How Do you Cut Corners On Cost

Congratulations 🎊🎉🎈🍾

I think the idea 💡 of the brides parents paying for everything is very outdated.

Far and away, the number 1 driver of cost is your guest list.. that drives the food, alcohol, centerpieces, size of venue, etc. If you need to keep costs down, stick to a small guest list.

There’s lots of things you can do to cut costs. Cut your guest list. Instead of an open bar, do a beer 🍻/ wine 🍷 option or a signature drink 🍸 Buffet is cheaper than a sit down / plated 🍽 dinner. Brunch or lunch is cheaper than dinner 🍴 Use unconventional venues.

As PP stated, cut the guest list. That will be the driving factor in overall cost.

Schedule your wedding on another day other than Saturday. This will cut down on venue cost significantly. Serve Beer and Wine (possibly a signature cocktail), DIY the centerpieces (start shopping now at thrift stores, flea markets, black Friday/cyber Monday, use coupons and just start collecting and storing), buy flowers in bulk and DIY the bouquets, boutonnieres and floral pieces, do a small wedding cake and serve other desserts or find a caterer who includes desserts in the plated dinners etc.

Congratulations!

i after with PP on all posts- 1. Keeping your guest list small. 2. Beer/wine instead of an open bar. 3. A Friday or Sunday wedding. 4. Italian/bbq buffet instead of plated meals.

Above all: i firmly believe that the bride’s family paying for the wedding is incredibly antiquated. My fiancé and i are paying for the wedding ourselves without the help of our families.

I'm not sure why your fiance and you aren't evenly splitting the wedding and honeymoon as they are both of yours. My parents gave me a very small contribution but my FH and I are splitting the entire cost of the wedding between us evenly. And the guest list was set dependent on the budget. So the best way to have a less expensive wedding is to have fewer guests.

Guest list will really impact the overall cost of everything basically.

Guests= food, linens, centerpieces, save the dates, invites, cake, alcohol, chair rentals (if you need them), etc. The basics of all weddings really revolve around the number of people you invite. All of these costs will go down if you have less people.

I recommend skipping save the dates, make a free website, skip a huge cake and do cupcakes or other desserts, beer and wine only bar, Mexican or Italian catering is the cheapest, use Vistaprint sales or other sites sales to order invites (the holidays bring MAJOR sales), have your wedding on an off day like Thursday, Friday or Sunday. Try off season, find out when that is in your area. For me the winter time is off season in Florida, and so is the dead of summer because of the heat.

OP we also have two children, the youngest being two years old. FH are paying for everything ourselves however because I make more I will end up paying for most of everything, which I am fine with,

Our solution was to push our date back, have it on a Sunday and we were able to work our venue to have a 90 person minimum instead of the required 100.

Sheet cake vs. tiered (honestly I don't think people remember the cake as much as you would hope)

Fake flowers v. real

Friday or Sunday vs. a Saturday wedding

Also check out halls such as VFW, Italian Clubs etc. We rented the Italian club for our reception for $500 and since it has a bar we don't have to worry about security or liquor license.

"The tradition is the Brides family picks up the cost of the Wedding" - This was a tradition from back when women were considered property.

Set a budget ahead of time and prioritize the things that are important to you and FH. Both of you should be paying since it is your wedding. After the wedding his/your money becomes "our" money.

The philosophy that we went in with was to first decide what we cared MOST about. For us, that was the venue, and DJ. We budgeted around getting the venue and DJ that we wanted the most, and forced everything else to fit in that philosophy - even if it meant not doing a photobooth, or going lighter on flowers. If your wedding is authentic to you and your FH no one will "notice" anything is missing...after all, they didn't know you wanted it to be there in the first place!

One thing we're doing is only using silk flowers. Real flowers are so expensive, and they're just going to die (most likely), and my mom has a friend who makes bouquets with fake flowers from Hobby Lobby. At first I was against the idea, but after seeing some bouquets she has done, they look real! So we'll probably be spending $300 compared to $3000 on flowers.

We’re a one income family and paying for it alone. We are renting out a local community center that has a beautiful room for $500 for the day. We’re doin both ceremony and reception in there. I made all centerpieces and bouquets out of silk and real touch. I shopped dollar tree for my vases and some supplies(floral tape hot glue sticks vase fillers etc) I used coupons on everything and hit every sale. We are going the buffet route and having an afternoon wedding. We are able to bring in our own alcohol so that saves a ton on bar costs. We are awhile out but are looking at a guest list of 160 and are feeding them well with a dessert bar and alcohol having a dj and wonderful photographers and spending around $7k. You have to decide what’s the most important parts to you while still making sure your guests will be well hosted

Cut down guest list
buffet is ussualy cheaper then seated
do not get photographer all day

We cut costs by cutting our guest list in half (350 to 180), getting married on a Friday, getting married in winter, having no flowers other than bouquets, boutonnières and corsages, smart DIY, eliminating favors, not serving liquor just beer and wine, and avoiding unnecessary “Pinterest” details.

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I was thinking the same thing.

You guys should both be contributing IMO. It's both of your wedding. You should sit down and figure out a budget before all else. Then you can plan from there.

As PPs are saying, cutting the guest list is a huge way to save money.
Also skip favors and programs. You can find some really cute centerpiece ideas on Pinterest that don't use flowers. And if you skip the cake cutting you can just purchase a sheet cake for the venue to cut and serve and you'll potentially save hundreds on not getting an elaborate tiered cake.Keep in mind that the top things guests typically remember about weddings are the food/drink and music. Those are the main things that actually will matter.

I really feel like the brides family paying for the entire wedding is a thing of the past. My FH and I are paying for almost everything ourselves. We decided to get married, nobody asked us to therefore I don't see why anyone else should have to pay for our day. My dad is paying for the catering because he has for all of my sisters and that's what he wants to do, and FH's parents are paying for the alcohol. I would definitely DIY as much stuff as you can and skip out on things that won't be remembered regardless. (favors, chair covers, etc)