According to Brides Magazine, the average UK wedding costs £30,111!!! After a house, I always thought transportation was the most expensive cost. I guess not for most people! In this blog post, I’ll dig to the bottom of this number. Digging to the bottom will reveal the many, many ways you can half your wedding budget when your big day comes. And don’t worry. This post won’t be about scrimping and settling. No, we’ll still do your wedding right. We’ll just be a lot smarter than the average bride and groom. Do you want to get started? This is the part where you say “I do.”
Save the Date
The most important and first thing to consider is when the wedding will take place. This can save you gobs of money without sacrificing any of the niceties. First, plan an off-wedding season time of year. This is summer or winter. Next, reconsider what day of the week you’ll get married. Weddings typically happen on Saturday’s and Sunday’s. This makes reserving revenues very expensive on these days. However, moving your day to a Friday can save tons of money. That’s because many of these venues don’t even rent out on these days. So offered a venue half of what they charge on a Saturday is better than them having no money at all! The only annoyance with this is that your guests will have to take at least the afternoon off of work. But for most people, that’s not too big of a sacrifice. Friday afternoons are usually slow anyway.
Rent the Dress
Here at The Savvy Scot, we’re not too concerned with having material possessions in our lives. What happens with most people is they buy an expensive dress, wear it for a few hours and then never touch it again. Instead, why not rent your dress? This will save tons of money and it means you won’t have to store it in a box for forever. If you’d like, you can buy and keep a veil. It’s much easier to store and will bring back the same memories. You can rent the dress online or in a store.
Think about it. Your husband is probably renting his tux. Why don’t you rent your dress?
Don’t Say the ‘W’ Word!!!!!!!!!
When renting venues, tables, chairs, doing anything… call your wedding a gathering instead of wedding. Why? Because people know they’ve got you if you’re getting married. It’s your special day. You probably won’t hold back on expenses. They will take you for all you’re worth if they catch wind that it’s your big day. Again, do not use the word wedding unless you’re buying a dress and it’s quite obvious. Heck, you can even buy a regular, yet beautiful cake and add the wedding toppers yourself.
I know telling people you’re getting married is exciting. But it’ll cost you.
Stay Close to Home
A honeymoon is about spending time with the person you’ve just married. Travel can be stressful. Travel can take away from your time together. Sometimes the new scenery distracts you from your partner. Instead, you can save a lot of money by taking a staycation. Either stay at home or go some place close by.
Recruit Friends
Often, your friends will want to help with your wedding. So accept their help – especially if they are creative. Ask your photographer friend to do pictures. Ask your friend who likes to bake to bake the cake. Ask your artist friend to do invitations. Even if you decide to pay them, this will still save quite a bit.
Challenge Everything Until You Can Save 50% off What Others Are Paying
Remember that the marriage itself is what’s important. That being said, marriages are inexpensive. It’s adding all the extra layers of ‘cake’ where things get expensive. So challenge the social norms of everything. Do what feels right to you – and your budget. If you’d rather drive away in your car instead of a limo – go ahead! If you’d rather have the party in your garden instead of a big hall, do that! It’s your day and what you says goes.
The cool thing also about being frugal is that it leads you to be more creative. Through finding ways to save money, you’ll get ideas to do things in a personal way. One wedding I attended had a disposable cameras on every table instead of hiring a professional photographer to walk around. This was great because the pictures were much more candid than when someone else is directing things. Another wedding I went to used centerpieces made from flowers from around the garden of their new home. This made things feel special and unique. Another wedding had artwork made by the bride. This did a number of things. First, it made the venue feel special. Next, it made it look like a chic art gallery. Third, it gave people something to talk about. This was good since many guests were introverts. Fourth, it advertised her art business. So not only did she save money that day, she also gained AT LEAST three or four clients. Talk about an amazing situation.
How will you save on your big day? Comment below if you have any additional tips.
Bio:
Will Lipovsky is a personal finance freelance writer and internet marketer. His most embarrassing moment has been saying to a Microsoft executive, “I’ll just Google it.” You can get in touch with Will at FirstQuarterFinance.com.
Great points here! For my wedding, we did plan it in the off-season. The venues were much cheaper, and I am saving thousands on my photographer! I bought my dress off the rack and saved over $2,000! You are so right that if you are creative and willing to think outside the box, you can save a ton on weddings.
Rachel @ The Latte Budget recently posted..50 Ideas to Save Money
These are excellent tips! Keeping a close watch on how many people you invite is also really important; the expenses per guest can add up fast. Nice job! Thanks for the advice!