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Wednesday, June 11, 2014

Planning a Wedding on a Budget{Part 1}

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ourlifeonabudget


So back to the subject of this post… Planning a Wedding on a Budget.  I have to say, I am not a wedding planner, but I am pretty frugal and good at doing things on a budget (thus the name of the blog).  Our wedding was not a shoestring budget, but a reasonable budget, especially for the Atlanta area.  I struggle, even thinking back to 5 years ago, that we/people spent that much on one day.  But it is a celebration, and I loved our wedding day.  All in all I feel like it is a balance of celebration without going overboard.  So with out further ado… here are my first set of pointers:

ONE

Set Priorities

Look at all the parts of a wedding (pictures, videography, food, flowers, dress etc) and decide what 2-3 parts are the most important to you and your fiance'.   Put more money in the budget in those areas and be willing to sacrifice in others.  For example, pictures and not having to cut our guest list (meaning we could not have an expensive dinner) were our priorities and flowers, favors and even dress were not.  We set our budget accordingly. 

TWO

 Set a budget and stick to it

 I can't tell you how many friends told me at the end of their wedding planning they were dropping a thousand extra dollars here and there… and I was like "What? $1,000 is a lot of money!"  We personally ran into things that were more expensive than we expected, but we waited it out and always found a cheaper way. We had budgeted a certain amount for a cake, and as we got into the planning process, I realized that cakes were a lot more expensive than I expected.  To add insult to injury, our reception hall had a cake cutting fee (what????).  I started to ask around and was eating a cake at a friends reception and they said the cake was made by a friend just starting her business.  I never would have guessed- the cake was great! She need up doing our cake and cookies for our favor and it was in our budget.

THREE

Plan you wedding in off season/day 

We were only able to afford what we could because we got married in January.  Every single vender we used was cheaper then.  Because it was off-season, our reception site let us use the whole building  at no extra cost.

FOUR

Release some control

As I said before, flowers just were not that important to us.  So when I met with the florist I had a set budget, the details of our wedding, things I liked and things I did not like.  Then I let her go with it.  We loved our flowers.  It was in budget exactly.  Also, with the flowers, if you have a particular favorite be carful if it is out of season, it will be expensive.  I came with color and some flower preferences, but mainly let her choose based on what flowers were in season.


And just some general advise for the road...

put you and your fiancé first (but do take into consideration if someone else is paying or the wedding) people are going to say you need this or that, but it is ultimately the celebration of y'all's covenant.  If you start trying to please everyone you will go crazy!  And prepare for the marriage… the wedding is wonderful and it is one day.  Get ready for the rest of your lives too :)

And take a look at part two! :) 
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25 comments:

  1. These are great tips! I had a really small wedding on a really small budget. Priorities are must.

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    1. Thanks Nikki! I just feel like our culture says you have to have these crazy weddings, and don't even get me started on Pintrest… too much of a good thing! We actually had a big wedding (300+) people on a budget so I think it is possible in all sorts of situations!:)

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  2. We had a really small budget too! We did some things others might never be willing to do, but we didn't have a wedding to impress others or be Pinterest or Blog-worthy (I didn't even have those things then, thankfully!!). I loved our wedding, and I'm glad we didn't spend a fortune. That wouldn't have been a good reflection of who we are as a couple if we had, and I think that's important to consider when planning a wedding, Great post! :)

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    Replies
    1. Pinterest was not around for my wedding either! And I am actually glad… too much pressure! And really weddings should not be about trying to impress others- but celebrating the covenant! I think it is important what you said- spening a bunch doesn't reflect who you are as a couple! :)

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  3. Stasia,
    This is a great article and I am glad that at the end you let readers know that a wedding is in fact "your" event and if it is just the two of you paying for it, yes have a beautiful wedding but don't try to please everybody. I was determined to have our wedding completely debt-free and indeed, I only spent hard cash on our wedding.

    Did it feel good to start my marriage on that note ? You bet !

    Wonderful post !!

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  4. Oh my, I'm knee deep in wedding planning for my daughter. We have had so much fun but it can be stressful when budgets aren't kept. Thankfully she is frugal and I don't have to worry that she'll want more than we can provide. The music and the words of the ceremony are most important to my Emily. She's having a song written for her to sing to her finance. This is a great reminder to let the wedding be about the bride, not everyone else. ~Pamela

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  5. Great save! Now those are all worth filing at the back of one's minds. Weddings tend to be rather unwieldy on the financial side, with the extravagance and opulence that cultures expect from it. However, you can deliver the same vibes with not a lot of strain on the checkbooks and the credit cards. It really helps to have a means with which to systematize the processing of the budget. Thanks for sharing that! All the best!

    Herman Thompson @ AccountAbility Plus

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  6. These are truly fabulous tips on how to host a wedding on a budget. Thanks for the post. It’s going to be very useful for me as I am getting married soon at one of destination Chicago wedding venues and will definitely consider your tips.

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