Planning the Perfect Wedding on a Budget

With the prices of everything on the rise, a wedding can become very costly if you’re not careful. Here are some tips on making your day special without going into debt or the asylum.

Girls always dream of their fairy tale wedding with a long flowing white gown, tons of roses and a huge reception with lavish food. That wouldn’t be a problem if we were all millionaires. We all want that day to be extra special but we don’t really have all of that extra cash to throw around.

Who really wants to go into debt for their special day? Going to Las Vegas for a drive-thru wedding is not an option for most couples. So what’s left? Believe it or not, there are other budget friendly options besides the drive-thru wedding!

You don’t need to spend money on a wedding planner to have a beautiful wedding. With a decent budget and a little work, you can create the custom wedding that you’ve always dreamed of. I’ve seen couples who have spent thousands of dollars for their wedding and gotten divorced before it was all paid off.

You don’t need to have a major debt when starting a new life with your mate. When my husband and I were married in 2004, we spent about $2,000 total for everything since we both didn’t think spending a fortune would help to make our marriage any better. You can do it too.

PLAN AHEAD…WAY AHEAD

He’s asked you to be his wife, maybe you have an engagement ring too. Now what?? Don’t panic. DO NOT MAKE ANY INVITATIONS YET! Before you plan, write out everything that you need to consider in making your plans. Get a notebook, binder or wedding planner book to organize things.

I took my little wedding planner book everywhere I went in case I had an idea that I wanted to jot down. What kind of a budget are you aiming for? What kind of ceremony are you having? Do you want it to be fully formal, semi-formal or pretty casual? What date do you have in mind? How many and who will be in your wedding party? How many guests are you planning to have? Will the food be catered? Are you having invitations made or will you make them yourself? Will you have a theme? What are your colors? Are you ordering a dress or having it made? What kind of flowers do you want? Are you or someone you know doing the bouquets, boutonnières, corsages and other arrangements?

I bought flowers at a local farmers market and spent maybe $100 for everything. It’s not as tough as you think it is but it does take time to figure out what you want. Make a list of your wants then go over it again to see what you can afford, what you can omit and what you absolutely cannot go without.

Many times, we get so excited that we end up getting too much. It’s like going food shopping when you are hungry. When you get engaged, most brides run to buy all of the wedding magazines they can find and start living in bridal shops where they see so many things they want but don’t necessarily need.

So, many brides end up spending a ton of money for that one day. It is a very special day but we also need to stay realistic. Who’s going to really care if you’re using a $5,000 designer gown or a clearance rack dress? As long as you look and feel beautiful, the price won’t matter. You are doing this for love, not as a show.

Also, do not think that you can make your own dress if you don’t really know how to sew. I still have my fabric and everything else sitting in a bag at my mom’s house from me trying to put my dress together.

I ended up buying a simple dress because I got pregnant 4 months before the wedding. I paid less for the dress that I bought than for the fabric and stuff for the dress I was making. Be prepared for everything because things can change in a moment’s notice! Don’t freak out and have a nervous breakdown if you need to change your plans. Make the best of it.

MAKING THE DATE, FINDING A PLACE

Consider what may be happening around that date. For example, you’d like to get married in the summer. That can become a problem when you’re trying to find a location for your wedding and reception since many couples choose to get married in the summer, not to mention that graduation parties are also happening and holidays such as the Fourth of July are in the summer.

Don’t expect to get engaged in February and still be able to have your reception at the hall you’d like to use. Chances are that the hall could be booked already.

Be flexible. Don’t throw a tantrum because you can’t get that certain date. Check to see if it’s available the day before or the day after. It could be cheaper to use it a different day. No one said that you can’t have a Sunday wedding or a Friday night one. There are no real rules to the day of the week. What ever day you choose is fine.

Does it really have to be in the summer? Autumn is a really nice time to get married. You don’t have to worry about your makeup melting down on your dress. Summer is a popular season for weddings but things have changed.

These days, weddings in the middle of winter aren’t uncommon no matter where you live. Just be prepared for the weather even if the ceremony will take place indoors. Of course you shouldn’t plan an outdoor wedding for the middle of December if you live in the Midwest but you don’t want to be dragging your wedding dress through the mud either.

Make sure you carry an umbrella if the forecast is for rain and maybe something that you can walk on if you need to cross the grass or something to get to the ceremony area. Where will you have the ceremony? Botanical gardens, the beach, public and national parks and even some zoos are nice places to get married. We used a grassy area at a beach park and that cost us zero dollars. Make sure you check with whoever is in charge of the area before planning to hold your ceremony there.

You may not be able to set up tents in national parks so you wouldn’t want a park ranger telling you to take it down while you’re getting married. Who is doing the ceremony? You may need to pay that person a fee for doing the ceremony, some take whatever you are able to pay but some have a set fee. What time are you getting married and what time is the reception starting? Some couples go straight to the reception from the ceremony.

Would you like some time in between the ceremony and the reception? We had our ceremony at 9:00 a.m. and the reception started at 4:30 p.m. (cocktail hour and dinner at 5:30 p.m.) so we had time to get things in order since the food was being prepared by our families and needed to be brought to the venue.

PARTY, PARTY, PARTY!!!

If you’ve already got a date in mind, check to see if the reception location is available. I strongly advise to go there in person because a lot of times an event is written in on their calendar but it isn’t paid for so it’s technically available for that day.

Make sure you bring a note pad and something to write with. You will also be able to take a look at the place so that you can take notes of what’s available and what you would need to bring in. Can’t get the place you really wanted? It’s not the end of the world. Look at other areas that you could use. Try to consider how many people are attending the reception and where they’re coming from.

You don’t want to have guests say that it’s too far so they can’t attend. What about the food? What about your cake? If you’re lucky, you will have family and friends who are able to take care of cooking and baking. Otherwise, catering is another option.

Like I mentioned, our families did the food and my sister made our cake. What about decorating? Try not to decorate too much for the ceremony since you’ll only spend a short time there. Concentrate more on the reception area. If you’re doing your own decorating, see if you can get the venue from the day before so that most of the decorating is done the night before.

The less you need to do the day of the wedding, the better that day will be! Our reception hall was reserved for us from the night before so we could clean up, set up things, decorate and lock it up until the next day. Do you need a liquor permit for serving alcoholic beverages? Be sure to add on this little line to your invitations even if you plan to serve alcohol, “BYOB - Bring your own beverage”.

It could save your behind if someone has a little too much, gets into an accident and tries to blame you for it. You can never tell so we always put that little line in when we make any kind of invitation just in case something goes wrong.

WHO’S IN THE WEDDING BESIDES THE COUPLE?

You do not need to have a large wedding party! As long as you have a best man and maid of honor then you should be all good already. But, if you want to include special people in your life then feel free to do so. Larger wedding parties that I’ve seen have had anywhere from 2 to 6 bridesmaids and groomsmen, 1 to 4 flower girls and a ring bearer or two.

How ever many people that you want in your party, there is somewhat of a rule of thumb to follow. Let your attendants know before you go out shopping if they will need to purchase or rent their own attire. It will be a lot easier than telling them they need to shell out money for their dress, etc. We all have different body types so be nice to those of us who aren’t blessed with svelte figures! This goes for men as well!!

As long as the dresses are more or less the same color and fabric, the style isn’t too important. For the men, if you’re planning something formal, be kind to beer bellies, etc. that don’t do well in most tuxedos with cummerbunds.

You want your attendants to be comfortable and if they are paying, I’m sure they’d like something they could wear again if it’s not being rented. We had a simple wedding on the beach, just a best man and maid of honor.

We did want to include our children (mine from a previous relationship, 2 boys and a girl) and our nieces, so the boys became ring bearers and we had 3 flower girls. Who will give the bride away? Some brides choose both parents but it’s usually the bride’s father who has the honor. Since my dad passed away when I was young, my oldest brother gave me away. Just try to keep in mind that guests are there to see you and not all of the decorations, so keep it simple and your clean up will be easy too.

WHAT ABOUT THAT THEME THING

OK, you have a date and locations for your ceremony and reception are reserved and paid for. What about that thing called a theme? You don’t need one if you don’t want to. It’s all up to you. Some people like to have a theme for any kind of party.

Our wedding theme was Asian/Oriental because I love that style of decorating and art. I did the whole 1,000 paper crane thing (Took me almost 8 months to do!!) which I arranged myself and saved myself a few hundred dollars (Professional mounting would’ve cost us that much!), I wore a Chinese style dress and so did my maid of honor (I ordered them on-line and only paid $70 for both!!), the men wore nice short sleeve silk shirts with bamboo embroidery and had fans as part of the table decorations and even the bouquets.

It tied in perfectly with our color scheme which just happened to be red, ivory and gold. It was very simple and actually turned out really nice. For centerpieces I just got a bunch of glass ivy bowls (about 80 cents each), filled them with glass rocks and put tea light candles and some artificial flowers.

I spent about $1.50 per centerpiece (Versus $5.00 per centerpiece if you buy something ready made.) that the guests could use again in their own homes. Of course we had little goodie bags that I ordered on-line from a party supply company and we put butter mints (also from the same company) and chocolates (bought on sale after Valentines Day for 35 cents a bag on the clearance rack and they were in red wrappers already) in the goodie bags with little “thank you” tags that I made on the computer myself.

I suppose that you could do your invitations now too. With so many things that you can do on computers now, you don’t need to order them anymore if you don’t want to. Besides, if you make a mistake or need more then you can just do it yourself. Most craft departments of stores carry note cards, vellum and other things you can use.

Keep it simple or go all out. It’s up to you. Remember that it will be thrown away by most people so don’t spend too much for them. Don’t forget to keep one for your album or scrapbook. Since the price of stamps has also gone up, hand deliver to the guests that you see on a regular basis and mail only the ones that are far away.

Make simple tags on the computer that say something like, “Thank you for sharing our special day. Love, Mr. & Mrs. Tom Smith”. Put them on your goodie bags or on a piece of ribbon on the centerpieces. No thank you cards to send out! If you want to remember someone special, light a candle for them that’s surrounded by a little wreath or a garland of flowers at the ceremony.

ENJOY YOUR SPECIAL DAY!

On your wedding day, try to relax and be happy even if things don’t go as planned. If you get upset instead of letting things go, it will only make the experience worse. Things happen, be prepared. Bring some necessities with you to the ceremony and reception like feminine products, cosmetics, extra pins, fabric cleaning wipes or spray, etc. It will be a lot easier to deal with those types of problems if you have a kit of things you may need rather than running to a convenience store to buy them. Nothing and no one is perfect.

We forgot some flower garlands for the ceremony at someone’s house so we just ran to the grocery store and got some. Somehow the necklaces that we had gotten for our children ended up on the flower girls instead so I just played it off as gifts for the flower girls. End of story and the wedding went on just fine. If something goes wrong, just go on. You are starting a new life on this day. Be happy for what you have and look forward to your new future.