Cut on wedding costs?

Question

Ok, I am getting married in Sept 2009 (A year and 9 months away). We are waiting so long b/c we really want to afford our wedding. Both our families will be helping out and we between the 2 of us we can afford about 6 grand. For the next 6 months I want to explore every avenue for getting the best deals on everything from invitations, to halls, to caters etc. I am not looking for a "cheap" wedding but I want it to fullfill my dream and not cost 20 grand. There are only a few things I want for sure. I want to have about 200 people and I want it at a hall with good food (not necissarily steak but just yummy good) and music. Othe r then that I don't care about the rest of the stuff, I can compromise and pretty much make it work. Does anyone know good ways of cutting costs? (Also, I am getting a deal on the catering and hall b/c my uncle owns the catering service).

I wanted to verify, My finace and I will be putting in 6 grand on top of what our parents are contributing.

Answer 1

Your biggest cost will be food and drink. Start now looking for a good venue because they will fill up supper fast! This being said, take a look at the guest list and really decide who you want to be there, and who are nice if they come. You might need to budge on your guest list to find a place with great food.
Good luck and Congrats!

Answer 2

You may want to not serve alcohol. That can make the bill pretty expensive. Don't worry about buying silly favors for everyone. Send thank you cards with your and your new husbands picture to all the guests. I know that flowers seem like the most important part but by cutting back on them at the reception site you could save a few hundred. Instead rent some silk flower arrangements or use candles instead.

To cut back on catering pricing have finger food buffet style instead of a sit down dinner.

For music use a predetermined playlist on an ipod or on a few cd's instead of renting a band or a DJ. Have a friend or a relative be in charge of the music flow.

If the dress is within that same budget, look for trunk shows in your area. You can find designer gowns at a quarter of the price. You can also look at evening gowns $200-300 and get one you like in white. It seems that whenever the dress is not labeled a wedding gown they are so much cheaper.

Good luck! Hope you have fun!!

Answer 3

Some things that could help are have cheaper flowers and a cake (if you're in the UK lots of supermarkets now sell plain white iced cakes and you can add decorations you want). Flowers are really expensive and shocked me when I got married. How about taking an evening class and doing them yourself - or having a family member help you? How about hiring your dress or buying an evening gown - again, this would keep the cost down. If you are having bridesmaids how about asking them to pay for their dresses? Wedding costs just run away. Find a possible and plausable budget and do all that you can to keep to it. You have lots of time for research before the Big Day so use it wiser, exploring every avenue you can. Buy a few wedding magazines and then taylor any ideas you like to your budget. Good luck and try not to get too stressed. However, with about 200 guests you will struggle with costs as catering will be quite a lot for that amount. How about a smaller wedding and sit down meal and then a large party/evening reception with buffet food which is more reasonable than paying for a sit down meal? Or even have an evening wedding and reduce the need to two lots of food?

Answer 4

There are a lot of good ideas here. Read through them all. You have a lot of time between now and your wedding date, so spend your time doing research on ways to save money. I work at a catering hall so let me share with you things that you can select to not have to save you money.

Understand that first the day is about you and your husband - The day should celebrate that and not be a chance to show off with money that you don't have.

Next realize it's easy to spend a lot of money, it takes a little effort to be able to not spend a lot.

Your guest list of 200 people is really a lot. If that's every one you know in your life - you do need to realize that not everyone you know needs to be invited to your wedding. If you already went through your potential lists and this is only the "a" group and "b" group. realize that usually 20% of all invitees say that they can't come. So your remaining 80% would be 160 people. So thats a "savings" on food and drink costs for 40 people.

As far as the no alcohol / only wine / cash bar issue - that really depends on you. However, many catering halls will have a "beer, wine and soda" option that will caost less than a full open bar. Alternatively, you could see if the place that you have selected can perhaps use house alcohol instead of premium. Or even a limited bar - maybe beer, wine, soda and vodka and rum. Usually that would allow juices too. So with only vodka and rum as hard liquors, people would still have enough to keep them satisfied.

If you are having a day time reception - go with the beer, wine and soda -at that hour, lack of a full bar is less noticeable. And try closing the bar an hour before the reception ends to save on liquor costs, at that time coffee and cake is going around.

But don't do the cash bar - it looks really tacky. Keep it limited instead.

You do not need ice sculptures.

You do not need chair covers.

You do not need an international coffee cart (that includes expresso, kahlua, whiskey and sambuca)

You do not need a full Venetian hour. If it is part of your culture (Italian, Indian etc) try either a mini table or pastry trays at each table for a similiar effect.

Put more people at each table. 24 people can be three tables of 8 or two tables of 12. You still have to pay for the 24 people, but if they are at two tables thats two centerpieces and two pastry trays instead of three.

See if your caterer will offer you a lower priced meal options for children and vendors, and young adults under the age of 21.

Have the bridesmaids put their bouquets at the cake table to decorate it.

Have less bridesmaids/ groomsmen. Even if they are buying or renting their own attire, you still have to pay for their flowers and a gift for each.

DIY for lots of things - save the dates (if you have them), programs, menus, favors.

You can cut your budget even more by not having the items listed above.

Favors aren't necessary - but if you want to do something - select something edible and that costs no more than $2 per guest. I mean total of $2 - the edible and the packaging. All the cute little picture frames, flower packets, coasters, etc are not going to be appreciated. Most will end up in a drawer - and that's if they are remembered at all.

Make sure that you love your flowers - they will end up in most of the pictures - So make sure you have good photography.

For live music - check with your local college to see if they have a band / orchestra that will play.

A digital media major would probably be willing to do your wedding for less than what a professional company would cost.

I just realized your uncle owns the catering company - see if he can suggest the baker for your cake - and use either a small tier for cutting - or just the bottom layer and styrafoam top layers (frosted!) and a sheet cake in the back.

And again - read through the other answers on this post for other money saving ideas.

I hope this helped! Good luck and congratulations!

Answer 5

Well the food cost cut will help greatly! I know it wounds crazy but I got a BEAUTIFUL dress on eBay for about $100. It was a display dress so it was lovely. I also did my own hair which I practiced a lot before the day. One way to cut cost is to have the ceremony and reception at the same location. I also did all my own flowers. It was only $75 for 150 red and white roses. One last thing we did to cut costs was a black and white wedding. It was beautiful and expensive looking but everything actually costs less in black and white, especially invitations! I would also look into a local college to provide you a photographer and band. Go to a photography professor and they will make a suggestion. Students would do it for free to build a portfolio. Same thing with a band. The music professor would know a group that would be good for the occasion. You should still tip though!

Answer 6

I had the wedding of my dreams with a full day photographer, 200 guests, a delicious buffet, a dress I loved, and the best DJ I have ever seen. We spent a little of $10,000 without cutting corners. I had about a year and a half to plan and the best thing I can tell you is to do as much research as possible. I found so many different ways of doing things that would save a little money.

The other thing is to get the people in your life involved. My family and friends kept asking if there was anything they could do to help. My mom and I designed our invitations and the two of us along with my fiance put them together. My cousin and aunt decorated the reception hall and it looked gorgeous. My dad and I put our favors together. By having the people in your life help you, they feel more of a part of your wedding while saving you tons of money.

Answer 7

In my experience as a guest, much money is wasted on trinkets and favors (specially made napkins, matches, commemorative glasses), food (lobster, cheese, filet mignon) and alcohol. Serve wine, not liquor, and offer plenty of soft drinks and non-alcoholic punch. You don't need matching fresh flowers all over the place, you can accent tables & etc. with a pretty bow and some free greenery instead. No grand limo or horse carriage for you & the groom. Think about the photography - in real life, nobody is ever going to look at your album or video, and guests sometimes feel we're less important than the photos. And have a small wedding party. You can get friends & family to act as ushers, greeters, cake & guestbook attendants, without making them part of the main spectacle.

Answer 8

Its good that you are starting early because it will let you really shop around and get the best prices.

I would say this, alot of times it seems like certain things will be cheaper if you do them yourself, this is truly not always the case. Yes, it may be cheaper money-wise(but not often and not all that much) but it will most likely cost you alot more in time and aggravation and you may not feel in the end that the time you spent was worth the few extra dollars you saved. So keep that in mind. With things like your favors, yes, build the boxes yourself and assemble them or your inviatations, but a kit and print them out yourself, but with your wedding cake or bouquets its usually better to have a professional do them to save yourself from the aggravation.

Make a list of things you need, then decide what you want to do yourself and what you need a vendor for and then get to shopping around. Be sure to use good resources like Ebay and the Y!A forums, there are so many brides that have great ideas for cost saving tips and the best thing is that if one bride knows a great deal, they love to share it (since we all know about being fleeced by the wedding industry), so be sure to ask if you need help.

Best of luck!

Answer 9

If you are doing fall colors, buy as much decorations as you can get right now. Even if you don't know what you are doing for sure, grab the fall colors. Most places have marked down 90% by now. Try Hobby Lobby, Jo Ann Fabrics, Wal-Mart, everywhere. I had a beautiful Christmas wedding last week end. And we bought all of our decorations in Jan of this year. I bought 6 rubber maid tubs and stored them all year. I had tons of stuff to use and it was great. I even got 6 foot fiber optic Christmas trees for $3.00. We could never afford to buy what we did again at regular prices. I know it's hard to think out of season, but believe me, every dollar adds up. Try doing your own invitations. Most people just throw them away anyway. Make sure no matter who tells you, make this wedding and reception about you and your fiance'. Set a budget and stick to it. It's hard, but if you make it what you want, on your budget, you'll be very happy with it. And my best advice as a new bride. Expect things to go wrong, that way when they go right, it is absolutely breath taking!!! Happy Holidays! Good luck!

Answer 10

Yes, you can go to David's Bridal $99 sale for your gown or borrow a gown, have a friend do your hair & makeup. You can purchase flowers in bulk online and arrange them yourself, for very cheap. Borrow your jewelry. Decorations can be purchased at Hobby Lobby or Michaels--both places have sales and since you have so much time until your wedding, you can gradually accumulate decorations, based upon the sale of the week. Your local grocery store can make your cake for fairly cheap, and it will still be pretty.

The fact that you're getting a really good deal on the catering is great--it will save you a lot of $$. But 200 people means you need ALOT of food, I hope you're getting an AMAZING deal...

Answer 11

the two things that people will remember about your wedding - what you wore and how the food was. The rest of it is nonsense. Oh to walk into a beautiful fancy hall all decorated with chair covers etc is nice - but no one remembers that if the food sucks. Shop around for your centerpieces, they don't have to be flowers, either. Go for a less fancy invitation, try to use a one page invitation that also includes the reception info, rather than a different card for the reception, this could also help to cut down postage costs, 'cause if the envelope weighs too much, you pay extra postage to mail it out.

Have a cash bar - people say it's tacky but ya know what, you''re there to celebrate our marriage not to get stupid drunk. If people want to do that, they can pay for it themselves.

Rather than dumping a ton of money on a limo, if you want to arrive in style, rent a couple of nice cars for the day - way cheaper!

As for the do-it-yourself deals - ugh - don't try to take on more than you think you can handle. It's often easier in the long run to pay someone to do the invites decorations etc than to do it yourself - your time is worth money too!

Ditch the 'save the date' cards and programs - honestly, no one keeps that crap! Matches, etc etc - again, no one keeps that crap!

I got married this year, and did zero decorations. Ya know what - no one noticed. All EVERYONE talked about was the food. That's all people remember when it's all said and done. Feed 'em lousy food and no matter what the hall looked like - you'll never hear about it.
Invest your money in the food and the photographer. Your photos will be the one thing you do NOT want to scrimp on. Trust me, you won't remember 1/2 of the day it'll go by so quickly for you! Serving roast beef and perhaps a roast turkey or something like that for those that don't eat red meat should be fine, your uncle's the specialist in that regard so ask him for advice. Have either a buffet or if you're doing a sit down meal, rather than plunking down a plate full of food in front of someone, have it individually served off of platters - that way people can say no if they don't want something, and it's not wasted. Keep it simple, soup or salad, potatoes, veggies, meat, dessert.

Shop around for your wedding dress - I don't know where you live but where I'm at there's a store that sells wedding dresses that are from samples and stuff - you basically buy off the shelf. I tried on my dress and brought it home the same day.

I got my tiera at Wal-Mart. It was under 30 bucks, and looked just as nice as the 400 dollar one I saw at a bridal store. No one needs to know about these things! When shopping for a dress, look at the price tag first. If you can't afford it, then move on. Once you find 'the dress' you'll know.

Buy comfy shoes, ones you can wear again, rather than satin ones that will be ruined at the slightest bit of moisture. You'll be in them for 10-16 hours!

You have a lot of time, quite a bit of cash to spend - and remember, this is one very important day, but the beginning of your life together. Make that the special part - bring in elements that will make the day special for you and your fiance.

Congrats and good luck!