On average, Americans spend about $33,400 on their special day.
Engagement rings and venues can get costly. Other aspects of the wedding may suffer from this because most of the money goes towards the venue and ring.
Instead of putting all your money in one area of the wedding, you can take other measures to ensure that you won’t overspend and that it is evenly distributed.
Continue reading to discover how you can accomplish a wedding on a budget that will impress your friends and family.
How to Have a Successful Wedding on a Budget
Weddings are exciting and filled with love but often times, stress and anxiety make their appearance too. Planning a wedding can get hectic at times and some may feel like they can’t afford to even have one. If you are struggling to find ways to save some money on your venue, take a look at this blog for some advice on when you can time your wedding to get the most out of your money.
Besides saving money on a venue, there are plenty of other ways you can have a spectacular wedding on a budget. From dresses to food and centerpieces, there are many ways that you can save.
Below are 7 of the best tips when you are trying to host a beautiful wedding but don’t want to spend all your money.
1. Choose Your Guests Carefully
Although you may be tempted to invite every person you know or have met down the road, inviting too many guests can become costly. When you are considering who to invite to your special day, writing down the family members and friends that will for sure be coming first will give you an idea of how many other guests you should invite.
Many people cut back on invites by making it an adult only event, or they don’t simply invite those that they don’t really know. It is also important to keep in mind that guests will come will a “plus- one” and that will double your counts.
2. Cut Back on Food Costs
Food for your guests can become a very expensive aspect of your wedding. Instead of spending all the money the venue charges for a meal, you can opt for a DIY meal at the wedding or get it catered by a local family restaurant.
Saving money on food costs can be an easy choice if you know someone that can cater to the wedding themselves or already have a favorite restaurant in mind that has good catering prices. Getting help from guests and family members can cut your food costs almost down to nothing.
3. Forget the Flowers
Flowers have become a staple item to include on your wedding day but overspending in that department is completely unnecessary. If flowers are really important to you, you can simply cut back on them and only use them when necessary.
Many people choose to create their centerpieces and decorations around other items than flowers. There are also places that you can get flowers that still have their thorns for cheaper, just be sure that you make the time to get them cut off.
4. Make Your Own Bar
Most wedding venues come with an option for a bar. The unfortunate part of this is that even bottom shelf liquor packages can be very expensive and may not even include the options that you like.
Instead of going with their basic bar plan, you can see if they will allow you to stock your own bar at the venue. If you choose to do this, you can check out local bars and liquor stores to see if you can get the bottles at a discounted price to save on costs.
5. Buy Used
If you stop and think about all of the weddings you have gone to or even ones that you didn’t, you will realize that there are probably A LOT of people who have extra decorations and centerpieces leftover from their weddings.
There are multiple websites that you can buy and sell used items for weddings on. Some even sell wedding dresses at a discounted price! Choosing to buy used products can save you a lot of money, and you may not even have to worry about the creative side of centerpieces because they are already made.
6. Utilize Rentals and Universal Purchases
Men often rent suits in order to save a couple of bucks. Universal dresses that can be strapped the way the wearer prefers, are also becoming more common for weddings because everyone can spend the money and get the use out of their clothing.
Bridesmaid dresses and groomsmen tuxes can get very expensive if you have to purchase them. Being sure that you get your money worth out of them will make spending that cash, less of a headache.
7. Capture the Moment and Not the Money
Getting a photographer and videographer can become a very high cost for the wedding. Instead of choosing a photography team to capture your moments, many couples are choosing cheaper options.
Leaving cameras on the tables for guests to use is a great way to capture a variety of moments on your special day. Some people also use certain hashtags on social media to get the full collection of pictures that people took from their devices. Many of these pictures turn out just as great!
Save It for the Honeymoon
The wedding is the big event that everyone comes to, it’s easy to spend all of your money on minor details that people probably don’t even remember. Instead of emptying your bank account, you should use these tips to save money for the honeymoon.
Having a wedding on a budget can still be beautiful and include everything you want. Learning the areas that you can leave out or save money on can really help for those who aren’t trying to go overboard on the spending.
If you are planning a wedding or will be soon, you should take advantage of these tips and put your money towards other things, such as the honeymoon.
