Let’s face it. Weddings can be expensive. While your wedding day might be one of the happiest days of your life, the cost could set you back the same as a house deposit or cost you your life savings. Budget needs to be a huge consideration as you plan your wedding day.
Minimizing our wedding budget to £8,000 enabled us to buy a house in the middle of a pandemic AND have a wonderful wedding day that we will remember for the rest of our lives.
Here’s how I Planned Our Wedding for Under 8K.
Minimize Your Guest List
Confession time. Our original guest list was for 200 people, with more invited to the ceremony. Choosing to get married in 2020 forced us to shorten our guest list to 30 people, including us! While we did notice some people missing on our day, we were also so thankful that our intimate guestlist enabled us to spend time with each person present… and it brought the cost down!
Weddings of 30-50 people are becoming more common in a post-COVID world, so why not consider minimizing your guest list?
Plan Your Ceremony for After Lunch
When you plan your wedding day timeline, consider how many times you are feeding your guests. More food = higher cost. If you plan a ceremony time between 2pm – 3pm, this gives you ample time to get ready in the morning in a relaxed environment, and you will only need to feed your guests 1 main meal.
Choose Off-Peak
Whether it’s an off-peak day or an off-peak season, being flexible on the time of year or day of the week can seriously bring costs down. You may also find that choosing off-peak could allow you to tailor your wedding package at your venue even moreso. Off-peak seasons run from November – March, and off-peak days are usually Monday – Thursday. Even Fridays and Sundays are usually cheaper than Saturdays!
Financially Prioritize 3-4 Things
You do NOT, I repeat, YOU DO NOT need to spend money on every element of a traditional wedding just because you feel you ‘should’. Instead, financially prioritize 3-4 aspects of your wedding day that are important to you. For us, it was photography, the food and a live band. We directed our finances towards doing these things well, as either did other things more affordably, or not at all.
Utilize Sales
January sales, black friday sales, end of season sales – by planning ahead, you can save a lot. Thanks to January sales, we managed to snag 5 adult bridesmaid dresses for under £120. What a steal.
Statement Styling
Finally, carefully consider your styling and decoration. It’s easy to accidentally drop hundreds or even thousands on small decorations that you have no other use for and might not even notice on the day. Choose statement pieces that make an impact and reconsider the rest.
I am so excited for you as you not only plan your wedding, but prepare for marriage. Marriage Preparation Online courses are an excellent way to explore some of these questions in greater detail. If you’re interested in exploring more, head to the Marriage Preparation Course.
I am a Wedding Planner that helps you to find peace in your planning process. Want to find out more? Read some of my story.
