Tips and advice on budget weddings
Even the most standards of weddings can have a budget that runs into the thousands. In today’s tight times our average spend on a wedding is £20,000! There are so many things that need to be done that the cost can soon rise so here are a few areas where you might be able to save. Be warned though you may have to sacrifice some of your ambitions as the real cost comes from designing the dream wedding.
The Right Place
Most people will set out with big ideas of luxury hotels and beautiful buildings. Unfortunately for most of fairy tale simply cost too much. It is not unusual for the top end venues to cost the entire budget of the average wedding. I know of a couple of venues in Ware that charge over 20,000 for the hire of the venue. At this point most people realise that they have to be a little more realistic but there are plenty of places that can provide a beautiful day. The unsuspecting village halls is underused for this purpose but perfect in every way. Okay so they don’t have the grand architecture that stately homes do but they are more often than not clean, tidy and full of space. You need to have the ability to be creative and see some things potential, but with some small tweaks and a bit of love these places can be completely converted into your dream venue.
cakey cakey cakey
A nice designer, handmade wedding cake can set you back hundreds! Heavy wedding cake is often not even what people want after a big meal! They do look great standing as a sculptor, but with so much wastage you have to wonder if it’s worth it. What you are paying for is the time it takes to create these masterpieces which will eventually end up in a belly or in a bin. The cake, like many aspects of the wedding, is a bit of a showpiece rather than a necessity.
An alternative to expensive wedding cake is small individual cakes. The ultimate cheap way to do it is to bake and decorate them yourself. You will quite often find that most people will prefer a lighter cake, so something like a sponge should prove more popular and save feeding the bin. Presentation is key so jazz them up with decorations and icing and show them off by putting them on tiers like the real thing. These little cakes are great because they are easy to cook and can look great for just a few £’s instead of hundreds.
Deciding on an invite
Amazingly it is estimated that the stationary on average will cost £600′s! So if you invite 100 guests that’s £6.00 per guest just to invites them. It really doesn’t need to cost that much.
The cheapest way would be to send an e-mail invite or e-vite. The stumbling block for this is that not everyone is as clued up technologically as us young ones. In order to cater for everyone a physical invite is going to be best. The obvious is to send a card but why?
I would suggest that you buy a some nice paper, nice envelopes and design your own fancy letter invite. Most cards are not kept for long after they are opened so it is not critical that the invite comes in that format. The trick is in the presentation, if you make a nice job then it will be impressive.
Sprucing up the place
It is easy for the flower budget to get pushed. A professional florist can charge a great deal of money. It’s no easy task selecting flowers and arranging them so you’re paying for someone’s skill. The disposable nature of flowers also adds to the cost.
There are a multitude of places from which you can purchase flowers. Florists are the favourite place for wedding flowers but if you’re a little more flexible there may be more solutions. The local superstore always has a great selection of cut flowers so why not to pick some last minute from there. There is always plenty of colour on offer and if you speak to the manager they should be able to order a particular bouquet in sufficient numbers for your wedding. The only thing left to do from here, is set is all up. With even half of budget of the average wedding flowers you should be able to buy a substantial amount . The great thing about this is that the Bunches are already arranged for you so the hard part is already done.
Guest list
Selecting who to come can be a dangerous business. You have to tread the line of not offending anyone but not going over your budget. There is no easy message here, you just have to be brutal. The easy solution would be to invite everyone you have ever known and ignore the budget, but that is just unrealistic. Restrict the invites to just those closest friends and closest family members. It’s easy to get lost in the splendour and forget the point of the event in the first place. The guest list is about quality not quantity. By inviting too many people you will reduce the amount of time you have to spend with those closest to you. A wedding should be a once in a lifetime moment, can you really justify opening that to people you hardly see any more?
This article was written by Adam Barnes of VenueShire
