While most brides or grooms want their wedding to perfectly reflect the images they have in their mind of this day, reality might soon set in when it comes to actually planning your wedding. As timelines and costs start setting in, you might soon find yourself making compromises that you hadn’t anticipated or having to give up things that you never thought you would. But luckily, there are things you can do to ensure that you still have a gorgeous wedding day without having to spend every penny you’ve ever saved. To show you how, here are three tips for planning a wedding on a budget.
Keep Your Guest List Small
If you’ve already spent quite a bit of money before you’ve even started doing any of the real wedding planning, like on setting up the perfect engagement scene or getting a breathtaking ring, you might be feeling some financial pressure to cut down your costs. One great way to naturally have this issue take care of itself is to keep your guest list small. The fewer people you have attending your events, the smaller your costs all-around will be. According to Trent Hamm, a contributor to The Simple Dollar, an easy way to reduce your guest list is to start whittling down just 20 percent at first. If this is still too much, go for another 20 percent.
Be Smart About Correspondence
One thing that you might not anticipate costing you a lot of money but can add up quickly is the cost of sending out all your correspondence. From “save the dates” to your wedding announcement and then “thank you cards”, you’re going to be sending out a lot of mail in preparation for your wedding. There are smart choices you can make when it comes to making your correspondence pretty and becoming of the occasion without breaking the bank, like custom envelopes for example. In order to be able to pick from said envelopes freely, avoid correspondence that would be heavier than typical mail. Another reason to stay light is that would also increase your costs will be even more of course.
As an alternative, Casey Slide, a contributor to Money Crashers, recommends doing things like providing your own paper to the printer to cut down costs. You could also try hand-delivering any correspondence where possible. To save costs almost entirely, you could even do electronic invites, which means no printing or shipping costs whatsoever.
Ask About Cash Discounts
Businesses that work in the wedding industry know that things can quickly get expensive for a wedding party. Because of this, Shannah L. Compton, a contributor to the Huffington Post, advises asking anyone you work with if they’re willing to give a cash discount. Sometimes, you can get a cash discount for things like a wedding dress, custom wedding cakes, caterer, wedding photographer, and more. For a truly authentic Maine experience, hire a wedding photographer in Portland, ME. So if you have the means, try to pay cash if you can get a discount to your total costs.
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If you’re hoping to save some money on your upcoming wedding, consider using the tips mentioned above to help you find ways to be frugal.
