Ok, this is take three of me planning our wedding Every time I start, I give up halfway through because it just seems so expensive and I am really not one to spend money on lots of fuss and feathers.
So if anyone has any ideas on how to cut costs, or cool things to do that won't break my budget and stress me out I would really love to hear them!
* do as much as you can yourself. From making your own invitations, to even decorating the reception room yourself. I did everything for our wedding. All our wedding co-ordinator had to do was physically put the stuff on the table, according to my instructions.
* Become a part of wedding forums, they'll become your best friend, second to bb of course
* Choose your wedding style and budget, and stick to it.
I was very money consiouce for mine and did it under $5000.
Looked around for deals.
Dress brought new of Ebay
Flowers were sill so brides maid kept theres as presents (love flowers of neet)
Recpetion we booked a whole resturant for the night they did great $35 a head banquet.
Supllied some wine and champagne and rest everyone had to buy own drinks.
Cars where ours and friends nothing fancy.
Cermoney done in partners paretns back yard. So free
used a celebrante only cost like $500.
Rings brought on special.
Made own bomenaries.
Depends on what size you want.
Ours was under $5000, but a truly great day.
We had a celebrant on Sydney Harbour, then hired a boat for 4 hours which cruised us and 35 guest's around the harbour with a beautiful lunch.
For those of us who wanted to keep on going we headed to a hotel bar.
No table settings/chair covers/music/mc in sight.
Just think outside the square.
We made up a budget and stuck to it, we also did a lot of things ourselves, such as own invitations, used cake as dessert so only paid for one course at reception, paid cash for photographer and band. Also we bought our rings on special so got a really good saving.
A friend of ours were married in her parents garden and invited about 25 people and the week later had a massive party for everyone else and they said it cost around 4000.
Oh and make Ebay your friend! LOL! you can get shoes, dress, bombienerre (sp) etc much cheaper on Ebay
Good luck and remember its your day so do it how you and your DP want!
We had a pretty low budgeted wedding, would have been about $4000, that was with about 45 people. We got married in a small chapel, which was about $200, celebrate was also about $200. The reception was a little more, a buffet, which worked out to be $35 a person. It was close to the chapel, so no other transport required. My dress (which was lilac, but I had seen white ones for same price) was $180 reduced even further to $140 cause of a small pull that no one could even see, and bridesmaids dresses where $80 each (just had 2). Shoes were just from spendless (dress where long enough to cover them anyway, so who really sees) and men's clothing just from trade secret. It was more smart casual - just a nice dress pant and button shirt. We kept the cake simple, and from a private cake maker, though was considering one from cheesecake shop (but this way ours actually was even cheaper), as dessert was part of the buffet anyway. We did the decorations and invitations ourselves, which was just from a 'junk' store - pretty paper, paper cutters and just used our computer and printer. Our band was some friends of friends, so did it low cost, think it was also about $200. Flowers were under $200 too, but I have heard of a few people finding nice fake ones, that way you could keep them and use them around the house maybe. And everyone said it was a great wedding and all had fun. It was more of a party atmosphere, which is more what I wanted - as to me it was just bringing the families together and celebrating our love.
Maybe an idea if you haven't thought of it yet, instead of people giving you presents (as most of the time you've already got everything you need hey) - maybe do the wishing well thing - send a little envelope with a nice poem out with the invite so they can annonymously give, that way you can pretty much payback some of the cost of the wedding.
Or another idea could be either elope or just have close family and friends, then arrange a dinner for a few weeks later to celebrate - and this way the guests don't really need to buy you a present but just pay for their own meal and drinks. 2 of my friends have done this, and no one seemed to mind. They actually sent out the invites the day after they eloped with a picture and nice explaination poem to tell us their news and included a invitation to join them to celebrate.
Lori - we had a wedding for 120 people for $6K
that includes everything bar my hair/makeup and dress. (oh an honeymoon as we didnt have one).
We booked at a reception hall 15 months before the wedding when it was undergoing renos' - we booked in at current prices lol so when our wedding came about in the new reception centre, they had to honor our contract for the previous costs $45 for a 3 sit down meal. put $1500on bar only for drinks
Cars - We hired Audi's from europcar and had dh's brother and my close gf drive us (they loved driving the brand new audi and they felt much a part of the wedding as they werent in the bridal party).
Bonboneires - we gave every couple a little succulent in tiny pots with a message about sharing our marriage grow etc etc ..
It can work out exy but i havebeen to weddings were they have 2-3 champagne glasses inthe centre filled with m&ms instead! that was a yummy wedding
Hair and makeup for 6 was $280 total.. can you believe it! through angel eye effects (not sureif tey are in syd).. but 2 artists and they did a brilliant job
Flowergirl /pageboy - they bought their own outfits, didnt matter what it was to us.
Bridesmaids - we bought their dresses on ebay $50 each. we scouted which we like in the dress store and then gave it a good 6 months stalking ebay for one to pop up and they do! you wold be surprised how many pop up straigth after they are worn once... in current seasons!
They bought their own shoes.
Groomsmen - most expensive blah.. DH is fussy and hired $250 suits for each of them,,, so that sucked.
INvites etc - we did ourselves - stationary in total for 150 invites and thankyous + post was $150.
Wedding bands - we got plain bands and scouted the cheapest price then worked a few places down in price !
Photographer - was our most expensive. If we did it again, we would have paid for photos and then made our our album on memento or something like that as the album was soooooooooo expensive!
$2500
veil - i borrowed
shoes - outlet shopping
no expensive lingerie
no honeymoon
oh flowers... had a friend do them up - for all table settings, and bridal party of 6, they were tulips and all the parents etc.. $250
It was a very gorgeous wedding and no one suspected how cheap we did some things! lol
Go to Cheesecake shop.
Order 2 cakes, one bigger than the other. ( I did mudcake)
Put one cake on top of the other.
Melt white chocolate and spread onto alfoil that has been scrunched up and smoothed out a bit.
When it hardens break into big shards and stick to side of cake with melted choc, you might like the smooth side or the textured side to show.
Tie a wide organza ribbon around the base.
Eat it for Dessert and save $$
Lulu's Flower Idea - I think this would be fun as! Run into a flower shop on your way to the ceremony, chuck $100 at the chick behind the counter and challenge her to make you a bouquet right then and there....and one for a bridesmaid too if you are feeling cheeky.
I did go to some outlet shops and stuff for 2nd hand dresses but it was a muck around and a little depressing when you see whats actually on offer. I went to Bridge Road in Richmond (are you in Vic?) and looked at some of the boutiques there. For $200 - $500 you can find a lovely 'wedding' dress or a beautiful ballgown that could be a once off by an up and coming designer. Unless you are stuck on white - I did find a lovely one, but mum dragged me off to Anthea Crawford (out the back), and was lucky enough to find the dressmaker had been mucking around with a fabric she liked so I scored a STUNNING boned top that would never be seen on anyone else....yay!
Hey I don't mind if you turn into Bridezilla, its funny!
We had a very budget wedding but it was perfect, it was exactly like we had imagined it to be.
It was in the afternoon so we did finger food and didn't have to do a sit down dinner. It helps when you're mum is a chef and does all the food too. The wine didn't have labels so we made our own and everyone wanted to keep the empty bottles. The wine was a gift from a relative that works at a winery but I know it was cheaper without labels. I made all of the invitations too.
We bought DH's sister a new flash for her camera and she took all the photos. Plus two other friends that were handy with a camera took pics too and you'd never know they weren't taken by a professional photographer.
We had the wedding and reception in a garden which was at a friends cottage so didn't cost anything to hire.
My dress was a deb dress which was on sale, you'd never know that it wasn't technically a wedding dress, except that it doesn't have a train but being in the garden I thought it was a better option anyway. It was my dream dress too, I didn't even realise it was a deb dress until after I'd fallen in love with it. It was so much cheaper than DH's suit!
We didn't have a band, we had a friend that was our "dj" for the day. He did it all through his computer and it was fab.
I think they were the main things, I hope that helps!
I'm in the process of organising my wedding, and although my parents wanted to pay top $ for us to get married (and all of the guests stay) at a Crowne Plaza, my fiance and I have stuck with what we wanted all along - a fun low cost wedding that we (and everyone else) can enjoy that is not stuffy in any way.
We have hired a local hall for $200 (luckily we live in the vineyards so it's a very picturesque old sandstone building surrounded by grapevines) it also means we don't get kicked out and the alcohol turned off at 11pm! We are having a main course buffet spit roast with silver service finger food whilst we have photos done for $27 p/h. We are buying wine and beer in bulk from local bottle shops. We are buying a slab caramel mudcake from Michel's for $100 and a friend is decorating it with white chocolate curls. Another friend is taking all of our photos and arranging them in album (he's got a pretty flash big camera) for $500. I bought my dress over the internet from the US for $750 (instead of $1100 off the rack here in Oz) and with it I also got a free bridesmaids dress (which was $400 to buy here) and free postage with insurance. My other two bridesmaids also got their dresses from the same website for $120 each (instead of $400 here). We are using 3 friends Ford Falcon XR6s for free, I have made my own centrepieces from cheap glass vases from the Reject Shop with a candle in them; then I got some beading wire and put some pearl beads on it and wound it around the vases each centrepiece cost $4.50. I have made some wine glass charms as bonboniere and we are burning CDs with songs from the wedding on them to give to guests too. To cut a long story short, our wedding is only costing between $3500 - $4000 (I have $500 left over for in case of emergency). Honestly it can be done!
Have your wedding on a day other than a Saturday. Saturday is peak wedding day so having it on a Sunday or during the week can be cheaper. Also, use family and friends skills to your advantage. If you have a family member or friend who can take exceptionally good photos get them to do the photos, if someone is good at cake making take advantage of that etc. They will feel special because they are involved in your special day and you can save thousands!
Have a ****tail reception rather than a sit down, depending on how formal you want things. This is a good casual thing and great way to allow people to mingle. It's also heaps cheaper.
Make your own invitations, wedding programs etc or have a crafty family member or friend do it for you.
Most importantly, know what you want and set a budget. Try to haggle with the price of somethings if you can. Unfortunately weddings are big business and as soon as you put the word wedding in the sentence the price seems to skyrocket!
Ours came in at $4000 and that included everything and I mean everything !! We got some great bargains along the way though, like candle holders that were supposed to be $7 each went through the checkout for $1 each. My dress was the most expensive at $700. We only had 1 bridesmaid and best man, and they were happy to hire their own stuff.
Car wise, my step-dad's boss owned a burgundy Jaguar. Our colour was burgundy. So he let my step-dad borrow it for the weekend. My step-sister who owned a Harley Davidson, gave me a Harley escort to the park we were married in.
We hired a hall for $200 and when we got our deposit back, they gave us $150 lol. We know people in the hiring business and they supplied tables and chairs for next to nothing. We brought all our flowers (burgundy in colour) from places like go-lo and my MIL made up all the bonboniers (Sp) and made a huge bridal table display from the flowers we brought. I had my bouquet, and my bridesmaids professionally made.
A friend made our wedding cake. Another friend took all our photos and video. The hall we hired had a kitchen area with a bar into the actual hall, so we had teenage daughters of friends at the wedding serving drinks. Food wise we got in Aussie Spit Roast catering and everyone was fed for $12 a head. We organised people to set up the hall (the teenage girls again) and alot of people pitched in after we left to help my parents clean up.
Still 8 years later we often get comments from people to say it was one of the best weddings they had ever been too. 1 woman even saying it was better than her own daughters, claiming her daughters was so OTT!!
Planning a wedding yourself not only saves money but, gives that personal touch that provides lasting family memories. Personal touches like creating your own wedding favors and planning your own reception can be particularly satisfying.
We’re all for used dresses. But keep in mind, it’s best to look locally as used dresses have been altered, and are no longer true to their label size. If you check out local classifieds, you can meet the seller, try on the dress, inspect it for damages or stains and then negotiate a deal.
The other options are to look for new dresses in classifieds or to buy a new dress and sell it afterwards to recoup about 50% of your cost. Often there are people who wind up with two dresses after a change in location, or just being indecisive and have to sell one.
It looks like you probably have enough good Ideas, but here are some that helped us cut costs:
We wanted the wedding at a church, so we joined the church, and got it for 200. Our celebrant was part of my old church and he was free, he just made us do a bit of couciling first so he knew it was right for us to get married. Got to know him a bit more so it was more comfortable on the day.
Bought my dress on sale for $100, was exactly what I wanted too. (think I was lucky with that one)
Hunt around for reception places, and choose the cheapest. Most of them do a great job. Ours was a spit roast dinner $60 a head, at a winery with an EXCCELENT veiw.
Make your own invites, bombeneires We did lollipops with a little measage on them, and for the girls, little lavender plants.
Get a friend to videotape and photograph, or get a local (they are usually cheaper)
Good Luck! It can be frustrating, But I did it all by myself.. and I have vowed to NEVER do it again!!
We ended up doing the whole thing, simple and srtess free, for under $8000 There are a lot of discounts to be had for getting married in winter (and lots of freebies when you're IL's own a bridal shop and you finally get over your stubborness and let them help you out )
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Your best budget wedding ideas please?
Every time I start, I give up halfway through because it just seems so expensive and I am really not one to spend money on lots of fuss and feathers.
$45 for a 3 sit down meal. put $1500on bar only for drinks
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