Your wedding will be one of the most important days of your life. However, if you’re like the average Brit, then it’ll cost you more than a pretty penny — the average wedding costs around twenty-five thousand pounds. 25,000! That’s a lot of cash to spend on a single day, that’s for sure. While it’s fine to spend that amount of money if you want, it’s important to remember that you don’t have to. There are plenty of ways that you can save money yet still have a fantastic day. In this blog, we’re going to run through some of the most effective money-saving tips when it comes to your wedding day. 

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What Day of the Week?

Some people will tell you that if you want to save money, then you should get married during the low season. That’ll save you money, sure, but it might not be the dream wedding that you always wanted. We think that you should stick with the summer wedding. However, you can change the day that you’re married. Of course, Saturday weddings are the most popular. Could you get married on a Thursday or Friday? There’ll still be the forward energy that comes from being close to the weekend, but you’ll spend much less cash. Sunday weddings are even cheaper — but think carefully about them because very few people are willing to party hard on a Sunday. 

What Can You DIY?

You can pay other people to do everything if you want. But every professional you hire will come with a professional price. And, of course, that’ll quickly make the costs rise. As such, it’s worthwhile looking at what things you can do yourself. Could you, for instance, make the invitations yourself? Or make table decorations with friends? This is a way to save money, sure, but it’s also kind of fun — there is something to be said for looking around and seeing your handiwork all around. There are tutorials for almost everything on YouTube, too, so it’s not as if you even need to have prior experience.

The Venue 

One of the highest costs will be the venue. The issue is that you’ll have the space where you get married, and a space for the party, and so on. One good way to minimise these costs is to find a place that does everything. You could get married in a big country house, for example. With that, you’ll have your wedding on site, and then the place for the dinner and the party will be within touching distance. If the house has rooms to stay in, you can even share the cost of the rental around by asking your guests to book themselves into one of the rooms. 

Book Early

It’s recommended that you book things as early as possible. In doing so, you can save significant amounts of cash. Weddings are just like everything else — the earlier you book, the cheaper things become. Of course, to do this, you’ll need to have some cash to hand. Most people book things late, not by choice, but because they’re still saving up the money they need to make the booking. Besides paying more, they run the risk of missing out if someone else books the service before they do. If you don’t have money to hand, then look at getting a loan — there are even short term loans for bad credit, so you don’t need to miss out. Once you’ve got one, you’ll be able to pay off the balance over a series of months, secure in the knowledge that the essentials of your wedding day have been taken care of. 

Give Yourself Time to Look For Dress

There are many good reasons to pick a wedding day far in the future. One such reason is that it’ll give you time to find and buy a reasonably priced wedding dress. If you don’t have much time, then you’ll end up paying a premium cost — because you just don’t have time to wait for a reasonably priced dress to show up. Also, there’ll be less time to get any alterations done. On the other hand, if your wedding day is way in the future, then you’ll have time to slowly wait for the right dress to present itself. As with most things, you’ll end up paying a lot more if you only have a small amount of time. 

Be Strict With the Guestlist

You might want your wedding day to be a large, extravagant affair, but unless you’re willing to have an extremely high wedding bill, then it’ll be better to keep things restricted. The more people that you invite, the more you’ll spend — it’s more or less as simple as that. You can be selective by just inviting the people that you really want to be there. They’ll be the big hitters, the ones who you know will bring the party. Also, be sure to think carefully about adding plus ones. Of course, if a close friend has a long-term partner, then yes, they should be involved. But having a plus-one invite as the standard doesn’t make much sense, given the high cost of each invite. 

Limit the Drink Options

You’d like to offer your guests every drink combination under the sun, but really, that won’t be the smartest option in the world when it comes to your finances, at least. People have particular tastes, which means that you’d have to invest in a bottle of everything. And what if people only have one or two drinks from a whole bottle of whiskey? That’ll just be a waste. A better option is to keep the main party drinks limited to the classics, beer and wine. If you want to spice up your drink offerings a little, then look at having a cocktail hour, during which you offer one or two of your favourite cocktails. 

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Help From Friends and Family 

Your friends and family might be more than happy to help you out. For example, does one of your friends DJ? Then they might be happy to spin some tracks, which will mean you won’t need to hire a DJ. 

Late Night Snacks 

It’s a really good idea to offer some late snacks. People will be hungry after so much dancing, and if they’re going to go all night long, then they’ll need some fuel in their bellies. So for sure, order some late night snacks. However, make sure that you’re only ordering a logical amount — if you overorder, then you’re just throwing money away. A good rule of thumb is to order enough food so that 70% of guests can eat. Why that number? Because at least 30% will either not be hungry or they’ll leave before the food is served. It sounds risky to leave open the possibility that some people won’t eat, but you’ll see what we mean when it comes to snack time. Providing you’ve served a decent dinner, many just won’t eat!

Don’t Worry About Having Everything

There are many reasons why the cost of weddings has increased so significantly. But the thing that has had the biggest impact on the increase in cost is, well, us. Or social media. The costs have more or less stayed the same, actually, it’s just our expectations of what a wedding needs to have has increased significantly. If you want your wedding to have everything, then sure, you can expect to pay a lot. But who says that it needs to have everything anyway? It doesn’t! Instead, commit to getting just what you really want to have, rather than anything else. You shouldn’t feel obligated to include something in your wedding day. If it doesn’t make your heart sing, then don’t make it part of your wedding. 

Reclaim Costs After 

Finally, think about this — is there a way that you can make some money after the wedding is all done and dusted? Possibly. You’ll have a lot of valuable items lying around, so why not look at selling them, and topping up your bank balance at the same time? These could be things that you’ve bought for your wedding party (speakers, lights, decorations) or even your wedding dress. They say that you should keep your dress as a memento of the day, but could it be better to reclaim some money? After all, it’ll be the feeling of the day that’ll matter the most, not whatever you were wearing. 

Final Thoughts

It’s exciting to get engaged, but people naturally recoil once they see how much they’ll have to spend to have a wedding day to remember. But as with all things, there are things you can do that’ll help to keep costs down. Take our tips above, and you’ll likely find that your expenses are greatly reduced. It’s normally only when we don’t think about how much we’re spending as much as we should that the costs get out of hand. A little bit of forethought and planning can go a long way!