Planning a Wedding On a Budget
One of my very favorite topics to talk about is weddings. I am a sucker for weddings. Since I have completely planned my own, and on a budget, I figured I would share some of my expertise in the area. Some weddings can get as expensive as a car. However, it is not a good idea to go into debt over a wedding. That is not how you want to start your marriage. Not being able to afford a wedding should not stop you from getting married and having the most magical day of your life. Let's talk about where you probably would not want to cut corners:
Food - You want your guests to enjoy their food. Make sure you have delicious food being served (Having a plated dinner is much more expensive than having a buffet dinner. If you are on a budget, go for a buffet!)
Photography - If you are lucky enough, like I was, you might have a really good friend who takes photographs on the side, for fun, that will cut you an awesome deal! If not, spend some money on the photography because that is all you will have in 30 years to look at.
Entertainment/DJ- There are plenty of affordable DJ's out there. Look up reviews and do your research. Some DJ's are $1500+ for the one night. I can tell you I did my research and paid less that $1,000. If you can find an affordable, fun DJ then go for it. However, be careful because your guests will remember if your wedding was boring or fun. If you have an entertaining DJ that is playing fun music and keeping the crowd pumped up, your guests will remember the fun they had.
Things that you can totally get away with doing to make your wedding cheaper but NOT look or seem cheap:
Venue- If you just can't find a venue that works with your budget, you can pop up one of those giant tents at a park for (I think) less than $1000.
Decorations- You can make all of your centerpieces. A family friend and I made every single one of my centerpieces for 16 tables for under $200. Below is the best picture I had of my centerpieces. Each table had a mason jar, a bottle, and a small mason jar with a candle inside.
Cake- Now, I have not tried Sams Club cakes, but I have been told by very close friends that their wedding cakes are $60 and are the best tasting cake they have had. I have a family friend who makes wedding cakes that did our cake for under $300, which is still very affordable compared to a bigger bakery and it tasted wonderful! And even better, my husband and I made our cake topper.
Dress- Now, the perfect dress is priceless, trust me. BUT if you go to a bigger chain store for your dress, they have credit cards and sometimes they give you a year of free interest to pay off your dress. So you do not have to come up with all of the money right then.
Invitations- If you go to a place that specializes in invitations, you are going to spend a fortune. You can find so many invitation templates for $20 on Etsy. Either you, or the Etsy shop owner will customize the invitation to however you want and then will send it to you. All you have to do after that is buy card stock of your color of choosing (linked some below) and take the PDF and card stock to Fedex Office to print out. The printing and cutting of the invitations (if you are only printing in black ink) should not cost more that $60-$70, coming to a total of maybe $100 dollars on invitations. I do not have a picture of what my invitations look like.
Hair and Makeup- I am no makeup expert but I know what looks good on me, and I know what my husband likes on me so I did my own makeup. For hair, one of my bridesmaids did my hair. I curled it and she braided it back and pinned in flowers. If you have a friend or family member that is good at doing hair, ask them to help you on the day of. Even do a trial run before the wedding to make sure it turns out the way you are picturing. Below is a picture of the side of my hair with the braids.
These are my favorite tips and tricks on how to not break the bank from your wedding but still have the most magical day of your life, which is what I had.
xo, Taylor