It's no secret that weddings aren't exactly cheap and with the national average last year being around the £31,974 mark it's fair to say that many couples who are engaged often feel deflated when they realise they simply don't have that kind of budget. I certainly did. In the current economic climate it's hard to see how you can afford to save for a traditional wedding without going bankrupt but I managed to have a dream day for under 5k and here's how.
1. Choosing the right dates and venue
You can find a venue that you absolutely love but get a quote for summer months and find it is completely out of your budget but change the dates to off-peak season months (usually October - March with Christmas and New Years being exceptions) and you usually find a massive discount in price. Choosing venues such as pubs, restaurants or smaller hotels can also massively influence price and they're usually perfect for smaller wedding parties.
2. Ceremony fees
One thing you cannot escape is ceremony fees. Whether you get married with just 2 witnesses or have a full list of guests the fees will be the same and is something every couple should definitely budget for immediately. These fees include the costs for a registrar, your marriage license and your notice fee. You might find that a church service is a lot cheaper but obviously comes with other commitments and isn't for everyone.
3. The dress
One of the next biggest expenses is the brides dress. Again, this is something personal to you and you might find that you want to spend more on the dress than say the food or the photographs; this is all down to you and what your needs are. However to save on the cost of a dress there are several cheaper options out there including going to larger, mass produced stores instead of tiny boutiques that hike the prices up for designer labels. You can always make appointments at the smaller boutiques to try on dresses and find a style or shape that you like and then go to one of the larger, cheaper stores to find something similar which there is more often than not. Or even using the internet to see if anyone is selling the exact designer dress you wanted for a fraction of the price, even if it's too big as alterations are still usually cheaper. Basically, shop around.
4. Food
A cheaper option for your food would definitely be a buffet over a sit down dinner and you usually find that people actually prefer this option as it has more variety than choosing from a set menu of a few dishes. Check with your venue before booking with them what options are available to you and whether or not they allow external vendors as this will massively affect your choice of venue. We were fortunate enough to find a venue we loved that only charged us for food per person and had no venue hire price. Other options include hiring a food van or having a barbecue/hog roast.
5. The cake
The cost of wedding cakes will shock you. Especially when you consider than most of the time people forget to leave with a slice or don't like cake and then half of it normally goes to waste. Many couples now opt for option such as doughnut walls or cupcake pyramids. You can be as creative as you like with these ideas, have more variety of flavours and it works out cheaper. Or another option if you still wanted to have a traditional tiered cake is to use somewhere like M&S where you can order plain white cakes, tier them and decorate them yourself. They also do cutting boards of their flavours so you could order a few of those to serve cake and then have a foam/cardboard fake cake for show.
6. Entertainment
DJ's or wedding bands can definitely hike up the price of your wedding pretty fast but is something that most couples don't want to go without. I would say though that if you are a couple who knows a lot of people you're inviting won't want to dance and have a traditional disco type event after dinner then do not feel pressured to do it just for convention. Your wedding, your day. A way to have a disco without forking out loads for a DJ is to hire speakers and lights and simply connect it up to a laptop and use something such as Spotify. I made playlists for day time background music and then one for the evening disco so I could happily leave it on shuffle and know that I wasn't going to be surprised by a random song coming on.
7. Suits and bridesmaid dresses
The most obvious way to cut cost with suits is to hire instead of buy and usually most places will do offers where if you hire 4 suits you get the 5th free etc. You can also search online for cheaper suits and get them tailored to fit better. This is what I did with my groom's suit and it worked out perfectly. It meant he could keep the suit but we didn't end up spending hundreds on a bespoke suit.
With bridesmaids dresses there are plenty of options out there that don't need to set you back. There are several websites that sell cheap bridesmaid dresses but I know how uncertain people can be about ordering from these websites. If this is you then don't worry because there are still other ways to cut the costs such as buying from high street retailers. Although these dresses are not normally advertised as bridesmaids, doesn't mean you can't use them as such. We were super lucky that our bridesmaids and groomsmen were happy to pay for their suits and dresses and so if you feel comfortable asking yours then it is definitely an option and worth doing if your budget is tight.
8. Flowers
The cheapest way to get a beautiful bouquet is to shop at the local markets and assemble the bouquet yourself. It can be a bit daunting but there are plenty of tutorials on Youtube or you could see if the local florist would help you assemble them for a fee. You can also save by using artificial or foam flowers and by having your bridesmaids have smaller bouquets of flowers. You can still match the colours but a smaller bunch will be cheaper and make yours stand out more.
9. Bridal shoes and accessories
Again these are things you can easily pick up on the high street for a fraction of the cost and they still look as beautiful as if you spent hundreds of pounds on them. Places like Accessorize, Topshop and even Claire's do some stunning jewellery to suit any budget. And most high street stores that stock women's shoes will have something resembling bridal. They don't even have to be white if you don't want them to be! Your shoes can be the perfect way to add a splash of colour so get creative and see if there's something you find suitable!
We were very lucky that Jack knew someone from school who does wedding photography as her career and so we managed to get a discount that way and with the videographer as we both agreed that we didn't want a long feature length film of the wedding as we were only likely to watch it a handful of times I managed to find a great deal for a cinematic highlight due to the company starting out and needing videos to use for promo. But a few other ways to save is to have one or the other instead of both (everyone has different opinions on which is more important). Only have them from the ceremony to group shots afterwards and give out disposable cameras or ask guests to take photos of the rest of the day/evening, get them to send them to you and have a dedicated website where you can upload them all for everyone to see. Hire a student photographer as they are cheaper and can use to the photos in their portfolios as part of their payment. Obviously there are other issues that might arise with that but if you know someone personally who is a student photographer then they are going to want the best for you. This is another one of those things that you can't really escape from, if you want decent photos and/or video then it is going to set you back at least a few hundred unfortunately but it's definitely worth it!
10. Photography and videography
We were very lucky that Jack knew someone from school who does wedding photography as her career and so we managed to get a discount that way and with the videographer as we both agreed that we didn't want a long feature length film of the wedding as we were only likely to watch it a handful of times I managed to find a great deal for a cinematic highlight due to the company starting out and needing videos to use for promo. But a few other ways to save is to have one or the other instead of both (everyone has different opinions on which is more important). Only have them from the ceremony to group shots afterwards and give out disposable cameras or ask guests to take photos of the rest of the day/evening, get them to send them to you and have a dedicated website where you can upload them all for everyone to see. Hire a student photographer as they are cheaper and can use to the photos in their portfolios as part of their payment. Obviously there are other issues that might arise with that but if you know someone personally who is a student photographer then they are going to want the best for you. This is another one of those things that you can't really escape from, if you want decent photos and/or video then it is going to set you back at least a few hundred unfortunately but it's definitely worth it!
11. Honeymoon
This can be a massive expense for some especially as a lot of people want a very extravagant holiday to start their lives married together. The easiest way to cut the cost is to to have a stay-cation instead of travelling abroad and having a mini-moon instead of a full week or 2 away. There are beautiful places up and down this country to visit and you don't need a 5* hotel to have a good time, websites like AirBNB have some stunning places to stay.
Having a tight budget for a wedding can be daunting but it can also be fun! I had such a great time organising it all and spending my days off researching what I wanted, getting quotes and figuring out how to cut costs. It does take up a lot of time and as I ended up making a lot of the decorations and favours including my bridesmaids flowers I was constantly busy with something to do but that was perfect for me. Everyone at our wedding said how beautiful it was and they could feel the love in everything that we did and honestly that was the biggest compliment I could have hoped for. If you have any questions or need help with anything don't hesitate to ask!
Zoe xx
What I spent -
Venue and food - £1100
Bridal Dress - £1000
Grooms Suit - £150
Bridal shoes and accessories - £60
Ceremony fees - £500
Cake - £80
Entertainment - Disco £350 Photobooth £300
Photography - £300
Videography - £200
Photography - £300
Videography - £200
Flowers - £50
Decorations including favours - £400
Honeymoon - £200
Other - £300
Total £4990
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