Yes, you read right! Even with the poor economy, your wedding doesn’t have to drain you completely. Generally, most weddings are expensive because a lot of couples want to keep up with the Joneses. It’s also very easy to feel pressured by friends and family to buy things you cannot afford, trust me planning your wedding will be one of the greatest tests of your will power. Sticking to your budget depends on how much you can stand your ground when it comes to making a decision.
Don’t think that a two (2) million Naira wedding can only afford you the “not so good vendors”. In order to get the right people for the job, you may have to search and try out more than one option. After you have settled on which vendor to use, find ways you can negotiate for pricing. There is no better way to cut down on cost than to reduce your number of guests. For the purpose of this write-up, we will narrow down our number of guests to 250 people and the budget will be calculated with this number in mind
So here is a simple breakdown for your dream budget-wedding;
| S/N | Vendor | Cost (N) | Comment |
| 1 | Food | 375,000
(N1,500 Per plate)
|
Ensure your food vendor comes highly recommended |
| 2 | Drinks and Water | 15,000
15,000 5,000 (service Charge) (N50 per bottle) |
Bottled (Breakable) drinks/soda cost a lot less and people will be less likely to cart this away |
| 3 | Venue | 350,000 | You can have this far cheaper if you use an open school field or park |
| 4 | Decor | 250,000 | Trust me you can get a good décor for this price. |
| 5 | Cake | 65,000 | Look outside social media and you could get a nice cake from a local baker |
| 6 | MC | 50,000 | Haggle! Haggle! My dear. |
| 7 | Wedding dress | 40,000 | You could rent a gown for half this price or go to the local market to get a good gown for this amount |
| 8 | Wedding accessories i.e. veil, earring, hair piece | 20,000 | |
| 9 | Wedding Band | 45,000 | Sterling silver is affordable and durable |
| 10 | Musical Band | 40,000 | A DJ will cost less |
| 11 | Photographer and Video Coverage | 100,000 | This day’s photographers seem to cost a lot, but you should find someone within this range |
| 12 | Makeup and Hair | 50,000 | It will be easier to work with this amount if your makeup artist can fix your hair |
| 13 | Wedding Stationary | 50,000 (Invitation
25,000(programme)
|
You don’t have to give everyone an invite, just get an electronic copy and send hard copy to elderly family members |
| 14 | Small chops | 75,000 | Small chops can cost as low as 300 and as high as 1000 per pack |
| 15 | Cocktails | 75,000 | In place of this you can have desert or a barbecue chicken these little things spice up a wedding |
| 16 | Miscellaneous | 150,000 | Trust me, unexpected expenses will come up. |
| TOTAL | 1,795,000 |
