Ways To Save When Planning a Wedding
Are you a budget bride and starting to plan your wedding day? We all know that weddings can break the bank and end up costing us more than we ever envisioned. If you want to save some money on your big day you need to be smart and ask yourself what’s important to you and what can you live without.
Cutting the items you can live without will end up saving you money in the end. An average wedding in Ireland is now costing Irish brides and grooms a whopping 25,000 euro so considering this massive cost we can see why brides are looking to make cuts. We have listed 5 top tips when it comes to ways to save when planning a wedding and here they are.
Top Ways To Save When Planning a Wedding in Ireland
- Forget the Favours – Wedding favours have been very traditional and something that you see in every wedding back then and now. Back in the day it was a bag of almond sugary sweets that no one actually ate at the wedding, now a wedding favour can be just about anything and can bring up your wedding costs if your not careful. Some new brides and grooms opt to give wedding favours of expensive personalised chocolates, champagne and so on. The real truth is, although some guests might like the wedding favours the majority of people won’t even notice that you don’t have any. This is why we suggest giving them a miss on the big day.
- Flowers are by no means cheap – Flowers are a sure way to swallow up a wedding budget and can cost thousands. Some couples add a flower wall, a flower arch, church flowers including flowers each chair but this is crazy money and most times will go unnoticed by anyone. What is important and will be noticed is the wedding bouquet and brides flowers but you can make savings here also. Why not opt for a single flower for the bridesmaids, this can make massive savings in the long run of things. If you do want to bring flowers to the church to soften it up that’s fine but be smart and after the ceremony take the flowers with you and bring them to the reception. Main thing to remember is to reuse what you can when it comes to flowers.
- No Need For Gifts – Don’t get caught up in buying gifts for bridesmaids, groomsmen, mother of brides and so on, this can send you and your budget into a tailspin and eat a massive chunk of your budget that won’t be seen on the big day. We know it’s a nice thing to do and can make people feel appreciated but they won’t think any different of you and your partner for not getting them anything. People know how much weddings can cost and won’t put that unwanted pressure on you. A great way to thank people for helping is a personalised card and a nice home cooked meal. Believe us they will love that you went through the effort to make them food as a thank you.
- Ditch the Expensive Luxury Cars – Yes getting a luxury car can be nice but my god it costs so much for one short journey. Cars can cost anywhere from 300 euro and up to 1000 euro depending on what you get and how many. Some people opt to drive themselves and some just get a taxi, I think supplying a bus for guests to get back and forward if the wedding is abroad is way more important that a fancy car for you and a better way to spend money. Guests will appreciate that they don’t need to find their way alone. If your a wife of a farmer why not take the tractor to the church? This will make for great wedding pictures!
- Kiss Good by To Mass Booklets – Yes wedding / mass booklets can make a great keepsake but they can cost you and are not necessary. These booklets list the wedding party and the flow of things such as songs and readings. People won’t notice a missing mass booklet so if you are ok without one your bank balance will thank you.
So there you have it, that’s the top 5 ways to save when planning a wedding. Just remember you will set a budget but believe me you’ll go over that budget so clawing back on the above items might save you money or might just keep you on budget as you spend spend and spend. Should you go over your budget and can afford it we think just go with it. You only get married once (We hope) so why not go all out? You can go all out on a budget so there’s hope for all those who want to go all out!
Happy Planning!
