The following post is by MPFJ staff writer, Chonce. You can read more articles by Chonce over at her personal blog, My Debt Epiphany. Enjoy!
The average cost of a wedding in the U.S. is $26,444 but some couples have spent way more on their special day. I personally couldn’t imagine spending $50,000, $30,000 or even $12,000 on just one day even if it was a special life changing event.
When I got engaged last year, my fiancé and I decided to have a semi-big wedding to celebrate our marriage with our family and friends, but we didn’t want it to put us in the poor house. We both have debt and little savings, but wanted to live in the moment when it came to our wedding and enjoy the present instead of delaying our gratification like we usually do.
The wedding is now just two short months away and we are still within our budget. If you’re in the process of planning a wedding or believe you will be planning one in the future, here are some tips to help you stick to your budget no matter what.
Be Honest with Yourself
This is the first and most crucial step when planning your wedding. You need to determine how much you can spend realistically right off the bat so you can plan your big day around that amount.
For us, we decided a budget of $7,000 for the ceremony and reception would be ideal. We would split that amount so we’d each be responsible for coming up with $3,500. That amount doesn’t include any extra gifts or funding from our parents who only pitched in on the venue.
Yes, that $7,000 could have been used to put toward our debt, or in a savings account for a down payment on a home, but we chose to share this special event in our lives with our friends and family and were comfortable with spending that amount and still being able to work toward our other financial goals.
When you sit down with your partner and assess your goals, expectations, and budget constraints for the wedding, it will provide you with an honest idea of what you can and can’t afford so you don’t end up broke or get into debt.
Commit to Having a Small Event
If you want your wedding to be an intimate event, then you’re already on the right track to save money. The less people you invite, the more money you can save. The cost of a wedding rises as you add people to the guest list because you often have to pay for their seating, food, cake, favors, a big enough space and so on.
If you only invite close friends and family and keep the guest list under 25 people, you can probably find some great deals on venues that will be less than $1,000 and you can always reserve a private room at your favorite restaurant for the dinner and dessert portion. You may even be able to have a backyard wedding or utilize a free space with a smaller wedding.
Having a smaller wedding just wasn’t an option for us since we come from larger families and have lots of long-time friends, but it is a great option if you want to share your special day with others and stick to your budget.
Choose a Time and Location that Saves your Money
When and where you have your wedding is very important. One of the highest wedding expenses is the venue. If you plan on having lots of guests like we do, you can try choosing an all-inclusive venue so your reception hall rental and dinner will all be covered in one price. It’s much cheaper with this solution and you won’t have to worry about dealing with a caterer and other vendors to coordinate everything.
Another option you should consider is having your wedding during an off-season like the fall, winter, or early spring and choosing a less popular day like a Sunday. Basically, as long as you don’t choose a Saturday for your wedding date, you will save quite a bit of money.
Also, choose the time of your wedding wisely since food is another big expense and you might be able to get away with serving lighter foods and appetizers if you have a morning wedding.
Skip the Traditions
Traditions are great to cherish, but when it comes to weddings, if something isn’t going to offer value to you and your partner, it’s best to skip it despite what anyone else is doing or what they say. If having something old, something new, something borrowed, and something blue doesn’t really matter to you, you need to voice your opinion to your friends and family and let them know that you are skipping certain traditions.
For example, since my fiancé and I have a short engagement, we opted out of sending out save-the-dates to save money and just sent out regular invitations. I figured anyone who was really close to me and interested in coming to my wedding would make the effort to attend without a fancy heads up arriving in the mail. Plus, I think people just throw that stuff in the trash after a while anyway.
Some couples opt out of having a wedding cake – which can be $3 to $4 per slice on most occasions – and do something different like serving pies or cookies instead. More recently, brides are finding unique ways to replace their traditional bouquet of flowers to save money on expensive and short-lived flower arrangements.
Planning a wedding while adhering to your budget can seem stressful at first. But when you become honest about how much you can afford and determine what factors are truly important to you and what isn’t, you’ll be able to prioritize expenses and cut the ones you can do without.
How about you all? How did you save for your wedding? What tips do you have for someone trying to save money on their wedding day?
Share your experiences by commenting below!
***Photo courtesy https://www.flickr.com/photos/sinksanctity/2800806402/
