Getting married is amazing… but not worth going into serious debt over. The best part of my wedding last month was seeing old friends and laughing at what we’ve been through. Plus, it gave me a glimpse of what it feels like to be a celebrity with paparazzi following me around constantly taking my picture… loved it, but then again I love looking stupid in pictures: trip, fall, face plant, caught on camera, awesome. Getting married is soooo much fun, but fun doesn’t have to cost a lot of money; you just have to be creative. Here’s a list of ways to save money on the big day:
- Know your goal: Pick your goal for your wedding. Do you want it elegant? Fun? Intimate? Huge? ironically lame? Star Wars themed? When you know your goal you can filter out what you actually want. My wedding goal was fun, which means we had a fun officiant, Jenga as our center pieces, and cotton candy for people arriving at the ceremony, which we had at the zoo where an owl flew in our rings… or was supposed to. He got scared and flew away. Our goal was fun, so certain pretty things were illuminated because as nice as they were they weren’t necessary since they didn’t fit our goal.
- Pick 3 things you want people talking about: If people are going to leave the weddings saying how great it is they need one to three things to say they loved about the day. One wedding I did had a caricaturist; another had wine tasting, while another had gardens to look at, and mine had the zoo to walk around. Yours could simply have the greatest officiant in the world, me… you know, because I like to be humble.
- Know your budget and stick to it: Consider what you want to spend, break down your costs and go from there, especially for the top expenses: location, meal, booze, dress, decorations, DJ, and photographers/videographers. The odds are you’ll go over budget, but it can really help knowing what you have to say No to when you can’t fit it in the budget. Alyshia and I considered our numbers and there was no way we could do an open bar, which we hated, but we gave out free wine because that was what we could afford. Heed your desire to the budget.
Key: Avoid waste. For me, waste was limos, too many flowers, buying things full price when we could get them on sale or used (never underestimate what you can find on sites like kijiji); we also rented and borrowed things from people. Good friends and family are happy to help you in practical ways for your wedding, so appropriately use them where you can.
- Be careful what you do yourself and what you hire someone to do: Sometimes making something saves you a lot of money; other times doing it yourself ends up costing you more because it doesn’t work out, or you have to take time off work to finish it. The same goes with working on your house. Sometimes it’s just cheaper and better to hire the right person to do the job. Other times, we get scared to do something simple when we can do it ourselves.
- Be money friendly to your bridal party: The best thing Alyshia and I did was go as cheap as possible for our bridal party because then we could ask them for a few favors. For instance, the bridesmaids’ dresses were bought on a great sale and the groomsmen just wore a black suit with a tie we rented for them, so we didn’t have a problem asking them to donate a dessert for the late night dessert table, which saved us a chunk of money. It also meant we didn’t have to worry about extravagant ‘thank you’ gifts like we would if we did a stag and doe, rented tuxes, and had the girls buy overpriced dresses and accessories.
A wedding is a wonderful thing, but remember it is only a day and no one leaves the weddings saying “Those were the best napkins,” or “I loved how perfect the makeup was on everyone,” or “I wish we had an accordion player at our wedding,” so be careful what you stress about and spend your money on.
Rev. Chad David, www.ChadDavid.ca, Learning to love dumb people