Pinching Pennies

The easiest way to save money is to have a small guest list. Fewer guests means less spent on food and drink, fewer tables and chairs, a smaller venue which can be less expensive. You could also have a cake and punch reception. Have the ceremony at 1 pm and end the reception at 4 pm or 5 pm. You could even provide a few cheese and cracker trays, fruit and veggie trays and sandwich trays if the budget stretches to that. Get all the trays from the grocery to be safe and reduce the stress on you.

We're going "all out", so to speak, in all areas barring floral. I am not a big flowers person, so we will not be having a florist. I found a vendor on Etsy that does real silk natural touch flowers, and from the looks of it, we'll be saving a couple thousand doll hairs.

You could look into a community center to host your wedding! I've heard they are typically relatively inexpensive.

We saved money by having a small destination wedding. We found an all-inclusive wedding venue with a nearby hotel that gave us a great group booking rate. We ended up being able to have everything we wanted with our nearest&dearest for a lot less than what we were originally looking at.

A late night reception could be fun - easy to make look beautiful with inexpensive candles and fairy lights - like a million of them! And then you could serve hors d'oeuvres and wine/beer instead of a full meal/bar (liquor adds up fast!). You can easily learn how to make floral arrangements and bouquets yourself thanks to the internet so you can save a ton of money that way and purchase the flowers through a wholesaler or Costco/Sam's Club. You can also save on furniture costs by having most people stand for your ceremony (if it's short). I have been to a lot of modern weddings like this, where they only had seats for the parents/grandparents/older guests. All have been incredibly romantic and intimate!

We are collecting candle holders and votives from thrift stores and spray painting them rose gold to cut decor costs. We’re also opting not to have menus or programs and keeping the stationary very basic. No favors either.

They're so many ways to save money. You can cut down on your guest list, have a buffet style reception, or a reception brunch, or have your wedding in the week day, and make some of your flowers, or cake stand and card box, just a few, I have made some of mind, just to get you motivated, I have saved 800.00 so far!! Congratulations and have a beautiful wedding day!

We've decided to skip save the dates as a way to save money but also allow us to fine tune our guest list as we get closer and see how much we can afford to spend (knowing what it will cost us per guest). We're re-using tall vases from my step sister's wedding for our centerpieces. We're also not flower people, so we are keeping flowers to a minimum. We are splurging on our cake because we both love sweets!! And I got a steal on my dress...$99 on the cash and carry rack for a designer gown that had been the sample. It's going to cost me more in alterations lol (hem and bodice)

We r having a small guest list. 40-50 including wedding party. We aren't doing programs or menus. Will make signs instead. Instead of favors Im ordering cake boxes so people can take cake home. I am DIY all decor or purchasing items myself ex. napkins, chair covers, sashes. Our wedding is on a sunday afternoon so we saved money by doing a open beer, wine and soft drinks bar with a signature drink instead of full open bar. Ordering bouquets and bouts from etsy(saved tons).

We are making our own floral arrangements and I’m using local new hair stylists and make up artists and photographer for lower costs

Nothing was really off limits in terms of saving money. Saving money was the goal all the way around. I consciously thought of items that if I cut cost it wouldn't be worth it in the end and that was the wedding cake. I wanted a cake from a professional bakery, so I did not look for the cheapest option, I wanted the best product. Photography is something some people will not try to go cheap on because they want the best pictures they can get of their special day. So it's checks and balances.

We are having minimal flowers, I paid just over $300 for flowers. We are hosting beer, wine, and two signature drinks and not a full open bar. We booked a lot of our vendors as early as possible and got early booking discounts. We bought all of our decor at flea markets keeping it cheap, but things that we will display after the wedding so they aren't a one time use expense.

Good ways to pinch pennies:

- Small guest list

- Skip favors, programs, excessive signage

- focus all your money on the things guests will remember: Food, alcohol, DJ

- For necessary stationary, check out vistaprint and shutterfly. They have 40-50% off sales and freebies all the time!

- Skip the big, beautiful, hundreds-of-dollars cake. You can get an adorable cake to cut and a sheet cake for guests (or other desserts altogether!)

- Ignore traditions that don't matter to you. FMIL really wanted corsages for everyone and their mother, but we just didn't budget for that and my parents don't care about it, so we aren't doing it.

- Sola wood flowers!

Things that should be approached with the intent of getting the best deal AND maintaining overall quality:

- Food. You can get delicious food on a budget! But don't DIY that.

- DJ. Unless you have no intentions of dancing and are just doing a short reception, please get a real DJ! A playlist on shuffle is not the same.

See what you're able to DIY and coupon Michaels always has coupons. Also figure out what's important to you and FS on that day, do you want a certain dress or designer, is food/bar important, photographer, videographer, etc.. and to help us we stopped eating out as often, stock up our personal items when on sale, just little things makes a big difference

Do:

Keep your guest list small

DIY as much of the decor as you can

Consider using Sola wood flowers (instead of real)

Have a small WP (or no WP)

Book an offseason date (consider non-Saturday options too)

Consider alternative types of receptions like brunch or cake and punch

Look for an off the rack or consignment dress

Look at all-inclusive venues (these are often cheaper than bringing everything in yourself)

Don't:

Skimp on food or alcohol (hire a professionally licensed caterer!)

Ask your family to work your wedding

Have guests open their wallet at your reception (no honeymoon jars, etc.)

Think you'll save money by having a backyard wedding

I saved money on flowers, spent money on photography. I got around 20 floral quotes until I finally found one below $2,500 for wedding party, centerpieces, and aisle decor. I'm also saving money on desserts & favors. You can get really good desserts for not very expensive, as opposed to a cake. I'm also not spending a ton of money on decor, lots of recycled bride groups and websites for used decor and doing some myself or finding some on sale at Hobby Lobby & Michaels & Walmart. We are also printing our own invites!

Or biggest savings came from having a very small guest list and hosting a non-Saturday wedding. We booked a venue with a low rental fee that covered the ceremony, cocktail hour and reception, and which provided affordable in house catering (dinner menus from $**** per person and bar packages starting at $20 per person). The venue provided tables, chairs, all dishes, glasses, silverware, napkins, and basic linens. I signed up for mailing lists and picked up decor items from various stores as they went on sale, and took a chance on an affordable DOC to set everything up and take charge so we could relax on our wedding day. We got weekday wedding discounts from our DJ and makeup artist, which helped us to save a little bit more. We did not have videography, a dessert table, midnight snack, upgraded chairs, ceremony decor etc. but we did have plenty of good food, a premium open bar, lots of cake, and seats for everyone to enjoy. Really, just keep the guest list small, prioritize what you want most from your wedding, and shop around for a good deal on vendors, decor, everything.

Amazon and wish hav been an amazing way for us to save money. I e got my whole wedding planned with a 1,300 budget and hav sent less on a few things. Witch I know isn't possible for everyone cuz a big cost of of a photographer is my uncle who is a professional. We r catering our selves witch I know a lot of ppl. Wouldn't do either buts it was a way for us to say money. But like I said axon and wish r grate places for decorations and flowers if u dont mind not having real ones, and I actually found some really nice dresses there plus favors and other wedding stuff.

We're trying to keep the guest list as small as possible, buying wholesale flowers and making our own bouquets and boutonnieres, using fake flowers for greenery garlands on the table, and buying second hand decorations such as lanterns and wood pieces. We plan to sell what we have left over to make back some of the money we have spent. We are using the same chairs from our ceremony for our reception and not doing favors. We are also having a small 2 tier wedding cake to cut (to please our parents) and are doing donuts from a local shop as desserts. For engagement photos we are hiring a student from a local college to take them for much cheaper than professional photographers. We're finding that cutting corners a little in each area really adds up!

We saved on our flowers. I ordered them off Etsy. Saved a lot of money. We are also getting married on a Monday. We did not do save the dates. I just sat down and figured out what was important. I love pictures so we splurged on the photographer. We tried to keep guest list down but his family is huge. We are doing a buffet instead of sit down. We decided on doing a small 60 serving cake and then getting a sheet cake.