How To Plan An Affordable Dream Wedding

Every girl is said to dream about what her perfect wedding day will look like.  Of course, the intention is that you will only have one wedding in your life, so you want it to be as special as possible.  However, what often prevents us from reaching and achieving those ideals are financial constraints.  Fortunately, having limited finances doesn’t mean that you can’t plan a wonderful experience.  So let’s look at how to plan an affordable dream wedding.

Yes, weddings can be expensive.  However, there are areas where you can save money to leave room in your budget for a few luxuries to make the day extra special.  By employing a little creativity and innovation, you can plan a dream wedding without a five-figure price tag giving you nightmares.

Here are just a few tips you could use to plan your dream wedding while making savings to keep within your budget:

Limit the guest list

Of course, you would like to invite all of your friends and family members from around the world to your wedding.  However, if you’re planning a ceremony that’s meaningful and affordable, then you may want to invite only the ones who are closest to or you will have to make other compromises.  By limiting numbers you’ll be able to treat your guests to a special celebration!  People will generally understand if not invited for financial reasons, so don’t worry about offending anyone.

Choose an affordable location for the wedding

If you’re not religious and a church wedding isn’t a big deal for you, a registry office should be a cheaper option.  You may wish to consider other locations but you will probably have to pay extra for the registrar to attend.

Choose an affordable location for the reception

The wedding reception is going to be the biggest expense and so has the potential for big savings.  Opt for a venue hire only, rather than a package.  You have more control and don’t have to pay for items within the package that you don’t necessarily want.

You may wish to hire a stately home but you can still achieve your dream by beautifying a less expensive location.  You’d be surprised at how easily simplicity can turn into something special.

Make your invitations

This is one of the easiest ways to save money while planning your big dream wedding. There are many websites available where you can buy basic accessories and raw materials to make your own wedding invitations.  There’s no need to splash out on using a graphic designer or going to a printer.

Bring out your creative side and make some beautiful invitations that will impress everyone.  Canva is a good option to get started.

Timing and food

How about a winter wedding when demand for venues, catering etc are lower and therefore likely to be cheaper?

You could choose a later wedding time, 3 pm is great, opt for some canapes to keep guests from chewing their arm off, (but also they will have had time to have lunch at home), Then instead of a pricey sit down 3-course meal, choose a BBQ option to be served at around 5 pm.  One set of food, a BBQ goes a long way.  Then serve pizza at around 10 p.m.  Cheap as chips and will soak up the alcohol!

There only needs to be one reception drink to give to your guests.  Normally a bar will be available and guests can then buy their own drinks.  Venues will encourage you to purchase two or three glasses of Prosecco, per guest, absolutely not necessary.

Rent instead of purchase 

Although many girls like to have their wedding dresses to look back on years down the road, those very dresses could end up with mould and mildew two or three years later.

Why not avoid the mildew nightmare scenario and take the route of renting your wedding dress, bridesmaids’ dresses, tuxedos and whatever else you can?  It works out much cheaper to rent than to buy.

If you want to go down the ‘buy and keep’ route you can still save money.  Wedding outfits bought from a dedicated wedding shop will always be more costly than say a gorgeous cocktail dress from a department store.  An evening gown with some simple accessories can be made to look fabulous.  Bridesmaids’ outfits can even be bought from supermarket clothing departments.  Nobody will know just by looking at them!

Make full use of family and friends

It’s very likely that you’ll have friends or family members who have talents or assets that could prove very useful for your wedding.

Catering, for example, is something that you could get done by your trusty cousin, who has just completed a culinary degree.

What about your aunt who is a talented confectioner/baker?  Could she make a stunning wedding cake?

Your best friend, who works at the flower shop down the street, could provide decorations and he has a friend who works as a DJ and another friend does wedding photography.

The band from college could probably do a good job at entertaining your guests at the reception.

Perhaps you even have an uncle with a massive country garden that would be an ideal location for the reception.  Does he also have a holiday villa in Portugal you could use for a wonderful honeymoon?

Even if you just applied one or two of these ideas you could make significant savings.  It’s all about striking a balance, making use of what you have and can do, to keep it affordable.  Then again, you don’t want to cut back so much that the day falls flat.  Try and leave room for a few nice touches to give the day the ‘WOW’ factor.

The bride, at least, should be excluded from too many compromises and she wants to arrive looking fabulous and in style.  Pulling up at the venue in a classic car would add a level of sophistication and would also create a great photo opportunity.  Hiring a classic car for a wedding is easy and ensures the bride should arrive unflustered and on time.  If you live locally to the wedding venue you could use a car to make more than one trip, to perhaps take the bridesmaids and family too.  Here in North West England, we have Classic & Vintage Wedding Car Hire Manchester and Classic & Vintage Wedding Car Hire Liverpool which offer a large range of vehicles for any occasion, whatever your taste and budget.

You could also hire an ice cream bike for a bit of fun, saving you from having to pay extra for desserts.  Kids will love it!  Buying a few sparklers will create more great photo opportunities.  You don’t have to spend a lot to create a few special touches that guests will really enjoy.

It’s very possible to have the wedding you’ve always wanted without making too many compromises.  Spend a little time considering your options to achieve this aim, without breaking the bank.