When Tightwad got married she would have been happy with a JP at City Hall, but Hubs wanted a big party, so we had to find a happy compromise. With your average wedding in the $25,000 range, it's important to remember that the amount of money you spend on your wedding has no correlation to the quality of your marriage. You can still have an elegant wedding without burning through the down payment for your first house. Wouldn't you want a financially sound marriage than a one night party? Tightwad has compiled a list of frugal and thrifty options for a budget minded bride.
10. Ask guests to bring a bottle of wine from their home turf. Not only will this provide lots of choice at the bar, but will get people chatting and introducing themselves.
9. Focus on what is really important in terms of costing your wedding. You will look as amazing in a $350 dress as you could in a $2,500 dress. Truly!
8. Get creative with party favours. Create a wedding party song CD compilation. Give donations to your favourite charity in the name of your guests. Buy seedlings and give those out. Buy little frames for photos from your wedding.
7. Tightwad is always pushing thrift stores and Craig's List. You never know what you may find, from vases to veils.
6. Do you have talented friends? Perhaps they would consider either doing your wedding photography, playing DJ or making your cake as their wedding gift to you.
5. Try to avoid location fees. Have an outdoor wedding at a spectacular location. For free.
4. Instead of ordering expensive thank you notes, send thank you postcards from your honeymoon. They will be more original, meaningful and timely.
3. Instead of an expensive rehearsal dinner, why not plan an activity that people can participate in and get to know one another? This could include volunteering at a Habitat for Humanity house, at a local park, or another volunteer opportunity in your local area.
2. Think about your floral costs. You could get your craft on and share your family tree with everyone at the tables by creating centrepieces of a beautiful branch in a vase dangling with family photos of the bride and groom, or go minimal and just have feature one flower instead of a bunch at each table.
1. Forget a traditional bridal bouquet. Ask friends and family to bring one beautiful cutting from their garden and gather them as you walk down the aisle. How pretty!
Tightwad would love to hear more frugal wedding ideas. If you have one, please share.
7 comments:
a gift of carbon offsets is something to consider and can produce a tax deduction
Instead of a rehearsal dinner, plan a barbeque. This way everyone can mix and mingle in a relax atmosphere and you save a bundle.
Wedding cakes can be very pricey. We ended having our cake made by our local grocery stores bakery and it cost $300. We then bought a couple of sheet cakes from Costco($15 each) so we could have enough to serve guests. A huge savings when it comes to cakes.
My parents hosted our rehearsal dinner at their home - so that cut down on costs.
I also made my own centrepieces - dollar store flower vases, glass beads from a craft store, tea lights, on little mirrors provided by the hall - very nice effect.
I aimed for mid-range on most other things (ie: dress, hall, meal etc... Flowers were minimal. Many people suggest buffet to keep costs down, but I wanted a sit down meal. We included pre-cocktails and wine with the meal, and then it was a cash bar. I know there tend to be strong feelings on the cash bar thing, but it made sense for us.
We also got married at our local church, so we saved on cost there - as I discovered some of the fancier churches tend to charge a pretty hefty fee. And it felt homey - which I liked.
I figure you spend a bit more on what you think is important and then look for ways to save on the other stuff. Little things add up.
I was a bridesmaid for a couple that had a backyard bbq for their rehearsal dinner, and to this day, it's one of my favorite wedding memories!
The groom's parents cooked for everyone, and they covered the tables with butcher paper and gave everyone markers to write messages to the couple. I know they saved a fortune, but it wasn't just frugal - it was also fun, relaxed and left the couple with keepsakes (the message tablecloths)!
I like the ideas how NOT to spend money for wedding. And I think,that all DIY projects and using your own stuff make the wedding really special and unforgettable. Thank you for such useful tips!
For my wedding, we spent $28,000 for the total expenses. Not to mention, this includes our international round tickets from USA to Borneo (I'm originally from there). I listed out all of my expenses and categorize them. I shared some of my tips here: http://lolaestrella.hubpages.com/hub/The-Frugal-Bride-Tips
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