Weddings can be so expensive, but you don’t have to spend your life savings all on one day. Agreed it’s your wedding day, and you’ve probably dreamt of most of your life, but there are smart ways you can cut costs and still have your dream wedding.
Here are ten ways to trim your budget, number 3 is a deal breaker.
- Get a DJ only; a live band will cost you a lot more, a good DJ can play all genres of songs that cut across different generations. You can play safe and give him a list of songs you want.
- You don’t have to use the fruity wedding cake; let’s face it, many people don’t enjoy the fruity wedding cake, and you can ask your vendor to do two tiers of sponge cake and make the last tier a fruit cake. Fruit cakes are more expensive than sponge cakes.
- Book and source for your vendors months before the wedding; this is one sure way to save money. When you begin to source for your vendors months before, you can negotiate a better price and source for another vendor if it doesn’t fit into your budget. Even event centres come at a lower price when you book months in advance.
- Keep your guest numbers low; no matter how carefully you budget and cut costs, if you have lots of guests, your expenses will skyrocket. Speak to your parents about the number of guests you can afford.
- Order few wedding invitation cards and programmes; your younger guests typically do not need invitations and can be invited verbally, by text message or social media. Create a beautiful e-card to send to your friends and family and you can then send the few printed ones to older family members and guests.
- Don’t break the bank on your wedding dress; Don’t be tricked into thinking you cannot get beautiful and inexpensive wedding dresses. Look out for sales or check unknown local stores in place of higher end, well known bridal stores, you’ll be surprised at what you’ll see. You can also rent your wedding gown or buy a pre-owned wedding gown, many bridal stores offer this service.
- Serve bottled soft drinks and reduce alcoholic beverages; Soft drinks in bottles that are breakable can be returned if in excess, they are also cheaper than canned or plastic bottle soft drinks. Another advantage is that the bottled drinks cannot be easily carted away. Reduce the amount of alcohol you serve or have a no-alcohol reception. Alcoholic beverages take a big chunk of your budget.
- Haggle, haggle, haggle! ; There is no such thing as fixed price, make sure you negotiate for a cheaper price on everything. A couple once negotiated their honeymoon hotel room and got a 25% discount.
- Be creative; who says you must serve jollof rice, serve something different and maybe cheaper. Buy a plain inexpensive wedding gown and jazz it up with some stones yourself.
- Don’t be in competition with anyone; Understand that a wedding is not a marriage, don’t try and beat that cousin’s wedding that happened last year. Be yourself and work at your pace. Enjoy the moment and hope for all the great things marriage has to offer.
Pic Credit: Instagram / @jopstudios
Written by Loye Motunrayo
