101 Ways to Save Money on Your Wedding – Part 1: Planning
February 1, 2009 by BellaB
101 Ways to Save Money on Your Wedding – Part 1: Wedding Planning
With the cost of weddings spiraling upwards of $27,000 (depending on where you plan to have your wedding), and the unstable economy, many engaged couples are looking for ways to save money on their wedding. Over the next few days, We, at Completely Weddings, will share with you 101 ways to cut your wedding cost and thereby saving you money to use somewhere else such as your honeymoon or savings for your first home. As we publish each part, we will add a link at the end of this article to enable you to have a complete list of our 101 Ways to Save Money on Your Wedding.
WEDDING PLANNING
Wedding Planning
1. Set a budget. Before you begin shopping and planning, set a goal for yourself of how much you want to spend. You would not want to start your married life with debt, so do not over spend. Use cash, if you can. But, if you are going to use a credit card, get or use one that charges the lowest interest you can find. Pay the loan as soon as possible. To give you an idea of a wedding budget, download our “Wedding Expenses Table“. The percentage are not set in stone. They are merely suggestions and you can change them depending on our priorities (see #2 below). Once you determined the percentages, download our “Wedding Expense Record” to keep track of who pays for what and how much does it cost per item. Make an effort to keep your costs in your budget, and remember that any additional money you save can go towards your honeymoon or your first home together. Here is a “Planning Calendar Checklist” to keep your wedding planning activities in a timely manner.
2. Determine your priorities. Sit down with your fiancé and determine which area are most important to you. Do you both value traditions or could you do without a lot of them? Is a DJ the most important thing to have at your reception, or is it a full meal? Chose where you want to cut costs and what things are too important to you to skimp on.
3. Make your own traditions and ditch the old ones. If there are certain traditions that you don’t enjoy, such as throwing the garter and the bouquet (especially difficult if you have a very small wedding), don’t feel obligated to include them. You can create traditions all your own.
4. Don’t hire a wedding planner. If you are planning a small event especially, you don’t need a wedding planner. Invest in an accordion file and a wedding planning book from a bookstore and do it yourself.
5. Keep your eye out for bridal shows. Bridal shows are a great place to get freebies, gather information, and enter contests. The least you’ll walk away with is a better idea of what you want in your wedding, so find your next local bridal show and mark your calendar!
6. Order online. For everything from dresses to flowers to favors, you can get some great deals when you shop online. Do your homework before you make a purchase at any store and see if you can’t find the same thing cheaper on Amazon, EBay, or Overstock.com.
7. Take your time. Don’t rush into decision making. You may fall in love with all of the first things you see because you’re so excited just to be planning a wedding. Take time to make sure you’re getting the right wedding and reception items for your personal taste, and look into getting the best deal for each item.
8. Accept offers from friends and family. If you have particularly talented or crafty people in your family, chances are they will be jumping at the chance to offer their services. If you know that they’re good at what they do, take them up on their offers and enlist their help with DIY wedding projects.
9. Speak up and negotiate. Negotiation is not a lost art. Stand up for yourself and try to get the best deal possible with all of your vendors.
10. Befriend your local librarian. Before you go spending all your money on bridal magazines and books, go to your local library. Here you can browse etiquette and wedding planning books and magazines to your heart’s content without spending a dime.
11. Shop wholesale online. Search for wholesale retailers for everything from flowers to ribbon, and you can get a great deal online.
More Ways to Save Money on Your Wedding:
101 Ways to Save Money on Your Wedding – Part 2: Invitations and Announcements
101 Ways to Save Money on Your Wedding - Part 3: Wedding Flowers
101 Ways to Save Money on Your Wedding - Part 4: Food and Drinks
101 Ways to Save Money on Your Wedding - Part 5: Location and Time
101 Ways to Save Money on Your Wedding - Part 6: Wedding Cakes
101 Ways to Save Money on Your Wedding - Part 7: Wedding Attire
101 Ways to Save Money on Your Wedding - Part 8: Hair and Make-Up
101 Ways to Save Money on Your Wedding - Part 9: Wedding Rings
101 Ways to Save Money on Your Wedding - Part 10: Music and Entertainment
101 Ways to Save Money on Your Wedding - Part 11: Photography and Videography
101 Ways to Save Money on Your Wedding - Part 12: Wedding Decorations
101 Ways to Save Money on Your Wedding - Part 13: Wedding Favors
101 Ways to Save Money on Your Wedding - Part 14: Wedding Attendants
101 Ways to Save Money on Your Wedding - Part 15: Wedding Ceremony
101 Ways to Save Money on Your Wedding - Part 16: This and That
There you have it… If you have other ideas on saving money on your wedding, do email us with your ideas.
I found your site on Google and read a few of your other entires. Nice Stuff. I’m looking forward to reading more from you.
Hi. I am a long time reader. I wanted to say that I like your blog and the layout.
Peter Quinn
Thank you, Aaron ad Peter for your complements. Glad that you are finding the posts interesting enough to read.
Hey Fellow BM member
Awesome job putting this together. I can tell you’re putting a lot of work into the series, and I’m sure it’ll be appreciated by the soon-to-be-wed!
Lindsay’s last blog post..Why Your Blog Isn’t Selling Your Novel (and how to fix it)
I thought you may like my latest post titled: The Bride That Couldn’t make a Floor Plan. Check it out here, thanks.
http://soyouwanttobeabanquetmanager.blogspot.com/2009/01/bride-that-couldnt-make-floor-plan.html
These are very helpful tips and ideas! I am looking forward to see some more tips and ideas all about weddings. But for couples who have tight budget, believe that shopping online is more affordable than shopping at local retailers…
Your post is really a informative and helpful one. Saving a lot of money when planning a wedding is good but make sure that it will still be a better wedding.
Yah. that true I want to plan a wedding not a big cost that I want to spend my money.
Patrick Cash (aka gazebo-plans.com)
Thank you so much for the good work on this blog – it is really informative. We are finding that couples are more frequently including a honeymoon registry or other wedding cash gift registries as part of their registries. They are using these registries to register for a variety of things from their honeymoon, to their wedding planner, a home downpayment, electronics…things they really need rather than the more traditional items.