7 Ways to Cut Wedding Costs
A wedding is supposed to be a grand and magical event for any bride and groom, however, all the glamor that we dream of comes with a price tag. In fact, the average spending of a couple for their wedding was around $30,000 in 2020. From wedding venues to food and decor, every detail that you would want to add to your wedding has a price. And combined together, it can lead to a very expensive wedding.
It’s only practical to want to cut your expenses and save money. Thankfully, there are many ways to cut wedding costs without sacrificing the dream wedding that you have envisioned. So before you give up your hopes of having a perfect wedding, here are eight ways to cut wedding costs.
1. Trim the Guest List
Limiting your guest list is one of the easiest ways to cut wedding costs. When your trim down your guest list, you are lessening the people you are going to feed. This also means that you can get a smaller and more affordable venue. It is important to set a venue and food budget before deciding on how many people to include in your guest list.
2. Be Smart About Food
Depending on the size of your wedding, there are plenty of ways to save money on food. For one, you can strategically schedule your wedding in the afternoon and serve snacks and hors d’oeuvres instead of a full meal.
If you do decide to prepare a meal for your guests, caterers often offer different packages for weddings. You can save money by having a buffet-style wedding than having a sit-down dinner with waiters serving your guests by plate.
You can also opt for cheaper meal choices in the menu and avoid dishes that are known to be pricey such as lobsters, caviar, and oysters. Consider choosing dishes with ingredients that are in season and can be locally sourced from the farmer’s market.
3. Think Twice About the Venue
Venues take up a big chunk of the wedding budget. To save up on venue expenses, try to look for open spaces such as a garden or a farm, or public venues such as museums and parks. You can even have your wedding at home. Unlike having your wedding in a mansion or fancy hotel, these venues offer more flexibility aside from being affordable.
You can transform any venue into a beautiful wedding with great decor and proper planning.
4. Rent your Wedding Decor
Wedding decor is essential and can definitely add personality to your wedding. Instead of buying or even doing DIY decor, renting wedding decor is more cost-effective and efficient. There are many decor rentals that also offer to set up and pack up wedding decor. Renting decor will definitely save you a lot of time, money, and stress from buying and curating each design one by one.
5. Do Your Research About Hidden Fees
Make sure to consider hidden wedding costs when planning your wedding. These costs can range from your marriage license and marriage commissioner fees to venue taxes and corkage fees.
To be sure that you won’t go over budget, allot at least $500 on your wedding budget for unavoidable fees and possible emergency expenses.
6. Serve a Sheet Cake to your Guests
A huge 5-tier wedding cake with an elaborate design will surely impress your guests, however, these prices are often pricey and can take a big chunk off your wedding budget. Couples usually spend around $350 to $700 on cake alone, and the price can go up to $1000 if you want it to be a grand wedding cake.
A cost-saving idea is to have a small but elegant cake for the cake slicing ceremony and to serve sheet cake to your guests instead. A sheet cake is definitely cheaper than a ganache-filled cake with an elaborate design and your guests will probably be too busy to notice the difference.
7. Save up on Floral Arrangements
There are many ways to save up money on floral arrangements for your wedding. Choose flowers that are in-season or that are known to be a more affordable variety. You can also save up by using fewer flowers but styling them in a way that can highlight each individual flower.
You can also arrange to reuse the flowers used in the wedding ceremony as decor or table centerpieces for your reception.
Less Can Be More For Weddings
You don’t need to blow off your savings to have a beautiful wedding. Be smart and creative about using your resources and you’re sure to pull off a great wedding without sacrificing quality – even if you save a few hundred bucks!
