Planning a wedding should be the most memorable experience of your life. After all, you are about to begin a new adventure shared with the one you love.
Unfortunately, when it comes to planning a wedding unless you have an unlimited budget, it can be a frustrating and overwhelming task. First, you have to determine your budget and then you need to do your best to stay within this amount, which often means cutting corners and eliminating some of the most important elements and features of your day.
Weddings are incredibly expensive if you go the traditional route without knowing how to deal with vendors or negotiate on costs.With the “Wedding Planning On A Budget” guide however, I reveal my personal strategies for saving money on all aspects of your wedding planning as well as how to ensure that your day goes smoothly with little stress involved.
You deserve the ultimate wedding of your dreams, and with my money saving tips and techniques; I truly believe that you will be able to achieve this.
To begin, you need to sit down with your partner and determine a reasonable budget. Evaluate your finances and how much you are both comfortable with spending on your wedding.
This isn’t the time to determine the costs of each element, it’s just the taking the first step in your wedding planning and deciding, together, what your wedding fund will be.
The Pre-Planning Phase is a critical step in ensuring that you are organized and on track.Many couples overlook this very important step, and start planning their wedding without a firm budget in mind. This will make things incredibly difficult when you find yourself out of money and out of time, without the wedding completely planned and readyforyour big day.
Sit down together and determine a fair budget. You can always adjust the budget later on down the road if needed, but for now, be open with each other, discuss possible numbers until you come to a reasonable budget without leaving you both struggling to pay off a massive debt once you begin your married life together.
After all, your wedding is a celebration of your love and the last thing you want to do is venture into a marriage where you are tied down to a debt that will take years to pay off. Consider what your objectives are for the first year of your marriage.
Do you want to put a down payment on a house? Upgrade a home? Take an extended vacation? You will need to thoroughly examine what your budget is going to be while allowing you both the ability to save for your future long after the wedding is over.
It’s easy to get excited about your wedding planning and take out huge loans or borrow from friends and family without considering how difficult it may be to pay it back over time.
Consider your friends and family who may be interested in helping with certain aspects of your wedding. Perhaps you have a cousin who is a florist or an aunt who would be more than happy to play piano during your ceremony.
You’d be surprised at just how many costly elements you can eliminate by considering friends and family for certain tasks. Best of all, they will be thrilled that you are involving them in your wedding day!
When considering your budget, keep in mind that the majority of a wedding budget is traditionally spent on the reception. The food, drinks, rentals and venue that you choose will take up a large portion of your budget, depending on the type of food served, the number of guests and whether you are footing the entire bill or having friends and family cook, bake and help out.
Your wedding apparel will take up an estimated 15% of your budget as well, and your photographer and videographer another 10-15% by traditional pricing. You could opt to have a friend video tape the wedding for you, as well as a friend or family member that you trust, taking your photographs. This will save a lot of money on your wedding, however be careful in who you choose as you will never be able to capture your wedding again.
If you find that your budget is far too small, start saving every week by deciding to put a specific amount away. You could open a bank account that is used exclusively for your wedding.
Step Two: Pre-Planning PhaseIn order to begin planning your wedding you will both need to discuss what the most important features and aspects of your day will be. Depending on religion or lifestyles, you both may have specific elements that you feel must be included, and these can affect the budget so it’s critical that you write down the “no bargain” aspects of your wedding that you feel you just can’t do without.
If you haven’t yet set a wedding date, this is the time to do so. Consider what time of year you should have your wedding (considering the guests and their vacation time or ability to attend based on work), as well as whether you are looking to have a wedding locally or away.
The most expensive months in which to get married are spring, summer and early fall, as well as the Christmas and Valentine’s Day holidays. If you have a wedding that takes place in late fall or early winter you will be able to dramatically trim down on costs.
Also consider the day of the week as this will also have an impact on your venue costs. Weddings that take place during a weekday are usually far more affordable than a weekend wedding, where venues are in demand and more couples are trying to secure locations. Often times, vendors will negotiate on costs if you book during an “off day” because they know they are less likely to fill that spot otherwise.
And finally, the time of day also plays a factor in costs. Generally, weddings that take place earlier in the day will cost less than late afternoon, early evening wedding events.
Try to be flexible with the date you choose especially if it will help you stretch the budget even further, enabling you to save money or spend it on other elements of your wedding day that you might otherwise not be able to afford.
Here are a few other questions you will need to discuss before moving past the pre-planning phase:How many guests would you like to attend?
Write down all of the friends and family members that are most important to you. (Create your “must attend” list first)
What type of venue would you like to be married in? Would you like an indoor lavish reception, and outdoor garden reception, a smaller intimate reception?
What aspect of your wedding day is most important to you both?
How many groomsmen, bridesmaids and other wedding party members are you looking to have?
Should your wedding have a specific theme,andif so, what?
Will you have a buffet style reception or a sit down dinner?
Will you have an open bar, limited or none at all?
Where would you like to go on your honeymoon?
These are just a few of the many questions that you will need to discuss, and while the budget will be affected depending on your choices, you can always trim down as you need to once you begin planning.
Book off a weekend where you and your partner can discuss your wedding, away from noise and distraction. Jot down ideas, notes and suggestions that you both have about your wedding preparations and what you believe are most important elements.
This is very necessary if you want to understand one another and ensure that you include the features and aspects that will make your day extra special.
Remember, these are general questions regarding your wedding planning that will give you a good idea as what you and your partner envision as the ‘perfect wedding’. Nothing is written in stone and as you begin to plan your wedding day, you are likely going to end up changing certain features, minimizing some of the unnecessary costs and shaping your wedding day so that it encompasses all of the important elements while weeding out the costly features that aren’t as important.
I have seen countless couples surprised at just how many ideas their partner has for their wedding day. Ladies, don’t discount your partner and it’s likely he has ideas on what he would like to see included just as you do.
It’s important that you keep an open mind and listen to each other. Does one want a lavish reception while the other prefers a simple buffet style feast?
Do your best to communicate now before you start planning your big day so that there are few surprises or disappointments later on. Work out any disagreements and compromise where needed. After all, this is a very special day for you both and you should both be a big part in the planning.
Step Three: Get OrganizedThe most affordable weddings are one that are well organized, well planned and well thought out. If you start planning your wedding without writing down everything that you need, you may overlook an important element that you will need to squeeze into your budget later on, so it’s important to keep a detailed task list of everything that you need to get organized.
If you have Microsoft Excel, you will find that it is exceptionally easy to create task lists as well as keep accurate records of everything from contacts, vendors to your guest list (including their phone numbers, addresses, who has responded to your invitations, etc). You can also use Excel to keep an up to date list of gifts received at your wedding so that you can send out thank you notes later on.
If you are not computer savvy, you can purchase a wedding planner, which is a simple notepad that contains envelopes and pockets for important notes and memos. You can find these at your local stationary shop, or you can simply create one with a binder, paper, tabs and separators.
Whenever you talk to a vendor that you are interested in working with, ask for a business card so that you can add it to your planner for follow up. Make sure that you have phone numbers, and contact details for everyone involved in the planning of your wedding including florists, reception locations, caterers, DJ’s and photographers.
This organizer will also be a great memory book later on, long after your wedding is over! You could also add your wedding CD and photographs to it, creating a scrapbook keepsake.
When I created my wedding planner I added in a “Diary” which allowed me to reflect back later on, and share my thoughts and feelings with my friends and family. Later on when I had my daughter, I intended on handing it over to her so that she could understand how every bride goes through the nerves, the frustration and the secret fears when planning our wedding.
Refer to your planner frequently and stay up to date on the progress you have made. If you are planning your wedding entirely on your own without the help of a wedding planner, you will find your journal and wedding planning notebook an incredible asset in ensuring that you’ve covered all bases and that you have a handy list of contacts available whenever you need it.
As your wedding day approaches, you will want to create what is referred to as a “timeline of events”. This will contain all of the things that you need to have done, in order, prior to your big day. Make sure to confirm with vendors and hired help the time frame of each element of your wedding (including reception shifting over into a dance if you choose to have one), and go over the service requirements with each vendor so that you both understand what is expected.