Practical Ways to Make your Dream Wedding more Affordable

Don’t let your finances get in the way of planning your dream wedding. These tips and strategies will help you to have an affordable wedding -without sacrificing any of the beauty, charm, and memories.

Your Dream Wedding vs Your Finances

When planning your dream wedding, it’s important to have an accurate and realistic view of your finances, both for the short term and the long term. It’s important to be clear on whether either of your parents or relatives will help to foot the bill (and how much) and to keep your long-term financial goals in mind. For example, if you’re planning on buying a new home, spending $50k on a wedding doesn’t help you reach that goal while cutting back and saving that money for a down-payment does.

3 Simple Ways to Save Money on Your Big Day

While identifying your budget and keeping it in mind throughout the wedding planning process is key, these 3 tips will help you to have an affordable dream wedding.

Choose an off-season weekday to get married. This sneaky little trick can save you thousands of dollars, while still enabling you to have your ultimate dream wedding at your preferred venue and without skimping on a professional photographer. Want to save even more? Check with your venue about pop-up weddings. These are short weddings with a little setup that can easily take place before peak hours and higher priced weddings. This can turn that $30k venue into an easily affordable $1000 spot.

Repurpose your flowers. Flowers are pretty non-negotiable when it comes to saving money on weddings, but you can easily stay within your budget by repurposing the flowers from your ceremony for key pieces during the reception. Want a floral arbor? Maybe the top can be used as a gorgeous centerpiece for the head table. Flowers from along the aisle can easily become centerpieces for guest tables. And those bridesmaid bouquets make lovely accent flowers when placed in vases beside the cocktail tables, but you can easily stay within your budget by repurposing the flowers from your ceremony for key pieces during the reception. Want a floral arbor? Maybe the top can be used as a gorgeous centerpiece for the head table. Flowers from along the aisle can easily become centerpieces for guest tables. And those bridesmaid bouquets make lovely accent flowers when placed in vases beside the cocktail table.
Cut out the extras. When it comes to the big day, nobody but you is going to notice -let alone appreciate- the tiny details you stressed over, such as monogrammed napkin rings, party favors, wedding programs, and those customized signs. Your guests are truly only going to notice 3 things: the food, the alcohol, and how amazing you and your partner look as you finally tie the knot.