10 ways to save money on your wedding

As I’m sure you’re all aware that we are currently in a state of financial crisis where the cost of living has increased exponentially in the past year, but obviously couples still want to get married despite the rising costs, so I’ve put together this savvy guide for budget conscious couples with 10 ways to save money on your wedding.

1. Wedding stationary

I understand that you may want to have gorgeous, professional wedding stationary with a matching style to all the invites/save the dates, table numbers, order of the day, menu, place names etc but don’t want to spend a fortune on it hiring a bespoke graphic designer? Then check out Fiverr, they have lots of great designers on there that will work with even very small budgets to create you some beautiful wedding stationary. You could even design your wedding stationary yourself using the free and easy to use online design tools on Canva.

Alternatively go digital! You can make yourselves a wedding website and never need to spend a penny on the save the date and invites, let alone have to pay for postage. This keeps things simple and you can keep everything in one place, including directions to the venue, food choices and RSVPS so you can track who’s coming. This makes things easier for both yourselves and your guests by keeping everything organised whilst saving money as well as the planet by not requiring the use of paper and designing and postage costs…Win Win. Here’s my recommendation for a beautiful free wedding website – https://withjoy.com/wedding-website/

2. Hire suits rather than buy

Hiring the suits could be a more cost effective way of having a super dapper look without having to splash out on buying individual suits that may never be worn again. Locally, Romsey Bridal have a Grooms Room, specifically for mens formal wear hire

3. Purchase during the sales 

Bridal boutiques often have sample sales when they’re looking at renewing old stock, so buying your dress straight off the rack could mean huge savings. You could also try a preloved dress store like Bridal Reloved for big discounts or even Vinted. Wed2B is also a designer dress outlet with massive savings on the usual prices and no wait time for your dress to be made to order as they’re all for sale straight from the shelf. 

4. Have a bake off instead of a wedding cake

Instead of paying a cake artist in the region of £300-£1200 depending on size, design, Ingredients and experience, why not create a fun competition for your guests to get involved with and have a bake off? That way you get to have lots of different cakes that cater for different taste buds, it brings the fun element whilst also costing little to no investment on your part as you might only need to provide a prize for the winner of the bake off.

5. Consider the season

Summer weddings often come with a much heftier price tag, due to the summer season being the most popular amongst the wedding industry and obviously a limited amount go dates are available between June and the end of August. Living in England, we can’t always guarantee that you will have glorious weather despite choosing a summer date for your wedding, so it is therefore wise to consider getting married in another season that might cost less. Spring and Autumn can still have warm weather and sunshine as well as beautiful colours within the florals, although Winter weddings are generally the most cost effective over all…Just remember to wrap up warm!

6. Have a weekday wedding

By having your wedding on a weekday can save you a ton of money on your venue hire, particularly if it is midweek (Tuesday-Thursday). As Mondays and Fridays can sometimes be bank holidays or considered as an extended weekend, be aware that these days are not generally considered ‘midweek’ as they are almost as popular as weekends nowadays so usually still come in at a higher price tag, yes still not as high as a Saturday. Although having your wedding on a Saturday means that your guests won’t have to book annual leave and have the Sunday to recover and travel home if they are not local, weekday weddings are certainly becoming more popular due to the savings that can be had, so before you book, check out if your chosen suppliers offer discounts for weekday weddings.

7. Opt for one venue for the whole day

There is an automatic saving by choosing to have your wedding at one venue where both the ceremony and reception can take place as you will not need require any transport for yourself or your guests, particularly if the venue offers accommodation and you’re able to stay there the night before the wedding and then get ready there in the morning.

8. Embrace the DIY

An easy way to save money on your wedding is to get your DIY on! If you’re a naturally creative person this should come easily, but if not, you could always enlist the help of friends and family.

Think bunting, making your own invites, pretty place settings and table decor, make your own favours, table plans and other signs. Just make sure that you allow plenty of time to create your DIY masterpieces to avoid last minute stress!

9. Ditch the desserts

Instead of having a 3 course meal with separate desserts, why not have your wedding cake double up as dessert? Your wedding caterers will usually cut your cake up into pieces for you to be served in the evening anyway, so why not cut out the cost of the 3rd course by having wedding cake for dessert, or even better use my money saving tip from earlier in the blog post and have DIY desserts by having a bake off with your guests, cutting out the cost of cake all together!

10. Forget favours

My last tip for my 10 ways to save money on your wedding would be to not offer favours as the sad reality is that they often get forgotten about and left behind unless they’re sweets / chocolate or anything instantly edible at the table and they tend to cost between £1-£5 per person, which soon adds up. If you do opt to have favours, why not have something that can double up as the place name, so that you can at least make a saving by not having to have place names as well.

11. Have a Destination wedding

I know this blog post was meant to be ’10 ways to save money on your wedding’ but I thought I’d throw in an extra tip for free. If you want to cut costs considerably, and you’re not concerned about having a big wedding, why not consider getting married abroad? You could either elope and it be just the two of you, or you could just have an intimate wedding with just immediate family and closest friends. This would instantly save money on catering costs, beverages, entertainment and a lot of other areas. I actually got married in Italy myself and it was incredible, definitely one of my best decisions to have a destination wedding, but you 100% need a wedding planner if going down the destination wedding route!

One last thing to mention…

I would not suggest trying to cut costs by opting out of wedding insurance. This is definitely not a smart move as It’s really important to have the security that insurance offers, in case anything major goes wrong on or before the wedding. One of my past couples had to completely change their venue as their original one sadly burnt down. Imagine the devastation it would cause by not having insurance pay out if a supplier went into administration after taking your money or any other disaster. Make sure that you shop around to get the best deal whilst also doing your homework to check what isn’t covered within the insurance policy. 

I hope you enjoyed reading my guide on 10 ways to save money on your wedding, and it has given you some ideas of where you can cut some of the costs involved with your special day. 

For more tips and helpful blog posts that I have written, check out this link