| Money Saving Tips For Your Wedding |
Wedding Loco
Help for your wedding! Advice,
products and hand holding!
With the cost of an average wedding in the USA at $23,687, today's wedding couples are looking for
ways to host their dream wedding at an affordable cost. Besides the obvious of working with your
budget, it is possible to have an amazing wedding using common sense, cutting the fat, setting
priorities, and having a plan, you will save money on your wedding!
Set your priorities: What is important to you? A large wedding reception? Dancing? Alcohol? Music?
Your dress? A big wedding album? Write down the priorities in order, budget the largest amount to
that category and then cut the fat. Have the wedding you can afford without going into debt.
The day of the week and the time of day will raise or lower the cost of your wedding. Saturday evening is
the most expensive time to host a reception, since its the most popular day to have a wedding.
Scheduling the wedding on a Friday night or Sunday afternoon will significantly lower your costs. If you
aren't planning on serving food, don't schedule the reception for meal time or your guests will expect to
be fed.
Cut your guest list. You will pay a per head cost per guest, so cutting your guest list to a manageable
list will save you thousands.
An open bar will raise your reception costs. Consider instead having a champagne toast, putting
bottles of wine on each table, having a spiked punch fountain, or limiting the open bar to one hour only.
A disc jockey will cost you less than a band. Some disc jockeys will also include dinner music and a
video in the cost of their fees. A good DJ will keep the party going, ask for references.
A buffet is less expensive than a sit down dinner. Two main dishes will be less expensive than three
main dishes.
Wedding flowers in season will be less expensive than just having to have your favorite flower flown in
for your bouquet. Ask your florist to substitute your favorite flower in silk. The savings? Priceless, and
you still have what you want!
You can save hundreds to thousands of dollars on your wedding dress by buying a dress on sale or on
clearance. All bridal salons have clearance sales usually in the summer and inventory reduction sales
in December. Ask if there are any discounts available if you take the stock dress. You can also check
eBay for bargains on new wedding dresses. If you are having a destination wedding, consider ordering
a bridesmaid dress in white, ivory or champagne for huge savings and the look is the same!
Consider a destination wedding. Destination weddings are less expensive and there's no travel time to
your honeymoon, you are already there!
Instead of hiring a wedding planner, do it yourself. Use web sites such as Wedding Loco or Destination
Weddings in Paradise for tips and help in your wedding planning.
Cut the fat: Ask yourself if you really need certain items such as wedding favors, elaborate invitations
with all the enclosures, china or elaborate floral decorations on every table. If the answer is yes, then
cut the cost.
There are inexpensive wedding favors in the market or make your own. Candy kisses wrapped in tulle
make cute inexpensive favors. Buy the candy in bulk, buy the tulle and tie with ribbons from the craft
store. You can print tags on your computer with your names and wedding date, put in a hole with a
paper punch and tie it on the ribbon. You savings? A lot! These can be done in advance using your
family or friends as helpers.
Wedding invitations don't need to be costly. You can buy attractive invitations online for $58 per
hundred. This is a significant savings over printing them yourself. Add up the cost of the blank invitation,
the printer ink and factor in your time and having them printed can be a big savings. Remember
postage costs have gone up, so make sure your invitation will not have oversize or overweight postage.
If you invite everyone to the wedding and the reception, you can have your reception printed on the
invitation as a footnote. This saves you the cost of reception cards, which is a big savings on the card
AND postage.
Flowers at the reception can be a huge budget buster. Every table doesn't need an elaborate floral
arrangement to make a statement. Use some ingenuity for your centerpieces and think outside the box.
You can float flower heads you buy at the market in a fishbowl from the dollar store and add a floating
votive candle. Or order an assortment of 3 to 4 inch blooming potted plants in season from a local
grower and have them put in a colored pot cover to match your wedding colors. Group them on tables,
varying the heights or put one on each table. You can give them to the guests to take home or take them
home and plant them in your own garden after the wedding.
Use bridesmaid bouquets on the head table instead of buying large floral arrangements. Buy large
potted ferns for greenery and take them home for your own house after the wedding. Intertwine clear
holiday lights at the head table to give the table a festive look without a lot of expense.
Use common sense and don't second guess your choices. There is less chance of going over budget if
you keep to your original plan.
ways to host their dream wedding at an affordable cost. Besides the obvious of working with your
budget, it is possible to have an amazing wedding using common sense, cutting the fat, setting
priorities, and having a plan, you will save money on your wedding!
Set your priorities: What is important to you? A large wedding reception? Dancing? Alcohol? Music?
Your dress? A big wedding album? Write down the priorities in order, budget the largest amount to
that category and then cut the fat. Have the wedding you can afford without going into debt.
The day of the week and the time of day will raise or lower the cost of your wedding. Saturday evening is
the most expensive time to host a reception, since its the most popular day to have a wedding.
Scheduling the wedding on a Friday night or Sunday afternoon will significantly lower your costs. If you
aren't planning on serving food, don't schedule the reception for meal time or your guests will expect to
be fed.
Cut your guest list. You will pay a per head cost per guest, so cutting your guest list to a manageable
list will save you thousands.
An open bar will raise your reception costs. Consider instead having a champagne toast, putting
bottles of wine on each table, having a spiked punch fountain, or limiting the open bar to one hour only.
A disc jockey will cost you less than a band. Some disc jockeys will also include dinner music and a
video in the cost of their fees. A good DJ will keep the party going, ask for references.
A buffet is less expensive than a sit down dinner. Two main dishes will be less expensive than three
main dishes.
Wedding flowers in season will be less expensive than just having to have your favorite flower flown in
for your bouquet. Ask your florist to substitute your favorite flower in silk. The savings? Priceless, and
you still have what you want!
You can save hundreds to thousands of dollars on your wedding dress by buying a dress on sale or on
clearance. All bridal salons have clearance sales usually in the summer and inventory reduction sales
in December. Ask if there are any discounts available if you take the stock dress. You can also check
eBay for bargains on new wedding dresses. If you are having a destination wedding, consider ordering
a bridesmaid dress in white, ivory or champagne for huge savings and the look is the same!
Consider a destination wedding. Destination weddings are less expensive and there's no travel time to
your honeymoon, you are already there!
Instead of hiring a wedding planner, do it yourself. Use web sites such as Wedding Loco or Destination
Weddings in Paradise for tips and help in your wedding planning.
Cut the fat: Ask yourself if you really need certain items such as wedding favors, elaborate invitations
with all the enclosures, china or elaborate floral decorations on every table. If the answer is yes, then
cut the cost.
There are inexpensive wedding favors in the market or make your own. Candy kisses wrapped in tulle
make cute inexpensive favors. Buy the candy in bulk, buy the tulle and tie with ribbons from the craft
store. You can print tags on your computer with your names and wedding date, put in a hole with a
paper punch and tie it on the ribbon. You savings? A lot! These can be done in advance using your
family or friends as helpers.
Wedding invitations don't need to be costly. You can buy attractive invitations online for $58 per
hundred. This is a significant savings over printing them yourself. Add up the cost of the blank invitation,
the printer ink and factor in your time and having them printed can be a big savings. Remember
postage costs have gone up, so make sure your invitation will not have oversize or overweight postage.
If you invite everyone to the wedding and the reception, you can have your reception printed on the
invitation as a footnote. This saves you the cost of reception cards, which is a big savings on the card
AND postage.
Flowers at the reception can be a huge budget buster. Every table doesn't need an elaborate floral
arrangement to make a statement. Use some ingenuity for your centerpieces and think outside the box.
You can float flower heads you buy at the market in a fishbowl from the dollar store and add a floating
votive candle. Or order an assortment of 3 to 4 inch blooming potted plants in season from a local
grower and have them put in a colored pot cover to match your wedding colors. Group them on tables,
varying the heights or put one on each table. You can give them to the guests to take home or take them
home and plant them in your own garden after the wedding.
Use bridesmaid bouquets on the head table instead of buying large floral arrangements. Buy large
potted ferns for greenery and take them home for your own house after the wedding. Intertwine clear
holiday lights at the head table to give the table a festive look without a lot of expense.
Use common sense and don't second guess your choices. There is less chance of going over budget if
you keep to your original plan.
Wedding Loco's Wedding Money Saving Tips:
Have the wedding you can afford. Weddings aren't a competition between family
and friends. Its about the marriage. If you have a small budget, have a smaller wedding and include
what is important to both of you as a couple.
Think outside of the box when it comes to wedding planning. Refer above to scheduling the wedding
on a less busy day to save cash.
Explore your options. Renting a hall and hiring a private caterer may be less expensive than hosting
the wedding at an event center or hotel.
Sunday is a great day for a wedding. You can have the same reception for a lot less money than
having it on a Saturday night.
Consider a Sunday brunch wedding. Serve finger sandwiches, fresh fruit and desert, coffee, tea
and sparkling punch.
A trend is to have a desert reception instead of a meal. This is best scheduled at a time when
guests won't expect a full meal. Cookies, deserts, wedding cake, fresh fruit and cheese, coffee, tea
and punch. You can even ask some of your relatives that are great bakers to pitch in deserts as
wedding gift. Some families will all pitch in and bake just for fun.
Host a Saturday afternoon picnic wedding and reception. Rent a park shelter at a park, get the men
to barbeque, serve picnic food that you can buy in quantity at a Costco or Sam's Club. Organize
games like corn hole, volleyball and sack races for entertainment. Or you can hire a traveling
barbeque caterer that will roast a pig and serve all the fixings. Add a wedding cake, soft drinks and
you have a fun reception that won't burst your budget
Alcohol is a big budget buster. If you can't afford an open bar, don't have one! Your options include a
keg of beer, putting bottles of wine on tables, a champagne toast, spiked punch or no alcohol at all.
There is no law that says you owe your guests alcohol. Some areas require that if you serve alcohol
to your guests that you have security guards or off duty policemen on duty. You pay the cost of the
security. Your hall will advise you.
If you aren't crafty, this isn't the time to try to be Martha Stewart. Tackle only projects you can do
and complete, because wasted materials will bust your budget and you still won't have your items.
If you are crafty, take on only projects that time will permit. Don't try to do it all, its not possible. Do
any projects in advance and store them until the wedding so you aren't scrambling at the last
minute. Before you embark on any do it yourself project, add up the price of all the components and
factor in your time to get your cost. Compare that to purchasing the item and saving time.
Sometimes it is less expensive to buy the items. As a bride, your time is at a premium and its
valuable!
There are just some things you don't need. Don't let anyone tell you that you just HAVE to have
something at your wedding that you don't want. Being talked into any good or service will bust your
budget. Don't be swayed.
Order your food from a grocery store. They'll put together trays of meats, cheeses and buns, fruit,
veggies and dip. Huge savings! Also check their prices for flowers and the wedding cake.
Negotiate with your vendors. Many bridal salons will negotiate on the price IF you are willing to buy
that day or they'll throw in free items that you'll need in the deal. There are a lot of wedding vendors
with open dates that will be open to giving you a better price if you just ask. All they can say is no.
Check with the local universities for photography students who excel in their photography skills.
Check with the universities or your local high school food service, they sometimes will cater your
wedding for a lot less money than hiring a caterer.
Check with a floral wholesaler about purchasing your flowers wholesale or inquire about florists
who operate out of their homes. Less overhead = less cost to you.
Check with a cake decorating supply store to find experienced wedding cake bakers. They will
frequently have their business cards on display.
A great DJ will set the mood and get the party started. If you can't afford a DJ, create a mix of music
on your Ipod and play the music through speakers.
Have the wedding you can afford. Weddings aren't a competition between family
and friends. Its about the marriage. If you have a small budget, have a smaller wedding and include
what is important to both of you as a couple.
Think outside of the box when it comes to wedding planning. Refer above to scheduling the wedding
on a less busy day to save cash.
Explore your options. Renting a hall and hiring a private caterer may be less expensive than hosting
the wedding at an event center or hotel.
Sunday is a great day for a wedding. You can have the same reception for a lot less money than
having it on a Saturday night.
Consider a Sunday brunch wedding. Serve finger sandwiches, fresh fruit and desert, coffee, tea
and sparkling punch.
A trend is to have a desert reception instead of a meal. This is best scheduled at a time when
guests won't expect a full meal. Cookies, deserts, wedding cake, fresh fruit and cheese, coffee, tea
and punch. You can even ask some of your relatives that are great bakers to pitch in deserts as
wedding gift. Some families will all pitch in and bake just for fun.
Host a Saturday afternoon picnic wedding and reception. Rent a park shelter at a park, get the men
to barbeque, serve picnic food that you can buy in quantity at a Costco or Sam's Club. Organize
games like corn hole, volleyball and sack races for entertainment. Or you can hire a traveling
barbeque caterer that will roast a pig and serve all the fixings. Add a wedding cake, soft drinks and
you have a fun reception that won't burst your budget
Alcohol is a big budget buster. If you can't afford an open bar, don't have one! Your options include a
keg of beer, putting bottles of wine on tables, a champagne toast, spiked punch or no alcohol at all.
There is no law that says you owe your guests alcohol. Some areas require that if you serve alcohol
to your guests that you have security guards or off duty policemen on duty. You pay the cost of the
security. Your hall will advise you.
If you aren't crafty, this isn't the time to try to be Martha Stewart. Tackle only projects you can do
and complete, because wasted materials will bust your budget and you still won't have your items.
If you are crafty, take on only projects that time will permit. Don't try to do it all, its not possible. Do
any projects in advance and store them until the wedding so you aren't scrambling at the last
minute. Before you embark on any do it yourself project, add up the price of all the components and
factor in your time to get your cost. Compare that to purchasing the item and saving time.
Sometimes it is less expensive to buy the items. As a bride, your time is at a premium and its
valuable!
There are just some things you don't need. Don't let anyone tell you that you just HAVE to have
something at your wedding that you don't want. Being talked into any good or service will bust your
budget. Don't be swayed.
Order your food from a grocery store. They'll put together trays of meats, cheeses and buns, fruit,
veggies and dip. Huge savings! Also check their prices for flowers and the wedding cake.
Negotiate with your vendors. Many bridal salons will negotiate on the price IF you are willing to buy
that day or they'll throw in free items that you'll need in the deal. There are a lot of wedding vendors
with open dates that will be open to giving you a better price if you just ask. All they can say is no.
Check with the local universities for photography students who excel in their photography skills.
Check with the universities or your local high school food service, they sometimes will cater your
wedding for a lot less money than hiring a caterer.
Check with a floral wholesaler about purchasing your flowers wholesale or inquire about florists
who operate out of their homes. Less overhead = less cost to you.
Check with a cake decorating supply store to find experienced wedding cake bakers. They will
frequently have their business cards on display.
A great DJ will set the mood and get the party started. If you can't afford a DJ, create a mix of music
on your Ipod and play the music through speakers.
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