Top 10 Tips to Reduce Your Wedding Costs

Top 10 Tips to Reduce Your Wedding Costs

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Posted 2013-01-13 by Oxford Explorerfollow


Your wedding day should be about you and your loved one making a long term commitment and sharing it with close friends and family. All too often there's a lot of stress, and with the average cost expected to be over £16,000, it could put you into a debt that will stay with you long after the wedding cake is finished.

That sounds a bit of a downer on what will be such a special day but don't worry, there are plenty of ways to keep the costs down and still have a day to remember for all the right reasons.

First of all, set a budget and stick to it. Next, decide what the really important elements are and give these priority. Is it the amazing dress you tried on and felt like a princess or the fairy tale venue? Once you know where you are willing to compromise it gets a whole lot easier to plan. Here are my top tips to reducing costs.

1. Timings

A Saturday in the summer is probably the most expensive time to get married as it's the most popular. If you're in the UK, you can't be guaranteed a warm dry day at anytime of the year so perhaps you pick an alternative date. Why not try a Sunday and out of season. A magical autumn wedding with the leaves turning golden could make a beautiful backdrop to your photographs.

2. The Venue & Reception
It can often be more cost effective to get married and have your reception in one place, especially when you take into account not having to hire cars for yourself and transportation for your guests. Keep searching on the internet for special wedding deals. Alternatively, think outside the box and book out a local restaurant for your private event. That way you have the venue for free and only need to pay for meals.

3. The Music
A live band is great and adds so much atmosphere but might be too much for your budget. Think about having a DJ instead or how about creating a playlist of your favourite songs to boogy to and playing that over the venue's sound system.

4. Guests
This is the time to be brutal and takes some careful planning to avoid long term family rifts. Have a really good think about who you want to invite and remember, if you have too many people you won't have a chance to see and talk to everyone anyway.

5. Favours


Traditionally people have given favours for guests on the table. You could skip this completely, make your own or go for something of lower value like a lottery ticket or charity pin.

6.Invitations

Keep these simple and make them yourself. You can buy cards to decorate from most craft shops or get a local printers to print them. You don't need to go to a specialist. A little ribbon can jazz things up.

7. Hair & Makeup

A skilled friend could always do the hair and make up with great results and it will give you more time to have a practice in advance.

8. The Dress & Suits
Check out charity shops and online for second hand wedding dresses. Remember they've probably only every been worn once and you can have them altered to fit you perfectly. Alternatively try regular clothes shops to see if they have any cream or white dresses. Once dressed up with some jewellery and shoes, you might never notice the difference. If you plan well in advance you could pick up a new dress from a wedding dress shop sample sale.

Consider only having the groom and best man in formal suits and have the rest of your ushers wear one of their own suits. Think about how many bridesmaids you really need as a dress for each one soon adds up.

9. Flowers
Once you start dressing your venue with lots of flowers, costs can soon mount up. I once went to a lovely wedding where they had purchased slim vases from IKEA which then only needed a single stem which was put on each table. The effect was lovely and a few candles on the table added to the ambiance.

10. The Wedding Cake

These can be surprisingly expensive. Check out your supermarket as they often have their own white iced wedding cakes which you could personalise with ribbon matching your wedding colour theme. I was lucky to have my sister and brother in law to be make my wedding cake as our wedding gift.

Don't forget to bargain hard on every element, and have a great day. I'd love to hear what tips you have or share your photos in the comments box.

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90607 - 2023-06-11 08:24:43

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