10 Ways To Save Money On Your Wedding- And 1 Frugal Invitation Tip!

Let’s face it. The wedding industry loves to tell bride and groom to-be’s that they must have way too many things in order to have a good wedding. But it simply isn’t true.

Although you may want to have a dozen candles per table, streamers on the ceiling, and think you need blue tinted mason jars instead of clear for the centerpieces to have a nice wedding reception (a few things that took me a while to get out of my head) you really don’t need them, because chances are that most people won’t remember or miss that you skipping out on these things. And after all, who wants to start their marriage off in debt because of a big party they threw?

Simple décor works just as well as elaborate. Originally for our reception I wanted streamers on the wood beam ceiling and paper lanterns over the dance floor. I also thought that each table needed a dozen tealight candles scattered around the center and that the only way to go was to spend too much money on blue tinted mason jars for the centerpieces instead of buying normal clear jars (that I can use after the wedding for canning!). These things are simply not true. Chances are that the only person that will notice these things are you. Of course I’d love to have more candles on the table to create an intimate and relaxed vibe- but five will do just fine, and no one (hopefully) will come up to you complaining that there are too few candles on their table and the baby’s breath bouquets on the table are too simple. And if they do? Kindly tell them where to shove it and go about enjoying your wedding! 😉

Skip the cake. Unless you really love cake more than anything and want to do the ceremonial cake cutting (like Cyle wants), then skip it. No one says you have to do it. Instead opt for something more affordable and fun, assorted cupcakes, pies, candy, assorted cookies and treats, that guests can enjoy. And if you really want that cake, do a simply one or two tier cake in a flavor you love. Some bakeries even do a styrofoam decorated cake for the ceremony!

Skip the Cater, too while you are at it. Unless you want a big fancy dinner- which I’d recommend against, go simple and delicious- that requires guests to be served- another thing I don’t recommend, have them self-serve and decide their own portions and food so they’re plating up their favorites instead of food they don’t like- you can for sure take some time off of work to enlist friends and family to help you cook. For our wedding we are doing His and Hers sandwich bar, we have a choice of two sandwiches and each guest gets to build the sandwich how they want (so for my Roasted Tomato with goat Cheese Sandwich, some may choose a lot or a little cheese, or instead no cheese at all!) and best of all, the only food we need to cook just before serving is the roasted tomatoes! Easy peasy!

Bake yourself- or with friends! My best friend/MOH and I are baking all of the cupcakes for the wedding two days before the wedding and putting them in the fridge at the venue the day before. Not only do she and I get to spend time together baking and goofing around, but we also can do some unique cupcake flavors without paying a lot of money for them. Plus, my parents volunteered to pay for the supplies and our actual cake (Cyle wants one because he prefers cake over cupcakes) so we have saved even more money!

Rent décor instead of DIYing or buying. For our wedding we are renting a big metal arbor for the ceremony, and a set of distressed doors as well. Wanna know how much that cost us? $70 total. I 100% recommend renting any big décor items from local vendors rather than buying or DIYing them- more than likely it will be so much more affordable this way. As for the small stuff (tablecloths, candles, etc), I’d shop wholesale for those guys or…

Ask married friends if they have anything from their wedding they want to get rid of. We lucked out and got tons of things for free- table numbers/frames, candles, votives, tulle, and tons of miscellaneous items. Now we might not use all of it, but it was given to us and if it is free- take it- the random candle holders that don’t match anything else much might just be the perfect piece to decorate your guest book table with.

Use Spotify as your DJ- and enlist a music loving friend to play DJ and announcer. This suggestion actually got me into a “creative discussion” on a Facebook feed with a DJ when I recommended it to a fellow bride who couldn’t find a DJ to book. First, it is completely legal to download Spotify to play at your wedding or party as long as it is for non-commercial (ie- you’re not getting paid to DJ the gig) use. The best part about this is that we got to choose all of the music to play and have included on our RSVP cards a song request line so we know what guests want to hear. Of course DJs do more than play music, so ask a friend to make announcements and keep an eye on the music. If they notice that a fast paced song is coming up but your grandparents want to get up and slow dance- they can quickly change the next song. Spotify is free, but to get the commercial free version and play your songs in a specific order, you’ll need to upgrade your account for the month of your wedding. Offbeat Bride wrote a great article about this here.

Ask your wedding party to pay for their own attire- and don’t be a prude about their choices. For our wedding my MOH is wearing a cute babydoll style burgundy dress that she already owns. Not only is it the color we just so happened to choose for our wedding party, but it is more her style than any dress we would find in the store that costs an arm and a leg. The men in our wedding are all also renting the same tux and paying for it themselves. Every wedding we have gone to in the past two years followed this suit- and every person we talked to in our wedding had already assumed they were paying for their suit anyway- so it wasn’t an faux pas or issue.

Skip the favors. Be honest, do you still have the wedding favors from all of the weddings you went to? Chances are that the candied almonds that you got went in the trash, or were eaten at the ceremony, or left behind. And the beer cozy (although some might like those) or mini succulent were forgotten about or left at the wedding as well. I look at it this way, we are shelling out a few thousand dollars to throw a giant party for our friends and family where they will not only be fed, but liquored up and entertained for about 6-8 hours, and they want us to give them a gift? Sorry guys, but we just don’t have the money.

Photo Source

But if you must do favors, go cheap- and say it with food! Ok, so sometimes favors might be a great “thank you for showing up” gift (although I am still not a big fan of them), and if sending out a thank you card with a heartfelt message and photo from the wedding isn’t enough of a way to say thank you, say it with food! 😉 For our “favors” we are buying- as of now- a bunch of to-go boxes and creating a unique stamp/saying for them for those who want to save their cupcake for later or take their sandwich home. That way guests aren’t given “clutter” that they will likely throw out soon, and whenever they eat their treat, they will think of the amazing time they had! Other food favor ideas include: popcorn, candy buffets, spices or dip mixes you love, small bags of coffee beans(because you know they’ll need help waking up the next day!), and a small recipe book of your favorite recipes (or recipes of the food you served!).

And for the frugal invitation tip, skip the save the dates and instead email/text/announce your wedding date to your friends and family about six months before the wedding. Easter is 7 months before our wedding, so any extended family that we didn’t text or hear about it on Facebook will hear it then to put the date in their phones. For me, all Save the Date’s do is take up space on my fridge and get lost. Although I do enjoy getting them- I never once was upset that a couple in the past just called us to tell us their wedding date! Forget being “tacky” by announcing it this way- if anyone has an issue with it, kindly just explain that you are trying to reduce as many pre-wedding costs as you can so the big bash is the best it can be!

 

Phew, that was a LOT of words! But I have SO many more I’d love to share- do you? Let me know in the comments below so I can add it to this post for every bride to-be!

 

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