ways to cut costs for wedding

[larussel03]

Hi

OK, I'm not even engaged yet, but I will be most likely within 6 months. Then a long engagement to save money for a wedding, (like 2 or 3 years if need be). I was wondering if any of the brides to be have any good advice and tips for saving money, without sacrificing class and taste, and if you wouldnt mind sharing what average costs for things like renting a hall/ballroom, catering for 200 people etc would be that'd be great. The only thing I'm a stickler for is I'd like to have an open bar, but I'm not sure if that'll be possible, even in 2 or 3 years. Obviously I'm not looking for dollars and cents, just kinda what to expect to be looking to save in the next 2 to 3 years. Can ya'all tell that I'm so excited already???!?!?!?!

Thanks!!

Lyndsey

 

[curlygirl]

Well, it really depends on where you are and where you want to have your wedding. I'm in NYC where everything is overpriced so I may not be that much help and I don't want to scare you! I can tell you that I'm doing my wedding in February because it is an off month and that is saving me a ton of money. My location which is a private university club dropped its price per person by $30 in Feb. as opposed to doing it in either spring or fall. Oh, it includes 5 hours of open bar (cocktail hour + 4 hour reception), 4 course meal, wedding cake and they give us the bridal suite for the night. If you can find a place that does it all for you, it's great. We are having a dj which is much less expensive than a band and we prefer to have the actual music than a band's renditions of songs. We're just having a maid of honor and best man so that eliminates all the bridal party gifts, etc. I am wearing an evening gown rather than a traditional wedding dress and while it's not cheap, it's way less expensive than an actual wedding dress. We're having our florist do small, elegant flowers on the tables and lots of candles to cut unnecessary costs. Even with cutting all these corners, the wedding is still going to cost a pretty penny because it is NY. We're planning to have about 140 people and I can tell you that we will probably be spending the same amount as tuition to an ivy league school! YIKES!!!! My fiance and I are paying for it ourselves too so it's very stressful but I am just hoping to make it a classy, elegant affair. There are many ways to cut costs and if you are giving yourselves 2-3 years, you'll be fine. Keep us posted!!!

 

[selflove]

I agree with curlygirl--prices vary so much by region that you''d really have to check with your area to see what average prices are. I''m in southern california where things are also pricier than average and I can tell you that just comparing to the cost of my family and friends'' weddings back in the midwest, there''s just no comparison. We''re doing a wedding for 60-70 people on $10K and so far I think we''re staying within budget.

My best advice that I think I can give, based on what I''ve learned in the last 6 months, is that you HAVE to do your RESEARCH. There are lots of vendors to choose from at a whole range of prices--just don''t get your heart set on vendors that are out of your price range. (So, the first step is to set a total budget and then use one of the calculators on theknot.com or weddingchannel.com to allocate amounts to each of the areas you''ll need.)

There''s a good book my friend loaned me in the beginning of our planning called "Fire Your Wedding Planner". I know several of the women here on PS who also recommended it. You''ll get a lot of good tips in there--that''s where I got a lot of my ideas like picking a venue/caterer that will let us bring our own wine and choosing a photographer that would let us keep our negatives so we could make our own prints.

Good luck and keep us posted!

 

[njc]

I agree with what the others have said about region and season being a factor in cost. That said, here are some things I did to keep costs down...

- Used a friends mother to make our cake. She bakes out of her home and they are FAB-U-LOUS and cheaper than a bakery... she even delivered it for free!
- Designed and printed everything i could on my own... save-the-dates, direction cards, ceremony programs. You can get 500 sheets of card stock (thick paper) from Staples for like $3.
- We were able to buy our own liquor for the bar (HUGE money saver for us), and i got my uncle to buy it at the military PX tax free
- Didnt decorate the church... it was pretty on its own!
- Used what the reception hall already had... lighted trees, white christmas-type lights running around the room, table mirrors.
- Keep the reciepts to EVERYTHING you buy... you would be amazed at the stuff you have left over you never used!
- Used in-season flowers for bouquets and table arrangements
- Recruite tons of friends to help with anything and everything and explote their talents! One made our pew bows for the cost of the ribbon...
- Use coupons!
- Transportation just for us... no family, no bridal party. Ended up getting a London Taxi that only cost $60 at the end of the night... cheaper and way cooler than a limo!

 

[MelissaSue]

There is not really any such thing as an average cost for reception. It can range anywhere from $15-$300 a person.. And that is not an exaggeration. Mine is going to be around $65 a person with food and beverage.. with tax and service charges and my room rental.. its really more like $80 a person..

PLEASE keep the open bar, even if it means cutting other things. Even if you only have it for 3 hours (keep it closed for all of dinner, first dances etc.. ).. Cash bars are totally rude and tacky.

If you want to cut.. you could have a late wedding and have just cocktails and hor dourves, and/or desserts.. You don''t need to serve a full dinner... unless it is at an obvious dinner time (between 5-8 say)

Also.. you posted those way expensive favors before.. Those should be the first thing to go! I refused to spend more than $2 a person on favors. $1.50 per is what I''m spending. to be exact..

You can also save by having a friday or sunday, or even a weekday wedding!

Check out Bridal Bargains too..great book!

 

[ame]

1-no favors. They are getting a free meal and booze. That's all they need.
2-open bar is worth the price
3-sit down is not necessarily more pricey than buffet.
4-you don't need elaborate floral centerpieces
5-buy things at the dollar store instead of say...Target
6-make your own invitations
7-unless your wedding is a destination wedding or on a major holiday, save the dates are just a waste of money.
8-winter weddings (i.e. Jan-April) are cheaper. Like astronomically.

 

[Mara]

Ditto the Friday or Sunday wedding, that can be a HUGE savings because booking the venue can cost up to 20% of your budget if not more depending on where you book. Also, Fri or Sun food is usually cheaper because many venues don''t have the minimum requirement like they do for a Saturday night! Also consider an afternoon wedding to also cut costs..depending on your venue.

Depending on the venue if you choose something that has alot of natural beauty or architecture, you won''t need as much OTHER stuff to spruce it up to make it look cool for the wedding. It takes alot more to decorate a basic hotel ballroom or a hall to make it look beautiful for a wedding than it does an outdoor scene where you can use the backdrop of trees or greenery or something similar to help cut your ''flower'' and ''decorating'' costs.

Lastly, for favors if you feel the need to do something, get something that is low-cost and easy, aka a seed packet for each guest with a hang tag with your names (seed packets at the store are something like $0.50 each and you can create a hang tag easily with a computer/printer/cardstock/hole punch etc)...Just some ideas!

 

[rms]

Just like MelissaSue said you can have a late wedding, you could also have a brunch or early afternoon type wedding. My cousin did this and it was fabulous. I also heard of a couple who had an evening wedding where they only served desserts.

We had a winter wedding and the cost wasn''t necessarily cheaper where we were, but I definitely priced out other places that were cheaper due to the time of year.

I really liked working with small corner store type places (florists, bakeries, etc.) over working with big shops supposedly "famous" for the work they do. I liked giving them my business, I think a lot of the products were better, and they might be more willing to help bend on pricing.

I bought party favors and while mine were pretty cheap too (~$1.75) 50% of them went to waste because the people didn''t take them home.

We had a big dessert table and my aunts and family friends baked for us, which saved a ton of money. It was a beautiful table too and it was nice to have the family helping out.

We had no programs at the ceremony...most people can figure out the order of events unless your ceremony is different than most traditions in the region where you live.

At the reception hall we used their centerpieces, which were beautiful candle holders. They even provided the candles. We just bought some rose petals for $20 and spread them around the table.

 

[appletini]

The two best wedding favors I''ve had...

1. My BFs sister''s wedding (I knew her for several years before I met her charming older brother)...she did memory cards, on their new married stationary. They did one for each guest they invited (I was already invited before the BF and I were dating) and she said what her favorite memory was with that person and how much it meant to her/them that that person was invovlved in their life. That is a very sincere and time consuming favor. But I still have it...I usually throw away thank yous etc immediately b/c I don''t like clutter, but that item made the bulletin board.

2. One wedding had CDs that the couple had burned (it is probabably illegal to this, but it is very cool).

And I''ve been to a few where I haven''t noticed any favors, and I don''t give it a second thought. I think more so because they spent so much effort and money on goody bags for out of town guests...I think this is a much better place to spend money than on favors. Open bar and dinner is more than enough, and often times more expensive person than the gifts received.

 

[glaucomflecken]

Ebay! I found soo many of the little odds and ends there for much cheaper prices than I could find in the stores, so I could use the money I saved toward other things. I bought my veil, invites, programs, flutes, baskets, etc there

Shopping online for my wedding in general was a huge time and money saver. plus its fun to get packages in the mail

Setting your budget is so hard at first because like you I was like, what''s an average amount to spend? How do I know? Determine your priorities early too because this will help so much. Ours were photographer, rings, food and later on flowers. Less important to me were favors, my dress, etc. Everyone has their own list. I didnt want to spend a fortune on my dress because i knew i would only wear it once, so I searched only for dresses that were inexpensive and fell in love with one that cost me $212. my friend loves her $1200 dress. its all about what you want! I say early too because that way you are prepared. i changed my mind last minute about using silk flowers, real ones became a huge priority to me so i was thrown with a new expense, which was worth it, but i wish i would have planned for it.

What we did was make our guest list, and try to say "if every single person showed up how much would our catering bill be at this place or this place?" so we kind of had an idea of what to budget for food/alcohol. I agree with what everyone has said so far. The prices will vary depending on where you are. I am in the midwest, I had a buffet dinner and full middle shelf open bar and it came out to about $35 a person after tax and gratuity. This was the cheapest we found but we heard soo many good things about the food and I was very impressed. It wasnt the "prettiest" building on the outside but it had a garden and waterfall outside and we made it look nice. There were some other places I looked at that started at $40 before tax and all that so you really need to do your research. I do agree, have an open bar. We went to a wedding last year where they made us pay for even SODA POP!

Sometimes you can find places where you find your own caterer and bring your own alcohol and chairs, etc and from what I hear it can be a money saver. I wasnt into DIY anything really because for me, time was an important part of my budget so I sought out trusted vendors to do the work for me but i am sure you could save there. I prefered places that did it all for me

Do you know anyone that had a nice classy car? Maybe they would be willing to drive you and your DH around instead of renting a limo. i also had someone make my cake, which was good and very cheap. now if i would have only given her a swatch of my ribbon color to use...

dont forget to include gratuities in your budget planning. we forgot and had to scramble to get tips ready last minute.

Candles! we used a LOT of them and less flowers to decorate and it is SO elegant.

good luck!

 

[Logan Sapphire]

We didn''t do favors. We did have our wedding on a Friday night, but I''m not sure in our case that we particularly saved money doing that. Like NJC, we didn''t really decorate our church either. Every week a group of ladies lays out pretty flowers, esp. around the sanctuary, so my mom just asked if they could put out the flowers one day early and volunteered to pick them out. She went to Costco and got all white flowers, at no additional cost to us, since the church ladies put flowers down anyway. Speaking of Costco, they have really beautiful flowers, which we used for the rehearsal dinner too. Scott threw his own rehearsal dinner and bought most of the stuff from Costco. Instead of a big flower centerpiece, we had lanterns (that we lit) surrounded by a wreath of ivy and moss, with dendrobium orchids woven in. This is going to sound VERY weird, but one of the things that one of the famous spend-less bridal books (I can''t remember the name right now) advocates is renting a limo from a funeral home! We did exactly that (figuring the bridal party would have their own rental cars, since it was an out-of-town wedding for everyone, including ourselves, except for my parents), and the kicker is we ended up getting the limo for free b/c the owner knew someone my parents go to church with. Like I said, that option''s not for everyone, but we liked it!

 

[MINE!!]

Here is what we are doing... this is about how much we are spending

75 people @ reception. Reception site is a jockey club. Buffet dinners for 75 people + hall + linens +punch + Hor' derves + drinks (not including toasting) 2000$

NO bar... A lot of our guests do drink.. but we do not want the hassle of dealing with the people that go a little overboard.

We are having our wedding on a SAt... but we are going it at night.. which brought down the price slightly.

Party favors~ A Cd with our favorite songs on it+ presonalized stickers 40$ (burned from the computer)

Florist~ My bouquet, BM Bouquet, Flower Girls Bouquet, Grooms flower, Groomsmen flowers+ Cake table flowers+ Chruch Flowers 500$ ( we used colorful flowers but stayed away from the reallly exspensive cliche ones)

Music~ Voilinist and pianist 3hours+ wedding= 150$ We are using two college music majors.. they sound beautiful.. and a re cheap.

Cake 200$ We are having someone who makes cakes as a serious hobby.. you know wilton chat threads etc. She does great work.

My dress~ was 900$ ordered or on sale for 250$ in the store.

Alterations 100$ Do not get the bridal shop to do alterations.. found someone else that owns a sewing shop to do them.

Getting my hair and makeup done along with BM... 400$ ( we are spending quite a bit on this)

Shoes 40$ I did not find them in a shop that had anything to do with brides.. I found them in a shee shee shoe shop.. they were on cleareance.

Crinoline 30$.. Found it at a second hand shop... a consignment store.. NO WAY was i going to pay thqt much for something I would wear under my skirt once.

I am attaching a few of the pictures of the recpetion place.. (so you know it is not a dump)

I would say research research research.....

We are basically doing the entire wedding for less than 5000$ and we are also buying the Flower girls dresses as well... So it can be done and still be done BEAUTIFULLY!!

 

[MINE!!]

another

 

[MINE!!]

last one.. BTW... many of the things cost a lot cause yoiu are asking other people to do them for you.. If you do things yourself.. you save a lot of money.. IE party favors.. bubbles etc.

 

[larussel03]

Thank you all so much!!! It''s so great to get all of your advice, so that when it''s time to actually set the date and start the official planning, I would have done enough research to have more of a handle on what I want.

 

[Tybee]

This might sound a little obvious, but FI and I have set up a savings account that we monthly put money into. We''ve been doing it for a while now, and we don''t even think about the money. If you are planning ahead 2 or 3 years, you could have a nice little sum saved up.
Also, serving only wine and beer is a lot less expensive than mixed drinks--or, if you provide your own alcohol it''s also a lot less expensive.
I was talking to two brides last night, both of them were married last year, and I attended both their weddings.
They both told me that if they were to do it all over again, they would have spent less money on actual decorations and favors (I guess a lot of brides here said the same thing.) When it comes down to it, I don''t look back at a wedding and remember the table decorations as much as I remember the ceremony and the celebration.

 

[Logan Sapphire]

Oh yeah, one more thing- we didn''t have champagne for the toasts- just whatever drink people had in their hand at the time.

 

[hearts set]

This is truly a great thread. One that I needed to read.

I''ve only been engaged nearly month and the cost of wedding stuff is making us both worried and nervous.

It made me go back to the price list for the venue we want...and re-evaluate. I don''t need the most or even middle expensive menu. the most reasonable menu has GREAT selections...and the B&B/restaurant has a great reputation for great food.

We''re having a simple daytime affair...I was feeling the pressure to serve up a really fancy sit down dinner. But the cheaper menu is really nice too and incudes seafood dishes.

This thread helped my with our main priority...to have a nice wedding day without stress or debt.

Now what do I do about the outrageous photographer rates?? I soooo want photojournalism but the photographer is going to cost more than the whole wedding day...I''m not kidding!

Any suggestions??

Again, a great and useful thread.

 

[MINE!!]

We are putting disposable cameras on all the tables so people can take the -''candid'' pictures for us. They drop them in a basket on the way out. For a photographer we are getting someone we know who is great with pictures and is doing photography as a hobby.

We are getting bridal portraits and E pics done done.. but we are being realistic.. after all .. all those pictures you had on the wall of you and hubby are one day going to be replaced by others.. so we are only taking the BEST.. and choosing quailty over quantity.

 

[heart prongs]

Some ideas...

Find a beautiful spot where you can have your ceremony in the same place as the reception...no need for a limo, organist, church fee. We had a minister...and our dj set up a second system and did all the music. I was concerned about the music at first, but it couldn''t have been more perfect. Since it was planned and timed very well, no one even noticed that the music was not "live"

Borrow a veil.

Cut the floral centerpieces...we saved a ton this way. Find something that would go along with your weddding and make your own centerpieces.

See if you can provide the alcohol and the bartender with insurance. We had open bar all night -- that 160 people definitely enjoyed -- for $900...I have friends who had open bar provided be the site for upwards of $7K!!!

Have a friend who knows flowers do them for you...that could literally save you thousands!

DJ over a band ... we loved our DJ and I can''t imagine the dance floor being more packed than it was already.

Unless you''re doing a destination wedding, a holiday weekend, or a big weekend for graduations or something, skip the save-the-dates...your mother is going to tell everyone anyway...just an added expense!

Don''t offer a food selection. This does not always save money, but it''s so much easier than calling people 3 weeks before your wedding...this one is to save you some time and a bit sanity!

Pick a Friday or a Sunday...we did a Sunday at a resort in Gloucester, Mass. in the summer, so lots of our guests made a weekend out of it. People were socializing with us until 2-3 a.m. Our after-party was located in a suite above the reception hall -- so it lent itself to people sticking around.

hope this helps...

klr

prongs

 

[heart prongs]

Melissa Sue...on the open bar. It''s actually not considered tacky where I come from -- Massachusetts. I do know that that is certainly true though in other parts of the US...just didn''t want her to think she''d be a "tacky bride" if she didn''t have one and that weren''t the case!!!

another idea...get a small cake for display and have a sheet cake of the same flavor waiting in the kitchen...no one will be the wiser!!!

klr

prongs

 

[Faerievert]

If you want to save on photography, don''t get a ''wedding'' photographer! Just find a listing of photographers in the area (I used this directory - http://www.marketingtool.com/channel/photo/) and look at all their websites. Anyone who you like the work of (whether it says they do weddings or not), email saying you''d ''like to do a limited wedding package on a tight budget, what can you offer?'' Fill in a few more details about what you''re looking for (amount of time, posed pictures, photojournalistic style, black & white, etc.), and any specific price cap (like $500, or $800). Write it up in a text editor and paste the same thing over and over each time you get a new email address (you don''t want them to know who else you''re asking, so don''t send the email to everyone at once!) I got back at least 4 offers for under $600. Totally worth the hour or two I spent going through the listings. We loved the first one we met with (who offered a $350 package to do the posed pictures and the ceremony -about 100 prints), and decided to have her around for longer to take more pictures, upping the price to $600 for about 6 hours and a printed proof of all photos (she uses digital so they''ll all be up online too). She''s got some wedding experience, but mostly does other stuff, like concerts (she''s the official photographer for Willy Nelson and Earth Wind and Fire as it turns out- how cool?). This is her website http://www.marylizphotography.com/ I highly recommend going this route, you can save a TON of money this way, and non-wedding photographers rarely try to rip you off the same way the ''wedding'' professionals do- minimum purchases to get your negatives, requiring you to buy outrageous albums through them, price tags in the multiple thousands, yeesh!

 

[hearts set]

Faerievert

first of all, you are such a beautiful young woman...in your e pics you look like guinevere in the woods!

and second, thanks so much for the marketing link...I found one photographer in particular with a great website and wonderfully talented. She''s kind of far and doesn''t advertise that she does weddings...I contacted her so we''ll see!

Thanks again!