Whatever your wedding budget, you don't have to resort to DIY bouquets to come in on target. Follow these ten tips to have a chic wedding without sacrificing one iota of style.
1. Decide What's Most Important
Pick your top three priorities and allocate a little extra money for them (i.e., wedding dress, catering, and band). Next, pick the three things that come lowest on your priority list (maybe style, flowers, cake, invitations), and budget accordingly.
2. Cut the Guest List
We know it's tough, but one of the fastest and most effective ways to lower your wedding cost is to pare down the invitees. Get out that red pen! At $100 a head, taking 10 guests off the guest list saves $1,000! Also consider the size of your wedding party: Gifts, hair, and makeup are cheaper for two than for ten.
Knot Note: Having trouble figuring out which guests to cut? Make a rule and whittle away. Rule #1: If you have never spoken to, met, or heard the name of a particular guest, they get cut. Rule #2: Anyone whose bedtime occurs before 9 p.m. will miss the cake cutting anyway, and probably won't have the best time. (All under-12 year-olds get a no) Rule #3: Significant others? Consider someone worthy of an invite if he or she is currently living with or has been in a relationship for more than one year with the friend you want to invite.
3. Pass on Pricey Details
Glamorous details on items that you're indifferent about spike costs without adding any fun to your day. Free yourself of the pressure to upgrade and instead make honest choices based on what you want. As a general rule, before you sign a contract, look through the itemized list of what you're buying and, ask yourself, "Will anyone notice if we don't do this?"
4. Consider Printing Costs
Having two shades of ink on your
wedding invitation might match your color scheme, but it can also add massive printing costs; square invites require extra postage.
5. Get a Smaller Car
Town Cars will shuttle your wedding party to the reception just as effectively as a Hummer stretch limo.
6. Skip the Special Effects
If you're happy with simple wedding pictures, pass on options like sepia tones, multiple exposures, and split frames.
7. Substitute Less Expensive Flowers
Choose
wedding flowers that are in season, and pick locally grown flowers rather than blooms that need to be flown in from afar to reduce costs. For example, if you exchange Black Magic roses for more reasonably priced, deeply colored dahlias in all your bouquets and table arrangements, you'll save about $4 a stem. If you were planning on having five roses per bouquet and 10 per centerpiece and have a wedding party of five gals and guest list of 150 people, you could save $700.
8. Simplify Your Menu
Reduce the number of overall dinner courses (making three courses fabulous costs less than serving five individual courses) and keep your menu simple. Stick with the specialties of the season and region.
9. Save the Good Stuff for Later
Have the caterers bring out the fancy Dom Perignon for the toast, but then switch to a less expensive champagne for the rest of the night -- no one will ever see the bottle or know the difference.
10. Pare Down the Cake Extras
Order a small, fabulous cake that's exactly what you want and, in the kitchen, have several sheet cakes of the same flavor cut for your guests. And stay away from tiers and (time-consuming) handmade sugar flowers or special molded shapes. Have your caterer decorate each plate with a flavored sauce instead. Forgo fondant: Buttercream frosting is tastier and less expensive.
-- Liz Zack
See More: Wedding Planning Basics
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dburzynski
Figure out in the beginning the budget. Then pay as you go. We knew that the photographer and DJ would cost the most, but we also know that in this economy, most of them are willing to cut costs to get your buisness. And if its still too much and you just don't have the money, say no. Easier said than done - i know. But we cut tons of costs by asking people from our guest list to help out. Everyone always loves helping - so take advantage of that! I had a retired florist in my church offer to help me with my flowers. We did all silks and i bought them all from walmart, the dollar tree, and michaels. I got 4 bouquets, the bouts, an arbor and 10 tables worth of centerpieces done for $300 dollars!! Printing your own invitations is another great way to save - Walmart has some great kits. My whole wedding was under $4000 WITH a professional DJ and photographer!
cutiepi314
In this economy, it's very understandable that brides want to make a smaller budget. We managed to put in a 150 guest festive celebration for no more than 10K. I totally agree with people saying to have a non-Saturday wedding. Besides the day choice, one of the easiest ways we slashed the cost of it was by getting flowers from the local farmers market instead of the flower shops. The farm had prettier local and in-season options than the flower shops anyway. Granted, this was summer time, so we had better options. One of my matrons spent nearly $1500 on flowers (her wedding was about the same size), and I spent only $400 (this included arrangements for the tables, bouquets for the entire wedding party, and the delivery service to our venue). I made my own flower jars using Mason jars and laminated photographs of us during different times in our relationship and engagement. After the event, we donated them to our local Children's Hospital.
babydoll143153@aol.com
I have found all different things that can cut costs way down. I am having my wedding for like $3,500. I found a great photographer to do very basic photos, family will be taking tons of photos anyway. Making my own invitation there are so many kits out there now its easy.
Elise19724
I am having my wedding on a Sunday to cut down on costs. I also watched out for wedding dress sales and was able to buy my dress for $300 less than the original price because the style was going to be discontinued. I am going DIY on flowers by buying in bulk and arranging myself and using an iPod for music. I found a rental company that rents out a DJ sound board with Lights that move to the music and a fog machine for only $170, when a DJ is usually over $500!
rivieraj
a wedding day other than saturday also reduces cost, try to find a venue that can have doth the reception and actual weddign ceremony. don't buy an expensive gown your only going to wear it once, use send and seals for invations(sp) it can cut down on postage, for jewerly use what you have or borrow from a family member