How to Get Married on a Budget - Part II
by Amanda
This week’s guest blogger is Richard’s youngest daughter, Amanda, who just married her long-time beau in Austin, TX. This is Part II of a series about wedding planning on a budget - read Part I here.
General tips
- Carefully consider the date and time of your wedding. A summer wedding on a Saturday at night is a popular time, and will undoubtedly cost more. Consider the off-season months, Friday or Sunday instead of Saturday, and a time during the morning or day.
- Use the budget calculator on theknot.com to see exactly how much you should be spending on each element of your wedding, like flowers.
Research and Negotiate
- Use sites like weddingwire.com, projectwedding.com, and yelp.com to research vendors in your area. These sites are based on actual customer reviews, not paid endorsements. If you like their portfolio online, find out how much they cost. There is an extremely wide variety of prices points when it comes to vendors. If they exceed the number from your calculator, move on. You’ll find someone you like that is in your budget, I promise.
- Negotiate with vendors. They expect you to, and you’d be surprised how much they are willing to work with you to get your business, especially in a recession. Be upfront about your budget (tell them less than you are willing to spend), tell them what you want, and see if they are willing to compromise to get you there. For example, I negotiated fewer hours with the photographer (I didn’t need her while I was getting ready), and I had my hair/makeup person waive her travel fee. Just be nice about it. You attract more bees with honey.
Prioritize what you really want, cut back the rest
- Forego unnecessary indulgences like a videographer, wedding planner, or favors. Have a friend record the ceremony. Use the extremely comprehensive checklist on theknot.com and be your own wedding coordinator. And after the cake, no one will miss those little chocolate favors, trust me.
- Keep the wedding party small. We only had a best man and maid of honor, which made them feel extra special. Plus, we didn’t feel right having them pay for their attire, so it was completely affordable covering just their expenses.
- Above all else, cut down the guest list. This is the #1 way to save money on your wedding. The guest list affects almost every element in your wedding, including food and beverage, which is your biggest expense. We had about 60 guests, which still felt very lively. Plus, I loved the intimacy, and the fact that each person there was close to us and knew us as a couple. They were genuinely happy to be there, and not just there for the free food.
November 3rd, 2009 at 1:06 pm
If you live in a town with a thriving artistic community, consider hiring an upstart photographer who is getting their career started: they will charge less than established professionals, and you’d be giving an entrepreneur a break. Be sure to check their portfolio first, of course.
Similarly, if you live in a university town, or are at college, check the photography students’ work (don’t go by their grade alone… if the professor is Ansel Adams, sure, but if it’s an avant-guard post-modernist photographer, an A student will end up taking photos that will make your wedding look like the Guernica).
Or, if there’s a culinary school in the area, check them out for catering or for the cake. The school itself is typically pricey but the individual students might do it for very little to get their careers going.
November 3rd, 2009 at 1:12 pm
The guest list is a bit of a toss-up.
First, sometimes it’s not under your control — parents often see the wedding as a social obligation of their own (ignoring the wishes of the children), and feel they have control over the wedding list. Whether to challenge the parents in this case, or acquiesce for the sake of peace, is a personal decision — just don’t assume it will go smoothly. Similarly, if you are getting married after many friends have invited you to their weddings, it can be touchy if you don’t return the invitation. Again, your call what to do here, and it certainly depends on the kind of friendship you have: just keep in mind that a little higher price tag to not hurt the sincere feelings of a dear person may be worth it.
Second, from a purely utilitarian standpoint, some couples want a large guest list because they want a lot of wedding presents. Esp. if they offer a low-quality experience with volume discounts. So it’s a cost-benefit tradeoff for them. Sometimes, once past a certain threshold (say, because the families by themselves are large enough that they set a high baseline), every extra person has a small incremental price tag. There is room for both boutiques and Walmarts in this world.