Where are you cutting corners? And why?

So far if all goes as planned the Venue for the Ceremony & Reception will be the biggest cost saver, plan to rent one of the units at the original location but do a private ceremony insted which saves us at least $1000

-using the same restaurant for the reception but have the food catered using a different menu which will save us around $25 per plate.

-keeping the guest list under 35

-discounted cake (baker is friend of FSIL)

-DIY bouquets, boutineers, reception & ceremony decor inc. chair rentals(FSIL has already stated to purchase things as she is also the WP)

-wedding bands - (free)

-Officiant - (friend of FSIL)

I like this, so many great cost savings ideas! We're looking at a budget of about $18K not including the honeymoon or rehearsal dinner, and we are paying for the majority ourselves. I don't think of it as cutting corners, but rather spending our hard-earned money wisely and on things we actually care about! Here's what we'll be cutting:

[̲̅$̲̅(̲̅1̲̅)̲̅$̲̅] No limo (venue is on the water so we'll be arriving and leaving by my grandfather's boat)

[̲̅$̲̅(̲̅1̲̅)̲̅$̲̅] DIY flowers and decorations (my preference even if I had money to burn, I'm a creative person and I LOVE putting personal details together myself)

[̲̅$̲̅(̲̅1̲̅)̲̅$̲̅] Asking FH's sisters (extremely talented musicians) to perform our ceremony music

[̲̅$̲̅(̲̅1̲̅)̲̅$̲̅] Having an 18-month engagement so that we can afford our wedding without dipping into savings or credit cards

[̲̅$̲̅(̲̅1̲̅)̲̅$̲̅] Friday night wedding (works better for our honeymoon plans anyway and has already saved us $1,000 in venus costs alone!)

Oh man are we cutting corners! We are trying to do our whole wedding around 5k, not including attire and rings (although I am skipping my wedding ring and using the negagement ring) I hate the idea of being broke over a wedding, so we did a lot of things to save money:

Found a retired photographer who works on the weekends only to take pictures for 560$ She only offers edited photos on disc so I can print as many as I want for free later on!

caterer is a family friend but still the biggest cost at 2k for everything. We got a very good discount on this for all the food we will have.

Found an uncertified wedding planner on craigslist who has done weddings at my place before for 17$ an hour. *200 for the day I believe

Renting only the necessities- china, and champagne flutes. Using paper napkins, buying flatware (cheaper than renting) Using a family members big coffee maker, and buying table cloths and will resell

Having a family friend who is a bridal seamstress do alterations

Cont*

Also, day wedding and only two beer types and a mixed drink (no wine or liquor) will cut alcohol costs, but still allow everyone to drink however much they please

I made beautiful necklaces as gifts for my bridesmaids

My jewelry was gifted to me for Christmas

And how could I forget- Our biggest savings was picking a state park as our venue. I thought at first it might look cheap, but I found a beautiful open room with fireplace and balcony off of a montain top with an amazing view for $300!

Guest list is 60, but not including kids its 45 or 50.

Getting a very small wedding cake.

We are also saving money by taking a cruise for our honeymoon, it is cheaper because we live near the port of call so no airfare, and ammenities are all inclusive (food is free!)

Splurges- Grooms surprise cake, top notch officiant

To save money we are also doing a honeymoon registry instead of asking for gifts, I really do NOT want more junk, our house is FULL!!!

We are doing an 11:00am ceremony/reception instead of in the evening (cut the cost over half)

We picked an all-inclusive restaurant as our venue

We went with a less experienced budget friendly photographer

We are looking at doing our cake with a brand new bakery that is operated by a girl I went to high school with, they are looking for business

We are thinking of doing a mini moon instead of a honeymoon

We aren’t doing save the dates

We still have a lot left to plan so I’m sure I’ll continue to “cut corners” anyway that I can

Celebrations, I only wish I could have rented our dresses! There is only one shop in our area that rents wedding dresses, and the reviews on it are terrible.

I would question whether renting is actually cheaper than buying on most DIY decorations. We resold everything we bought, and I suspect the difference between the price we bought it at and the price we sold it at was less than the cost of renting would have been.

The biggest thing we did was choose to get married in my teeny tiny hometown instead of the city closest to us. While my choice in vendors is more limited, they are certainly qualified.

We have 75 guests on the list, including kids. That's all family and close friends so we can't pare it down anymore.

Carnations are my flower of choice. I chose them on price alone, but have you seen bouquets of nothing but carnations - beautiful. I love them.

We are doing balloon centerpieces. I love this look, but trust me, given the budget I could go crazy with flowers. This will suffice and I don't feel like I'm settling (pic attached).

I am wearing a special occasion dress, not a wedding dress. Being a 35 year old encore bride, I didn't feel right in a princess gown in white or ivory. It's just not me anymore. My dress has no train and I won't wear a veil. The dress is fit and flare and the bottom can be removed for a knee length dress so it's a wear again :-)

A friend is making my jewelry.

CONT.

An acquaintance of mine and her husband are seriously talented (and expensive) wedding photographers. Because we are getting married off-season I asked if they could work within our budget and create a package for us. They've been very accommodating.

We are not mailing STDs.

A graphic designer former coworker is designing our invitations and other paper products. I will have them printed (maybe Staples) and assemble everything myself.

Adding: We had to cut back because I have 2 kids in private school, I have a mortgage, a car payment, some CC debt, and will be paying student loans from my master's program. FH has some CC debt. A wedding is one day and we plan to have everything paid for before we leave the reception.

Luckily, we haven't had the need to cut back too much...but I'm also the kind of person who refuses to spend absurd prices on things.

-we probably won't get a videographer because they're insanely expensive, I'm more than likely going to just ask one of my cousins boyfriends/girlfriends to just videotape it for us

-We booked our photographer over a year in advance which saved us like $2,000 because they locked us into their cheaper price from the previous year

-No limo (but we are toying with a shuttle to take people to the hotel)

-DIYing A LOT

-may do fake flowers, or get flowers wholesale from Costco (i'm not a huge flower person)

-Uncle is officiating and gifting us our wedding guestbook bench

-SIL is gifting me her veil as my something borrowed

Bump

We`re not doing welcome baskets for our out of town guests...we have some extras at the wedding for everyone to be able to take with them as extras so I don`t feel they are necessary...and have a page on our wedding website with attractions for those who want to come early and enjoy the city

We are basically able to have our dream wedding because we are throwing it on Friday, July 5th. Works well for guests as people have Thursday off, but we've saved thousands of dollars because it isn't a Saturday. Win/Win! I was invited to 5 weddings in 2012 and 2 of them were on Sundays (labor day/columbus day weekend to make it easier for guests)...I think the off Saturday is a nice trick!

We are having our wedding at the bed and breakfast we are staying for our honeymoon. so no decorations needed uness i pick up little things. friend doing flowers. inn provides music, the officiant is providing pics. cake is made by a lady that only charges for material and no labor.my cousin is doing makeup and hair.. total will be around $2500.

[̲̅$̲̅(̲̅1̲̅)̲̅$̲̅] No save the dates

[̲̅$̲̅(̲̅1̲̅)̲̅$̲̅] Invitations - using a free online template & using either vistaprint or a local print shop

[̲̅$̲̅(̲̅1̲̅)̲̅$̲̅] Invitations - invitation only, no additional cards/enclosures

[̲̅$̲̅(̲̅1̲̅)̲̅$̲̅] Bridesmaid dresses were found for $40 at a chain store ($300 in bridal stores)

[̲̅$̲̅(̲̅1̲̅)̲̅$̲̅] No transportation - everything all in the one venue

[̲̅$̲̅(̲̅1̲̅)̲̅$̲̅] Cut the guestlist from 110 to 60

[̲̅$̲̅(̲̅1̲̅)̲̅$̲̅] No favours

[̲̅$̲̅(̲̅1̲̅)̲̅$̲̅] All inclusive venue - room to get ready in, ceremony, cocktail hour, reception, night of accommodation, linens etc, and all the flowers to decorate the venue to my liking ... and if we want, the following morning breakfast/brunch/lunch

I wish I could say these things made up for my splurges. Wasn't planning on having a honeymoon, now we're going to The Maldives. Doubled the photographer on someone really awesome.

Wow awesome idea! Glad I asked thanks ladies!!!

My maid of honor went through a floral program so she is doing all the flowers, all the ceremony flowers and bouquets will be used for table decor at reception. I am DIY all decorations, invitations and stationary. I choose dresses that the girls could use again. I chose a hotel that could do the food for less than $10 a plate. the venue only cost $200. The venue also has all the tables, chairs and linen we need. I am not paying for the alcohol, but it is available. My date is a wens-day so everything was cheaper. For example my limo was originally $1500 and I got it for $750 (the only way he was getting the Hummer. We have a $10,000 budget and that has to include rings and the honeymoon as well. The honeymoon will cost about $4,000 I think. So I am left with $6,000 for the wedding.

I honestly don't really feel like i had to majorly cut anything. I'm just doing everything smart so i get it at a good price. I'm also a designer so i'm printing all my invitations at work so i only have to pay for paper and postage. I'm making all my decorations and setting them up myself. Although i'm still not 100% sure i'm gonna be able to afford a videographer. My total shouldnt be much more then 7k. Also our guestlist we thought we were gonna have to cut until the people we actually wanted to come - cancelled cus they decided to get pregnant instead. One of which was my sister/bridesmaid.