10 easy ways to save money on your wedding

The year of your wedding can be the most expensive year of your life. Being a bride comes with a price tag of having your nails done, spray tans, buying new clothes for the bachelorette party and the list goes on! Today I’m sharing 10 things I did to save money on our big day, without sacrificing what meant the most to us.

1. Cake: Rather than ordering a wedding cake, we ordered a one tier ‘birthday cake’ for us to do the formality of cake cutting and it only cost us $25! For guest, we had a dessert bar which included donut holes, lemon bars, brownie bites, cheesecake bites, etc. It was much cheaper than a 5 tier cake and I think guest loved it more than a traditional cake! Another option would be to buy small two tier cake for you to cut, then buy sheet cakes from Costco or Sam’s Club to serve to guest.

2. Florals. It’s a no brainer to repurpose the bridesmaid bouquets for the reception table, but a big money savor is using more greenery and less florals. For the guest tables we had florals on half of the tables and the other half we had eucalyptus wreaths. We also repurposed pieces from the ceremony and moved them to the reception. You can also cut the cost by not utilizing boutonnieres for the groomsmen.

3. Wedding Planner: Rather than a full blown wedding planner, hire a day of coordinator. We actually utilized our day of coordinator who worked for the wedding venue, the only major thing she couldn’t help with was moving the ceremony floral arch to the reception so we paid a small fee to our florist so they could assist.

4. Invitations and RSVP: We used Minted to create an all in one invitation. All the information you needed was in a post card sized invite. To save money on stamps and envelopes, we used ZOLA as our wedding website so our guest could RSVP online!

5. Have others help: Ask for a gift card for Christmas or your birthday that could help fund save the dates, invites, etc. We also had a honey fund as part of our wedding registry which helped us travel to Greece after a dream wedding!

6. Music: Use the same music for the ceremony and reception. We hired a DJ who did music for our ceremony, rather than hiring a string quartet or a band! Also, use referral discounts for vendors!

7. Drinks: We closed the bar during dinner to save money. Also, only serving beer and wine can help too.

8. Dinner: Don’t offer so many options for dinner. No one needs to eat a filet and a lobster tail.We only offered one entree, then a vegetarian option. Remember, you have to buy dinner for your vendors too!

9. Say no to Saturday: We had a Friday wedding which saved money from a venue standpoint, but it also helped us save because not all guest were able to attend and we limited our ‘plus ones’.

10. One Location: We had our entire wedding at one venue. We spent all day at the venue from getting ready, photos, ceremony, and reception. It can cost extra to have your ceremony elsewhere then driving to the reception site. If everything is located at the same place, you do not need to spend money on transportation services either!

I hope this helps when you’re planning your ‘best day ever’!

Stay Fearless,

Michelle Foster