Having the wedding of your dreams can come with a hefty price tag! There are definitely some non-negotiable splurge items, which, in our opinion is hiring an amazing photographer and DJ, but there ARE ways that you can still have the wedding of your dreams, even on a more limited budget.
First let’s chat on how you can develop a budget:
If you want to come up with a budget, we recommend that you have what’s called a “budget dinner” or “budget meeting” with all of the people who will be contributing financially to your wedding. We call these people your “wedding investors.” This may or may not include parents of both partners, or perhaps grandparents. If you are paying for your wedding on your own, these tips still apply, but you may just need to do this between the two of you.
Step one: Invite everyone to said meeting or dinner
Step two: Before the dinner, compile a list of your DREAM vendors. This includes everyone that in a perfect world, you could afford. Tally up the investment for all of these vendors, and this is your dream budget. This may end up being what everyone agrees on, which we say dilly dilly to you. But this may also have to be negotiated.
Step three: Decide WHICH dream vendors you are absolutely set in stone on, and which ones you would be willing to nix for a more smaller investment.
Step four: At the budget meeting/dinner, present the dream list to your “wedding investors” for approval. This is where the negotiating comes in. Chances are, your wedding investors will want you to require less of an investment. We recommend that you only advocate for an investment on those vendors that you are not willing to compromise on (again, in our opinion, photographer and DJ).
Step five: Negotiate with your wedding investors until a total budget is agreed upon.
Step six: Hire your vendors
Step seven: Have your dream wedding!
Now that you are a whiz at wedding budget development and negotiation, we want to share with you some tips on how you can still afford the investment for your dream wedding, even if you and your wedding investors have arrived at a smaller budget than you’ve dreamed of.
- Buy a second hand dress: Selling your wedding dress is becoming so much more common these days, and most larger cities have second-hand dress stores. This means that you could probably still find your dream wedding dress, but at a fraction of a cost. The only down side to this is time; you may have to visit multiple times before you find the right dress, and you may have to have the investment in hand when you do visit.
- Chose a venue so naturally beautiful that it requires little to no decor: Saving money on decor is a no-brainer. Your wedding guests really don’t care what your decor looks like, and photos of your decor likely won’t show up on the walls of your home. Save money by cutting down on decor by finding a venue that is naturally beautiful, like a garden or a nature area. Or if you don’t care, just don’t worry that much about your decor.
- Buy second hand decor: Let’s say you DO care a lot about how your ceremony and reception looks, you can still save money! Just like buying a second hand wedding dress, it is also becoming much easier to buy past brides’ wedding decor. It seems like every area has a wedding Facebook group that helps connect sellers and buyers. Keep your eyes open for good deals! You can also potentially buy second hand decor at those second hand wedding dress shops. The cons of this are the same as above; it takes more time to find what you want, and you will have to have your money ready when you find it.
- Invite a limited number of people: Less people = less food = less alcohol = less money! Simple math here.
- Keep your ceremony short and offer standing room instead of renting chairs: If your venue doesn’t provide chairs, keep your ceremony short and sweet and have everyone stand. No one likes to sit through a long ceremony anyways, so people won’t mind!
- Choose an economical meal: pizza, chicken, pasta, taco bar: Not all food is created equal! Steak for dinner will definitely cost more than chicken. Potatoes and green beans cost less than fancy vegetables. And everyone loves pizza, pasta, and tacos. Make everyone happy, AND save money.
- Cash bar: Don’t pay for alcohol! Or if you’re not 100% sold, only offer free keg beer, or only have open bar until a certain time.
- Skip favors: Do you want to know how many people need another koozie or custom glass? No one. Save your money!
- Elope! Yep, that’s right. Forget the whole thing and just head to your favorite destination to say I do. Pro tip: Lots of photographers will offer a reduced price or even free photography services in exchange for you paying their travel (this is what we do at Wild Soul Weddings!), so definitely BRING a wedding photographer with you vs paying a local (yeah, we know, everyone is trying to make a living, but some people just want to travel, ya know?).
- Have an off-season wedding: Many vendors will offer a reduced rate for off-season weddings. If you aren’t particular about your date, this may help you reduce the investment required.
- Have a non-Saturday wedding: Same logic applies as above; some vendors will require a smaller investment for non-peak week day weddings. Again, if you aren’t particular about the day, try something unique and get married on a Thursday, Friday, or Sunday.
WHEW! That’s a lot of information in one post, but hopefully it helped you figure out your budget as well as figure out how to have a dream wedding if you have to work with a smaller budget.
Did we miss any ideas? Let us know!
xoxo,
Wild Soul Weddings
Iowa, Idaho, Oregon, North Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia, Florida, New Orleans elopement, destination, traveling wedding photographer