My Top 5 Money Saving Hacks for Planning a Wedding
Now there’s no beating around the bush when we say weddings are expensive, in fact it’s up there with the top 5 most expensive things we spend money on in our life time, along with buying a car and a house!
I myself or should I say ‘we’ were a total DIY couple when we were wedding planning and had a very tight budget to stick to!
Find below not only some of my top tips but tips from recent newly weds who have looked back on some things and thought wow why did we splash the cash on that?! Aside from weekday weddings over weekends or winter over summer, I think you’ll find some helpful items to cut down on below so here it goes….
Favours
Now when I did a recent poll on my instagram over 50 newly married couples listed the the one thing they wished they had saved their money on and over 75% of those couples say favours! Centuries ago, weddings favours were introduced as a sign of good luck and it was the popular choice to gift each guest with a sugar cube as a favour as a sign of wealth… how have we ended up with personalised cookies or candles that are now these days averaging £4 a favour! Do the maths …. 100 people at your wedding and thats £400 spent alone on something that most guests leave behind! My advice … skip the favours altogether .. they won’t be missed I promise!
Stationary
Now this was the second most popular answer when I asked my couples. Instagram and Pinterest make wedding planning all too easy to go overboard and I think stationary is something that you could easily cut back on if your planning with budget in mind… hear me out. Let’s start with the invitations …. Paper invites = stamps and stamps = £100’s of pounds. My top tip here is either create your own invites on websites like Vista print and Canva, or scrap them altogether and get yourself a wedding website and email address where your guests can easily RSVP to! Let’s face it so much effort goes into how pretty they are, but doesn’t anyone actually keep them? Or here’s a thought have some printed for your immediate family as keepsakes and for everyone else go digital and save a stamp! Other ways to cut back on the paper are individual menus and matching signage, after all your guests will know what they are eating when it arrives and I’m sure everyone knows who’s getting married even without the welcome sign 🤪
Shoes
Now this is a personal tip from me and something that we did to save some pennies …. Firstly, I didn’t opt for a designer pair of killer heels that would never be worn again, mine were £20 from Accessorize and do you know what … they got worn again and again. But when it came to our bridesmaids and groomsmen so we are talking another another 12 pairs of shoes including two Dads and my Grandad, 6 bridesmaids and 3 groomsmen we asked them to buy their own and all agreed on a style that was affordable and that they would wear again! For the men you could specify just the colour and for the bridesmaids if they are having long dresses they they won’t be seen anyway! Even if you grab a bargain like me at just £20 each that’s still a saving of almost £250!
Flowers
Now these days it’s not always cheaper to have artificial over fresh and not everyone’s cup of tea but regardless of what you choose, try to make use of as much as possible and reuse throughout the day. For example, look into having your ceremony flowers moved to your wedding breakfast and even incorporate the bouquets! We used ours on our top table in small vases that were ready for them to be slotted into! Besides when it comes to dinner and dancing the bridesmaids aren’t going to be holding them anymore!
Keep the numbers down for the day
Now I totally get it that it can be hard when it comes to the guest list but remember it’s your special day and the biggest thing that will make your budget go through the roof is guest numbers. More guests = more plates and more plates = more tables and then centrepieces and so on! It seems to be the couple’s parents that can not always be too helpful when it comes to this and I can almost bet a huge percentage of couples have a number of guests who they haven’t seen or spoken to in years but are there to fulfill others wishes! My advice is keep your day small and intimate and save the distant friends and family’s and the plus ones for your evening!
I really hope that this was a helpful read! Happy planning, love Chánel x