I need advice on how to have an affordable wedding?

Question

I became engaged to my girl friend and now need to plan on a wedding. She wants to have all the traditional elements. Especially things like a dress, cake, hundreds of guests, a church, a reception, and pretty much everything else that is the norm. Is there any way to get these things for free or at little cost? I want this to be the happiest day of her life and it is so difficult to tell her we cannot do all the things she wants. Neither of us have a whole lot of money and I have a fairly expensive house payment that keeps me from being able to blow my entire savings and going into debt. Any tips and advice are really needed.

Answer 1

#1: consider getting married during the week. this will cut the cost of your church and reception site in half even at the most posh locales. getting married on friday or saturday is so requested, that vendors offer discounts to couples willing to marry during the week. we got married on a thursday at 10 am. it was lovely, intimate (50 guests), and half price!!

#2: have your girl consider getting a dress from the evening gown section of a department store rather than a bridal shop. or consider getting an evening gown from the bridal shop. it will be a lot cheaper than a dress that is labeled as a wedding gown, even though the material/style/color are the same.

#3: consider getting married in a church, friend's landscaped yard, conservatory, or botanical garden. the church will have a very small fee to rent it. the outdoor locations will allow you to cut back on a florist since a landscaped yard/park will already be lush with flowers.

#4: let your fiance know that every nickel you spend on the wedding is subtracting the amount of money you will have to LIVE on later. so, are 150 random acquaintances as opposed to 50 close friends & family worth giving up a nice honeymoon or furniture for the house? basically, is a one-day celebration worth putting your lives in a strained financial situation?

the smaller the ceremony, the better. also, consider not having a typical/lavish reception. i know your fiance is thrilled to have a huge shindig, but try to help her get some perspective. consider a cost/benefit analysis. compare how much the wedding of her dreams would cost, and then make a column listing the different things you could buy/save for with that same amt of money.

Answer 2

Hi and congratulations on your recent engagement!

Here is my advice in order to have an affordable wedding:

1. Keep things as simple as you can.

2. Have a small wedding party.

3. Have a small guest list.

4. If you can't have a small guest list, then possibly do a cake, punch and coffee reception.

5. Enlist HELP! If someone offers to make the cake, let them.
If someone knows how to arrange flowers....let them.

6. Print your own invitations using "boxed sets" that you can buy a Target and other discount or craft stores.

7. Do everything simply.......a bowl with floating candles for centerpieces is one idea.

8. Another idea for simplicity is to have the bride carry just a few nicely arranged flowers - tied with a nice satin ribbon. The same for the bridesmaids....have them carry 1 or 2 flowers instead of a big huge bouquet....you can save tons by doing that.

9. Don't waste money on a limo OR favors.

10. Go "outside the box" when it comes to a reception venue. Banquet halls and hotels can be expensive. Look around at other options....VFW halls, church halls. Because the reception is the biggest chunk of a wedding budget, this could be a substantial savings.

Unfortunately, your bride will need to give up the idea of "hundreds of guests!" The words "hundreds of guests" and "affordable" DO NOT belong in the same sentence. The only way to have a really affordable wedding is to have something with less than 100 guests; preferably 50-75 tops!

You will both simply need to sit down, establish your budget, and go on from there! Good luck!

Answer 3

Well, you know the saying "there's no free lunch?" That holds especially true for weddings. There's no way possible to get the things you want for a wedding for free. However, there are ways to save money on the project. You'll BOTH have to compromise here--which is a skill you'll both use every single day you're married--so you might as well learn now!

In every single bridal magazine there's articles on how to save money on your wedding. You can have a very lovely wedding and reception for less than you think. Yes, you'll probably have to cut the guest list, and keep it closer to 100 rather than 300 guests. Maybe the bridal gown won't be a designer couture gown, but rather an imitation of one. You'll have to do more of the work yourselves. You might consider not serving alcohol, because that's such a huge expense.

Also, when my brother and his wife got married--they both worked 2nd jobs on the weekend, and put every dime they made at those jobs into their wedding budget. I think they spent about $4000 total on their wedding, had about 100-150 guests, and it was absolutely lovely. So, it is possible, just how hard are you willing to work for it?

Good luck!

Answer 4

There are many ways to have a wedding cheaper. Having it on a friday or sunday cuts a lot of cost there...not too many people are looking for those days. Have it in the winter or fall, venders aren't in high demand so sometimes their prices are lower. Have you heard about aving it sponsored?? I read an article where couples ask venders to cut cost or donate their services if you advertise their business at your wedding. One way of doing that is displaying their business cards in a creative way. Making your own invites and flowers is cheap and easy. I had a friend get her dress online and over seas for $200. They took her measurements and sent it to her and it fit like a glove. Try taking longer to pay for this wedding...about a year or 2. Making smaller payments over a longer period of time makes it easier.

Good Luck!!

Answer 5

Get your friends and family involved. You will be surprised at how many people are so happy to help you out with your wedding. My mom made our wedding cake, my aunts helped me with making the favors instead of buying them, things like that.

Another tip that I can give you is do as much research as possible. If you have the information, you can usually find everything that you want for a reasonable price.

Congrats and best of luck!

Answer 6

You need to talk to your intended about setting and keeping a budget. Tell her you would love for her to have her dream wedding but it's going to have to stay with in the bounds of ex amount of dollars if your and she are paying for it yourselves. Now if her parents are going to pony up, then far be it from you to squelch her plans :-)

Maybe she should start by making a list of what she wants then putting those things in a priority order. She can also start writing ideas for what she can compromise on (maybe orchids aren't in season or are too delicate so something else will have to do, etc.)

good luck, man

Answer 7

Borrow a wedding dress.
Bake your own wedding cake.
Have the reception in someones back yard or in a public park.
Do your own decorations.
Get family members to help out with the food and the set up and clean up.
Do not serve free booze.
Use a record player for the music--get a friend to operate it.

Answer 8

i kept my wedding cheap because i held my reception in the local TA barracks (my dad and dh where ex lads) so my dad's best mate was an ex army cook so he and another lad i know did my catering and my mum did my favors ( i bought my stuff myself a yr earlier my dress i got off ebay i site based in hong kong it only cost me £150 including delivery my bridesmaids dresses i got off ebay and went to her shop and picked them up they only cost £90 for adult and £50 kids i wrote my own invites and order of services the flower for the church and organist was included in the chruch price so you can do it on a low buget and get people to help you if they can

Answer 9

What can you do yourself? I made all of my bridesmaids Flowers using silk flowers (saved a ton) also we made our own invitations. For our rehearsal dinner we had a spaghetti dinner, way less money than catering. Get creative- there are tons of ways to save money! Have fun & Congrats!