Wedding Budget Planning can be difficult or at the very least, challenging. Here are five tips that will help you cut out the bloat and make sure that you don’t spend money on things that don’t matter (to you!) – because you CAN spend things that don’t matter, as long as they matter to you. I know – that sentence kind of walked around in circles but it’s true. And it’s not true. And it IS true!
Wedding Budget Planning
- Get control of your guest list
- Instead of gifts from friends, as for their help
- Pick a free-ish location for your ceremony
- Go cheap on the food, like cheap cheap
- Forget the flowers (well mostly forget them)
That’s the list – now let’s dig deeper and think through a few things.
Guest List. Reducing the number of guests is the easiest way to reduce the cost of your wedding. Think about it – less people means less food and less drinks – but even then, there are different levels of ‘less’. The space for 50 guests to be comfortable is much less than the space for 100 guests. And then the space for 20 guests can be much more manageable than spaces for 50 guests depending on the situation. Especially when it comes to weddings. Many venues aren’t really a good option for under 50 guests – so even if you’re only have 50 guests, you may end up paying for a empty space. Don’t do that.
Honestly? Depending on where you are in life – you don’t need all of the STUFF. You may not need a house full of appliances that you got from your wedding registry. Or even if you do want all those things – maybe just tell some close friends and family that instead of a $50 gift, you’d much rather have them be a part of your wedding – and have them HELP YOU. (ha if you say ‘be a part of my wedding’ that definitely sounds nicer than ‘I need you to decorate and clean up’.)
Atlanta Wedding Photographers LeahAndMark & Co.
Wedding Location. Hey you know what? Honestly (again) – people get married EVERYWHERE and ANYWHERE. Oh and they also get married WHENEVER they want to get married. Seriously. I’ve had people get married on Mondays, and Tuesdays, and Wednesday, and Thursday (and definitely, obviously – Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, duh.) There are many not obvious places to have your wedding – and spots that don’t cost much money – just a little bit of luck and timing. Parks. I’m talking about parks. Many parks have a pretty lax policy when it comes to wedding ceremonies. All you have to do is stay under a certain person count and you can basically show up and have your wedding, no permission needed. Of course – it’s probably going to be on a first come first serve basis and you can’t be destructive/block things, etc. But still – FREE. That’s a great price.
Food? Hey if you’re having your wedding in the middle of the day on a Wednesday – I don’t think your guests are thinking that you’re going to be buying them steak and lobster for dinner. Set expectations accordingly and you can serve (or not serve) anything to your guests and they’ll be fine. And if they’re not fine – fire those f*ckers! Just kidding… no, I’m not kidding.
Finally – flowers. Who needs them? I mean – sure grab some if they’re handy – but if you’re really going budget – flowers are not the place to splurge… Photography IS the place to splurge though 😉
Wedding Budget Planning in 2018.
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