Share your Budget Bridal Tips & Tricks!

Fake flowers are the way to go! You can achieve you floral vision without spending thousands of dollars.

View Quoted Comment I've heard there are times when real is cheaper. Unless of course you're okay with fake flowers that look obviously fake. I'm planning on fake flowers myself because I plan on reusing them as decor around my house.

I also think buying mason jars is smart for decor. You can sometimes get a pack of a dozen for less than $10

View Quoted Comment And they look amazing especially if you're going for that rustic charm look!

We are cooking the food ourselves (started cooking and freezing/storing in December for the May wedding). It's a lot cheaper than hiring a caterer, and we get a lot more options. We're having some family friends be in charge of the day of (organizing the food/cooking/all the other stuff the caterer usually does).

Fake flowers, like Pp said, have also been a budget saver.

We are getting a lot of attire pieces off of Amazon (ties, bridesmaid dresses).

We're having a family friend do photography for cheaper than her usual rates (although it's not always an option. Be sure to scan through your friends and family lists before booking vendors to see you have connections with someone that could provide a service for you at a family/friend discount, as long as you aren't so close with them that you would want them attending as a guest).

Our ceremony is at his family's Christmas tree farm for free, which is really lucky. But we decided to have the reception in an armory because it is RIDICULOUSLY cheaper than other venues and you can decorate them to be BEAUTIFUL.

Ask around your married friends to see if they have any wedding stuff lying around they would let you borrow, like leftover decoration elements they never got rid of (signs/fake flowers/aisle runners/flower petals).

View Quoted Comment

It definitely depends on the type of fake flower! I am doing fake for mine and unless you are up close feeling them, you cannot tell the difference!

I agree with Chantal, our biggest savings so far has come from self-catering!

Getting married on a friend's farm for free is saving us a lot as well. As is buying flowers in bulk and doing the arrangements ourselves.

We got lucky with our venue! My hubby is in the military so we were able to book the community club on his base for 2 full days for only $200. It comes with all the tables and chairs, linens, and even some of the decor like vases and candleholders. And the space is huge. We only have a guest list of about 70, but the venue could easily fit 3x that amount. So, make sure to take a look at venues that don't cater primarily to weddings. Most of those expensive venues you're paying for the view or theme, so if that's not a high priority, check out some non-conventional spaces!

Cater out but do BBQ, pizza or mexican or Italian. Fake flowers are much cheaper depending on your style. I wanted a cascading bouquet so that in real flowers would be a lot. Also, a trick I have heard brides do in regards to wedding cake is to 1 - serve a cake for you two to cut and then cupcakes for the guests or have a sheet cake in the back to serve the guests. Sometimes DIY can save money I have heard but check etsy often. Also, check pinterest boards about things to forego at weddings like centerpieces, favors, etc...

For centerpieces, don't use flowers as they're a big expense, use jars or vases with candles in and maybe a few fake flowers. check out facebook marketplace or search for wedding recycle sites in your area, lots of brides try to sell their old decor. if you're having food from the venue ask what the prices are for buffet, sit down, and plated dinner. anns bridal bargain online has cheap invites, if you get the fold and send one you dont even need an envelope. beer and wine only reception are the cheaper alcohol packages. shop around and plan everything out early, it will save you in the long-run. always OVER budget for everything that way you're not surprised at the end. don't forget to add in tips and tax either, that can get costly. look into the pros wedding, they're a national company with really affordable dj and photographers.

good luck!

DIYing my flowers, invitations, and signs

Finding a venue that doesn't advertise all that much for weddings and allows you to bring in your own vendors. (It was still pricey but not AS pricey).

Finding a stay at home mom that has a side bakery business for our wedding cake and choosing cupcakes (less than $400 for a small cake for us to cut and 17 dozen cupcakes)

Facebook marketplace for misc. decor. Choose a simple look and you won't have to buy that much.

Already some great ideas. I noticed one that that wasn't mentioned (yet), and this is the one area I haven't found myself able to save on was a DJ. Maybe this is because we have an unusually long event at 8 hours and I'd like the DJ there for the entire event...*shrug* Any advice?

Facebook marketplace is a huge save. We’re DIYing a lot of our wedding, and I have to say, it’s not necessarily cheaper. Try to price it out buying vs creating yourself and really decide if it’s worth the time to do it yourself.


I bought my wedding dress at a sample sale and got a $1500 BHLDN dress for $200.
We’re also saving a bunch of money on caterer by going off the preferred list, even with paying the fee. $135 per plate down to $80 per plate (Chicago).
And keep an eye on coupon codes and holiday sales for any other materials. I bought a bunch on Black Friday and saved over $500

View Quoted Comment

For us a DJ would have been really pricey given our venue. However we were able to rent sound equipment for $150 (this includes set-up and take-down) and are going to put together spotify playlists and designate someone to press play at the appropriate times. I get that this doesn't work/isn't feasible for everyone, but it did save us a lot of money.

Anything can be wedding decor if you work hard enough.
All my candle holders at the tables? Tin cans I painted and stuck glitter to. Table numbers? Wine bottles I painted. I think I spent $30 on 30 table centerpieces.

I don't like flowers but I do like fun things. Comic and cartoon flowers off Etsy. $5/flower. And I scored a coupon. Plastic mini m&ms containers, floral foam, ribbon. $15 bridesmaid bouquets.
Flower girl baskets. Easter baskets and some tulle. $10/basket.

We had a budget of $1,500 and came in under it!

-Fake flowers! I bought my ceremony flowers from Michaels during a door buster sale. Mine looked obviously fake and I honestly didn't care it looked great.

-Restaurant receptions are the way to go if you're lazy (like me) and don't want the task of set up/ tear down and self-catering.

-Regular cake is just as delicious as wedding cake.

-Less is more, let the venue speak for itself.

-Speaking of, make sure your venue itself is photogenic. If it's not you're going to spend more on decoration and may spend over what you would have had you picked a decent looking venue to begin with and it still not look half as nice.

-All weddings look good if you get a pro- photographer. Shop around, we were able to get ours on a steal!

-Great clips does up-dos. And regular do's too. $25

-If you can do your own makeup, just do your own makeup.

-We had a playlist and a nice blue tooth speaker. Worked out great for our purposes. DJs are nice, but unnecessary.

I bought my dress from a non-profit that sells pre-owned wedding dresses where the proceeds go to help women who've survived human trafficking. The dress was $500 ($1000 less than if it was new) and I'm happy with the story behind it. It has good juju from another wedding and it's helped people.http://www.adornedingrace.org/

For the venue, the representative originally quoted me $2300 for the ceremony and reception space. When I met her in person for an appointment, we were able to discuss cost-saving options that got it down to $6000. We booked a smaller space that is more appropriate for our party size, we changed the time to be cheaper, and downsized the number of staff we'll need for the reception (aka got rid of passing appetizers option).

Finally, we're making the RSVP for the wedding through the website. That'll save some stationary costs and the price of a stamp. Yea!

View Quoted Comment Exactly! We’re using the community club in my mothers neighborhood. So reasonable!! And beautiful. Includes chairs and tables. 🙌🏽🙌🏽

I spend money on what I felt was important to us and memorable. I have a nice venue but not super expensive. I won’t pay more for fancy chairs, or linens. Centerpieces I’m doing myself including a $2 candle from IKEA. I googled and looked on amazon. Important to me photos and a fun time so good dj. Flowers will be from Sams or Costco for me and wedding party. And a small wedding cake for cutting that I’m getting at bakery for half the cost. Thankfully I can bring my own desserts so Costco sheet cake will be served. So here and there I cut corners.

Sample sale dress

Shoes on sale

Fake flowers

No favors

Let the venue/view be the decor

Buffet dinner (you get more food for your money)

No extras - no photo booth, etc.