It’s no secret that weddings are extremely expensive. According to CNN Money, the average American wedding is over $32,000!
While it’s understandable to want to invest in your wedding, if you have debt or major savings goals, a wedding can become majorly problematic for your finances.
Luckily, with some smart money moves and refocusing of your priorities, you can have the wedding of your dreams for much less. Here are 12 frugal wedding hacks to save you money.
1) Limit Your Guest List
The best way to save money (but the hardest thing to do!) is to limit the guest list.
Each additional person on the guest list means additional costs. They will be another mouth to feed, another invitation to send, another chair to rent. That might not seem like a lot, but in wedding terms, one single wedding guest could cost even upwards of $100!
Opting to do a small, private wedding instead of a 300 person affair can save you thousands, while still having money to create the wedding of your dreams.
2) Avoid Mentioning the Word “Wedding”
It’s no doubt that weddings are more costly than other similar events. Why is this?
Weddings are always going to happen, and vendors know there will always be a demand for their services. While it might be difficult to avoid the mention of a wedding with your reception hall, avoiding to disclose that the event is a wedding can save you a ton of money.
3) Do Your Own Makeup
Paying someone to do your makeup comes at a price steeper than you might think.
In major cities, hiring a makeup artist will run you around $100 on average. Plus, many makeup artists require a trial run before the wedding, which you will also be required to pay for.
Luckily, you can teach yourself to do your own makeup by searching through YouTube videos and purchasing a few additional types of makeup. It’s really not as difficult as it might look to do it yourself.
Not feeling confident about doing your own makeup? Chances are you have a friend who is gifted! Ask her to do your makeup for a wedding gift.
4) Borrow, Borrow, Borrow!
You’re supposed to have something old, new, borrowed, and blue, right? Be sure to overemphasize the borrowed part and ask your family and friends if you can use some of their old wedding supplies.
Go crazy with borrowing! Veils, centerpieces, other décor, fake bouquets, shoes, jewelry, cake cutters, flower girl baskets, and more are all items that are easily borrowed.
Most family and friends are not only willing to lend wedding items, but they are ecstatic to be asked to be a special part of your big day. Plus, they likely spent a lot of money on those things that are now just sitting in storage. They’ll be happy to see them getting used again.
And you know the best part of borrowing? You can return everything to its rightful owner after the wedding instead of having to store it yourself.
5) Be Flexible on the Day and Season
Did you know you could save thousands by having your wedding on a Friday or Sunday instead of a Saturday?
By being flexible with your days, you can save thousands on venue rental cost, and even more on catering and photography.
Depending where you live, seasonality might be a big factor, too. Many wedding destinations have very busy months, so by having your wedding during the “off” season, you will save big bucks.
Ready to take control of your student loans?
This book is for you.
Student Loan Solution: 5 Steps to Take Control of your Student Loans and Financial Life
6) DIY If You Can
If you’re fortunate enough to be skilled at DIY, why not take advantage and do everything yourself?
Possible DIY wedding tasks include making invitations, acting as calligrapher, do your own hair, make your own decorations, or even bake your own cake. The possibilities are endless.
A DIY wedding is a sure way to save money while allowing you to create the wedding of your dreams.
7) Rethink Bridal Party Attire
Making sure everyone in the bridal party is dressed and coordinated can be a daunting task. But believe it or not, you do have other options than ordering through expensive retailers.
Check out online Etsy shops for affordable (and homemade!) bridesmaid dresses. Or, if you’re going for the mismatched look, why not let each maid pick out her own dress at a department store? It’s easy for everyone!
Men, you have other options too. Sites like Menguin and The Black Tux allow you to rent a suit or tux online and they send it to you a few weeks before the wedding. It’s convenience at a fraction of the cost!
8) Bring In Your Own Booze
Finding a venue that allows you to bring in your own alcohol is a huge advantage.
Though legally a bartender will have to serve it, some venues do allow you to bring in your own liquor. Usually venues not only charge you for the cost of alcohol, but they charge you for the bartender, service fee, and taxes on top of that, equating in hundreds or thousands of dollars. If you are able to bring it in, you avoid many of those up-marked charges.
Not sure if you can bring in your own booze? Ask if you can do a signature drink instead of paying for a full open bar.
9) Go Digital With Your RSVP
Let’s face it…traditional RSVPs are a pain. Having to pay extra for the RSVP card and envelope and for the stamp is just silly.
We all know we prefer to do things online now. So why not just include a link to an online RSVP? It saves them time and you the headache of going through the postal service.
10) Go Nontraditional With Wedding Bands
Wedding bands can be extremely expensive for something that can be so simple. It can be a struggle to pay thousands for wedding bands when you’re trying to pay thousands for a wedding.
The good news is that there are plenty of other affordable options for wedding bands.
Is vintage your thing? Take a day to shop around for some vintage bands. Homemade? Etsy sells a ton of rings at a fair cost. For men, metals like cobalt and tungsten are much cheaper, and look very similar to white gold or platinum.
11) Know Your Dress Budget – and Stick With It
It’s so easy to watch all those bridal dress shows and get wrapped up into finding the perfect dress and disregarding any cost factor.
It happens all the time. Brides go in with a price in mind but fall in love with a dress more expensive than they had hoped for.
The truth is, while maybe there is a perfect dress out there for you, the dress isn’t by far the most important part of the day. What really matters is you getting married and sharing that day with your loved ones.
This isn’t to say you shouldn’t prioritize finding a dress that you love. Just know your budget and stick to it. The sales person will always try to push you a little out of your price range (they are trying to make money, after all), so be adamant and request that they show you nothing out of your price range.
12) Prioritize What’s Important to You
The best tip in planning any wedding is you have to prioritize what you want.
While planning a wedding on any budget, you likely won’t be able to afford everything you want. So keep that in mind and choose the things that are most important to you as a couple.
If you try to get everything you want while planning a wedding on a budget, you’ll either go completely over budget, be disappointed in what you can afford, or stress yourself out so much trying to make everything perfect that you won’t enjoy the process.
As a couple, decide the big things you value in a wedding, and don’t worry too much about the other things. You’ll save yourself a ton of time, money, and stress.
______________________________________
With a few compromises, sacrifices, and creative ideas, weddings don’t have to be a total budget buster. Remembering to keep everything in perspective and reminding yourself of what the day is truly about will save you money and keep you happy throughout the process.
If you want to learn how to save even more on your weddings consider checking out Chonce’s Wedding Guide, Save Thousands on Your Dream Wedding
Any other frugal wedding hacks you would add to the list?
Check out some of our favorite personal finance resources:
Are you getting the best credit card rewards? Check out the top cash back credit card offers (updated daily)
Make extra money: 15 ways to make money from your computer
Get the First Chapter Free!
Join our online community and get the first chapter of the book Student Loan Solution absolutely FREE!
This was a great article to read! I always like to learn how to save money and live frugally! A few of these mentioned I have heard of before, but I have never heard of bringing your own alcohol and I think that is a great idea!
Thanks! Anything to lower the cost is worth it!
Great tips!!! When my wife and I got married we got really lucky. We were able to rent the venue out for $500 since we sponsored by one of the members.
While it’s been a few years we tried to save where we could. We bought clearance invitations that we printed ourselves. Total cost for us with stamps was under $100.
On top of that we called around to get multiple quotes on things.
Awesome job with the tips!!!
Really interesting post, well for the moment I’m not engaged yet but I already have my personal idea of perfect wedding: me, the spouse, reverend and parents and brother and stop, But I’m agree with the entire post!
We saved a lot on our wedding by having friends help out. One friend did the bouquets for a fraction of the cost. Another was the DJ. Another did the photography (for that I wish we’d hired a professional, but no huge regrets). Someone else made programs and my roommate did my hair, make-up and nails. We bought bridesmaid dresses as a department store instead of a bridal store for a third of the cost. And I borrowed the jewelry I wore that day.