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Just a few things off the top of my head --
- Limit your guest list
- Consider using an iPod instead of a DJ or band (if your venue comes with a pre-arranged sound system)
- Have the wedding on a friday or sunday instead of saturday
- Have beer and wine instead of an open bar
Do a search of the main blog for budget - I think there have been a few posts about budget-saving tips...
Depends on what you consider nice... do you consider ballroom, champagne flowing, fancy schmancy, black tie with fliet/prime rib and lobster? Or is it something else, casual, maybe very festive, a party like atmosphere...
You kind of need to come up with a feel you are going for and we will spew with ideas from there!
To give you a rough idea-I'm doing a beach wedding with a reception at the hotel just behind the beach. We're having a full dinner, cocktail hour and only beer and wine for the reception. We originally budgeted $5,000 but I had to raise it to $6500 after we fired our planner and are likely spending more on the DJ than we originally budgeted.
What we've done to keep our budget under control is - have appetizers instead of a full course meal, sparkling cider instead of alcohol, small guest list (only close friends and close family), having the ceremony and reception at the same place and most importantly keeping an eye on our budget! Make a spreadsheet and enter every expense and look at it often.
Also try not to get caught up in the "keeping up with the jones" syndrome. It's easy to start looking at what others are doing and start upgrading everything on your own wedding.
i am a budget bride as well...been engaged 4 weeks. but i have until November....
your biggest costs are going to be food and beverage. these are tallied per person so cut the guest list. it hurts, you will bleed, but cut it! that is the best way to slash costs significantly.
Cutting alcohol or limiting it is another great way to cut costs significantly.
Consider your timing. Going with a day other than Saturday can often reap savings. Also, go with a brunch or something like that instead of a plated or buffet dinner.
try to find a place that is all inclusive. the more the site does for you the less it could costs you in the long run....less fees and what not from different vendors. there are lots of other ways to save money....Google is your friend.
Good Luck and CONGRATULATIONS!!!
I highly recommend the book Bridal Bargains by Denise & Alan Fields. They have great tips for saving money.
I think you shop, shop, shop... you can price a whole lot of things on the internet now, and the various bees are really great about sharing information about the best place to buy this or that. I was stunned at how much invitations can cost - and also at how much less you can spend and still get something really nice. It takes time to research, but a lot of places send free samples, so you can be sure of the quality.
We are saving a ton of money on food and alcohol, and forgoing any facility fee, by having the wedding and reception at our local country club. Since the country club is generally a not-for-profit establishment, their fees for catering are really reasonable. They also usually have a great chef. And we will potentially save a lot on decorations - they have a decoration committee, who have told me to come see what they have that I might be able to use. You don't have to be a member, you just have to find a member to sponsor your event, so think hard to see if you don't know somebody who would do that for you.
And the guest list. It is amazing how big it gets, how fast. Try to make some rules and stick to them - remember that you don't have to invite everyone you know. If you feel badly about not including friends and coworkers, have an open house a few weeks after the wedding.
we're blowing our initial budget out of the water because our friends and family are important thus our guestlist is up to 440! The food and drinks will cost us about $30K because we love them and we want to spoil them this once by having a 9 courses dinner, lots of drinks and great entertainment..
What we're doing to offset the cost is shop shop shop and using my artistic skills and those of my friends and family! Fortunately for me, I got talented friends and family members. I am making my own veil, buying on discounts and/or buying used things from recently married people for decorating. My brother has mad skills in photoshop and anything graphic..so he did the STD and invites. The friends make tons of calls around for price quotes! The best thing we did was getting the $ in front of us so we can decide...we cut cost where we know we can in this case.
the best money saving tip is to be an informed customer, so knowing how much things run helps a lot. Our budget for 440 guests stands at about $45K (that's pretty darn good).
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Try looking for a dress at smaller bridal boutiques. At two of the places I went to, the owner was willing to sell certain dresses as samples. I ended up getting a beautiful Ulla Maija for more than 50% off and I didn't have to deal with a crazy huge sample sale where people line up at 6 a.m.!
Also, look for a reception site where you can bring in your own alcohol. And then if you are near a BevMo, stock up when they have their one cent wine sales! We will probably save thousands of dollars just on alcohol.
Yeah.... I'm closer to babagrlshell than lanny9. We will spend about $5000 on the venue and catering, including alcohol. That is for about 150 people. Photography (including albums), flowers, music, favors, cake and invitations are about another $5000. My dress, veil, and shoes are $800; his suit will probably be around $1000 but he will wear it a lot so its not completely a wedding expense. We have not priced our rings yet. We don't really have a bridal party to equip. So I figure we will come in around $15k before its all over. You're right, not cheap. We probably could have done better on flowers and photography, but those are both really important to my mom and she wouldn't hear of anything less - and insisted on paying. So she gets what she wants!
LANNY9!! you are my hero - how did you get $45K for 440 people???
we're at 400 people and food and beverage alone is right at $60K
i havent even priced limo, shoes, hair&makeup, photog, my wedding planner's fee, etc...
ok sorry for the hijack!!
ummm, if you're not too "picky" about your wedding gown, i'd look into alvina valenta or jim hjelm BM dresses and get it in white/ivory, rather than go to a budget bootleg bridal place and get something in a wierd fabric that will not drape well or look good in the pics.
skip the wedding favors, use simple centerprices, simple BM bouquets, do your own makeup and hair, skip the limo
I think it is important to pick 2-3 things (with your fiance) that will be your priorities. (Dress and photography? Location and food? Flowers and shoes?)
If you look at the "real budgets" feature on this site, it may help you get an idea about how much things cost- and the different things you can do within a particular budget. And if you are on a smaller budget, I would also take a look at some of the threads on indiebride.com- there are numerous ones about cutting costs and smaller budgets, with all sorts of tips that you don't see in bridal magazines, the knot or planning books.
some things we're doing that have helped us save money:
- ice cream instead of a cocktail hour.
- a smaller wedding cake that is nowhere near enough to feed all our guests, plus a cheaper sheet cake in the kitchen (that guests never see) which will be cut and served by waiters.
- worked one on one with a local printer instead of ordering invitations online, at a store, or through our wedding planner. custom invites at a fraction of the price!
- we emailed (as opposed to mailed) a pdf of our save the dates to friends and family who are internet saavy.
- Ebay, etsy, craigslist, and of course, Weddingbee!
Use your friends' talents as much as possible. Got a photographer friend? Get them to do your photography in lieu of a wedding gift. Graphic designer friend? Presto, cheap invites. Great baker? See if they would do a wedding cake or cupcakes for you for free or at cost. Also consider doing a cocktail reception or dessert reception instead of a full 3-course meal.
FYI, we were also told by our venue that they preferred a smaller, more decorative (or several layers can be frosted styrofoam if you want it to look big) cake to display, and either sheet cakes or 9-inch round cakes to actually serve. AND if we went with that option, as they could cut and serve like one of their normal desserts, they would waive the cake cutting charge (which can be up to another several dollars per slice).
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trust me..its SOOOO HARD!!! we're skipping a LOT of things (like flower decor..but my friends and i are going to make some arrangments..so very very little decor...its not important to us to spend too much on this). My dresses were bought from brides who had two dresses and had to get rid of one (unused). We're having cognac and other alcohol but we SHOP SHOP and SHOP for the best price in town for everything under the sun (some from brides whose had leftover unopen bottles). I'm making invites, so we're paying for just the cost of paper and stamps (my brother's is a graphic designer). We have a travel agent friend, our std was also done by me and brother, engagement photos were taken by photographer friend without charge and my other brother and sister act as our wedding planner/budgeter (they're really good at saying no when we want to splurg). My bridesmaids are all really good at getting on the phone and finding people and getting quotes so we can do price comparision. For some, we were able to ask the vendors we want to provide us with their services for the lower cost because someone else was charging for the same thing for it. Good luck to all of you...having a budget and having to stick to it sucks!!!!! Its good to have time to do the research...you gotta be really patience and not LOVE something right away.
Hi - I am a wedding photographer and one thing I would not skimp on is a professional photographer. You could always find a new professional photographer looking to build their portfolio for cost. You could save money this way. There have been so many brides that get a friend with that fancy big camera to shoot the wedding and unforuntately, that friend is not trained for all lighting situations, the photos look not like you expected and as a result, it dampers the friendship. Friends are supposed to be guests as your wedding, not photographers. Don't risk the relationship. Instead, search craigslist for a photographer who is willing to do it for next to nothing in order to build their portfolio. This will be mutually beneficial, you'll save money and your friends will enjoy your wedding.
Also, do keep in mind though that your photos are all you have left once your caterer, cake maker, florists, etc. are all gone. So, if you have enough money to hire a professional photographer with more experience and can cut out other costs, by all means - do this.
Also - there's this great site called freecycle.com or something like that. You can Google it. If you join, you can post that you need anything wedding related. Everything someone offers you has to be 100% Free - there's no charge. I've seen lots of couples get decorations, nice candle holders, wedding dresses, tuxes, linens, etc.
Good luck with your planning!
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Negotiate, bargain shop whenever you can, and DIY.
What I've done/plan to do to cut costs:
* Wedding dress = sample sale.
* Negotiate with invite designer and will take to a small print shop myself. DIY assembly.
* Buy my own fabric (with bargaining of course) and have local seamstress sew BM and flower girls dresses.
* Bargain for favors.
* Mileage and credit card points for travel and rooms.
Congratulations on the big day! It's so exciting to plan your wedding and there are so many ways that you can save so much money that working with a budget doesn't have to be a bad thing. I'm a wedding photographer so I've seen it all, but I've used that knowledge to plan my own wedding. A few suggestions :
- Like the other girls have mentioned, shoot for a day other than Saturday if possible... we're having our reception on a Friday night and it brought the rental of the space from $1200 to $600.
- It's a bit tough, but try to find a space that will allow you to bring in your own caterer. By doing this for my own we've brought the price of food from $30 per plate to $12... and ask about including your cake... our caterer includes our wedding cake in the deal so for $12 per plate we get food, servers, linens, and a wedding cake!
- I've noticed a lot of DIY suggestions, and those are great! For my wedding I bought a bunch of bouquets from Costco & Sams (you can get 2 dozen roses for about $14). The night before my wedding, my bridesmaids and I stayed up and made our arrangements. I did a few trial runs before hand, but that allowed me to know what supplies I would need and how long it would take. It was so much fun, and we stayed up giggling and having a great time.. and that made for a great memory from the wedding! However, by doing this I had to be open to whatever flowers were available to me at the store... but for a May wedding, they'll probably have any of the colors you would be interested in anyway.
- I got my bridesmaids dresses from Marshalls! I found the girls some cute little black cocktail dresses that were only $25 each, and paired them with some adorable (comfortable) black ballet flats from target for $15 and they looked fabulous! Plus they were happy because they can wear the items again and they didn't spend an arm and a leg.
- Instead of renting tuxes for the guys we found some nice dress pants and oxford shirts at Kohl's and JCPenneys. They saved tons of money, and they get to keep the clothes.
-When it comes to vendors, check out an area college for amateur photographers, videographers, etc. You can always have a photography studio design your album and you'll save TONS of money. Or look for a photographer that will allow you to have them for the day and leave with your digital negatives... you'll own the rights to your photos and with any money you receive from your wedding you can buy an album.
Visit a local floral shop and ask them how much it would cost to arrange flowers that you've purchased if you're afraid to arrange them yourself.
Have a small wedding cake with 1 or 2 tiers, then have a sheet cake in the back to be cut up for the guests.
There's this new thing that's becoming popular at wedding receptions (check out Good Eye Photography in St. Louis MO) where a company comes to the party and sets up a computer with a universal card reader. All night your guests can download any photos they have taken on their digital camers to this computer. At the end of the reception you leave with all of the photos that your guests were taking all night! I believe it runs about $500... but if you skip a photographer for the reception then you'll save $$ and you'll still end up with tons of photos!
-We got married on a beach in FL, but by cutting back on these things we were able to save TONS of $$ and I was able to splurge on my Nicole Miller wedding dress! All you have to do is be creative, and think outside of the box a bit. Also, whenever something has "Wedding" in the name the price skyrockets... so don't be afraid to seek out other options that aren't so traditional but will look just as nice. Ultimately, just try not to stress out too much, and remember to take time out for the two of you during the big day. You'll have a great time and everything will fall into place just fine! Good Luck!!
i 2nd whoever said to look into the venue packages... it'll save you some $$ in the long run
for instance, our pkg includes the linens, chair covers and sashes, dancefloor (which is about $400 if you dont get the pkg), the cake (if we brought in a sheet cake and only had a small "pretty" cake for "show" we wouldve been charged $3 per person cake fee), open bar for the cocktail hour, 3 appetizers for cocktail hour, wine at each table during dinner, and complementary hotel suite.
also, as a guest, IMO it's a little wierd seeing the couple cut a beautiful cake and then waitstaff is coming from the kitchen with a completely different plain cake... but do what ya gotta do - it wont matter in the end - only that you are happily married!!
some other ways you can save:
ditch the printed menus and the programs if need be... people will figure out what theyre eating fior dinner once it's in front of them (heehee)
if you dont mind wearing a gently worn dress, i know alot of brides sell their dresses after the big day is over
order simple invites, the more layers and embellishments, the more per card - dont order square invites - it's more postage than a 4x6 invitation
if you want color at the reception, instead of buying huge amounts of flowers for the centrpieces, float 2 or 3 gereberas in colored water and use lots of candles for a warm romantic effect
if brown is one of your colors, use 3 different heights of glass cylinders and fill with coffee beans and stick a candle on top - kinda like it's a floating candle on top of the beans - the room will smell delicious!! and coffee beans arent that $$$
you can also use plants as the centerprieces??
for double duty - you can use (again) 3 different heights of glass cylinders and fill with m&ms, kisses, (any other candy); put a scooper right next to the glass cylinders and place an emplty "candy bag" at each place setting and the centerpieces are also the favors??
instead of hiring a professional hair and makeup team, call around for practice sessions at the local beauty school - they give discounted rates and still adhere to state license requirements OR just ditch it and do your haor and makeup yourself
CONGRATS ON YOUR ENGAGEMENT AND HAVE FUN PLANNING IT!!
As for Costco flowers, you don't necessarily have to be open to whatever they have at the store. My mom and I made centerpieces for my brother's rehearsal dinner using flowers we bought from Costco. It worked out fantastic. My mom called the flower department several weeks in advance and specifically ordered about 10 dozen white roses and additional greenery. The morning of the rehearsal dinner, we went to Costco and they brought us out a cart from the back with all of our roses set aside in water buckets. Then we went home and arranged them in bubble vases with that green styrofoam at the bottom. Put in a tablespoon or two of bleach in each vase with the water--that will keep the flowers from turning brown and wilting much longer!! The flowers lasted at least a week, so if you do this you can probably make your centerpieces a day or two before and be good for wedding day!
first of all, congratulations on your engagement! i think "budget bride" is a relative term. so much depends on what that means for you and where you live.
that being said, the hands down most effective way to save is to cut the guest list down. we had 45 people attend our wedding and it was just wonderful. you can always have drinks or a causal BBQ for the tons of other people you would have invited post honeymoon.
don't look for a "wedding dress" -- go after a party dress or a BM dress in white/ivory.
set up your top 3 before you spend any money, set up a budget based on some research (get quotes from 3-4 vendors in each category) and then work within that.
we found beautiful invites for a very reasonable price by a new business -- www.creativemontage.com.
buy your flowers in bulk -- or do something different -- feathers, fans, parasols...instead of flowers.
think about a restaurant instead of a venue you'd have to rent tables, chairs, lines etc. they are all set up to serve food and you'll most likely be able to use their candles too -- might have no need for flowers. we used pears in a tall skinny vase in the center of our table -- fruit is something that is less expensive AND easy to arrange.
GL and let us know if we can help.
I agree with Lee read Bridal Bargians before you buy ANYTHING.. they have great tips! Or just go to library, i was sooo overwhelmed but going ot library and looking at different ways books have orgainzed everything helped me decide what I wanted.
but the way I've trimmed corners is...
have the reception at the hall at our church (which has a bar.. yay catholics!) so no giant hotel fee, or worrying about transportation. (community centers are pretty affordable and usualy include tables, chairs and set up)
Keep it simple and casual.. the more "themes" and colors the narrower selection you have
continously check out clearance racks at craft stores, you just missed the holiday sale, but there will be more after each holiday. I bought TONS of blue, white and silver decoration after christmas for under $100
DIY flowers... youc an get affordable and NICE corsages and boutiners at grocery stores.
NEGOTIATE!!!! tell the vednor you budget and requests.. let them deliver, I did this with my caterer, I am getting linen rentals, bar service, dancefloor rental, passed hor'd ourves, buffet dinner, cake cutting and champange pouring for 80 people under 6K. (never pay for cake cutting and champangepouring, this is the caterersjob.. this may be up for debate but the caterers i have talked to agree)
good luck!
Decide your budget, and where you could spend more versus save more. For example...do you want a really amazing photographer, and would you be willing to spend more $ for it? Consider centerpieces that have less flowers, since those really drive up the cost. Serve only beer and wine instead of a full bar (if your venue allows for it). Research your DIY projects before attempting them...sometimes it ends up being cheaper just to pay someone to do it rather than DIY!
And Congratulations!!!
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Well, guys, I have a bit of good news. I looked on Craig's List and found someone in the bartering section needing a website. In exchange, he offered a gift card in the amount of the website cost. I wrote him and asked for a reception instead. He agreed. So, I will have my reception there and he's also covering the buffet and bar- maybe even the cake and DJ.
Now, I just have to find somewhere near there to have the ceremony.
I'm also trying to think of way sto raise money for the wedding- I'm a web designer so I might do wedding sites for a flat rate or something. Not sure yet. I'll be back!
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Hey guys! My fiance and I have been engaged for about 3 weeks. I've started browsing and looking over things for a lovely May wedding.
I had no idea it cost so much to have a nice wedding. It's kind of crazy.
I was wondering if anyone had any ideas?