Weddings are expensive. Period. And when it’s time to plan your special day, of course you want to go all out and make your wedding unique and memorable and fun….and you should! Within your means–which can be tough.
I loved everything about my wedding day and while it wasn’t cheap by any means, I definitely found some smart cost-saving tips that I’m going to share with you today.
1.) Wedding Cake
Wedding Cakes are SO expensive–who would have thought?! That was one of the biggest surprises to me when I was researching bakeries. The thought of dropping $600+ on a cake seemed outrageous to me. However, I knew I wanted our cake to have tiers and I knew I wanted it to be elaborate and part of my wedding theme of purple and bling, so I had to be creative. I was lucky to find a bakery that brought my dream cake to life at a fraction of the cost. My baker allowed me to bring in my own “bling” to wrap around each layer of the cake which saved us a lot of money for that detail—I found rhinestone wire ribbon which was super inexpensive. And then we saved a lot of money by agreeing to only have the small top layer be real edible cake so we could cut into it as part of the cake cutting tradition. The rest of the cake was actually styrofoam with icing on it. No one had a clue because after we cut the cake, our venue staff brought the cake out to the back to “cut it up and serve” but instead we had regular sheet cake already to go for our guests to enjoy.
2.) Nix the Programs
I decided to forgo printing out individual programs for each guest to have during our ceremony. Our ceremony wasn’t going to be terribly long and there was nothing our guests needed to do during the ceremony other than watch our marriage begin and enjoy in the moment. I did print out a poster sized “program” that was outside of our ceremony site so people could read who was in our bridal party and our parents’ names etc., but not having to print out 150+ programs (or design them for that matter lol) saved a lot of time and money. Plus, does anyone other than the bridal couple/parents/grandparents actually keep the programs or invitations? Lol
3.) Flowers/Centerpieces
Flowers are an expense. They are gorgeous no doubt, but costly! For my centerpieces, I decided to use fake flowers which was a huge savings! I bought and borrowed a variety of glass cylinder vases that had marbles, a waterproof light, and fake branches with flowers/buds submerged in the water of each vase. I had a lot of time to plan for my wedding, so each week I would go into Michael’s with a 40% off coupon and buy items for my centerpieces. I loved how they turned out and they were truly not expensive!
4.) Sample Wedding Gown
This may be controversial for some brides who dream of buying their wedding gown, but for me, I was fortunate to find a gown I liked and purchased the sample gown in the store for a huge discount. Instead of ordering the correct size and waiting for 6 months, I walked out with a gown that was way too big, but I was able to find affordable alterations and the sample gown was in perfect condition. I love a bargain.
5.) Bridesmaids Bouquets
Going back to flowers—I had 9 bridesmaids and the thought of the bridal bouquet expense was nauseating. Fortunately, I love hydrangeas, and I had all the bridesmaids hold a hydrangea stem which was under $20 per bridesmaid at my particular florist. I was recently in a wedding where we all held baby’s breath bouquets and it was beautiful. You can also use fake flowers or come up with something completely different for your bridal party to hold down the aisle. This is a minor detail that you can really save money on if you get creative!
What are some ways have saved or plan to save money for your wedding?!
