It's not easy to plan a wedding on a budget, but it can be done! Hopefully these tips can steer you in the right direction :-)
DO YOUR HOMEWORK! It will serve you well and it never hurts to be 'in the know'.
Figure out what is really important to you to have at your wedding- whether it be awesome food and drinks, that awesome string quartet or a stunning venue. Keep these things in mind when doing your research and figuring out your budget.
Along with knowing what you want, also be prepared to compromise. There will always be bumps along the way with wedding planning- whether it be clashing opinions, or realizing you can't afford something.
In addition to figuring out what's important, also determine what isn't. This will make budgeting easier since there will be less things to consider. For me, favors and flowers really aren't that important- also I'm not too big on either item. Instead, I found beautiful fake flowers made of birchwood shavings that I'm having made into a bouquet for myself and ordered extra flowers to make corsages, boutonnieres and centerpieces- the raw materials come in just under $100 including the shipping and insurance. You could easily spend that on JUST a bridal bouquet!
Don't give into all the hype that the wedding industry pushes on you! Weddings do not have to be incredibly extravagant, expensive events with details you may not even remember or care about after the reception-or 10 years from now. So much of the stuff that exists really doesn't matter. For Example- it's unnecessary to do Boudoir or Trash The Dress photo shoots. Sure, they're fun-but in the grand scheme of things, that money can go to better things. If you do one of these or both, all the more power to you. The industry keeps coming up with all sorts of stuff that they claim brides 'absolutely have to have'.
In general, venues that aren't in a major city or metro area tend to give you more bang for your buck. Of course, really do your homework on this. For Example- renting out that banquet room at an American Legion may not end up being as cheap as you think and here's why- if it's really shotty shape, you'll want to disguise it right? Money will have to be spent on decor! Depending on what you choose, it might end up being more economical to just find a place that looks a bit nicer and put that money towards more useful things. Also, venues that aren't in a major city and/or metro area do not tend to book up as quickly (again, take this with a grain of salt and ask your prospective venue about how fast they fill dates), so you may have more time to make your decision or tour other venues.
The local boards on TK can really be your biggest asset in finding more economical vendors in every aspect of your wedding, use them! I know that if TK didn't exist for me, I wouldn't know over half the vendors that have been mentioned on my local board, and who knows- my budget would've ballooned out of control.
Having a long engagement is not a bad thing! It will give you more time to save up money and really figure out what you want. Also, you can potentially lock in lower prices for some vendors if you book far enough in advance. By the time FI and I get married, we will have been engaged for just over 3 years. Our long engagement is definitely giving FI, myself and my parents plenty of time to save up money.
Use all the connections you've got! FI's cousin owns a DJ company, so we're using them and his cousin's colleague will simply work our wedding. FI's cousin's wife also runs her own Etsy shop where she creates birthday party invitations, STDs and wedding announcements- so we plan on using her to create our announcements. I only give this advice if you are honestly a fan of your friend/family member's work!
As far as hiring a photographer goes, a couple ways to cut costs would be:
Groupon and other sites like it- CrowdCut, LivingSocial, 365deals, Tippr, Heartsy etc. can help save you TONS of $$, especially on stuff that you were planning on buying anyway! They've helped me save a ton on my Vistaprint stuff and on the fake flowers I got off Etsy :-)
Figure out what is really important to you to have at your wedding- whether it be awesome food and drinks, that awesome string quartet or a stunning venue. Keep these things in mind when doing your research and figuring out your budget.
Along with knowing what you want, also be prepared to compromise. There will always be bumps along the way with wedding planning- whether it be clashing opinions, or realizing you can't afford something.
In addition to figuring out what's important, also determine what isn't. This will make budgeting easier since there will be less things to consider. For me, favors and flowers really aren't that important- also I'm not too big on either item. Instead, I found beautiful fake flowers made of birchwood shavings that I'm having made into a bouquet for myself and ordered extra flowers to make corsages, boutonnieres and centerpieces- the raw materials come in just under $100 including the shipping and insurance. You could easily spend that on JUST a bridal bouquet!
Don't give into all the hype that the wedding industry pushes on you! Weddings do not have to be incredibly extravagant, expensive events with details you may not even remember or care about after the reception-or 10 years from now. So much of the stuff that exists really doesn't matter. For Example- it's unnecessary to do Boudoir or Trash The Dress photo shoots. Sure, they're fun-but in the grand scheme of things, that money can go to better things. If you do one of these or both, all the more power to you. The industry keeps coming up with all sorts of stuff that they claim brides 'absolutely have to have'.
In general, venues that aren't in a major city or metro area tend to give you more bang for your buck. Of course, really do your homework on this. For Example- renting out that banquet room at an American Legion may not end up being as cheap as you think and here's why- if it's really shotty shape, you'll want to disguise it right? Money will have to be spent on decor! Depending on what you choose, it might end up being more economical to just find a place that looks a bit nicer and put that money towards more useful things. Also, venues that aren't in a major city and/or metro area do not tend to book up as quickly (again, take this with a grain of salt and ask your prospective venue about how fast they fill dates), so you may have more time to make your decision or tour other venues.
The local boards on TK can really be your biggest asset in finding more economical vendors in every aspect of your wedding, use them! I know that if TK didn't exist for me, I wouldn't know over half the vendors that have been mentioned on my local board, and who knows- my budget would've ballooned out of control.
Having a long engagement is not a bad thing! It will give you more time to save up money and really figure out what you want. Also, you can potentially lock in lower prices for some vendors if you book far enough in advance. By the time FI and I get married, we will have been engaged for just over 3 years. Our long engagement is definitely giving FI, myself and my parents plenty of time to save up money.
Use all the connections you've got! FI's cousin owns a DJ company, so we're using them and his cousin's colleague will simply work our wedding. FI's cousin's wife also runs her own Etsy shop where she creates birthday party invitations, STDs and wedding announcements- so we plan on using her to create our announcements. I only give this advice if you are honestly a fan of your friend/family member's work!
As far as hiring a photographer goes, a couple ways to cut costs would be:
- Instead of all-day coverage, only have them there for formals, the ceremony and part and/or all of the reception.
- Not doing engagement pictures, especially if you're not planning to have STDs, Invitations, Thank You cards etc. with your picture on them. What else would they be used for anyway?
- Using an online print service such as Snapfish, Shutterfly, Vistaprint or Costco to print your photos. Also this way, you're only getting prints of the photos you truly want.
Groupon and other sites like it- CrowdCut, LivingSocial, 365deals, Tippr, Heartsy etc. can help save you TONS of $$, especially on stuff that you were planning on buying anyway! They've helped me save a ton on my Vistaprint stuff and on the fake flowers I got off Etsy :-)