We all love a good wedding, but planning a wedding can be a stressful affair, especially if you’re trying to remain within a budget! From cakes to rings, photographers through to the outfits, costs can quickly add up and spiral out of control. Having been to a number of weddings over the years, including our own back in those heady pre-parenting days, we’ve picked up a number of tips and ideas as to how to save money when planning your wedding. And the best bit? They don’t even impact the day, in fact, some of our favourite tips we think make the day even better! That’s right, you can save money and make it an even more personalised affair. Interested? Of course you are…
Get Your Friend To Make The Cake
Step away from the professional cake makers and enlist the hand of a friend in making a wedding cake. Think about what you want the cake to achieve, is it really necessary for you to have photos with it or is it just to pad out food for evening guests? If it’s the latter and you’re not worried about photos then ask some of your favourite bakers to bring cake with them instead of a gift – by the time everyone sees it at the buffet, it will be cut up anyway! If you’re wanting the images, consider baking a single cake to cut and then decorating polystyrene ‘faux’ cake bases to make it look like a tiered cake. Once you’ve cut the top layer, get it taken away and bring out your cut up layer and a tray bake for everyone to enjoy later!
Look Online For Bridesmaid Dresses
Bridesmaids dresses can be tricky because unlike suits for the men, they’re usually quite specifically ‘wedding’ suited so are unlikely to get worn time and time again. This means that splashing out for bridesmaid dresses from the bridal stores can be an added expense that just aren’t warranted. Instead, why not consider looking online at places such as Cicinia – you can search by colour to find a number of designs all in the same fabric shades. Not only are prices affordable but you can find styles that will suit and flatter the different body shapes of your bridesmaids, making them more likely to wear them again in future!
Make Your Flowers Work
If you’re getting married in one place and moving to another for the reception, get your florist to really consider how to get the most value out of your flowers. For example, are there displays or poseys that can be used in the church than can be moved to the reception and put on the top table? Could your bridesmaids bouquets be put in vases on the tables? Could pew ends be re-used on door handles at the reception? A good florist will understand entirely the benefits of reusing displays and will help you come up with ways to get the most out of your florals on the day. Allocate the job of moving them to a couple of ushers on the day so that you don’t need to worry and then give the florals to friends or loved ones after the event to take home. It’s still a cost but it’s far less than if you had seperate florals for every space.
Forget About Favours
Table favours are popular still in the wedding world but they’re an additional expense that really isn’t needed, especially if you’re about to feed your guests anyway! I promise you that no-one is going to remember the lack of a table favour when they think about your big day and this mentality is worth taking forward when you think about all elements of your wedding. What are the things you remember from other weddings you’ve attended? Often it’s the big bits such as the dress, the music and then some of the fun personalised touches, rather than the things you feel you *should* be doing for traditions sake… we’re putting table favours firmly in that category, unless you have something super personal to give, we say leave it!
Do Away With The Fancy Cars
Enlist the help of any friends or acquaintances who have nice cars and ask them if they’ll act as your driver for the day instead of hiring an expensive car. You might have a friend whose parents have a nice car or a work colleague who would be happy to help. From personal experience we know that people are often more than happy to help with driving for a wedding – who wouldn’t! A roll of ribbon will transform an ordinary car into a wedding car in seconds and for a fraction of the cost of hiring something fancy.
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