Weddings can be extremely expensive. When Richard and I got engaged, we knew right away that we would have a small, frugal wedding because that’s just the type of people we are. Even if we had lots of money, I still think we would have had a small wedding.
LOCATION:
For our wedding ceremony, we rented a small park for a few hours. It cost us under $200! For the reception, we held it underneath a bowling alley, which sounds totally ghetto but it was actually a nice space (and no, we couldn’t hear people bowling above our heads!). This also cost us under $200 for the night, if you can believe it.
If you want to save money on your wedding location(s), try the following:
- Backyard. If you have a really big, beautiful backyard (or know someone else who does), why not host your wedding here? Rent some big white tents and enjoy the wonderful weather.
- Rent A Park. Yes, you really can rent parks! For a few hours at a time, many parks will allow you to rent small portions of their parks for small or large gatherings such as weddings. The cost is usually extremely low.
FOOD:
The main expense for a wedding is usually the food. Having a small wedding helps (we had about 40 people), but even if you don’t have a small wedding, there are many ways you can save money on food:
- Make It Yourself (or have friends/family do this chore as a wedding gift to you). Sure, this is pretty dang time consuming, but it might be worth it if you can save a boatload of money!
- Serve Food Buffet Style. Serving your guests at their table, instead of having everyong line up and get their own food is going to be WAY more expensive. I honestly think that a buffet style is better anyway, so people can only choose things that they actually want to eat.
- Offer A Lunch Instead Of Dinner. Having your ceremony in the morning and then serving a nice lunch to your guests is much cheaper than having an afternoon ceremony and serving a dinner.
- Have A Barbecue! If you’re having an outdoor wedding, a barbecue is the perfect way to serve your meal (either lunch of dinner). Some nice juicy burgers, hotdogs, steaks and chicken – add some corn on the cob, potatoes and a nice big salad and you’ve got yourself an awesome meal for an awesome price!
INVITATIONS:
If you are having a large wedding, invitations can be another big expense. Here are some ways to save money on them:
- Make Them Yourself. All you need to buy is some cardstock and ribbon and/or other decorations to make a great invite. There are many free templates online that are available for you to use.
- Don’t Include RSVP Envelopes. Instead of including a self addressed stamped envelope in with your wedding invitation, have your guests send you an email or give you a call to let you know if they can attend the wedding. This way you don’t have to spend money on all of that return postage!
WEDDING DRESS:
To many women, the dress is a huge part of their big day. To me, it was not. I mean, I wanted a nice dress. I wanted to look smokin’ hot for my soon to be husband. I just wasn’t willing to fork over the money for something extravagant. So I went to a bridal shop that sold used wedding dress and with alterations included, I paid just over $300 for my dress.
You can save money on your wedding dress by doing the following:
Buy Second Hand. I know there are some people that are terribly squeemish when it comes to used wedding dresses, but they can honestly save you SO MUCH MONEY. I don’t understand why some women want to buy a BRAND NEW dress, wear it for one day, and then let it hang in their closet until the day they die. If you think your daughter might wear it when you eventually have a kid and she is that age – think again. She won’t want it. There will be so many new styles out by then. Let her pick out her own dress.
Shop Sample Sales. Many stores have sample sales about once a year. These dresses are only used for women to sample in the store, so they won’t be as USED as a.. well.. USED dress would be. Call some bridal shops in your city and ask if and when they have sample sales.
Rent Your Dress. Just like a man can rent a suit for his wedding, a woman can rent her dress as well. This could potentially save you THOUSANDS of dollars. Thousands of dollars you can put towards something else – like an awesome honeymoon!
FLOWERS:
We didn’t have any flowers at our ceremony location because we had so many beautiful trees and a pond to look at. For our reception site, we only had a few vases of flowers on the tables that had our food, photo signing mat and our money box. I’m not a huge fan of flowers, because I always tend to kill them, so I didn’t want to waste a bunch of money on something I was not a huge fan of.
If you love flowers more than me, here are some ways you can save money on them:
- Use Silk Flowers. Silk flowers can look lovely (and real!) if displayed properly. They cost MUCH less than real flowers and you can reuse them!
- Shop Wholesale Warehouses. These places sell flowers in bulk and if you’re willing to put in some time making the flower arrangements (or get friends/family to help!), you can save mucho deniro on your flower costs.
- Use Something Other Than Flowers For Your Centerpieces. We used a large glass bowl with floating candles a few rose petals. It cost less than $10 per centerpiece! You can also use a cupcake stand with some cupcakes as your centerpiece. Or maybe use a tall table number, some small votive candles and a photo of the couple. These are very cheap, but adorable ways to do a centerpiece. You don’t HAVE to use flowers!
WEDDING CAKE:
Mmmm, the wedding cake. Who doesn’t love a good wedding cake? These delicious wedding staples can be crazy expensive. Instead of paying an arm and a leg for a wedding cake, try the following instead:
- Cupcakes! Everyone knows I loves me some cupcakes. We had these at our wedding and everyone said they were perfect – just pick it up and eat it, no cutlery required! Cupcakes are all the rage right now and lots of bakeries are offering them at a much deeper discount than a traditional wedding cake.
- Make It Yourself. Cakes will obviously be much more inexpensive if you make them yourself. Enlist a bunch of family members or friends and have them help you. Make it a girls night (or a guys night, I guess!).
- Have A Sheet Cake. Sheet cakes can look very nice when done right and are significantly cheaper than the tiered variety. And guess what – they taste the same!
Remember, that this day only comes once in your lifetime (hopefully!), so try not to be too Scrooge-like. Just because you want to have a beautiful wedding, doesn’t mean you have to spend a fortune on it! Spend wisely and enjoy your special day. 
