A mom stopped me last summer after reading a newspaper article that stated the average cost of a wedding was now $25,000.
“Jill, did you read that article about the cost of weddings these days?” I replied that I had seen the article to which she referred. She continued with, “I know your daughter is getting married next month. Please tell me that you can do a nice wedding for less than that.”
I responded that indeed we were spending far less than half of that number. “After the wedding, why don’t you write an article about doing a wedding on a limited budget?” she asked.
I promised her I would.
The gifts are unwrapped, the pictures are in albums, and the dress is cleaned and preserved in a box. We’re feeling a sense of normalcy again. Erica’s wedding is our third in three years. Each of our adult children have described their wedding day as a perfect day. Honestly, I’m not quite sure how they could have been any better even if we’d spent more money.
We’ve lived most of our married life with a limited income. We have shopped at Aldi, practiced “delayed gratification,” and limited our kids’ activities simply because we often couldn’t afford registration fees or lesson tuition. When it came time to plan a wedding, we proceeded in the same manner. It took some extra effort on our part, but we determined that we had more time than money so we used our time to comparison shop and consider all possible ways to accomplish whatever task was before us. In the process, we found that there are many ways to have a beautiful celebration on a limited budget. Here are some tips we can now share:
- Shop clearance racks: A full price wedding gown was out of our budget, but we found many beautiful gowns on the bridal shop clearance racks. Our oldest daughter eventually chose a beautiful $1200 gown that we found on the clearance rack for $279. Erica chose to wear my wedding dress (which was my mother’s wedding dress, too!) and alterations were less than $200.
- Shop outside of bridal stores: The average tiara in a bridal store is around $100, but stores in the mall carry tiaras, too. We found Anne’s for less than $10 and it was beautiful! Jewelry can be purchased in the same manner. Even the Dollar Store has a wide range of wedding supplies that don’t look at all like they came from a “discount” store—the throw away garter is a perfect example of what can be purchased at the Dollar Store.
- Take advantage of tux store offers: Many tux rental stores offer free invitations with tux rental. This saves hundreds of dollars. Erica and Kendall chose to forgo the tuxes. They did dress shirts, ties, and pants that the guys bought themselves and could keep and wear again.
- Borrow what you can: Rather than renting a limo for the drive from the church to the reception, we asked family friends if we could borrow their convertible. Another friend offered decorations she still had from her daughter’s wedding. The church had silk greenery we were able to use and candle stands and white pillars were also borrowed.
- Serve appetizers at the reception: Rather than a meal, if you time the wedding just right, you can serve appetizers or simply cake and punch.
- Make anything you can: The wedding party can be more than just pretty faces on the wedding day. Let them help address invitations, make bouquets and bows or table centerpieces.
- Purchase flowers yourself: Some florists will use your silk flowers and charge an hourly rate for assembling corsages, boutonnieres, and bouquets. We found silk stems for half price at Hobby Lobby and purchased the remaining flowers online at wholesale prices.
- Attend Bridal Shows: Not only do you garner ideas for your wedding, but you can sign up for giveaways as well. After one bridal show, we won $70 off tux rental.
- Ask friends to be a part of your day: Rather than paying musicians, you might ask musician friends to be a part of your special day. Ask friends to help decorate the church or set up the tables for the reception.
- Do without: What items that are considered “traditional” do you really not need or even care about? Anne determined that she didn’t really care if she had an aisle runner at the church. That was one less thing to purchase.
The most important part of planning a wedding is letting the bride and groom create a day that is their very own. With a little bit of effort and creativity, a very special day can be created on any budget!
Just went over and read your article, but couldn't comment…
I just want to say, "AMEN!!" My husband and I had a beautiful wedding on a tight budget. We did an "afternoon tea party" reception at the church hall that was beautifully decorated the day before by our families. One of my favorite "wedding" memories was watching my dad and my father-in-law-to-be working together to wash the windows in the reception hall. Truly, a labor of love.
We had a short engagement — only 3 months — and my now-husband and I each made a list of what was important to us in the wedding. Some of these things cost money — many did not.
We didn't have "everything," but we had was was most important to each of us. And most importantly, we enjoyed our wedding day surrounded by family and friends.
It makes me sad to see young couples (or their families) going into debt for an elaborate wedding. There IS another way.
My husband and I paid for our wedding 8 1/2 years ago. Our wedding cost us just over $8 K. We rented a car-no limo, used a VFW Hall with amazing food (not so pretty walls-but who cared?) We had so much fun! That was what was important to us. I looked at everything and thought how can we do this without spending so much money? We had bought a house a few months before and that was our priority as far a money was concerned. As for the wedding-it's the start of a marriage. It's the marriage that was important-not the day. My hubby and I spent time talking and planning for things in our marriage as well. Maybe if people focused more on the marriage instead of the wedding there may be a few less divorces.
We didn't spend that much on our wedding. It can be done cheaply and still beatifully
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MacKenzie
theresearchyears.blogspot.com
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When I got married 7 years ago we spent about $10,000 and that INCLUDED our Hawaiian honeymoon (for 6 days!). I think people go WAY overboard with the $5000+ wedding dresses that they're going to wear ONCE, and spend thousands of dollars on flowers when silk are just as beautiful (and you can keep them!). You don't HAVE to have that Hummer stretch limo (no, the sky will not fall in on you if you don't!). And an open bar is really not a necessity! I really think we've lost sight of what a wedding is all about, and we need to find a way to remember that! Thanks for a great article!
Bytheway, I forget to say that I stopped by from the Ultimate Blog Party and I love your site! I will be following you because I think I'll learn alot from you!
I stopped by from the Blog Party and realized I have one or two of your books. I am looking forward to following your blog. We have been through one wedding, our first born son, and even though people say the boys side is cheap…well think again. We can't do that again and we do have a girl in our crew of six children. Enjoyed
Janette
Cruising over from the UBP to say hi 🙂
Hi Jill! Stopping by from UBP! Awesome ideas for saving $$ on wedding costs!