(When wedding planning, many brides and grooms (to-be) find that their circumstances are not ideal financially and start looking for ways to plan a wedding on a budget. Perhaps you’re just starting out on your own and have little to no savings.

Pfft, hey, hi, that was me, been there. Maybe you have a nice savings account but you don’t want to spend it on a single day in case of an emergency, or you’re saving for a down payment on a home. Perhaps you’ve got large debts looming overhead and you feel like the wisest choice would be to start your future off without going into additional debt for one day. Money is the #1 stressor most couples find themselves tangled up in when it comes to planning a wedding. At first glance, wedding planning seems like an exciting whirlwind of events, but it usually doesn’t take long to get the wind knocked out of your sails (veils?) when you start contacting vendors and venues and seeing huge numbers that you aren’t able to spend. The dreaded thought comes in. We have to plan a wedding on a budget. And that means it’s going to suck (totally not true, by the way, keep reading!). Been there.

I get it. Your guests and friends and family understand, too. Many have them have been in your shoes before, deciding on how much to spend on their wedding, and they are going to be an important resource we will talk about farther down in this article!

The goal here is to help you have the wedding that suits your needs and wants while staying within a budget that won’t cripple you with debt as you start your life together as a married couple. You CAN plan a wedding on a budget and have it be totally dreamy. Let’s ease some of those worries and stress and get you on the path to the wedding you want (on any budget). 

What is your motivation for planning a wedding on a budget? Maybe you’re the kind of person that walks out of Walgreens with a cart full of free stuff and a receipt that’s 5 feet long. Coupons Queeeeeen! You love the thrill of saving, it keeps you financially frugal and your fiancé certainly doesn’t complain about your thrifty ways! Free deodorant for life! Perhaps you’d love to have a huge chunk of cheddar to blow on a fairy tale wedding but it just isn’t in the cards for you and you absolutely need to stick to a budget for your own financial well being. Whether your budget wedding is for the thrill of the discounted hunt or a out of necessity, don’t worry boo, I gotchu. You can have a BOMB wedding without having to sell your soul to pay for it. (no costing an arm and leg here. We’re going straight for the soul.)

You can have a BOMB wedding without having to sell your soul to pay for it.

Your priorities are going to be unique to you, so it’s really important to sort those out before you start planning..

How To Plan A Wedding On Any Budget:

Ask & Listen To The Experiences of Others.

Alright, you’ve made a decision to plan a wedding on a budget. You’ve got this. The first thing you’ll want to do is figure out your top wedding priorities, and a fabulous free resource for this is your friends and family. Many of them have been there and made the choice to cut costs and don’t regret it! Many of them probably went the “max out all the credit cards for the most magical day EVER” route and now they’re saddled with credit card interest that is so high, they’re barely putting a dent in actually paying off the principal. Then there’s the in-betweener. The friends that skimped on certain things and are glad they did, but went the cheap route on some things and still regret it years later. Hit up your friends that got married recently, especially if you went to the wedding! Ask them if they had to make tough financial decisions by cutting corners or eliminating things entirely, and how they feel about it now that the wedding is over. One of my personal favorite ways to get advice, hear about other peoples experiences and generally collect information is what I lovingly call the hive-mind, good ol’ Facebook. Ask in your local advice page or throw out some questions on your personal Facebook page and see what people have to say. You will certainly get a wide array of answers as well as vendors to contact or to steer clear of. Most often when people regret part of their wedding, it’s because they didn’t truly think through the ramifications past the dollars they would save, so listen to all the wins and losses of other peoples budget weddings to compile as much information as possible for your own.

How To Plan A Wedding On Any Budget: 

Pick Your Priorities & Stick To Them

Planning a wedding on a budget can mean two very different things depending on your budget. For some, $25k is a tight wedding budget, while others are looking to spend no more than $5k, and even that is pushing it. To plan a wedding on a really tight budget, you’ll need to be realistic about what is and isn’t important for your wedding day. Is food most important? Will a large guest list make or break your wedding day? How crucial is having professional wedding photography (versus lower quality photos taken by friends and family)? Is getting formal wedding invitations worth sacrificing elsewhere in your wedding budget? There are SO many little things that you can cut or skimp on that no one will ever notice and you won’t miss, where as some things can really ruin your day and your memories of it if you skip in the wrong place.

Once you’ve decided what is essential and what isn’t, you can begin compiling a wedding planning checklist that matches to plan your wedding on any budget.

It may not be necessary to spend thousands on an extravagant catered meal if your priority is gorgeous photos of you and your new spouse. You can’t look at the steak you served on your wedding day and remember how hot you and your boo looked now can you? Or maybe you want the most bomb food imaginable, so you cut your guest list down to have an intimate wedding with top shelf liquor and crab cakes for all privileged enough to get an invite, and you don’t really care of there is a single piece of photographic evidence that the day ever happened. Your priorities are going to be unique to you, so it’s really important to sort those out before you start planning and figuring out what to sling your money at and where to withhold.

The possibilities for wedding planning budget cuts are nearly endless! Just make sure you aren’t giving up your greatest wedding dreams in exchange for cost-cutting methods. Just because you’re planning a wedding on a budget doesn’t mean you need to traipse down the aisle in overalls because you decided to cut expenses on the dress. Unless you want to wear overalls. Overalls are kind of back in style so if you decide to do this, please hire me because now I really want to photograph a bride in overalls.

ANYWAY.

Skip The Extra Bells & Whistles

A big way to save big money on your wedding day is by skipping on a bunch of small things. A wedding can quickly nickel and dime you into a state of, “How the $*#% did we spend this much on our wedding? !” before you know it.

How To Plan A Wedding On A Budget: Say “No Thanks” to the fancy center pieces. Savings: $500+

Say BUH-BYE to the expensive center pieces. Sure, big extravagant center pieces look gorgeous, and if you’re planning on submitting the pictures of your reception area to a bridal magazine, schmancy centerpieces would be a must, but you’re not, so they aren’t. When your guests are at their table, they’re going to have to crane their necks around the center pieces to see each other to talk, so rather than being admired, those massive, luxurious center pieces usually become a hinderance anyway. Go with something really simple that’s cheap or free, or just skip them all together! Your guests won’t mind and you’ll save some cash for the important stuff. I’ve said it many times already and I’ll say it again; Prioritize. Planning a wedding on any budget is all about prioritizing and reallocating that money for the things that are most important to you.

 I have to pay for people to sit? Yup, you do. But do you?

How To Plan A Wedding On A Budget: Skip The Big Cake. Savings: $250-$1000+

Gone are the days where the 18 tier, overly piped buttercream wedding cake with little staircases and bridges connecting all the tiers is the focal point of the wedding reception. Say so long to the lofty, extravagant and insanely expensive wedding cakes. Sure, they have their place, but not usually if you’re trying to stick to a budget. As Marie Portokalos from one of my favorite movies, “My Big Fat Greek Wedding” once said, “It’s a cake!” Exactly Marie, it’s a cake. Just a cake. Let’s prioritize here and put that money into a lamb to roast on a spit in the front yard. Or like, don’t do that but just don’t spend a ton on your cake. Some ways to save on the wedding cake could be to get a fake cake with a real top tier (yes, fake wedding cakes are a thing, check out www.etsy.com to find plain or elaborately decorated fake cakes ) if you just can’t imagine your wedding photos without the schmancy four-tier cake. You would cut the top tier for the photos, then provide a much more cost effective sheet cake for the guests to enjoy. Cake is cake, right? The shape it comes in and how pretty the piping is doesn’t really matter when you’re chewing it and washing it down with a dance to The Wobble. If you have a caterer or someone there to cut the cake for you, there’s even a good possibility that the cake will be cut in a separate area like the kitchen and then brought in on trays, ready for your guests to grab and enjoy, so they wouldn’t even KNOW it was a sheet cake, if that’s something that bothers you. Another fun option is to do an alternative dessert! Donuts are universally loved and usually rather inexpensive. Check your local grocery store with a bakery to try out their donuts and see how much they cost. You can get freshly baked donuts for as little as fifty cents each saving you major buckaroos while providing a fun, delicious dessert for your guests. Like, really, who doesn’t love a donut? Really though, any kind of dessert is a good dessert. I’ve shot weddings where the cake was replaced with cookie ice cream sandwiches and it was amazing and delicious. The world is your oyster (éclairé?) when it comes to dessert and a traditional wedding cake is not the only way to go.

How To Plan A Wedding On A Budget: Skip The Diamonds. Savings-$2,000-$10,000+

SKIP THE DIAMONDS? WHAT! Alright alright alright, calm down, DON’T panic. I feel like you’re panicking, but you don’t need to, because diamond alternatives are where it’s at, big time. Speaking from experience here, having a faux diamond ring is amazing, and there are options to upgrade to a real diamond in the future IF you want to. I DO have a real diamond ring from when I got married 11 years ago. It’s just what I wanted and it has my Grandmother’s diamond in the center which has big, giant, huge sentimental value to me. It’s also a very expensive ring. The down side? I have lost it multiple times and I felt like I was going to have an emotional breakdown. Having something so expensive and precious is a little bit anxiety inducing. Over the years and three babies later, my finger size changed a bit (I’m not the teenager I was when I got married anymore) and I never got around to resizing my real ring. In came Berricle, probably from a Facebook ad (facebook has my number big time, I’m such a sucker) and I started snooping around for fun, reading the reviews, looking at photos.. and I thought, whoa there, this ring here is PURTY and a totally different style from my original wedding ring. And it’s only a HUNDRED DOLLARS FOR THE SET? Ummm sold, I need a ring that I can treat like crap and take on and off a thousand times a day as I wash dishes, clean up toddler messes and generally live a busy hands lifestyle. And you know what? I LOVE that ring. I love that it looks like a real diamond but I don’t have to treat it like a newborn infant. In fact, I loved it SO much that I bought a SECOND set, and it looks so real, my sister-in-law gasped and grabbed my hand and said, “When did you upgrade!? It’s GORGEOUS!” She was shocked when I told her the diamonds were fake and I paid $100 for it. Then I showed my sister and she loved it so much, she bought a Berricle ring. Then I showed my best friend and she loved it so much she bought her OWN Berricle ring. Everyone that sees my ring gushes over it and they only know I paid $100 if I decide to tell them.

These Berricle rings are sterling silver and coated in rhodium plating (just like gold and platinum are rhodium plated) and the metal looks exactly the same as if it were solid gold or platinum underneath, so you can easily choose a Berricle ring with a faux diamond to save money now, and in the future you can go to a jeweler and replace the faux diamond for the real thing if you want to. You can have your wedding now and your diamonds later, or just skip the diamonds and bathe in a tub filled with all the money you saved by going faux!

Alternatively, ditch the idea of a diamond all together. Go with a semi precious stone like an opal, sapphire, pearl, perdot or whatever gem or stone you like the most! Going with a precious gem rather than a diamond is becoming more and more common, and why shouldn’t these gorgeous colorful stones finally be appreciated for their beauty and generous savings?

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Buy Used & Resell

How To Plan A Wedding On A Budget: Buy used items and re-sell when you’re done! Savings: Unlimited

This is a booming trend that is both fun and economical. If you haven’t found local “buy and sell wedding item” groups on Facebook, it’s because you haven’t looked yet. Seriously, for all its faults, Facebook is invaluable for planning a budget wedding. These groups are jam packed with everything you could need or want for your wedding day and it can be a super saver. These groups are great if you haven’t decided on anything super specific yet, so instead of going into the group looking specifically for light pink and yellow travel themed center pieces and linens, you can go in knowing how many table linens and center pieces you will need and peruse to see who has something in your price range and pick what you’re drawn to. You might be surprised what themes and colors you like!

The key to planning a wedding on a budget is less about throwing away your dreams and more about jumping into planning with an open mind.

How To Plan A Wedding On Any Budget:

Take Control Of Your Guest List

How To Plan A Wedding On A Budget: Only invite who you actually want at your wedding; Don’t let anyone bully you into an invite.

When it comes to food and alcohol, the bigger the guest list, the more money you’re throwing into your big day. I would never recommend not inviting people you want to celebrate with just to save a little bit of money, but that’s not usually what gets the couple when it comes to the guest list. It seems most often, the parents of the bride and/or groom want to invite some of their own friends or relatives that, to you, are distant and not really a priority. If these guests are people that you wouldn’t mind having at your wedding but you simply don’t have the finances to cover additional guests, express to the people pushing for these extra invites that they are welcome to pitch in to cover these people that they desperately want invited, but that you will not be inviting their friends or distant relatives simply to avoid offense or hurt feelings if it’s going to push out a guest that you really want to invite. It’s your day, so don’t feel guilt about avoiding going into debt by only paying to invite the guests YOU want at your wedding. As far as keeping to a list of guests that you want there, that can be tricky too, especially when you and your fiance likely have two different friend groups, and of course family, that you both want there. I’d recommend first deciding which is more important; The quality of the food and alcohol, or the amount of guests that attend. There isn’t a wrong answer! I’ve been to backyard weddings where they served Redner’s fried chicken and you could grab a beer from a tub of ice and it was fantastic and fun. I’ve been to very small intimate weddings where the food and liquor was top shelf, out of this world fancy, expensive and delicious. Also really fun. There is no wrong answer, but it’s important to decide what your priority is. Once you’ve got your priority picked out, if extravagant food and spirits are your priority, call a few caterers and bar tenders to ask what their price per head is. That way if you have a specific max budget for food and alcohol, you know how many guests you can invite while staying within your budget and you can narrow down to the VIP list. If your priority is a bumpin party with as many guests as possible, figure out how much you can spend her guest on food and alcohol and start looking for options that will fit into that budget.

How To Plan A Wedding On Any Budget:

Carefully Consider Your Cuts & Be Realistic With Your Expectations

How To Plan A Wedding On A Budget: Don’t be hasty with your cuts. You can cut the corners off of a pop-tart and not really feel it. If you cut the corners off of the painting that is the focal of your living room decor, you’re going to feel the impact a lot more than the pop-tart. Are you tracking with me? Sometimes having a smaller wedding with some better quality vendor and products is going to be better and more special than doing it big and cheap. The BIGGEST area I see people gambling with their wedding outcome is with major vendors such as photographers and DJs. Now hear me on this and listen sweet little darling, because I am NOT going to tell you to only hire an experienced, seasoned photographer or DJ. I’m sure as you know, you are reading this on a wedding photographer’s blog, so I’m sure the expected response would be, “SKIMP ON EVERYTHING except THE PHOTOGRAPHER!” 

No, no no. What I want you to do is really investigate with any new, inexperienced photographer, or a friend or family member who is offering you free or crazy cheap photography. You need to be prepared for what you’re going to get, and what you’re not going to get. Informed consent is important always, and this situation applies, too. If you are a relaxed bride or groom, you don’t have visions of Pinterest worthy photography, and you can go into this with the mindset of “If I get like five amazing photos to hang on my walls, I’ll be happy”, then going with a less expensive and inexperienced or portfolio building photography might be a great idea for you! I would only urge you to ask questions and make sure you are on the same page. They will be capturing one of the most important days of your life. Just because they’re doing it cheap doesn’t mean you don’t need to ask questions to make sure they’re the right newbie for you. Make sure you see samples of their work (reverse google search that ish to make sure they aren’t cat fishing you with someone else’s photography if their work seems too good to be true or you’re feeling uneasy), talk to them about what you’re hoping for and ask them honestly if they can deliver. Also, with hiring a brand new photographer, you’ve gotta understand that they likely do NOT have all the securities that clients generally enjoy with a more seasoned photographer. A more seasoned photographer will have high quality back ups for all of their equipment. If your newbie photographer’s camera putters out or their drop their only good lens and it cracks on your wedding day, are they going to have the backups to make sure that doesn’t mean kaput to the rest of your day being documented? Also consider that a seasoned wedding photographer will have associate photographers, assistants or connections with other photographers in the event that they would have a true emergency on your wedding day and be able to attend. My second shooter is trained as a first shooter so she can seamlessly step into my place if need be. A newbie likely won’t have a solid back up plan in the event of injury or illness, which leads you with no wedding photography on your wedding day. That’s a big bummer. Do not let wedding planning on a budget make you skip out on having beautiful, tangible memories of that day. The mental memories are nice, but they fade over time, and you’re going to want some wonderful photos to look back on, and maybe eventually to show your grandkids or great nieces and nephews. 

IN CONCLUSION

To Wrap Things Up..

To bring this article of lofty money saving claims to a conclusion, there are many, many ways to throw a wedding on a budget. While some people get lucky and have a family member with a McMansion that’s willing to host their nuptials, making their money saving move still look like a million bucks, others have to use every DIY hack in the book to squeeze nickels out of pennies. No matter how much help and great breaks you do or don’t have, in the end, remember that your wedding is about marrying your best friend. It’s a party to celebrate your love, not a feast to impress your friends at your financial expense. If a big wedding is a priority for you because it’s what you and your sweetie want, but you still want to stretch that dollar, try some of these money saving tips, but don’t forget to carefully consider the pros and cons, and only save money on the B and C priorities, and keep your A list priorities for spending some cheddar.

Do you have DIY wedding tips, money saving hacks for throwing a budget wedding or advice for soon-to-be brides and grooms that you’d like to share? Drop a comment to share the knowledge wealth!

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