Cutting costs

Double check before you DIY. Sometimes it can be more expensive than just buying. I saved a lot of money buying flowers from Ling's Moment instead of buying fresh. I also got a dress for a good price at a store that sells seconds and dresses from previous years. You could also buy used online at sites like Stillwhite. You could use a friend's or family member's yard for your venue, but then remember to compare the costs of a traditional venue to the extras you'd need in a backyard (restrooms, tables and chairs, tents, floor, decorations).

Look for off season and weekday prices for venues if you're going that direction. Our venue was a full 25k less to get married on a weekday rather than Friday-sunday. Large families are hard... My husband is one of 9 so I get it. We ended up choosing not to invite cousins on his side of the family to help keep the guest count down. Really look at your intended guest list and see what you can do there as the guest list often is one of the main causes of expenses ballooning. Second hand dresses or sample sales will be your friend. Same with sites like Azazie, lulus, etc. Do your own hair and makeup or hire someone to do just yours and not your party's. if doing a bar, beer and wine is often good enough and less expensive than an open bar. Biggest thing though that will help is if you set your budget ahead of time and really stick to it!

Having your wedding on a Friday or Sunday or at lunchtime might help cut costs!

Are you looking for ideas in everyday life as well to save money?


Some ideas work for some people and not for others.
One way to cut costs is to eliminate things entirely instead of finding cheap alternatives. For example: your guests don’t drink champagne? Don’t serve it. Same for favors or a ceremony arch. Don’t do anything out of obligation just because the wedding industry or your parents says you must have it. That is how costs skyrocket.
Your location determines what is available and if you need to bring in vendors from elsewhere or not. A smaller town won’t have as many options as a large city. A small town will either be super inexpensive and no options so you have to bring in vendors from a larger city and pay travel fees or they will be expensive because there is no competition. On the same token, just because a wedding is in a middle to high cost of living large city doesn’t automatically mean that the only vendor options are the most expensive and that nothing inexpensive exists anywhere. But you wouldn’t know it by how people talk. Generally a big city has options from super inexpensive to super expensive and it’s up to you what you choose. You are never being forced to go with something beyond your budget if you never speak to those vendors during the consultation process.
A controversial one is that a blank slate venue is usually much cheaper and offer flexibility to stay within a low budget. They have a full kitchen, tables, chairs on site so you don’t have to worry about those rentals. All those suggestions people make of Peerspace or “fire halls , Elks halls, community centers and parks”? Blank slate venues. They have a low rental rate that is completely transparent of what they include and what they don’t. There are no required or “preferred” (aka required and usually the most expensive and unwilling to work with what you want) vendors because they let you pick who you want as long as you follow health department laws by using a licensed professional caterer of some sort even if that is a local restaurant providing takeout in catering pans. What all inclusive venues don’t want you to know, and people who use them argue against, is that the rental fee doesn’t include the cost of food and other vendors that you are required to use, so that $1000 rental fee quickly turns into a 6-7 figure fee easily before the final bill is given to you, and that an independent caterer will always offer the option of a tasting before you sign the contract so you can shop around and are not locked into bad food that can’t be changed. Most casual restaurants that you go to for date night have catering options and you already know the food is good. They provide twice as much food with utensils, etc at half the price of what a regular wedding caterer charges. Unlike an all inclusive, they don’t charge extra for delivery to a wedding and they actually listen to your wants and dislikes because they don’t want to benefit from an unnecessary upcharge.
The new post-Covid trend is to have an elopement or small ceremony with immediate family and best friends only where legal paperwork is signed and then be dishonest with loved ones that they are attending your “real” wedding at a later date. Or they are invited to a reception only without any regard that some people feel a certain kind of way that they are celebrating an event that they are not “good enough” to be invited to the official ceremony. Couples honestly think they are saving money with the reception only. The reception is where a large portion of the budget goes, between venue costs and food/beverages per person.
Alcohol is optional. If someone requires it to enjoy themselves then they have bigger issues. But don’t serve something your guests won’t drink if you do decide to serve alcohol. Beer/wine only works for some groups and others won’t touch it. Some groups prefer mixed drinks with hard alcohol and won’t drink beer/wine, and some people get drunk faster on beer/wine than liquor even though people say it never happens. Whatever you decide to serve, do not ask your guests to pay for at any time. Many people don’t drink champagne at all and that is the first thing that can be cut. Make sure you have a variety of non alcoholic beverages.
Fresh flowers are usually less expensive than faux and they are biodegradable. Wood flowers that are coated with chemicals as well as silks/plastics are not biodegradable and to get the quality where they are identical to fresh, they end up being much more expensive than fresh. That is why Michaels and online options are more expensive than Walmart or Dollar Tree. Also, fresh flowers on a budget are easily found at the local grocery store florist (many have in-store stations with a florist on duty you talk to about what you want) or FiftyFlowers.com or even a flower wholesale market open to the public in a major city.
Except in rare situations, as an example where you have vases bought at the Dollar Tree vs rented by the florist that must be returned the same day, renting is nearly always cheaper than purchasing. Unless you regularly host large events the same size as your wedding or intend to donate all materials to your house of worship for their own seasonal events, purchasing is not cost effective for most people.
There is a big misconception that DIY automatically saves money. To go hand in hand with purchasing vs renting mentioned above, people highly underestimate the costs involved in DIY. When factoring in “saving money” vs not, no one ever mentions or considers their sanity and skill level (this is often their first time ever doing whatever craft) plus the time spent at minimum wage per hour in addition to the cost of supplies. Time spent also includes transportation to and from the venue and anywhere in between, setup, tear down, any pressing/steaming/cleaning, photography to set up on the local website to sell the item at 1/100 of the total cost spent making it.
Only invite your must have people with their significant others. Don’t invite anyone out of obligation no matter who they are. Parents can host their friend and a family reunion any other time that is not your wedding. They already got married and let their parents plan so this is your turn. Plus ones are always optional and are platonic strangers, not partners, and most truly singles can and do enjoy themselves without a date that the couple doesn’t know. As hosts, you don’t get to judge the validity of someone else’s relationship, whether they just got together and are serious at 3 months or have lived together for 10 years with no plans to marry. Always prepare for 100% attendance because it’s more common than people realize or admit. The traditional timeframe for sending invites exists for a reason and nothing has changed at any time recently to erase the etiquette involved. Save the dates in a number of circles are verbal on the phone or in persons have been for as long as people have gotten married in BCE, and invites are sent no earlier or later than 6-8 weeks with rsvps due at 4 weeks to allow time to track down responses before the final headcount is given to the caterer at 3 weeks. In many social circles and families, it is a faux pas to have a B list. People do know when they are a seat filler for someone else and would usually prefer to get an announcement instead of a late invitation.


Limit your number of bridesmaids and groomsmen. For some people, a group of 9 bridesmaids may be their entire social circle so then who is sitting as a guest? Keep in mind that for each bridesmaid/groomsman, you and fiancé have to pay for a thank you gift given at the rehearsal dinner, the rehearsal dinner and any beverages there, plus wedding day food and beverages from getting ready to the end of the night, as well as any hair/makeup services the day of. That doesn’t account for the optional proposal gifts that go to Goodwill the next day, getting ready robes that don’t cover anything and also go to Goodwill, as well as the latest Kardashian-initiated trends of the couple covering every single expense that a regular guest pays themselves that the wedding industry is horrified that the couple doesn’t cover, nor has it ever been covered for them in the entire course of thousands of years of people getting married. This also means that if you don’t know any children who are flowergirl/ring bearer age, it is ok to skip them because they are props.
Invitations also have become more expensive and complicated than they need to be. The least expensive option is the full sets that the older generations are used to from annsbridalbargains.com. And comparable packet that is lower quality paper from Zazzle would be minimum 6-10x more expensive because you have to buy each card separately (that the full set costs) and envelopes are sold separately as well.

Research by talking to vendors what their seasonal differences are before you settle on a date. The internet and wedding magazines has you believe that you automatically save $1000+ by marrying on a Friday or Sunday. Some venues and vendors do have discounts, an equal or larger number do not.