Are you planning your wedding this year or for sometime soon but are worried you don’t have the funds to cover it? First off, don’t worry you can still have the wedding of your dreams! And secondly, there are many ways you can successfully cut financial corners and still have a fantastic wedding experience.
To help you get inspired on how to be thrifty and save a ton on your wedding, here are our top ten cheap wedding ideas:
1. Cut Way Back on the Guest List
If you don’t want to pay a small fortune for your wedding, you’re most likely going to have to have a very small wedding. Think closest friends and family members only and cut out everyone else. In order to save the most on your wedding, you’re going to need to make it very much an intimate affair, with ideally no more than forty to fifty people in attendance.
2. Be Your Own Wedding Planner
You simply can’t hire a wedding planner if you’re hoping to have a budget wedding. Wedding planners are almost always expensive, and are typically very much a case of you get what you pay for. Cut out this unnecessary expense by paying for the wedding yourself. Of course this will require a lot more effort and time on your part, but considering the many thousands of dollars you’ll save; it should be all worth it.
3. Email Your Wedding Invitations
Save major wedding expenses by emailing your wedding invitations rather than mailing them. Not only is postage expensive these days but paying for invitations to be crafted can be very pricey indeed. These online invites don’t have to be tacky or dull; you could add personal touches by including your engagement photos on the invite or even make your own videos personally inviting each of your guests. Get a little creative here and you could create some phenomenal online invites!
4. Buy a Cheap Dress
Just because a cheap wedding dress is cheap, doesn’t mean it has to look cheap. Consider buying a classy vintage dress, or buying a modern dress second hand. Likewise consider ordering a handmade dress from China. There’s a plethora of high quality Chinese dressmakers on eBay, with the price range usually in the low hundreds.
5. Choose a Free Venue
One of the biggest wedding costs is the venue. However, you may be able to score a beautiful wedding destination entirely for free. If you’re a member of a church, you may be able to host your wedding there entirely for free and there are also some parks that allow you to host small weddings for free. Do a little digging online to see what you can come up with you may be surprised at just how many places across the country allow weddings to be hosted for free!
6. Choose Affordable Catering
A lot of wedding caterers seriously overcharge for their services, and you could save a ton by simply ordering from a local restaurant to cater for your wedding. Once you’ve chosen a location research local restaurants and caterers and see what you can come up with. You may be lucky enough to only have to spend hundreds rather than thousands on your wedding catering.
7. Go for DIY Decorations
For cheap wedding decorations, you really can’t go wrong with DIY decorations, especially if you have a talent for arts and crafts. Create your own cheap wedding décor by heading down to your local crafts materials store or even the dollar store for some thrifty inspiration. The handmade touch of your decorations will likely impress your wedding guests, and help create a truly unique vibe.
8. Play Your Own Music
You really don’t need to hire a DJ if you only intend on playing prerecorded music at your wedding. Instead invest in some good quality speakers, create a wedding playlist and hook your iPod on shuffle up to the speakers. This way you can play exactly what you want and you don’t have to pay pricey DJ fees!
9. Go Minimal with the Flowers
If you can live without wedding flowers, don’t order them, as they are one of the absolute most expensive wedding items. However, if you absolutely have to have flowers aim to go as minimal as you can get away with, as wedding flowers can quickly add up to thousands of dollars.
10. Hit Up Your Photographer Friends
The chances are you have a friend or two that is either a professional photographer or that at least is a great amateur photographer. Ask him or her if they would be willing to photograph your wedding and if you can’t afford to pay them let them know that you’re completely fine with them using your wedding photos as part of their portfolio.
A cheap wedding doesn’t have to mean a bad wedding. In fact, use our tips and your cheap wedding can be a totally awesome affair that you and your guests will never forget!