3 Tips to Plan a Wedding on a Budget

The following is a guest post from Heidi who publishes Budget a Wedding.

Weddings are expensive. The average wedding was just under $20,000 in 2009 (it was $28,000 in 2007!). It is easy to get caught up in the wedding hype and spend more than your budget will allow. Here are three tips to have the wedding of your dreams on a budget.

Set your Wedding Budget First!

You need a concrete wedding budget. Wedding vendors are great at showing you all the extras you do not need. You would be surprised that as your wedding day gets closer all of those unnecessary wedding accessories begin to pop into your head more and more.

You see accessories in wedding photos, a friend talks about them, your mother in law asks about them, and before you know it you've called the vendor to add it! Without a concrete budget you will be able to add extras without consequence (and they will add up fast).

Be Realistic, a Wedding is Expensive!

Cheap weddings are harder to plan. You can do it, but make sure you are realistic! You do not want to stress out over minor things. The wedding is about your future life with your fiance, not about the wedding day itself.

Receptions tend to make up about 50% of the wedding budget. If you have 300 friends and family that you absolutely must invite and your family insists on a catered event then do not set a $5000 budget. You need to increase the wedding budget or decrease the number of people you are planning on inviting in that case. You can have a cheap wedding, but you can't perform miracles!

Know your Wedding Priorities

When you think back to other weddings what do you remember? Was it an extravagant wedding cake, beautiful wedding gown, a specific reception table centerpiece? Write these ideas down and the story that will emerge will be your own wedding priorities.

Being frugal is not about what you cannot have; it is about what you can! If you do not remember what the last wedding cake looked like then go with cupcakes, a grooms cake, or just a desert table! Spend that money on something you want (maybe it was monogrammed cloth napkins). Ten years from now you will look back on your wedding and remember those napkins.

Heidi teaches brides and grooms how to have a cheap wedding at BudgetaWedding.com. A wedding is a once in a lifetime experience and you should shine, without putting yourself in debt!

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2 Comments

  1. Get the book “Bridal Bargains” from the library–you will be shocked at how much money you can save and still have a very classy day.

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