The great thing about weddings these days is the trend towards doing it yourself. With the higher cost of living, people don’t want to spend their life savings on a one day event. There are thousands of D.I.Y. ideas from crafting your own decorations to potluck dinners and homemade table wine. Deciding to get married doesn’t mean you have to break the bank and there are several ways to make your day utterly unforgettable while relatively inexpensive.
One of the most costly parts of a wedding is the venue hire. More and more couples are opting to exchange vows in the back yard of a family home which can save thousands of dollars. Several wedding websites suggest the average cost of venue hire alone is around seven thousand dollars as a national average in Australia. Since a typical wedding ceremony lasts all of thirty minutes, contemplate whether you need a fancy venue for the ceremony and the reception. It may be more economical and realistic to hire a venue for the dinner and dancing, while saying ‘I do’ in Mum and Dad’s back yard. It makes it more personal and will help keep your wedding within your targeted budget.
Gone are the days of matching frilly bridesmaid dresses. Many brides choose to cut the cookie-cutter bridesmaid theme and let their ladies choose their own style. By simply choosing a colour and letting your wedding party wear what suits their body, they can choose something flattering and best of all, reusable. That way you don’t have to contribute to their dress costs and they don’t feel bad buying a dress they’ll get to wear again. Also, grooms on a budget often choose to lose the suit. A smart shirt and tie looks just as nice as a suit and saves hundreds of dollars.
Wedding flowers are extremely overpriced. As soon as you say you need flowers for a wedding the price gets multiplied by ten. Do some research on florists and shops that sell flowers in large quantities and do the arrangements yourself. By purchasing a few types of flowers in bulk, you can get a friend or relative to whip up some bouquets and table arrangements. They’ll have more character and you won’t mind tossing your bouquet at the end of the night knowing you haven’t spent a fortune.
As technology becomes increasingly easy and accessible, consider whether you need a professional DJ at your reception or if you could simply use your laptop or Ipod and a playlist. As long as there’s music your guests will get their boogy on and you can save a few hundred dollars. Another money-saver is email or D.I.Y. invitations. With printing and postage, simply inviting your guests to attend can be very costly. Why not invite your mates via a funky website that you’ve created providing them with all the necessary information.
The best way to keep your wedding on a reasonable budget is to think about what really matters to you and your partner and scrap the rest. Don’t compare your wedding to any other wedding, just make it your own. Some of the best and most personal weddings are the low-key parties that don’t have the best of everything, but have the best of times.
