Your Wedding on a Budget

 

  

The budget for a wedding is often one of the first things that newly engaged couples have to think about. There is so much to consider and if you don't keep tight control you could easily spend more on a wedding than you can actually afford.

Some people are lucky enough to have family members who pay for their whole wedding day for them... no expenses spared. However we are not all that lucky!

This post is to give a little inspiration to brides to be on ways to get their wedding day organised on a lower budget. Your day will still be beautiful!

Don't feel disheartened if you have a small budget. I've been to weddings where the budget was £6,000 including their honeymoon and weddings where they let you know that they have spent £25,000 on one day. Honestly, if they hadn't told me how much it cost I would have thought the two weddings were done on the same budget. It's about being creative and clever with the cash :)

It can be a shock to browse through a venue's wedding brochure looking at the prices - main meal, room hire, evening buffets, dj and entertainment, canapes and drinks packages, their chair covers and other extras... the list goes on. In my own experience it's the venue and more so the food that they serve that does cost a lot on the big day.

Once you have found and committed to a venue with menus that are affordable for your budget, there are plenty of ways to save money on the finer details. I will be posting ideas on ways to achieve these in more detail later, but for now here is a quick list of wedding details you can save on...

Flowers.
Bouquets and fresh flowers can be so expensive. Brides on a budget should consider artificial flowers. You can find beautiful ones at stores like Hobby Craft, Dunelm and Home Sense and create your own bouquet. If you have your heart set on real flowers as the bride, then maybe you could get fake flowers for your bridesmaids to hold. They are only really for walking down the aisle and the group photos anyway!

I took artificial flowers with me as I got married abroad (in the photo above). They look absolutely fine in the photos and to be honest I didn't have them with me after the group photos were taken. They were less than £5 in Dunelm. They were pink (my fave colour) and certainly did the job, keeping in my budget nicely. It was also nice as I kept a couple of them and have them in a little vase in my living room now.

Bridesmaid Dresses.
My recent post on high street bridesmaid dresses is here. If you look carefully, there are plenty of high street dresses that would make beautiful bridesmaid dresses for a reasonable price - perfect on a budget. I bought my sister's bridesmaid dress for my wedding from Asos. It was a simple pink strapless maxi dress and she looked beautiful in it. It cost less than £40.

Stationary.
Stores such as Hobby Craft have some lovely save the date cards, invitations and name place cards which you can work on yourself. This can save a lot of money as you often see wedding invitations for sale at £1.50 - £3.00 each! If you feel creative you can find good quality blank cards with envelopes on eBay for a great price and decorate and write them yourself for a personal touch.
 
Decorations.
Again, eBay can be great here. Table crystals are cheap to buy and so there isn't really a need to hire them. Mirror plates can also be found at good prices, and pretty accessories such as glittered jars filled with flowers are all a great way to make some decorations and save money. Fake flower petals are also a bargain on eBay and look so pretty in your theme colour. Pinterest is great for ideas. You can also see my post about adding bright colour to your big day which has some decoration ideas. You can find it here.

 

More posts on ways to save money on your wedding day coming soon :)

 

I'm passionate that you don't have to break the bank to have a pretty wedding day!

 

Rachel x