Where To Spend and Where To Save With Your Wedding Budget
When you start your wedding planning you may come to realise that things are a lot more expensive that you initially thought and it may be time to cut back on some of those 'traditional' elements that you aren't too interested in and save some money so you can put it towards a supplier or element you really want to include. In this weeks blog post I'm going to give you my ideas on where you can save money and where I think you should think about spending a bit more.
Splurge
If you have additional money to spend on your wedding or would like some ideas on where is best to spend your money, these are where I suggest you do some splurging!
Photographer / Videographer
Your photos and video are going to be the psychical memories of your day. You will be able to look back on these for years to come and will be a lasting memory of your day. I always suggest to book the best photographer and videographer your budget allows and you will not regret it! The last thing you want is to come away form your wedding with blurry or a limited amount of photos and what looks like a film shot on a phone because you wanted to save money on these suppliers. This is my top thing to spend that little extra money on!
Shoes
Treat your feet to some beautiful shoes that not only look amazing but a comfy! You dont want to have these amazing shoes and then not be able to walk in them and have your walk down the aisle looking uncomfortable and like you are in pain! This dosent mean head out and by the most expensive pair of Manolo Blahniks you can find (although I'd be right there with you!) but think carefully about what shoes you will wear and if you would prefer to have two for ceremony and reception then do it. You dont want to be running around bare foot all day!
Alterations
Similar to your shoes, you want to make sure your dress is comfortable and fits your correctly. As I mentioned last week this can be a hidden cost that brides dont consider when choosing a dress but please dont skimp on alternations. You want to make sure your dress fits you like a glove and for everyone to think it was made for you. You dont want to be pulling it up all day or tripping over the front of your dress because its too long! Have those alterations done and also make sure its by a professional!
Bridal Bouquet & Centrepieces & Altar arrangements
These are the floral elements your guests are going to see the most, the ones that will be captured by your photographer and videographer and the ones that will be the talking points. So by spending that little bit more on them will make it all worth while. Also if your budget for flowers is tight, dont forget to speak to your florist about repurposing your flowers , maybe using the altar arrangements from the ceremony to an entrance piece for the reception. Depending on what arrangements you are having your florist will be able to suggest the best way to repurpose and move them for you.
Music
Picking the wrong sort of DJ or live band for your reception may send your guests home. Picking the right sort of music that will get your guests on the dancefloor and keep them there is worth their weight in gold and will allow you and your guests to have the most AMAZING night. Yes this can be expensive (talking a few thousand) but this will set the mood and tone for your wedding and will be such a talking point and something your guests will talk about for years to come.
Lighting
The right lighting can transform a venue and make it unrecognizable (in a good way!) a simply marquee wedding can be turned into the most romantic and beautiful of venues with some dimmed lighting and candles. Outdoor spaces can be Instagram worthy with some festoon lights draping between the trees. Lighting is a lot more important than you may initially think and something definitely worth splurging on.
If budget allows I would always say hire a planner on an on the day coordinator. While I may not always be able to save you money I can certainly save you time and stress when it comes to planning your wedding, allocating your budget and knowing what to spend where!
Save
Now the bit you have been waiting for...where you can save money!
Order of ceremony
Unless you really want to have an order of service/ceremony I'd suggest leaving it out of your stationery budget. If you are having your ceremony in a church and would like to have hymn lyrics and a order than maybe consider a single sheet. But if its not a necessity dont worry, they will usually just get left on chairs and then thrown away.
Favours
Similarly to Orders of service, if the favours are not personalised gift or something they would be able to use again it is likely they will also get left on the table. Personalised gifts are more likely to be taken but otherwise they will just again be left on the table to be thrown away. If you really want to do a favour consider something edible or a drink that can be eaten/drunk then and there as they sit down. Or consider donating what you would have spent on favours to a charity, a lot of charities run services where this is possible and they will provide you a pin or something similar to show your support.
Bouquet Toss
A tradition that is not often done too much nowadays but if you are doing a bouquet toss dont spend money on a bouquet that you will be throwing across the room! Use one of the bridesmaids bouquets instead of paying for an additional!
Accessories
You may want to treat yourself to a jewellery set for your wedding day and that's of course fine! But dont go and buy loads of accessories because you like the look of them until you have found your dress and confirmed your hair and makeup styles as you dont want to spend money on hair accessories to end up using a veil and no longer needing the handmade hair vine you have spent £££ on! Also with accessories use the 'Something old, something new, something borrowed something blue' and speak to your relatives and see if they have anything you can use?
Flower Girl/Pew ends
Instead of spending money on a smaller bouquet or post for your flower girl why not have her throwing rose petals down the aisle, and better still fake rose petals that you can source yourself and save money on (as well as protecting the venue! so they dont damage the flooring if they get stepped on!) Pew ends can look gorgeous but similarly so does an aisle lined with candles! Pew ends are unlikely to be able to be used again through the wedding day as they are too small to be displayed on their own and would take too much time to include in another display
Table names and numbers
You can get some gorgeous designs for table names and numbers but if you are trying to save money dont spend too much time worrying about these. They will purely be used to guide your guests to their seats and then probably not looked at again. These can easily be made DIY or your venue or caterer may have some available for you to use at no additional fee.
Remember if is a tradition you dont particularly like or want to include in your wedding, dont! Its your day and you can choose to have what you want, dont feel like you need to spend hundreds of pounds on something you dont want to do!
If you need help on where to allocate your budget and where to spend vs save, head over to my services page and book in your power hour call with my Ask Aimee service!
