to a wedding yesterday, and there was a cake-and-punch reception, with some finger foods. No one thought anything of it. From what I've learned on here, that is a hillbilly wedding, but seeing as it's what is common where I am, and I think it is still nice (after all, you're there to celebrate the couple, why must they spend more than their entire annual income for the first year of marriage so that you can eat, drink and be merry?), it's no big deal.
Do what you can, what seems right FOR YOU. The people who are supposedly there to support you should understand that you choose to not go into debt for a party that lasts one day.
And yes, I think that would be just fine.
2007-08-05 06:14:35 · answer #5 · answered by CrazyChick 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
What you want to do is find someone who had a wedding that you thought was perfect and get a breakdown of their budget - and then divide what they spent into a percentage that you can afford. So if they had a $15,000 wedding... and your budget is $2000... figure out what percent of their $15,000 went to music, food, venue, etc... and gauge your spending with the same percentages... if you can.
You want to spend your money in equal percentages for everything and not go for 1 expensive item and then 5 cheesy items because you blew all your funds on 1 thing.
Ive seen tons of weddings use up a big budget on video... and then go out and spend virtually nothing on flowers. Well - what do you think shows up in all the video? the flowers!! So try to spend an equal amount of money on photography and flowers. Another thing to consider - do you really need video versus regular photos?
2007-08-05 06:42:34 · answer #6 · answered by Valerie H 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
It sounds like the perfect plan for a more casual and intimate event, and is similar to my wedding plans. I think they're all great ideas, and definitely won't look cheap. The people attending are there to celebrate the occasion anyhow, not to take notes on how much money you spent.
2007-08-05 05:29:22 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 4⤊ 0⤋
As long as things don't look thrown together, I think you can pull off all the money saving ideas. It can be cheap, but it doesn't have to look cheap! My only concern was the iPod thing. I've heard music from and iPod hooked up to a larger sound system, and it did not sound that great...kind of fuzzy.
2007-08-05 05:27:15 · answer #8 · answered by theMrs. 4 · 4⤊ 1⤋
You're confusing cheap with inexpensive. These are all wonderful ideas. You have no obligation to blow your life's savings to throw an oppulent wedding. You can plan a beautiful day while still being frugal.
2007-08-05 07:29:58 · answer #9 · answered by ds37x 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
All of those ideas sound great except for not serving liquor. While that can be a touchy situation, many people 'expect' drinks to be served at a wedding regardless of what time it is. You might try looking into a cash bar. Plus will you have a champagne toast or use a substitute drink? If everyone got a glass of chanpagne for the toasting that might get around having to serve liquor and being a dry wedding.
2007-08-05 05:26:57 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 5⤋